Sentry Class Corvette

File:CNS Sentinel.png Profile shot of VP-1, oft called Sentry
Class overview
Builders:	North Veluna Shipyard, Vesper Shipyard, Verde Shipyard, Southland Shipyard
Operators:	North American Socialist Commonwealth The Commonwealth Navy Coastal Defense Force
Preceded by:	Independence Class Freedom Class
Succeeded by:	None
Subclasses:	Sentry Class Corvette Gatekeeper Class Cutter
Cost:	$250 million
Completed:	45 (120 counting Cutters)
Active:	20 (80 counting Cutters)
Lost:	3 (8 counting Cutters)
Retired:	22 (32 Counting Cutters)
Scrapped:	22 (27 Counting Cutters)
General characteristics
Type:	Corvette, Littoral Combat Ship
Displacement:	3,100 tonnes
Length:	63m
Beam:	35m
Draft:	5m
Propulsion:	2x AE Shipboard Diesel Engines, 2 propeller shafts, 1 waterjet
Speed:	28 knots
Range:	6,000km
Complement:	4 officers, 30 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems:	AE/RA-47 Air and Sea Search Radar AE/RA-37 Fire Control Radar AE/SO-32 Sonar Suite
Electronic warfare & decoys:	AE/EW-41 Electronics Warfare Suite AE/DE-39 Infrared and Radar Decoy Suite
Armament:	8 MkIC missile launchers (box) 64 250mm VLS armed with: ACAS MkIV MRSAM ACAS MkII AShM ACAS MkIIS ASWM 16 MkIII SRSAM Launchers (Arm Launcher) ACAS M6 20mm Auto cannon MG3R1 on CIWS mount
Aircraft carried:	1 Ember 223 Scout UAV
Aviation facilities:	1 Small Launchpad, superstructure storage facility.

The Sentry Class Corvette is a minor surface combatant in the Commonwealth Navy, and in modified fashion, one of the primary "cutter" type vessels in use by Coastal Defense. They are built for the task of short range coastal patrol and anti-piracy operations. Sentry Class vessels are considered too small to be officially named and are instead identified solely off of their hull number, VP in the case of Sentries and VC in the case of modified Sentry Cutters (also referred to as the Gatekeeper Class), though crews often give their ships informal names.

Construction & Service

The Sentry Class was designed shortly after the Revolution. The rapidly aging fleet left behind by the old Coast Guard was scarce replaced by the time of war with China meaning that few were built before the war ate most of the resources of Shipyards needed to constantly repair Navy vessels that had been hit as a result of the high speed raiding tactics of the Chinese. Inevitably this situation was augmented in the constant strife of the Revolution leaving the fledgling Coastal Defense Forces any fleet at all, ignoring a capable one. The Navy too at the time was being geared toward a more coastal oriented stance, making the need for a light surface vessel quite apparent.

The North Veluna Shipyard was the design bureau that designed the ship, and designs were given to several other shipyards to produce, many of which were finished as early as 2033, a record which has not yet been broken by anything larger than a missile boat in the Commonwealth. However, Sentry Class vessels did suffer from some issues that made them quite difficult to use with the Carrier Fleets (now Home Fleets & Expeditionary Fleets), relegating them to Coastal Defense and the Coastal Fleets.

The Petrobras Disaster

On the night of 10. July. 2041, Coastal Defense responded to a call from the new Petrobras tanker Esperanza which had inexplicably caught fire in the course of delivering a supply of aviation fuel to port in Savanna. A set of 5 Guardian Class cutters responded to the call to assist with the fire and start evacuating Esperanza's crew. After three hours this goal had been nearly accomplished, however at 2:00 hours the Esperanza exploded in a great fireball, pulverizing the two closest corvettes as it did. The result was the destruction of 2 ships and the severe damaging of another. Sonar records after the fact indicate that a submarine torpedoed the Esperanza, the submarine, of Argentine origin was firing the opening shots of the 2041 Argentine-Brazil War, and was believed to be unaware of the fire aboard Esperanza and of Coastal Defense's attempt to save the ship assuming that the flanking ships were Brazilian escorts.

Northern War

Several of the Sentry Class served with distinction as unsung workhorses during the Northern War. Sentry Class vessels served alongside their larger Pre-Revolution bretheren the Independence Class and Freedom Class as well as some Arleigh Burke class vessels escorting the two assigned carrier fleets. It was during the Northern War where all combat losses of Sentry Class vessels are reported (VP-4, VP-8, VP-10, all of which were sunk in massed Anti-shipping Missile attack). Sentry Class corvettes were primarily detached from Carrier Groups later on in the conflict to transport small quantities of Proletarian Guard troops to engage in raiding attacks along the Aleutian Island chain.

Artificial Reefs

After the retirement of VP-1, VP-2, & VP-3 it was decided that the three vessels should be sunk together in ceremony to create an artificial reef. The scuttling occurred on 3. May. 2051.

Design

The Sentry Class Corvette is designed to be a light multiple role corvette to engage in short range coastal patrol and interdiction. It is intended to be able to engage in combat with larger surface vessels and submarines with a reasonable degree of success and as such is fairly heavily armed for a light corvette.

Powerplant & Propulsion

The Sentry Class Corvette is powered by a pair of AE Shipboard Diesel Engines one of which powers the propulsion system, the other provides electricity for the ship's systems. These engines have an endurance of roughly 6,000km using on board supplies of fuel. Motive power is provided by a pair of propeller shafts and a single waterjet to backup the system and to provide more power if necessary. These propulsion systems allow the Sentry Class a top speed of 30 knots in ideal circumstances.

Armament

The Sentry Class' primary offensive armament comes in the form of 8 MkIC Antishipping Missiles mounted in box launchers. Additionally there are 64 250mm VLS cells capable of mounting offensive, defensive, and anti-submarine missiles. Additional offensive firepower is provided by a 20mm Autocannon mounted on the bow, to engage lighter vessels and which can also serve as a CIWS. Finally, the Sentry Class is equipped with MG3R1 machine gun mounts along the hull which can be automated to serve as CIWS or used manually to attack personnel in a boarding action.

Defenses

The Sentry Class has fairly light defensive system. Long range engagements are provided by SRSAMs mounted on arm launchers, or if fitted defensive missiles in VLS cells. Additional protection is provided by the autocannon and machine guns as well as decoys for IR or Radar threats. The Sentry Class is unarmored so in the event of impact is not likely to fair well against a full powered antishipping missile.

Electronics

The Sentry Class comes equipped with a fairly light loadout of electronic equipment. Due to its small size the ship is not rated to receive the command level battlenet access, instead having a smaller suite suitable to an independent vessel that is unlikely to be commanding fleets. It is however equipped with a fairly standard array or Radar with Air and Surface search and fire control Radar systems as well as Sonar systems suitable for submarine hunting. Additionally there is an on board communications system to enable sections of the ship to communicate with one another.

Air Wing

The Sentry Class does technically have an Air Wing in the form of a single Ember 223 Scout UAV for use in tracking and fire control operations. As well as limited submarine hunting duties as necessary. This UAV is launched from a small launchpad in the rear of Sentry Class vessels, and maintained in a surprisingly spacious bay in the rear of the superstructure.

Variants

There is a variant of the Sentry Class vessel, the Guardian Class cutter. The Guardian is identical to the baseline Sentry in most ways however, the Guardian Class does not have the heavy missile launcher systems present on the Sentry, nor does it have VLS cells. In place of those there is space for additional crew (Typically a boarding team), and a couple more light weapons emplacements as well as means of quickly launching light watercraft to engage in boarding actions. Guardian Class vessels also may have, on the deck, equipment for shipboard fire fighting (separate from the ship's own damage control equipment, to assist other ships).

Future of the Sentry Class

The Sentry Class' future is uncertain. Having been upgraded three times already it is expected that the fleet of Sentry Class vessels will be replaced starting in 2067 as the oldest hulls have already been retired and the age of the vessels is rapidly approaching 30 years. Initial designs for proposed replacements for the Sentry Class have been drawn and are being reviewed by the Naval Requisitions Office for approval. That being said, Coastal Defense intends to keeps its existing fleet of Guardian Class Cutters, and may possibly be and convert Sentry Class ships as they are decommissioned.