Vessels of the Protectorate United Navies part 10: Why the PUN definitely doesn't have any escort ships

A Bar, late in the evening, near a spaceport, on a Protectorate planet. The crowd is mostly made up of sailors and port workers.

"So. Whatcha' thinkin' about? You got that look of yours, gears turnin' behind your eyes."

"Ah it's nothing."

"Bollocks. Spit it out."

"Nah. You're just gonna tell the barkeep that I got enough to drink again."

"So it's another wacky theory of yours."

"It's not just a theory!"

"If you could actually gimme some evidence for once I might stop makin' fun of you."

"I've got evidence!"

"Well, what have you come up with then?"

"... Fine. I am certain I've found out the name of the Silent Service's main class of stealth destroyers. The-"

"So the Silent Service is real? A top secret branch of the navy that does not officially exist? Do they also have super psyker special agents to send out to Imperial worlds and save innocent underhive children from being eaten alive by inbred degenerate cannibal nobles?"

"See!? This is why I stop talking to you!"

"Then get better material! Protectorate Naval Intelligence exists and they do a bloody fine job, they don't need ghost stories stealing their accolades!"

"Ok look: Have you never wondered why the PUN doesn't use anything smaller than a light cruiser?"

"Naw, but I think I know who can tell us. Yo, Magos!"

One of the many differences between the Borgs and the Mechanicus is their attitude towards humanity at large. You won't find a proper Mechanicus tech priest spending their time drinking in a bar. For many Borgs there is a life beyond the endless rhythm of the blessed machine. And so you will meet them mingling with the rest of the Protectorate's citizens, just humans among humans. This one wore a flowy blue cog-patterned shirt and comfortable grey pants. The cog pendant on their necklace with the four-pointed star at its centre identified them as a naval engineer.

"You have an inquiry, good sir?"

"I do. Can you tell us why the PUN has done away with destroyers and frigates?"

"Certainly. There are a number of reasons that I am aware of. To name just one, you know of the many advancements that we have made since the early days of the Protectorate when it comes to warships, yes? Back then there were many escorts flying the PUN flag, a wild collection of vessels from various origins, they were upgraded and field tested in a rather haphazard manner. Yet eventually the hectic early years came to an end and it was time to build a proper navy."

The Borg ordered another drink which promptly arrived. It looked like antifreeze but smelled sweet and fruity.

"A design team was assembled specifically to create one unified standard destroyer design that would incorporate all the new technologies and give the PUN a superb escort vessel. The designers then found that the Cobra class could be fitted with quite a few of the developed upgrades, but you couldn't put all the improvements we had made into that small of a base hull. Not enough space and power."

"I thought that there were lots of inefficiencies in Imperial designs and removing those freed up so much volume and reactor power."

"Oh yes, there was. But even with that, escort hulls were just too small. Unlike the Defiant and Dauntless light cruisers, they did not have the necessary space for all the upgrades that eventually were standardised into the Protector and Courageous classes."

"How do you know that?"

"The design studies aren't classified, you can look at them if you want to."

To prove their point, the Magos pulled out a data slate and produced images of the blue prints and related documentation.

"So instead of a design compromise, the PUN just abandoned escorts entirely?"

"There were some proposals, but those got shut down by the Liberator himself when someone suggested to forego the improvements to the Gellar field generators."

"What?!"

"Indeed, that was reportedly Cain's reaction too. It is no secret that the Liberator wanted to make warp travel safer, especially with the stories around Gellar field generators sometimes failing and entire ships being lost to the warp. We do have limited records of Imperial shipping registers and the amount of both civilian and military vessels lost to the perils of the warp over a given time frame. There are some frankly terrifying numbers in those records, shipping lanes with very regular traffic where one in a hundred vessels is lost, never to be seen again. Of course not every loss can be attributed to the warp alone, pirates and other dangers do play their role, but still."

One of the Magos's mechadendrites reached for their glass and they took a sip.

"I shudder at the thought, even the smallest Imperial cargo hauler is crewed by thousands of people at least. What a callous waste of lives."

The Magos looked at both of them, righteous anger burning in their eyes.

"And it is a waste of lives, a pointless one. I have worked on Liberty freighters for two decades now and I tell you, with the blessing of the Omnissiah, the greatest among our ranks managed to fix the problem. If you make a trip on any Protectorate built ship meant for warp travel it will be a much safer journey than what the Nurgle-damned Imperium can offer. Our Gellar field generators are bigger and they need more power, sure. For that price you get reliability, with two like-for-like replacement backups. And in an emergency you need one button press to pull the ship back out of the immaterium and dump it into realspace."

Another sip.

"I have lived through the whole procedure a few times, mostly in exercises, but also one real emergency en-route."

"What was that like, I mean the actual emergency?"

"It happened so fast, there isn't much to tell. Thankfully I was out of harm's way, doing maintenance on a secondary reactor in the bow section. There was a screeching, one moment blood dripped from the ceiling and I thought that I saw a face forming on the wall. In the next moment the emergency alarm kicked in and the warp-transition countdown started. It was a rough transition, some people got hurt badly, but nobody died. The crew working in the warp drive compartment needed treatment for their warp exposure. I got away with some nightmares for weeks. It's not a fun thing, but trust in the Omnissiah that he will protect you for your diligence."

A moment of silence fell over the three and the other patrons of the bar that had begun to listen in.

"Ok, that was very interesting and all, but you said you know more reasons for why the PUN doesn't use escorts?"

"Well, the Liberator then obviously decreed that the Protectorate would never build a warp capable ship without the very best of Gellar field generators. The navy meanwhile would not budge on their requirements for mobility, firepower and protection and so the new destroyer project was cancelled in favour of more Protectors to rapidly increase the number of Cain-wing squadrons at the PUN's disposal. The first few orbital docks of the Kasteen Drive Yards were taking shape and incredible amounts of resources were spent to transform the PUN into a proper force that didn't look like a hastily up-gunned merchant fleet. It took some time of course, but for many years now our naval production capacity has managed to fulfil the PUN's demand for light cruisers. Every few years there are some freshly anointed Magi talking about giving the escort hull another try, but those attempts never get far. And why would the Board of Admirals start fielding destroyers and frigates when they can have light cruisers instead?"

What else is there to say? There are no grox in space. There are no destroyers in the PUN.