USS Eagle, Revised

USS Eagle on patrol over the coast.

The aerial rocket sloop USS Eagle is an unusual class of vessel, easily recognizable by its large outrigger-like racks of rocket batteries. Normally a small vessel of this type would be unable to accommodate more than a quarter of the rockets carried on the Eagle, but the ingenious design (and a 50% inflation of the vessel's basic cost) enables it to carry an intimidating ordinance load.

The principal disadvantage of the design is the likelihood that an explosion will set off a chain reaction of detonating rocket batteries.

Technical Specifications

Armor: 2

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Hull: 4

Speed: 6

Engine: 6

Tonnage: 400

Cost: 67,410 pounds

Endurance: 10 days

Armament:

2x 3lb (fore and aft)

2x 6lbHRC (front left and right)

4x 1" Gatlings 2 each side

2&#160 bomb racks with 1 reload each

12 downward firing hales batteries

4&#160 upward firing hales batteries

Crew:

Captain, Helmsman, Trimsman, Signalman, Extra Officer

5 deckhands (1 is petty officer)

4 engineers

10 gunners

20 marines

Note: the above stats are reworked from the GDW original to correct any mistakes in the design rules and use up any spare space.

The Hale's Rocket Battery hit rules have also been re-written to actually increase the likelihood of the Eagle's experimental nature to cause a catastrophic break-up, and/or give it a chance to survive, during a pitched battle.

Determine any gun/mag hit location on the Eagle as follows:

Magazine Critical Hits:

Hit Location

Firing Aspect	Die Roll	Hit Location
forward/ stern	1:	port boom
	2-5:	hull
	6:	starboard boom
broadside	1-2:	nearest boom
	3-6:	hull

If Eagle-class ship takes a magazine critical hit on a boom battery there is a 1-2 on 1d6 chance that an adjacent battery will go up:

• Include diagonal batteries as adjacent.
• All adjacent batteries that go up, will roll again for surviving batteries. 
• Hull batteries and batteries on the opposite boom do not count as adjacent.

Roll for damage effects as normal i.e. roll 1d6 for number of hits and then resolve damage for each hit. Resolve damage as follows:

• Hull hits caused by these magazine explosions ignore the armor.
• Gun hits cause a hull hit instead.
• Critical and crew hits are resolved normally.

After all damage is calculated if the hull damage is greater than 4 the boom is considered to have blown off. The effect of losing a boom is:

There is an immediate trim critical hit, resolved as one roll with a damage level equal to the number of batteries that fired off.

If the Eagle survives that the her speed is halved for the rest of the game, all future trim critical hits will be treated as double the damage and all remaining rocket batteries on the boom will be lost.

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This revision of the Eagle's stats is courtesy of Thomas C. Harris, ©1994.

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