On 19Jan2019 0845, Catherine Berry wrote:
> I've always imagined that SDBs operate much like a present day Coast Guard.
> Yes, they have significant military capabilities, and will be mobilized in
> the event of war (or serious threat of war). But during peacetime, they do
> other jobs like search and rescue, customs inspections, official transport
> of people and cargo, and a variety of other roles. Anti-piracy would be
> another role for SDBs, if a particular system is vulnerable to that in your
> TU. So most SDBs would be built as multipurpose ships, all with adequate
> weaponry along with good endurance, stealth, sensors, and
> independent-operations capability. But the details would vary a lot from
> there.

A lot of that I've always held as being done by (very) small carriers,
using fighters (gives fighters a role, as I don't see them having much
of one in fleet actions). Your typical patrol spaceship would carry some
fighters, a lot of other small craft equipped for customs inspections,
rescue ops, landing units of gendarmes at minor installations and
stations if required to put down riots or provide expertise (for a major
crime investigation, for example), and so on.

Such a craft (not jump capable, so not a 'ship') would have sufficient
firepower to support its fighters against a dump but well-armed pirate,
enough acceleration to be able to catch such and to make rapid in-system
transfers, and would have a lot of cargo and fuel storage to support is
sub-craft and crews for long-duration missions. In the unlikely event of
an invasion they'd become sentries, covert ops insertion vessels, and so on.

The serious ship-killers spend most of their time in port, aside from
whatever portion the current readiness levels require be hidden in
oceans, in/around gas giants, & etc. The crews of those in port spend
most of their time in simulations, on training courses, and doing
routine maintenance - stuff that keeps them busy and on hand in case
there's a need for immediate deployment. Just how well trained they are,
how many of the crews are in fact available, and how ready their boats
actually are (as opposed to theoretically are) depends on the world, of
course.

On some worlds masses of SDBs sit in well-dispersed hardened hangers
with their highly-trained crews right by them even in complete peace. On
others a few old worn-out SDBs sit at the world's main port, most of
them in no fit state for space, their crews dispersed around the port
city on half-pay, working other jobs to make ends meet, or passed out
drunk in some alley.

--
Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com>
Chief Assistant to the Assistant Chief