Vanguard Class Battlecruiser
The Vanguard is a one off Battlecruiser created in the newly captured and re-tooled Chinese Earth drydock. The design is that of the V-class Stealth Battlecruiser design drafted up by the new IFC design committee, which was created as an experiment into the viability of a fast, heavy hitting ship with the ability to hide from enemy sensors for ambushes and stalking formations. The basics of the design were based off of the A-class Battleship design that became the Alliance class, however, unlike the Alliance, the Vanguard would only have one member of the class, Vanguard herself.
The Vanguard’s hull is somewhat like an enlarged Alliance Class, though has various noticeable differences. For one the hanger bay is smaller, only carrying one Valkyrie and two shuttles. Most of the space saved is then taken up by mid ranged vertical launch missile tubes. The mid-section also now features a dedicated sensor tower, with the one on the lower half of the hull smaller than the one on the upper half. Between this new tower and the new railguns are four slanted cruise missile launch tubes placed in two rows. The railguns are also merged together with there now only being two turrets, each with two heavy railguns. Which ends up making eight cruise missiles.
This leaves the front end more streamlined without the dual step ups for the turrets to super fire. The rest of the exterior of the ship has also been remodelled reduce radar returns including a special coating applied to the hull. This has lead to a more rounded and organic shape as compared to the Alliance class.
The engines have been upgraded. The retro thrusters are fitted at the rear and are angled while also being fitted inside streamlined casings with a door that can close and open to decrease radar returns. The radiators are also similarly integrated, with them being placed onto the rear side of flaps that can be completely closed, sealing the radiators into the ship. Smaller concealed radiators can also be closed up to make the ship go into silent running, however the internal heat sinks are rather small, which only allows for the ship to run in such a mode for only six hours before the inside starts to heat up uncomfortably, and eight hours before it starts to become dangerous.
All of these modifications create a rather noticeably different looking ship, with rather different capabilities. The class is not without it’s issues however as the already cramped interior has had even more components wedged in, leading to the deletion of some bulkheads that are noted to be potential issues for damage control. The heat sinks also have some reliability issues with regular use, making full silent running a feature to be used sparingly.
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SPECIFICATIONS
TYPE:
BATTLECRUISER
DISPLACEMENT:
58,000~ TONNES
ARMAMENT:
45cm SPINAL HEAVY RAILGUN | 2x 120cm MISSILE TUBES | 2x DUAL 25cm RAILGUN TURRET | 8x CWIS GUNS | 4x PDW VLS MISSILE ARRAYS | 2x LASER PDWs | 8x CRUISE MISSILE TUBES | 32x VLS MISSILE TUBES |
MUNITIONS CAPACITY:
46,000x CWIS ROUNDS | 9,500x RAILGUN ROUNDS | 16x 120cm Missiles | 8x CRUISE MISSILES | 64x PDW MISSILES | 32x VLS ASM |
USUAL MUNITIONS LOADOUT:
46,000x CWIS ROUNDS | 9,000x RAILGUN ROUNDS | 10x MRVM “ROTTWEILER” ANTI-SHIP MISSILES | 2x 3-AFED DECOYS | 2x MISSILE LAUNCHED RADAR BUOYS | 8x BLACK KNIGHT ASM CRUISE MISSILES | 64x PDW MISSILES | 32x VLS ASM |
SENSORS:
LRV-310 LONG RANGE RADAR | CIAMRR-270 SHORT-MEDIUM RANGED RADAR | GPTS-200A THERMAL SENSOR SUITE | PICASO OPTICAL SYSTEM | MPRI-281 RADAR BEAM ILLUMINATOR |
FACILITIES:
SEPARATE FLAG BRIDGE | RECREATIONAL SUITES | BACKUP STEERING POSITION | SMALL BOAT BAY | THERMAL STEALTH SYSTEM |
CREW COMPLEMENT:
570~ CREW MEMBERS | 40 MAN MARINE COMPLEMENT | BERTHS FOR 680 |
POWERPLANT:
E-60L SERIES NUCLEAR FUSION REACTOR
ENGINES:
4x LCE-190 MAIN ENGINES | 2x SCE-200 RETRO ENGINES | GENERATION 1 LCHD-20 HYPERDRIVE |
MEMBERS OF THE CLASS:
VANGUARD