ECM GROM

Description

The Krasnoyarsk class was originally designed by the Advanced Dive Solutions (ADS) marine architecture firm as a mainstay cruiser. It began life as the Inexorable class cruiser: a well-armed and armored warship with excellent speed, a resilient power grid, and highly redundant drainage systems. In fact, ADS boasted that the Inexorable class was awarded a 5-star durability rating by the Europa Coalition Office of Oversight and Compliance (OOC).

Nevertheless, the Inexorable class had a tepid reception among potential buyers. Two dozen or more corporate representatives dutifully sat through ADS presentations for the promise of transit credits or partnership discounts. None of them expressed much interest. At the yearly Europa Coalition design conference the junior sales representative was told by an accountant from a major mining concern that the Inexorable class was just too much sub for its role. The big corporations and major independent stations were getting along for once, pirate fleets and other renegades had been decimated months prior, and the whaling fleets had been winding down for a long time now.

A month later ADS was in the midst of bankruptcy hearings and the designs for the Inexorable class were archived. ADS never recovered from their financial difficulties and were parceled out to EvCOM, ACI, and Jove. While reviewing the assets they had acquired during the break-up of ADS, EvCOM's Strategic Shipping and Heavy Shipping divisions reviewed archived plans. This effort included plans for the Inexorable class. The blueprints received the same criticisms that ADS had heard before, but this time the strategic shipping division's special operations branch saw potential for a high value asset assurance role. After about fifty meetings with upper management and mountains of paperwork, the EvCOM Shipping office approved a limited commission of 3 hulls including the ECM Grom.

Features

The Grom has a number of non-standard systems and features that increase its odds of survival in the depths of Europa. A few are listed below:

• 5 External weapon mounts
• 1 double pulse battery
• 1 double coilgun
• 3 chainguns
• External electrical discharge pads
• Internal electrical discharge pads
• Internal CCTV coverage from security room
• External CCTV coverage from bridge
• Passive, proximity-based obstacle detection system
• Limited threat proximity detection
• Moonpool in diving deck
• Reactor deactivation at outposts
• Grid charging at outposts
• Battery backups and buffers
• Battery buffers for engines
• Extensive double hull design
• High flow drainage and sumps