Spacecraft in the Honorverse

This article is about the different types of spacecraft which appear in the Honorverse, a series of military science-fiction novels written by American author David Weber, which feature Honor Harrington as its main character.

Introduction
The series is set in the 41st Century, when humanity has left Earth to establish thousands of colonies and new worlds in the stars in a process known as the "Diaspora of Man", and tells the story of the conflict between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the People's Republic of Haven, two "star nations" formed from worlds colonized by humans which, after decades of cold war, have finally engaged into a massive interstellar war. The novels deal mostly with the "naval" (spaceborne) aspects of the war, later branching into espionage, politics and clandestine facets not only from the main conflict but also from the rest of the fictional universe depicted.

While the ship classifications are typical of recent periods of naval warfare (such as cruisers and destroyers), the modes of combat are actually based on Age of Sail-tactics, but translated to three-dimensional space warfare. Ostensibly, this is due to constraints arising from the impeller drive, the propulsion technology predominant in the Honorverse; as a side effect of this technology, the "upper" and "lower" aspects of a warship are invulnerable to enemy fire and impregnable to weapons fired from those areas of the ship, and shipboard weaponry has thus concentrated on the ships' broadsides, with fewer "chase" weapons mounted on the bow and stern. The most common naval formation featured is the "wall of battle" a tri-dimensional descendant of the 18th Century line of battle. As a result of this tactic and formation, the largest types of warships (superdreadnoughts, dreadnought and to a lesser extent battleships) are known as "ships of the wall" or "wallers".

General configuration
The hull form of starships in the Honorverse is dictated by their propulsion systems. Consequently, most hyper-capable ships resemble flattened spindles, with their smallest dimensions at the extremes near the bow and stern, where the fore and aft impeller rings (containing the impeller nodes) required to propel the ship are located. The main visual difference between military and civilian ships is that military ships have flared-out bow and stern ends known as "hammerheads", after which the impeller rings are located. Civilian ships lack hammerheads, and their bow and stern are not flared-out. The hammerheads of warships are used to carry the ships' "chaser" armaments.

The size of warships in the Honorverse was retconned in recent years by David Weber, as the sizes originally mentioned, coupled with the masses provided resulted in ships impossibly light for their official size.

Ship Type		(Original Length/Retconned Length)
 * Superdreadnought	(4,000 meters/1,500 meters)
 * Dreadnought		(3,000 meters/1,400 meters)
 * Battleship		(2,000 meters/1,200 meters)
 * Battlecruiser		(1,500 meters/710 meters)
 * Heavy Cruiser		(1,200 meters/500 meters)
 * Light Cruiser		(900 meters/380 meters)
 * Destroyer		(600 meters/340 meters)

Propulsion
Main article: Impeller drive Main article: Warshawski sail

The main normal-space propulsion system in the Honorverse is a reactionless drive known as the "impeller drive". This system consists of a number of generators or "impeller nodes" arranged in a circular pattern or "ring" near the bow and stern of a ship. The impeller nodes generate two inclined planes of gravity stress "above" and "below" the ship. These planes are known as an "impeller wedge", which is impenetrable by any known weapons. Honorverse ships also use reaction thrusters for maneuvering.

For hyperspace travel, the nodes can be reconfigured to generate two circular gravity fields perpendicular to a ship's hull (the Warshawski sail) which allow the ship to "sail" along gravity waves in hyperspace. However, the mass penalties required to generate the Warshawski sails mean that small ships (such as LACs, shuttles and pinnaces) cannot operate in hyperspace.

Weapons and defensive systems
Main article: Weapons technology in the Honorverse Main article: Defensive technology in the Honorverse

Honorverse warships mount several different types of weapons. The usual weapons employed by warships include:
 * Energy weapons, of which the ones of choice are lasers and grasers. Grasers (gravity-focused laser beams) have both a longer range and a greater effect on enemy targets than lasers, but at the cost of a larger mount, putting a premium on available room for weapons. As a consequence, most navies prefer to mount mixed energy batteries, trading the better performance of the graser for the greater number of lasers that can be carried. Newer models of ships carry an all-graser energy battery.
 * Impeller-drive anti-ship missiles: These missiles are propelled by impeller wedges and are fitted with defensive ECM, sidewall penetrators and (usually) laser warheads. Due to the better efficiency of point-defense weapons at closer range, contact nuclear warheads were replaced by laser warheads. These warheads "pump" laser beams at their targets at a distance of 50,000 kilometers, but also radiating laser beams in all directions in a "porcupine" effect, so as to damage as many ships as possible. Recent developments in missile technology are the Multi-Drive Missile (MDM), which adds more impeller drives to the missile body to extend the missile's operational range to several million kilometers.
 * Countermissiles: These are smaller, more numerous missiles with a lesser range (about 1,000,000 kilometers) and endurance and no warheads, compared to anti-ship missiles. Their role is to knock down incoming missile barrages with their impeller wedges (when a wedge impinge another, both generating objects are vaporized)
 * Point-defense laser clusters: These are a ship's "last-ditch" defense against missiles that slipped through the countermissile screen. Unlike countermissiles, point-defense lasers require direct hits to destroy enemy missiles, but as the enemy missiles are already on their final attack run when they come into range of the point-defenses, the lasers' task is made easer.

The primary defense of a Honorverse warship is the impeller wedge itself, as it is impenetrable by any known weapon, thus protecting the topsides and bottoms of warships from damage. The sides of a warship can be protected by gravity fields known as "sidewalls". Unlike the wedges, the sidewalls can actually be penetrated by missiles equipped with penetration aids, but are invulnerable to energy weapons at any range greater than 500,000 kilometers. Until the later novels of the series, the bow and stern aspects of a ship could not be protected by any sidewall, and thus remained defenseless against enemy weapons. With the advent of new "bow-" and "stern-walls", this weakness has been partially subsided. In addition to the wedges and sidewalls, warships mount conventional battle armors in the exposed parts of the ships.

Passive defensive systems include drones, electronic warfare systems such as jammers and other electronic countermeasures systems. For detection purposes the ships mount gravitic sensors (for long-range scanning in real time), phased array radar systems (for close-range scanning) and lidar systems (used for fire control and targeting).

Evolution
Each type classification depends on considerations of size, mass, weaponry, roles in the fleet and performance. However, as the story told in Weber's novels spans over a period of almost twenty-five years of large-scale space warfare, the technological advances featured in the fictional universe (most notably the development of a self-contained detachable multiple missile launcher known as a "missile pod") have considerably changed the characteristics, capabilities and roles of almost every type of ship mentioned. While in the early novels dreadnoughts were considered as only slightly-less capable and cheaper capital ships compared to superdreadnoughts, in the later novels the type has faded into obsolescence. Conversely, the small warships known as "light attack craft" or LAC, regarded as obsolete and ineffective in the early years of the story, evolve into deadly strike vessels by the later period thanks to revolutionary developments in naval technology.

The same is true for ships in each category. For example, while a "pod-laying" superdreadnought and an older, "pre-pod" class may belong to the same type (superdreadnoughts), the former far outclasses the latter in almost every respect. Also, a heavy cruiser class introduced in the later novels would be far more powerful and capable than a ship of the same type from the first novels, actually having the firepower and capabilities of a battlecruiser of the early period. For smaller types of ships, such as cruisers and destroyers, there has also been a steady increase in size, with each class being larger and larger than its predecessors and creeping into the size and mass ranges of superior types of warships, with a conversely steady decrease in the manpower needed to run ships from every type.

Superdreadnoughts (SD)
Superdreadnoughts are the largest and most powerful ships in the Honorverse. Developed to withstand the massive exchanges of fire typical of "wall of battle" tactics, these ships boast powerful sidewalls (defensive energy fields) and thick armors. In terms of firepower, superdreadnoughts are armed with dozens of beam weapons and missile launchers, as well as extensive point-defense weapon arrays. This defensive and offensive capabilities have made superdreadnoughts impossible tough and powerful to be taken on one-on-one engagements by any lesser type of warships.

In later novels, and following the advent of missile pods, a variant of the superdreadnought type has been developed. Known as "pod-laying superdreadnoughts", "podnoughts" or simply "SD(P)s", these ships are built around a hollow core capable of holding and deploying hundreds of missile pods, thereby exponentially multiplying the firepower of a single ship at the expense of decreased hull strength. The development of the pod-laying superdreadnoughts have rendered all older superdreadnoughts (or "pre-pods") obsolete or, at least, unsuitable for modern naval warfare.

The average tonnage of superdreadnoughts ranges from 6,000,000 to 8,500,000 tons. Generally, smaller superdreadnoughts trade protection for increased acceleration and building periods.

Ship classes:
 * Manticore:
 * Conventional: Samothrace-, King William-, Manticore-, Sphinx- and Gryphon-classes
 * Pod-laying: Medusa- and Invictus-classes
 * Haven:
 * Conventional: DuQuesne-class
 * Pod-laying: Sovereign of Space- and Temeraire-classes
 * Grayson:
 * Conventional: Manticore's Gift-, Benjamin the Great- and Steadholder Denevski-classes
 * Pod-laying: Honor Harrington-class
 * Anderman:
 * 'Conventional: Seydlitz-class
 * Pod-laying: Adler-class

Light Attack Craft Carriers (CLAC)
Introduced after the development of the new models of light attack craft, the CLACs are large starships configured to transport LAC wings (numbering between 100 and 200 LACs) through hyperspace, servicing and arming them for offensive attacks on enemy systems. CLACs are developed along the lines of current aircraft carriers. The carriers trade conventional weapons such as beam weapons and offensive missile launchers for the capability of carrying and deploying LACs. As such, they are not capable of attacking enemy ships by themselves.

Carriers are usually of dreadnought (Manticoran practice) or superdreadnought (Havenite practice) size. Smaller carriers are capable of greater accelerations and are more suitable for raiding operations, but larger carriers can field more numerous LAC contingents.

Ship classes:
 * Manticore: Minotaur- and Chimera-classes
 * Haven: Astra- and Aviary-classes
 * Grayson: Covington-class
 * Anderman: Unknown, at least a single class built

Dreadnoughts (DN)
Dreadnoughts are "ships of the wall" which lie midway between the smaller battleships and the larger superdreadnoughts. While generally more capable and resistant than battleships, they can't take as much punishment or inflict so much damage as a superdreadnought can. Despite this, they have usually been used by navies at the side of superdreadnoughts, as their firepower and defenses allow them to withstand the combat of the wall of battle.

Another benefit of dreadnoughts is that they are cheaper and less complex than their larger cousins, meaning that more dreadnoughts than superdreadnoughts can be built for the same amount of money and resources. As a result, smaller navies have preferred to build dreadnoughts, as they lie more within their range of possibilities. Other navies, such as the Royal Manticoran Navy, have built large numbers of dreadnoughts to give them strategic flexibility to face larger navies such as the People's Navy.

As the war progressed, the dreadnought type became less capable than the newer models of superdreadnoughts, and was thus relegated into obsolescence. Major navies have ceased to build dreadnoughts and some have actually began to withdraw the type from their fleets.

Ship classes:
 * Manticore: Majestic- and Bellerophon-classes
 * Haven: New Boston- and Rousseau-classes
 * Grayson: None
 * Anderman: Unknown

Battleships (BB)
At one time, battleships were the heaviest capital ship type, but with the advent of the dreadnought and the even larger superdreadnoughts, they became regarded as being too small, lacking the firepower and defenses to fight and survive in the wall of battle. As such, few navies continue to build and operate the type. Most of these are third-rate fleets incapable of operating real ships of the wall.

However, multi-system star nations whose navies which must police and defend a large number of star systems (such as the Havenite Navy) have continued to build and operate the type to serve in rear-area system defense forces, as they are cheap enough to be built in large numbers and powerful enough to fight and defeat enemy raiding forces composed of lesser types such as battlecruisers. Conversely, battleships proved to be utterly incapable of fighting larger warships and suffered extensive losses when used in offensive missions. The Havenite Navy has nevertheless phased out almost all of their battleships after the end of the First Haven-Manticore War. Average tonnage for battleships is from 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 tons.

Ship classes:
 * Manticore: None
 * Haven: Triumphant-class
 * Grayson: None
 * Anderman: Unknown

Battlecruisers (BC)
The smallest and lightest type considered to be a "capital ship", battlecruisers are not meant to fight in the wall of battle. Instead, their primary roles (at least in the Manticoran Navy) are both commerce protection and commerce raiding; their offensive power allows battlecruisers to destroy any ship fast enough to catch them, while their acceleration allows them to outrun any ship capable to destroy them. Due to their mix of firepower and performance, battlecruisers have been used as raiding forces against enemy systems, but their light construction prevented the type from withstanding the punishment than a ship of the wall can inflict.

The advent of the multi-drive missile (a descendant of the multi-staged missiles of today) and the missile pods threatened to make battlecruisers obsolete as an effective warship type; they were both incapable of staying outside the range of enemy missiles and incapable of providing large magazine spaces and producing missile salvos dense enough to be effective in the new, missile-intensive environment.

Despite this, advances in military technology allowed to build larger battlecruisers, with some new classes even being built as pod-laying ships (at a greater cost in structural integrity than was the case with superdreadnoughts). Another approach was to build larger, almost battleship-sized battlecruisers, but with improved acceleration and weaponry.

Average tonnage for old-style battlecruisers is from 500,000–1,200,000 tons, while newer ships such as the Manticoran battlecruiser HMS Nike can reach 2,500,000 tons.

Ship classes:
 * Manticore:
 * Conventional: Redoubtable-, Homer- and Reliant-classes
 * Pod-laying: Agamemnon-class
 * Large: Nike-class
 * Haven:
 * Conventional: Lion-, Tiger-, Sultan and Warlord-classes
 * Pod-laying: Unknown
 * Grayson:
 * Conventional: Raoul Courvosier-class
 * Pod-laying: Raoul Courvosier-II-class
 * Anderman:
 * 'Conventional: Mendelssohn and Thor-classes
 * Pod-laying: Blücher-class

Heavy Cruisers (CA)
Honorverse heavy cruisers serve as naval "jacks-of-all-trades": they are used for roles such as commerce protection, raiding, defensive screen for capital ships, long-endurance system pickets, long-term independent deployments and "showing the flag" assignments. Their weaponry, acceleration and defenses are enough to protect them from moderate threats, but they are not meant to be able to overpower larger ships alone (with notable exceptions). Heavy cruisers usually are the largest starships available to third- or fourth-rate navies.

Due to their multi-purposed nature, heavy cruisers are of extreme utility for spacegoing navies, and are thus built in large numbers for most major navies, and are used in any mission which does not require capital ships. As the novels progressed, increasingly larger and more powerful heavy cruisers have been built by the leading navies, creeping into weaponry and performance standards of pre-war battlecruisers. The type's average tonnage is from 160,000–350,000 tons.

Ship classes:
 * Manticore: Prince Consort-, Crusader-, Broadsword-, Star Knight-, Edward Saganami-, Edward Saganami-B- and Edward Saganami-C-classes
 * Haven: Sword-, Scimitar, Mars and Mars-B-classes
 * Grayson: Jason Alvarez-class
 * Anderman: Verfechter-class

Light Cruisers (CL)
Light cruisers serve as the primary scouting units in most navies, also fulfilling roles of commerce protection, convoy escort and support for raiding operations. The type also has a niche as flagships for destroyer flotillas, usually leading groups of 20-30 destroyers. While they were never meant to fight in the wall of battle, light cruisers have also been used to provide defensive screens for larger capital ships. They are among the largest ships available to small navies whose primary role is that of system defense, such as the pre-Alliance Grayson Navy.

Light cruisers can also be posted to remote naval stations or in system picket forces. Due to their speed, weaponry and defenses, they are sometimes used to ferry VIPs from one system to another, or deliver dispatches when courier ships are not available (usually to systems to where the cruisers have already been tasked to proceed). As it was the case with heavy cruisers, newer models of light cruisers have tonnages and firepower which rival those of pre-war heavy cruisers. Their tonnage usually ranges between 90,000 and 150,000 tons.

Ship classes:
 * Manticore: Courageous-, Apollo- and Avalon-classes
 * Haven: Brilliance-, Conqueror and Frigate-classes
 * Grayson: Austin Grayson and Nathan-classes
 * Anderman: Unknown classes

Destroyers (DD)
Destroyers are the smallest hyper-capable warship currently being built by most navies in the Honorverse, and are usually the only hyper-capable type available for smaller nations. The type has never been intended to fight in pitched fleet engagements, as they are simply not capable of surviving the firepower that capital ships can unleash. Instead, the primary roles of destroyers are anti-piracy operations, convoy protection duties, raiding operations and surveillance of enemy systems. They are designed to stand up to other destroyers and light cruisers in combat, thus forcing commerce raiders to use heavy cruisers. Destroyers are also usually employed for system picketing assignments and remote naval stations. The average tonnage for destroyers is from 65,000 to 80,000 tons.

Ship classes:
 * Manticore: Hawkwing-, Chanson-, Culverin-, Arrowhead- and Roland-classes (the last one being a theoretical design)
 * Haven: City-, Bastogne, Desforge and Trojan-classes
 * Grayson: Ararat-class
 * Anderman: Unknown classes

Frigates (FF)
By the time of the novels, no major navies continue to build or operate frigates, as they are simply too light to be effective against any other warships. Those navies that continue to use them do so in patrol and anti-piracy missions. On the other hands, frigates are usually used as commerce raiders by pirates, terrorist groups and "privateers" who cannot procure larger warships for themselves.

Q-Ships
Q-Ships are heavily armed ships disguised as merchant vessels, used for commerce raiding or anti-piracy operations. Some nations, such as Haven, built Q-ships from the ground up, equipping them with military-grade technology, while others such as Manticore resorted to converting merchantmen into Q-ships, at the expense of the ships' capabilities and combat performance.

Ship classes:
 * Manticore: Caravan-class (Wayfarer subtype)
 * Haven: Trumball and Astra-classes
 * Grayson: None
 * Anderman: Unknown

Freighters and transport ships
Merchant vessels are large civilian hyper-capable freighters and transport ships built to ferry large amounts of goods and other cargo throughout interstellar distances. Most Honorverse merchantmen have masses which range in the vicinity of 8,000,000 tons, meaning that civilian freighters are usually larger than even superdreadnoughts; smaller ships are not economically viable for commercial operators and the military, as crew, fuel and maintenance requirements do not differ between large and small transports (meaning that operating a 4 million-ton freighter costs the same as operating an 8 million-ton one, but with smaller cargo capabilities. On the other hand, smaller freighters in the 4-to-5-million ton range are more flexible in terms of ships available and destinations that can be served.

Merchant vessels are usually not armed and have little in the way of defenses. This, coupled with the values they carry, makes them the ideal prey for pirates and "privateer" ships. As a result, some civilian operators have resorted to arm transports, but this give them only limited defensive capabilities.

Passenger vessels
Unlike freighters, passenger vessels are usually much smaller (some of them the size of battlecruisers), have little in the way of cargo capability and are operated by larger crews and have much better accomodations. This results in passenger liners being much faster than freighters, while carrying thousands of passengers. Some passenger liners, especially those built for the Silesian run, even have military-grade impellers, compensators and even light missile batteries, which give them faster performances and the ability to look after themselves, but at the price of higher operating costs.

Royal Yachts/VIP Transports
These ships are configured to carry heads of state and large official delegations in interstellar travel. As befitting ships intended to carry VIPs, they are fast and equipped with the best electronics available. When carrying heads of state, they are usually heavily-escorted by military ships.

Ship classes:
 * Manticore: HMS Queen Adrianne and HMS Duke of Cromarty
 * Haven: RHNS Haven One
 * Grayson: GNS Grayson One

Courier Ships
Courier ships are the smallest viable hyper-capable ships in the Honorverse, essentially being not more than two Warshawski sails connected to a hull large enough to carry a minimal crew and supporting systems. They lack amenities and comforts usually enjoyed by the crews of larger ships, as they must devote as much space as possible for the impeller nodes and power plants required to generate Warshawski sails. As a result of their small size, they are the fastest hyper-capable ships available, and as their name implies, they are used by navies to send dispatches or carry emergency messages to naval stations in other systems. In addition to navies, they are also used by governments as diplomatic support vessels.

Light Attack Craft (LAC)
Light Attack Craft are small, sublight warships incapable of entering hyperspace. Since they are uncapable of mounting the weapons needed to successfully engage larger military vessels, LACs were primarily employed for customs duties and light patrol operations, with only small system defense navies using them as combat vessels (as they could not afford larger, hyper-capable ships). LAC masses range between 40,000 and 60,000 tons. The type was considered to be obsolete, ineffective and useless by most navies - the Royal Manticoran Navy even ceased to build the type until technological advancements made LACs once again viable as combat vessels.

The development of more powerful impeller nodes and sidewall generators, improved fission piles for energy generation and new anti-ship missiles resulted in the complete reinvention of the LAC, to the point that they are completely different from older-style LACs. Unlike their predecessors, the new LACs do not have light broadside weapons, instead carrying a large bow laser or graser, or a battery of anti-ship missiles for offensive missions. Other new models of LACs have also been configured for the anti-LAC and missile defense roles, carrying large numbers of countermissiles as their primary armament. However, they are not capable of sustaining heavy damage, and one shot by a capital ship-grade weapon is usually enough to destroy a LAC.

As a result, the firepower and capabilities of light attack craft have been exponentially increased, to the point that one squadron of LACs can inflict as much damage as a heavy cruiser, for a fraction of the cost in both manpower and equipment - which also means that the loss of a single LAC squadron is not as damaging and expensive for a navy as losing a heavy cruiser can be. The new LAC models have allowed the Honorverse navies to multiply their offensive capabilities and boost their system defense forces; coupled with specialized hyper-capable tender and carrier ships known as CLACs, hundreds of light attack craft can be used to attack enemy systems and support ships of the wall in battle. In the manner of fighter aircraft (while still being warships), LACs are organized into "squadrons" which form "wings" attached to a carrier or to a system defense facility.

Ship classes:
 * Manticore: Shrike-, Shrike-B- and Ferret-classes
 * Haven: Cimeterre-, Cimeterre-Alpha and Cimeterre-Beta-classes
 * Grayson: Katana-class
 * Anderman: Unknown, at least one class in service

Pinnaces
Pinnaces are general purpose military small craft capable of lifting approximately 100 personnel for transport or even offensive roles. These ships are usually attached as auxiliary small craft to hyper-capable ships, or deployed to system or planetary stations as general purpose support vessels. Unlike cutters, pinnaces are equipped with impellers of their own, thus enabling them to generate wedges capable of high acceleration. They are also capable of atmospheric operations, and have variable-geometry wings for atmospheric flight.

Due to their small size, they can only carry a small point-defense laser emplacement; while not enough to fight a real warship, the laser is more than enough to deal with civilian and merchant vessels as well as ground targets. This makes pinnaces good not only for naval support duties but also for customs roles and even as ground support vessels for Marine landing parties.

Shuttles
Shuttles are specialized small craft attached to and employed by starships for personnel and cargo movement from ship to ship or ship to surface. Depending on their primary mission, there are several types of shuttles. Cargo shuttles are configured primarily as freight haulers, with limited personnel capacity, whereas assault shuttles are heavily armed and armored variants typically configured to transporting at least a full company of ground troops in battle gear. In addition to lasers, the armament of assault shuttles usually include air-to-ground missiles which can even be used to deal with small starships such as couriers. These shuttles are employed in offensive landing and troop support duties.

Cutters
Also small ships employed by starships for personnel movement from ship to ship. Unlike pinnaces and shuttles, cutters are too small to mount impeller nodes, and are limited to conventional reaction drives. This comes at a cost in acceleration and performance, resulting in cutters being used only for passenger ferry or limited orbital operations.

Runabouts
Runabouts are small civilian pleasure ships which are the Honorverse equivalent of today's sailing yachts and sport ships. They cannot enter hyperspace and are thus restricted to in-system operations.