[COR - Collaboration Build] The old Admiral, his Mission and his Fleet

[Justsomebrix]

Sitting on his favorite chair, smoking from his favorite pipe, the old Richard Haddock was enjoying the sunset from his small castle home on his land outside of Belson. Just like he has done every evening for the past several years since retiring from the Royal Navy. Once a highly decorated Rear-Admiral of Corrington, Haddock now spent his days walking across his land and entertaining his grandchildren with tales from his past.

But one late evening, just as he had lit his pipe :

"Sir, a letter from the capitol"

"A letter ? At this hour? " Haddock answered after turning around to see his butler handing him the letter. 

"Yes sir, the messenger just left. He said it was quite urgent. Based on his uniform, I believe it might be from the Admiralty"

"The Admiralty? What could they possibly want from me?" It had been years since he had retired from the Admiralty Board, and even longer since he had last commanded a ship. "Well, only one way to find out", he thought to himself as he ripped open the seal.

' Retired Rear-Admiral Richard Haddock, 

We hope this letter finds you in good health and high spirits. We write you to humbly request your invaluable assistance in a matter of great importance to the defence of our colonies and to regain control of the Brick Seas.

As You are well aware, Rear Admiral Fletcher has been leading a noble and effective war against our enemies fleets in the New World, but despite his courageous efforts, the notorious Dominance has yet to be subdued. Following the sacking of Mooreton Bay and the decimation of the ETTC Treasure Fleet by the ever growing Pirate Armadas, we fear that Fletcher's forces might be spread to thin if he were to fight on all fronts. And with our armies deep inside the jungles of Oleonda, we cannot risk the loss of our Terra Nova'n Fleet.

For this reason, we have commissioned a Squadron of Man o Wars, with the task of once and for all capturing or sinking the Dominance, finally ridding the seas of the Lotii.

We understand that you have retired from active service, and your time is precious. However the gravity of the threat posed by the Dominance and Sea Rat fleets, necessitates an extraordinary response.

We hope you give this matter careful consideration, should you find it within your heart to heed this call, we would forever be in your debt.

With upmost respect and admiration, we remain hopeful for your support in this noble cause.

The Admiralty Board '

"They wan't me back on the sea" Haddock said... contemplating what he had just read.

"What will you do sir?" His Butler answered

"Well I'll be dammed If I ever let my country down! Prepare my carriage, we'll ride for Belson at Dawn!"

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After having met up with the Admiralty Board, Richard Haddock was given a detailed briefing on his mission and current position of the Royal Navy. The Terra Nova'n fleet has been in constant battle since the start of the War against the Lotii, with little support from the mainland. The Pirate war lord Kane "the Magnificent" took advantage of this when he raided the settlement of Mooreton Bay. In addition, the loss of the ETTC treasure fleet has also further weakened our control of the seas while further growing the pirate fleets as our frigates and Terramen undoubtedly will be used against us. If such acts go unpunished, we would invite even more chaos and savagery to our settlements. Letters of Marque have been handed out to privateers in order to increase our patrols and deal with some of the pirate threats in Terra Nova, but the presence of the Dominance still means the Lotii has the potential to inflict a devastating blow to our already weakened Navy.

Richard Haddock is to serve as Rear-Admiral of the blue squadron, nicknamed the "Retribution" fleet, alongside Rear-Admiral Fletcher as his Advisor until the task is done. His primary objective is eliminating the Dominance along side the last remnants of the Lotii navy. Once the Dominance is no longer a threat, he is to rejoin the Terra Nova'n fleet and help them deal with any Pirates that might still be left.

After his meetings with the admiralty, Richard Haddock was sent to the Parker Dockyards, where he was to meet his second in command, Commodore of the Acheron, alongside William Parker, the one who had been commissioned to prepare this squadron. 

Once he arrived Parker went through all the ship plans and described the characteristics of each ship in detail.

First we have the Flagship, the HMS Leopard : (Class 9)

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

She is a state of the art Portland Class, 4th rate ship of the line. With a crew of 400 and a top speed of 10 knots, her armament consists of 52 guns, which includes :         22 twenty four pounders, 22 eighteen pounders, 8 nine pounders and 2 twelve pound carronade. She started her construction along with the heavy frigate Acheron, in late February following the February raid of Mooreton Bay in 623. Despite the unrivalled productivity of the Parker Dockyard, we failed to predict the second raid of Mooreton Bay in March, and the ships were not finished in time to stop this tragedy from happening. But the time for Retribution has come, and with that, I present to you,

The HMS Acheron : (Class 7)

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

The Acheron is the second ship built and designed, in answer of the recent events in the New World. She is the smallest of the fleet, but that by no means make her less intimidating. With it's innovating hull and sleek design, this heavy frigate has been reported to sail at a speed up to 14 knots, all while carrying a whopping 42 guns! She has a standard crew of 320men and her 42 guns includes : 28 eighteen pounder cannons, 14 nine pounders and 6 twelve pounder carronades. Once the Dominance lays at the bottom of the ocean, all enemies of Corrington will learn how the Acheron gained her name, as once she's got you in her sight, no-one will escape her wrath.

The two last ships are former ship of the lines, that have been modified into to heavy frigates, known as Razee Frigates. Our older ship of the lines have proven too slow and sluggish with time. So William Parker made the brilliant decision of cutting them down, reducing their gun decks, transforming outdated slow ship of the lines into fast and versatile heavy frigates.

The HMS Immortalité : (class 8)

Spoiler

 

 

The HMS Immortalité, better known as the Immortality for the Corries, was an Oleon built warship of the 49 years war. Under Oleon colours she had sunk a dusin corlander vessels and captured another twice as many. She was finally captured by the Royal Navy in 589 AE. She was repared and fought Oleon on a couple minor sea skirmishes until the war ended with the "Arlin's pact" the year later. She was active during the 49 year wars but was left ceveraly damaged. After the war, as the New World had become everyones primary objective, her slow and bulky stature made her ineffective for the naval warfare of Terra Nova, which demanded versatility more than fire power. She was left for years docked in Belson's harbour, serving as a relic of the past for who would see her. Until one day she was handed over to William Parker, who saw great potential in this so called "Immortal" ship, and he new exactly what to do. 

The former 62 gun 3rd rate ship of the line was cut down to 44 gun Razee Frigate. She is armed with 28 twenty four pounders, 12 nine pounders and 6 thirty two pounder carronades. With a crew of 350 men, the heavy frigate Indefatigable now has a speed of 11 knots, almost 4 knots more then she did as a ship of the line.

The fourth and last ship of the squadron is the HMS Reliant : (Class 8)

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

The Reliant, a former 4th rate ship of the line, now carries 26 twenty-four pounders, 16 nine pounders and 4 twelve pounder carronades, giving her a total of 42 guns with a broadside of 20 cannons. Her crew lays at 330men and she averages at a speed of 10 knots. The Razee frigates will hoepfully prove effective against the large pirate fleets, having a perfect combination of speed, bulk and fire power.

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Rear-Admiral Haddock of the Leopard and Commodore Ledger of the Acheron, while waiting for the last preparations to be finished, spent the next few days planning their move once they arrive in Terra Nova. Rear-Admiral Fletcher had supplied letters containing every known move and detail of the Dominance and the ships that accompany her. In addition several companies of Royal Marines had been prepared to accompany the ships on their mission. If the opportunity to board showed herself, our Royal Marines will do quick work of any man who dare raise his sword at them.

Spoiler

 

With the ships ready to sail, 400 Royal Marines marched down from the Fort and boarded the ships.

Sunday July 30th 623, the Blue Squadron, nicknamed the "Retribution fleet", set sail from Belson under the command of Rear-Admiral Richard Haddock of the HMS Leopard, and Commodore William Ledger of the HMS Acheron.

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Well, sorry for the long post guys @boeing_787_8_dreamliner and I started this collab in the end of June, right after reading the Kings Port Advertisement vol 8. We originally planned on posting several chapters, building up the story little by little. But life got in the way and the mocs took longer than expected. We originally planned to have 6 ships in the squadron, but if we were to add the additional Heavy frigate and Corvette, we never would have finished the post in time for the next tmcra. Massive round of applause to @boeing_787_8_dreamliner who managed to prepare this amazing fleet in time!

I'll leave it to @Bregir and @Ayrlego to licence the 4 ships and fill out the Tmcra forms. The Leopard is of class 9, the Reliant and Indefatigable are class 8, the Acheron is class 7

(The two pictures that are not hidden, with english flags will be replaced asap. The hidden images will remain with english flags as even though the ships were made with this project in mind, Boeing posted them on instagram first and rendered the images with english flags)

Edited July 30, 2023 by Justsomebrix

[Bricksbypidy]

Awesome ships! Great build by @boeing_787_8_dreamliner!

Not sure about the classes. I have the same ship types by Boeing. The were licensed as class 7 and 6...

[Justsomebrix]

1 hour ago, Bricksbypidy said:

Not sure about the classes. I have the same ship types by Boeing. The were licensed as class 7 and 6...

As far as I've seen all your ships are significantly smaller than the Leopard and smaller than the Razee frigates. The biggest ships you have is I believe the Phama and Melampus, which are both shorter and lower than them. The closest ships we have in the game are the ETTC Sussex and ETTC Royal George, which were both licenced as class 8 by Ayrlego.

However we could lower The Acheron to class 7 

[Bricksbypidy]

Nah. Its not a problem wich class we choose. Its just not really clear wich class a vessel is. Sometimes a ship of the same size is a higher/lower class. That’s all. I think you should stay to your intuition!

[NOD]

Great story and an impressive fleet!   They are very beautiful ships. The only thing that bothers me is that there are no minifigures on the ships.

[Yperio_Bricks]

I like that Admiral's room. And the pipe build! Boeing's ships are masterclass as always

[Justsomebrix]

On 7/30/2023 at 5:36 PM, Bricksbypidy said:

Nah. Its not a problem wich class we choose. Its just not really clear wich class a vessel is. Sometimes a ship of the same size is a higher/lower class. That’s all. I think you should stay to your intuition!

Gotta agree with you on that one, however ot would demand a LOT of paper work to fix this issue (by now there's gotta be like 300 ships in the game! ) But I think you were right about the acheron, as it dosen't feel right to me that one deckers are licenced as anything more than a class 7.

On 7/30/2023 at 6:20 PM, NOD said:

Great story and an impressive fleet!   They are very beautiful ships. The only thing that bothers me is that there are no minifigures on the ships.

 

Thank you! There are figs on the presentation image for the Acheron, Immortalité and on the fleet picture at the end, but they're not too visible

15 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

I like that Admiral's room. And the pipe build! Boeing's ships are masterclass as always

Thank you very much!

[Ross Fisher]

wow, so many ships. Great builds all!

[Kai NRG]

Seeing all four together is just stunning!  They're each beauties, great work!