The Macabees
11-04-2005, 03:38
Abstract:
After the stunning success and long life of the Rommel class Battleship it was finally decided to mothball the Rommel and instead opt for the implementation of a newer battleship. This movement was further propelled by the appearance of several super dreadnoughts, which had made their stand across the world as doable designs. However, the Macabee administration had never been fond of extremely expensive designs, and so a super dreadnought was out of the question, although something close to one, or at lest something that could put a defense up against one, was the next thing in line. Consequently, the dawn of the Elusive class Battleship struck, and the best naval engineers throughout the Empire began their task in designing said ship.
After a couple of years the engineers finally arrived with a conclusion, and the design looked spectacular. It was something never before seen in a Macabee navy, although others nations mights scoff at it. It was certainly something that could stand its own against other battleships, and other ships in particular. It also implemented some of the most advanced technologies designed by Macabee engineers. All in all, it was a worthwhile ship, and one that could ride the waves, and perhaps be close to ruling them.
Of course, the first ship, the HES-771 Elusive was the first Elusive class Battleship in the Macabee inventory. Twenty-four others would soon follow. The twenty-five Elusive class Battleships in the Macabee navy were: HES-771 Elusive, HES-772 Pepperbox, HES-773 Traditional, HES-774 Imperial, HES-775 Guidance, HES-776 Cellestial, HES-778 Valiant, HES-779 Couragous, HES-780 Solace, HES-781 Undertaker, HES-782 Vivacious, HES-783 Demonic, HES-784 Gargantuan, HES-785 War Hammer, HES-786 Malicious, HES-787 Hunter, HES-788 Tariq, HES-789 Megellan, HES-790 Bismarck, HES-791 Metternich, HES-792 Lathargic, HES-793 Peacekeeper, HES-794 Asteroid, HES-795 Striker and finally, the HES-796 Malintent.
Another nation in use of the battleship is Malatose, who has bought it off the Macabees for seventy billion United States Dollars.
Hull and Skin Construction:
The Elusive is designed as a trimaran ship, which consequently offers it protection from mass attack, including mines and torpedoes. Moreover, should the outer hull be breached the second hull would still have enough bouyance to stay afloat, giving the Elusive class Battleship a lifespan, and survivability rate, mirroring other battleships.
The hulls themselves are contructed of a polymer composite formed of titanium and steel fibers, as well as plastics and heavy and firm ceramics. The polymer composite is also laced with kevlar, which gives it yet more protection. The entire composite is designed in a matrix, which has been proven to be able to operate under stress, it is to say, the matrix adds toughness to the composite, and while some of the material used to construct the composite might have strong tensile strength, the matrix gives the armor a strong compressional strength, meaning it won't buckle under the pressure of a missile, or a shell. The matrix is further reinforced by epoxy resins, which can be used at higher temperatures. The main belt line of the ship has an actual measurement of three hundred and fifty-five millimeters of armor, with an RHA value of over three thousand millimeters. The main deck armor is composed of fifty and eight-tenths millimeters of armor, while the splinter deck armor is composed of fifteen millimeters and the second deck armor of one hundred and seventy-seven millimeters. The barbette is enshrouded by five hundred and eight actual millimeters of armor, while the turret face plate armor has a similar statistic. The turret side has a reading of two hundred and forty-one millimeters of armor. Finally, the conning tower has an armored statistic of four hundred and fifty-seven millimeters of composite armor. This makes the Elusive class somewhat heavier in armor than the Iowa, with a much better RHA reading as it employs better composites.
Armament:
The main armaments of the Elusive class Battleship are three quadruple platform sixteen inch coil guns. Coil Guns, (also known as "gauss guns", or "coaxial accelerators", or "linear electromagnetic accelerators") are extremely easy to make, a fact that explains their popularity on the Internet and as a science project in general. Basically, all one needs to build a coilgun is to wrap a couple turns of wire around some type of tube and run electricity through that wire with a piece of iron inside the tube. However, as with most things, when it comes to making a coil gun that performs well, that is, converts a significant portion of the energy stored in the capacitors into kinetic energy, even the best designs -the ones on this web site included- achieve at best a meager couple of % efficiency. Although a comparison with conventional electric motors and transformers, which can perform at efficiency levels as high as 90% and above, is not appropriate since they are completely different devices, some governmental institution coil gun designs have been quoted as achieving efficiencies as high as 26%, which makes it very obvious to me that there is something seriously wrong with the current amateur designs. The power supply for the total of sixteen guns is found through the application of a larger variant of the Louis Alice Power Supply (LAPS), which is a motor generator, running off the nuclear core of the ship, which passes its current through a series of hundreds of four inch by two inch capacitors, embedded in water, magnifying the power by eighty. With this the sixteen inch guns have a range of over three hundred kilometers.
The Elusive class Battleship also carries twelve five inch guns, which are of conventional design. As a propellant the five inch guns use a elastomer which is often used interchangeably with the term rubber, and is preferred when referring to vulcanisates. They are amorphous polymers existing above their glass transition temperature, so that considerable segmental motion is possible. At ambient temperatures rubbers are thus relatively soft (E~3MPa) and deformable. Their primary uses are for seals, adhesives and molded flexible parts.
Elastomers are usually thermosets (requiring vulcanization) but may also be thermoplastic. The long polymer chains cross-link during curing and account for the flexible nature of the material. The molecular structure of elastomers can be imagined as a 'spaghetti and meatball' structure, with the meatballs signifying cross-links.
Elastomeric behaviour can be explained further by thinking about entropy. Entropy is fundamentally a measure of disorder. In all natural processes, the entropy of the universe increases. Consequently, gasses difuse, heat disapates, and in this case, molecular structures become disorganised. When an elastomer is stretched or pulled, these disorganised chains of molecules straighten up. This is an unnatural condition, and so when the pull/stretching is stopped, the entropy increases as the material returns to its original state.
So, you put that into a matrix. The best polymer-bonded explosive would most likely be PBXN-106, for the usage you want. PBXN-106 is used currently in naval shells. However, If the polymer matrix is an elastomer (rubbery material), it tends to absorb shocks, making the PBX very insensitive to accidental detonation. Meaning, the round will fire when you want it, and it avoids accidently fires and such.
The Elusive class Battleship also carried a total of ten surface to air missile batteries. The Praetorian V is a massive improvement over the Praetorian IV system, which was basically copied off the Bisonic S-500 SAM system. The Praetorian V should provide better accuracy, as well as better quality, to the consumers of this product. Using a twenty rocket launch system, four rows of five missiles, the Praetorian V SAM system can provide massive fire support in case of massive bomber, or missile raids, allowing the Elusive to put up a quality defense against belligerents, and ensuring survival on the deadly waters. Each Praetorian V missile can be interchanged by another SAM, assuming that the chosen SAM is smaller, or the same size. The Praetorian V is rather small, and uses either a conventional engine to engage sea-skimmers, or a scramjet engine to seek and destroy conventional high flying missiles, or aircraft.
The Praetorian V SAM system incorporates the MLT-1 LIDAR system onboard each Rommel class Battleship, which as a range of about 165 miles (or about 300kms). The MLT-1 LIDAR system uses normal LIDAR, which uses a laser to detect the range of the target, as well as Doppler LIDAR which is used to detect the velocity of the target. DIAL is also used to detect chemical composition of the target. The Praetorian Vs are also hooked up to the MRT-1/N RADAR system used by Macabee Naval vessels. The MRT-1 is based off the TENEX SPY-6 RADAR system, however uses a larger power box, as well as a larger computer network to catch enemy flyers at 700kms. However, the MRT-1 is restricted to altitude of over thirty meters in height (around 100 miles), and for lower altitudes (100 miles to 1,000 miles) is severely restricted in range. The MRT-4 RADAR system is used for sea-skimming missiles, or low flying aircraft. It uses radio waves to track below the minimum range of the MRT-1. The advantages in having two systems do what one could do are that now we have specialization of jobs, and the MRT-4 can focus on one thing, while the MRT-1 focuses on another. To support this massive computer system the CPU uses ln2 coolant to over clock a twenty gigahertz system to thirty gigahertz.
The actual Praetorian V has its own CPU installed on the backside of the missile, above the scramjet engine, and it uses its own MLT-2 LIDAR system, which has a range of two kilometers, and is used for final phase target location purposes. The Praetorian V missile uses the computers to still use the ship based MRT-1, MRT-4 and the MLT-1 systems. This provides a very accurate and effective surface to air missile system. The Praetorian V can be used as an anti-missile, as well as an anti-air SAM.
The Praetorian V system uses an advanced reload system using hydraulic propulsion to lift the missile out of stock racks and push into the barrel of the Praetorian V launch platforms. Each Rommel battleship is outfitted with onethousand Praetorian V missiles in stocks, giving each SAM one hundred Praetorian V missiles, useful for five volleys each SAM.
The Elusive also carries ten Loki ASROC systems. The Loki ASROC system is a ten tube 500mm torpedo launch system placed strategically around naval vessels which incorporate the system. The Loki ASROC can use the MAT-1 anti-torpedo, the MT-2 SuCav torpedo for short ranges, and the MT-3 water ramjet/pumpjet torpedo for long range use. Each Rommel carries one hundred of each type of torpedo, used in five different ASROC batteries placed on the battleship.
The Loki ASROC has an advanced material composition using THYMONEL 8, a third generation single crystal super alloy, as a coating on the steel launch platform. The THYMONEL 8 coating allows for the resistance to Hydrogen Embrittlement, and the heat of the missile booster. This allows for a rate of fire of all ten torpedoes in eight seconds time. A hydraulic reloading system can restock the Loki ASROC system in ten seconds time.
The Elusive also has six of the brand new Conhort Close-in Weapons Systems. The Conhort uses a variant of the GAU-8 Avenger cannon. The GAU-8 itself weighs 281 kg (620 lb), but the complete weapon, with feed system and drum, weighs 4,029 lb (1,830 kg) with a maximum ammunition load. The entire system is 19 ft 10.5 in (5.05 m) long. The magazine can hold 1,350 rounds, although 1,174 is the more normal load-out. Muzzle velocity with armor-piercing incendiary (API) ammunition is 3,250 ft/s (988 m/s), almost the same as the substantially lighter M61 Vulcan.
The Conhort's system consists of an autocannon and an advanced radar which tracks incoming fire, determines its trajectory, then aims the gun and fires in a matter of seconds. The system is fully automatic, needing no human input once activated. The kinetic energy of the 30mm rounds is sufficient to destroy any missile or shell. The system can also be deployed to protect airfields. However, like the Dutch Goalkeeper and the American Phalanx the Conhort is a last-chance weapon, although considerably accurate. It uses a seperate, smaller, LIDAR Gaussian Transmitter and RADAR tranmitter in order to lock on potential targets and blow them out of the air. Several advantages the Cohort has over the Phalanx system are that it is more accurate, it has a greater kenitic energy impact, more tracking, it's reloaded under the deck, and it can operate under three modes: Auto, Semi-Auto and Manual allowing full operator operability,
Like most battleships used today the Elusive is more of a missile boat than a conventional dreadnought; and it is much larger. Each Elusive carries somewhere around one thousand Principe III anti-shipping missile launched torpedoes, and five hundred MAAM Ausf. B cruise missiles. To fire these massive stockpiles of missiles each Elusive has fifty VLT systems. Each VLT system has a four slot revolving missile launcher, which in order to fire a volley it fires, turns, fires, turns, etc, until all missiles are fired. The reloading process is even shorter, using a hydraulic loading system to push the missile back into the slot after each turn, meaning that the VLT system can keep a continuous launch sequence without pause. This makes the Elusive extremely dangerous when taking in the fact that the VLTs can continuously fire missiles off at enemies until the enemy is destroyed. The VLT system also uses a THYMONEL 8 coating to maintain the HEE and pressure giving to the launching platforms.
For underwater defenses the Elusive has sixteen ASHUM guns, which basically work as underwater close-in weapon systems. The magazines can hold 1,200 rounds and they're reloaded in compartments placed above the guns. The ASHUM guns placed on the Elusive are trained through the ship's SONAR, as well as blue-green Guassian LIDAR transmitters placed for the individual guns.
Detection Devices:
The Elusive has an onboard SONAR array, capable of searching through the mixed layer. However, for under the layer searches it also has the TB-2016, used in the Macabee Leviathan class SSN, which is rolled from a seperate compartment, and is long enough to sit right on the deep sound channel axis, giving the SONAR a full read, leaving no shadow zone. The power of the Macabee SOANR systems has been applauded before, and the Elusive is a testament to it.
The Elusive is also given the same SONAR system which the Rommel was equipped with. The Poseidon SONAR system, which is capable of detecting louder shipping at up to one hundred kilometers away at the right circumstances, and advanced submarines at a maximum range of ten kilometers, burning through anechoic tiling quite easily. The Poseidon is considered one of the better SONAR systems used presently. The Poseidon is also programmed to detect the “black hole” effect which submarines using MHD have; making it easier to detect MHD propelled submarines.
The Elusive also has a new thin line towed array called the TB-163, which is three times as long as the Elusive itself, using thousands of hydrophones to detect submarine presence at up to forty kilometers away (ca. 28 miles). The TB-163 uses a strong steel line to ensure that it doesn’t snap, although this could be potentially dangerous to the crew if its used stupidly. The Elusive also has another towed array called the TB-87 which focuses on shorter distances, using powerful hydrophones to detect close enemies.
Macabee ships use the MRT-1 RADAR system to detect enemy aerial assets anywhere from 120 kilometers minimum to 700 kilometers maximum; depending on the circumstances, stealth levels, and altitude. The MRT-1 use a very powerful super computer and several screens to detect, filter, and portray enemy aerial assets. Based of the TENEX SPY-6 this well built system is, again, one of the better ones in use around the world, and provide the Macabees with a reliable early warning system.
Additionally, Macabee ships integrate the MRT-4 RADAR system which was built to focus on sea-skimmers. RADAR radio waves are able to catch both missiles and other objects, such as waves, and filter what is a wave, and what is a missile; and quite easily, and through regular technology. Simply, by using a supercomputer and C based program, the computers can detect range, vector, and velocity – hence, it can distinguish what is a missile or aircraft, and what isn’t. A wave doesn’t last at the same altitude, velocity and vector for ever – the wave falls short quite quickly – while a missile lasts in the air for quite a while (of course). Hence, it wasn’t too difficult to design a system capable of picking sea-skimmers up.
Finally, the Macabee ships include an MLT-1 LIDAR system which as a range of about 250 kilometers (165 miles). The MLT-1 uses regular LIDAR to detect range, Doppler LIDAR to detect velocity, and DIAL LIDAR to detect chemical composition. The newer Gaussian LIDAR system used by Macabee ships has two charged plates placed parallel to each other, one charged negative, the other positive. This in turn begins an electrical current. The Gaussian system doesn't work on reflected waves. Instead, it relies on electrical impulses, rendering current anti-LIDAR techniques inefficient and obsolete.
Aircraft:
Each Elusive class Battleship has five helipads, under use by five Sea Serpent ASW (Anti-submarine warfare) helicopters. However, the Sea Serpents are exchanged with the custom Sea King IIs when sold abroad, but nations can always scrap the Sea Kings and provide their own ASW choppers. The Sea Serpents can be bought with the battleship; however, this adds an extra ten million to the price tag due to the price of the choppers, as well as just pure wage, rent, and interest.
Engines:
The Elusive class Battleship has two Valhalla nuclear reactors, allowing the system to be propelled at a very fast velocity of 39 knots, although this speed is rarely used in war (a task force can only go as fast as its slowest ship). The Valhalla nuclear reactors incorporate Baldur meltdown technology. The Baldur meltdown inhibitor uses sensors placed selectively inside the hull, close to the room of the nuclear reactors, to sense internal breaches, either by water pressure, or enemy pressure (missiles and other projectiles). Consequently, in case of a breech the Baldur is able to automatically shut down the two Valhalla nuclear reactors as quickly as possible, thus avoiding a catastrophic nuclear reaction.
The two Valhalla nuclear reactors use six screws to push the Rommel at the velocity wanted. Each screw has six blades, and are of medium size, however, larger than most of the screws used by the Ohio class Battleships. However, in order to decrease cavitation the Elusive has two MACCAVAB (MACabee CAVitation Absorbing) devices, which absorb the popping noises that bubbles make around the hull and the screws (known as cavitation). This technology was first begun by the United States Navy, but since then enhanced and improved by the Macabee Imperial Naval Engineering Corp under the pay of Valhalla Naval National, the sole naval production provider for the Macabee Navy. This makes the battleships much more quiet when under operations, although the battleships are still making noise.
Dimensions:
The Elusive class Battleship is three hundred meters long, thirty meters over its counterpart, the Iowa. It's waterline lenght is somewhere near two hundred and sixty meters, while its beam is thirty-two meters long.
Fully loaded the Elusive displaces sixty thousand tons.
EMP Hardening:
There are two things to consider when considering hardening targets against EMP. The first question to answer is whether the hardened system will become useless if shielded. The second question to be answered is whether the target is economically worthwhile to harden. The answers to these two questions are used to determine what devices should be shielded
To explain the first consideration, Makoff and Tsipis give the following simple example. If there was a communication plane with many antennas used to collect and transfer data, it would not be useful if its antennas were removed. However, to harden the plane, the antennas would need to be removed because they provide a direct path to the interior of the plane.(18) It is important to understand how the hardening will affect the performance of the hardened item.
The second consideration is very easy to understand. Some systems, although important, may not seem worthwhile enough to harden due to the high costs of shielding. "It may cost from 30% to 50% of the cost of a ground based communication center…just to refit it to withstand EMP," and, "as high as 10% of the cost for each plane."(19)
There are two basic ways to harden items against EMP effects.20 The first method is metallic shielding. The alternative is tailored hardening. Both methods will be briefly described.
Metallic shielding is used to, "Exclude energy propagated through fields in space."(21) Shields are made of a continuous piece of some metal such as steel or copper. A metal enclosure generally does not fully shield the interior because of the small holes that are likely to exist. Therefore, this type of shielding often contains additional elements to create the barrier. Commonly, only a fraction of a millimeter (22) of a metal is needed to supply adequate protection. This shield must completely surround the item to be shielded. A tight box must be formed to create the shield. The cost of such shielding (in1986 dollars) is $1000 per square meter for a welded-steel shield after installation.(23)
The alternative method, tailored hardening, is a more cost-effective way of hardening. In this method, only the most vulnerable elements and circuits are redesigned to be more rugged. The more rugged elements will be able to withstand much higher currents. However, a committee of the National Academy of Sciences is skeptical of this method due to unpredictable failures in testing.(24) Also, the use of this method is not recommended by the National Research Council. They doubted whether the approximations made to evaluate susceptibilities of the components were accurate. They did concede that tailored hardening may be useful to make existing systems less vulnerable.(25)
Cost: 5 Billion USD
After the stunning success and long life of the Rommel class Battleship it was finally decided to mothball the Rommel and instead opt for the implementation of a newer battleship. This movement was further propelled by the appearance of several super dreadnoughts, which had made their stand across the world as doable designs. However, the Macabee administration had never been fond of extremely expensive designs, and so a super dreadnought was out of the question, although something close to one, or at lest something that could put a defense up against one, was the next thing in line. Consequently, the dawn of the Elusive class Battleship struck, and the best naval engineers throughout the Empire began their task in designing said ship.
After a couple of years the engineers finally arrived with a conclusion, and the design looked spectacular. It was something never before seen in a Macabee navy, although others nations mights scoff at it. It was certainly something that could stand its own against other battleships, and other ships in particular. It also implemented some of the most advanced technologies designed by Macabee engineers. All in all, it was a worthwhile ship, and one that could ride the waves, and perhaps be close to ruling them.
Of course, the first ship, the HES-771 Elusive was the first Elusive class Battleship in the Macabee inventory. Twenty-four others would soon follow. The twenty-five Elusive class Battleships in the Macabee navy were: HES-771 Elusive, HES-772 Pepperbox, HES-773 Traditional, HES-774 Imperial, HES-775 Guidance, HES-776 Cellestial, HES-778 Valiant, HES-779 Couragous, HES-780 Solace, HES-781 Undertaker, HES-782 Vivacious, HES-783 Demonic, HES-784 Gargantuan, HES-785 War Hammer, HES-786 Malicious, HES-787 Hunter, HES-788 Tariq, HES-789 Megellan, HES-790 Bismarck, HES-791 Metternich, HES-792 Lathargic, HES-793 Peacekeeper, HES-794 Asteroid, HES-795 Striker and finally, the HES-796 Malintent.
Another nation in use of the battleship is Malatose, who has bought it off the Macabees for seventy billion United States Dollars.
Hull and Skin Construction:
The Elusive is designed as a trimaran ship, which consequently offers it protection from mass attack, including mines and torpedoes. Moreover, should the outer hull be breached the second hull would still have enough bouyance to stay afloat, giving the Elusive class Battleship a lifespan, and survivability rate, mirroring other battleships.
The hulls themselves are contructed of a polymer composite formed of titanium and steel fibers, as well as plastics and heavy and firm ceramics. The polymer composite is also laced with kevlar, which gives it yet more protection. The entire composite is designed in a matrix, which has been proven to be able to operate under stress, it is to say, the matrix adds toughness to the composite, and while some of the material used to construct the composite might have strong tensile strength, the matrix gives the armor a strong compressional strength, meaning it won't buckle under the pressure of a missile, or a shell. The matrix is further reinforced by epoxy resins, which can be used at higher temperatures. The main belt line of the ship has an actual measurement of three hundred and fifty-five millimeters of armor, with an RHA value of over three thousand millimeters. The main deck armor is composed of fifty and eight-tenths millimeters of armor, while the splinter deck armor is composed of fifteen millimeters and the second deck armor of one hundred and seventy-seven millimeters. The barbette is enshrouded by five hundred and eight actual millimeters of armor, while the turret face plate armor has a similar statistic. The turret side has a reading of two hundred and forty-one millimeters of armor. Finally, the conning tower has an armored statistic of four hundred and fifty-seven millimeters of composite armor. This makes the Elusive class somewhat heavier in armor than the Iowa, with a much better RHA reading as it employs better composites.
Armament:
The main armaments of the Elusive class Battleship are three quadruple platform sixteen inch coil guns. Coil Guns, (also known as "gauss guns", or "coaxial accelerators", or "linear electromagnetic accelerators") are extremely easy to make, a fact that explains their popularity on the Internet and as a science project in general. Basically, all one needs to build a coilgun is to wrap a couple turns of wire around some type of tube and run electricity through that wire with a piece of iron inside the tube. However, as with most things, when it comes to making a coil gun that performs well, that is, converts a significant portion of the energy stored in the capacitors into kinetic energy, even the best designs -the ones on this web site included- achieve at best a meager couple of % efficiency. Although a comparison with conventional electric motors and transformers, which can perform at efficiency levels as high as 90% and above, is not appropriate since they are completely different devices, some governmental institution coil gun designs have been quoted as achieving efficiencies as high as 26%, which makes it very obvious to me that there is something seriously wrong with the current amateur designs. The power supply for the total of sixteen guns is found through the application of a larger variant of the Louis Alice Power Supply (LAPS), which is a motor generator, running off the nuclear core of the ship, which passes its current through a series of hundreds of four inch by two inch capacitors, embedded in water, magnifying the power by eighty. With this the sixteen inch guns have a range of over three hundred kilometers.
The Elusive class Battleship also carries twelve five inch guns, which are of conventional design. As a propellant the five inch guns use a elastomer which is often used interchangeably with the term rubber, and is preferred when referring to vulcanisates. They are amorphous polymers existing above their glass transition temperature, so that considerable segmental motion is possible. At ambient temperatures rubbers are thus relatively soft (E~3MPa) and deformable. Their primary uses are for seals, adhesives and molded flexible parts.
Elastomers are usually thermosets (requiring vulcanization) but may also be thermoplastic. The long polymer chains cross-link during curing and account for the flexible nature of the material. The molecular structure of elastomers can be imagined as a 'spaghetti and meatball' structure, with the meatballs signifying cross-links.
Elastomeric behaviour can be explained further by thinking about entropy. Entropy is fundamentally a measure of disorder. In all natural processes, the entropy of the universe increases. Consequently, gasses difuse, heat disapates, and in this case, molecular structures become disorganised. When an elastomer is stretched or pulled, these disorganised chains of molecules straighten up. This is an unnatural condition, and so when the pull/stretching is stopped, the entropy increases as the material returns to its original state.
So, you put that into a matrix. The best polymer-bonded explosive would most likely be PBXN-106, for the usage you want. PBXN-106 is used currently in naval shells. However, If the polymer matrix is an elastomer (rubbery material), it tends to absorb shocks, making the PBX very insensitive to accidental detonation. Meaning, the round will fire when you want it, and it avoids accidently fires and such.
The Elusive class Battleship also carried a total of ten surface to air missile batteries. The Praetorian V is a massive improvement over the Praetorian IV system, which was basically copied off the Bisonic S-500 SAM system. The Praetorian V should provide better accuracy, as well as better quality, to the consumers of this product. Using a twenty rocket launch system, four rows of five missiles, the Praetorian V SAM system can provide massive fire support in case of massive bomber, or missile raids, allowing the Elusive to put up a quality defense against belligerents, and ensuring survival on the deadly waters. Each Praetorian V missile can be interchanged by another SAM, assuming that the chosen SAM is smaller, or the same size. The Praetorian V is rather small, and uses either a conventional engine to engage sea-skimmers, or a scramjet engine to seek and destroy conventional high flying missiles, or aircraft.
The Praetorian V SAM system incorporates the MLT-1 LIDAR system onboard each Rommel class Battleship, which as a range of about 165 miles (or about 300kms). The MLT-1 LIDAR system uses normal LIDAR, which uses a laser to detect the range of the target, as well as Doppler LIDAR which is used to detect the velocity of the target. DIAL is also used to detect chemical composition of the target. The Praetorian Vs are also hooked up to the MRT-1/N RADAR system used by Macabee Naval vessels. The MRT-1 is based off the TENEX SPY-6 RADAR system, however uses a larger power box, as well as a larger computer network to catch enemy flyers at 700kms. However, the MRT-1 is restricted to altitude of over thirty meters in height (around 100 miles), and for lower altitudes (100 miles to 1,000 miles) is severely restricted in range. The MRT-4 RADAR system is used for sea-skimming missiles, or low flying aircraft. It uses radio waves to track below the minimum range of the MRT-1. The advantages in having two systems do what one could do are that now we have specialization of jobs, and the MRT-4 can focus on one thing, while the MRT-1 focuses on another. To support this massive computer system the CPU uses ln2 coolant to over clock a twenty gigahertz system to thirty gigahertz.
The actual Praetorian V has its own CPU installed on the backside of the missile, above the scramjet engine, and it uses its own MLT-2 LIDAR system, which has a range of two kilometers, and is used for final phase target location purposes. The Praetorian V missile uses the computers to still use the ship based MRT-1, MRT-4 and the MLT-1 systems. This provides a very accurate and effective surface to air missile system. The Praetorian V can be used as an anti-missile, as well as an anti-air SAM.
The Praetorian V system uses an advanced reload system using hydraulic propulsion to lift the missile out of stock racks and push into the barrel of the Praetorian V launch platforms. Each Rommel battleship is outfitted with onethousand Praetorian V missiles in stocks, giving each SAM one hundred Praetorian V missiles, useful for five volleys each SAM.
The Elusive also carries ten Loki ASROC systems. The Loki ASROC system is a ten tube 500mm torpedo launch system placed strategically around naval vessels which incorporate the system. The Loki ASROC can use the MAT-1 anti-torpedo, the MT-2 SuCav torpedo for short ranges, and the MT-3 water ramjet/pumpjet torpedo for long range use. Each Rommel carries one hundred of each type of torpedo, used in five different ASROC batteries placed on the battleship.
The Loki ASROC has an advanced material composition using THYMONEL 8, a third generation single crystal super alloy, as a coating on the steel launch platform. The THYMONEL 8 coating allows for the resistance to Hydrogen Embrittlement, and the heat of the missile booster. This allows for a rate of fire of all ten torpedoes in eight seconds time. A hydraulic reloading system can restock the Loki ASROC system in ten seconds time.
The Elusive also has six of the brand new Conhort Close-in Weapons Systems. The Conhort uses a variant of the GAU-8 Avenger cannon. The GAU-8 itself weighs 281 kg (620 lb), but the complete weapon, with feed system and drum, weighs 4,029 lb (1,830 kg) with a maximum ammunition load. The entire system is 19 ft 10.5 in (5.05 m) long. The magazine can hold 1,350 rounds, although 1,174 is the more normal load-out. Muzzle velocity with armor-piercing incendiary (API) ammunition is 3,250 ft/s (988 m/s), almost the same as the substantially lighter M61 Vulcan.
The Conhort's system consists of an autocannon and an advanced radar which tracks incoming fire, determines its trajectory, then aims the gun and fires in a matter of seconds. The system is fully automatic, needing no human input once activated. The kinetic energy of the 30mm rounds is sufficient to destroy any missile or shell. The system can also be deployed to protect airfields. However, like the Dutch Goalkeeper and the American Phalanx the Conhort is a last-chance weapon, although considerably accurate. It uses a seperate, smaller, LIDAR Gaussian Transmitter and RADAR tranmitter in order to lock on potential targets and blow them out of the air. Several advantages the Cohort has over the Phalanx system are that it is more accurate, it has a greater kenitic energy impact, more tracking, it's reloaded under the deck, and it can operate under three modes: Auto, Semi-Auto and Manual allowing full operator operability,
Like most battleships used today the Elusive is more of a missile boat than a conventional dreadnought; and it is much larger. Each Elusive carries somewhere around one thousand Principe III anti-shipping missile launched torpedoes, and five hundred MAAM Ausf. B cruise missiles. To fire these massive stockpiles of missiles each Elusive has fifty VLT systems. Each VLT system has a four slot revolving missile launcher, which in order to fire a volley it fires, turns, fires, turns, etc, until all missiles are fired. The reloading process is even shorter, using a hydraulic loading system to push the missile back into the slot after each turn, meaning that the VLT system can keep a continuous launch sequence without pause. This makes the Elusive extremely dangerous when taking in the fact that the VLTs can continuously fire missiles off at enemies until the enemy is destroyed. The VLT system also uses a THYMONEL 8 coating to maintain the HEE and pressure giving to the launching platforms.
For underwater defenses the Elusive has sixteen ASHUM guns, which basically work as underwater close-in weapon systems. The magazines can hold 1,200 rounds and they're reloaded in compartments placed above the guns. The ASHUM guns placed on the Elusive are trained through the ship's SONAR, as well as blue-green Guassian LIDAR transmitters placed for the individual guns.
Detection Devices:
The Elusive has an onboard SONAR array, capable of searching through the mixed layer. However, for under the layer searches it also has the TB-2016, used in the Macabee Leviathan class SSN, which is rolled from a seperate compartment, and is long enough to sit right on the deep sound channel axis, giving the SONAR a full read, leaving no shadow zone. The power of the Macabee SOANR systems has been applauded before, and the Elusive is a testament to it.
The Elusive is also given the same SONAR system which the Rommel was equipped with. The Poseidon SONAR system, which is capable of detecting louder shipping at up to one hundred kilometers away at the right circumstances, and advanced submarines at a maximum range of ten kilometers, burning through anechoic tiling quite easily. The Poseidon is considered one of the better SONAR systems used presently. The Poseidon is also programmed to detect the “black hole” effect which submarines using MHD have; making it easier to detect MHD propelled submarines.
The Elusive also has a new thin line towed array called the TB-163, which is three times as long as the Elusive itself, using thousands of hydrophones to detect submarine presence at up to forty kilometers away (ca. 28 miles). The TB-163 uses a strong steel line to ensure that it doesn’t snap, although this could be potentially dangerous to the crew if its used stupidly. The Elusive also has another towed array called the TB-87 which focuses on shorter distances, using powerful hydrophones to detect close enemies.
Macabee ships use the MRT-1 RADAR system to detect enemy aerial assets anywhere from 120 kilometers minimum to 700 kilometers maximum; depending on the circumstances, stealth levels, and altitude. The MRT-1 use a very powerful super computer and several screens to detect, filter, and portray enemy aerial assets. Based of the TENEX SPY-6 this well built system is, again, one of the better ones in use around the world, and provide the Macabees with a reliable early warning system.
Additionally, Macabee ships integrate the MRT-4 RADAR system which was built to focus on sea-skimmers. RADAR radio waves are able to catch both missiles and other objects, such as waves, and filter what is a wave, and what is a missile; and quite easily, and through regular technology. Simply, by using a supercomputer and C based program, the computers can detect range, vector, and velocity – hence, it can distinguish what is a missile or aircraft, and what isn’t. A wave doesn’t last at the same altitude, velocity and vector for ever – the wave falls short quite quickly – while a missile lasts in the air for quite a while (of course). Hence, it wasn’t too difficult to design a system capable of picking sea-skimmers up.
Finally, the Macabee ships include an MLT-1 LIDAR system which as a range of about 250 kilometers (165 miles). The MLT-1 uses regular LIDAR to detect range, Doppler LIDAR to detect velocity, and DIAL LIDAR to detect chemical composition. The newer Gaussian LIDAR system used by Macabee ships has two charged plates placed parallel to each other, one charged negative, the other positive. This in turn begins an electrical current. The Gaussian system doesn't work on reflected waves. Instead, it relies on electrical impulses, rendering current anti-LIDAR techniques inefficient and obsolete.
Aircraft:
Each Elusive class Battleship has five helipads, under use by five Sea Serpent ASW (Anti-submarine warfare) helicopters. However, the Sea Serpents are exchanged with the custom Sea King IIs when sold abroad, but nations can always scrap the Sea Kings and provide their own ASW choppers. The Sea Serpents can be bought with the battleship; however, this adds an extra ten million to the price tag due to the price of the choppers, as well as just pure wage, rent, and interest.
Engines:
The Elusive class Battleship has two Valhalla nuclear reactors, allowing the system to be propelled at a very fast velocity of 39 knots, although this speed is rarely used in war (a task force can only go as fast as its slowest ship). The Valhalla nuclear reactors incorporate Baldur meltdown technology. The Baldur meltdown inhibitor uses sensors placed selectively inside the hull, close to the room of the nuclear reactors, to sense internal breaches, either by water pressure, or enemy pressure (missiles and other projectiles). Consequently, in case of a breech the Baldur is able to automatically shut down the two Valhalla nuclear reactors as quickly as possible, thus avoiding a catastrophic nuclear reaction.
The two Valhalla nuclear reactors use six screws to push the Rommel at the velocity wanted. Each screw has six blades, and are of medium size, however, larger than most of the screws used by the Ohio class Battleships. However, in order to decrease cavitation the Elusive has two MACCAVAB (MACabee CAVitation Absorbing) devices, which absorb the popping noises that bubbles make around the hull and the screws (known as cavitation). This technology was first begun by the United States Navy, but since then enhanced and improved by the Macabee Imperial Naval Engineering Corp under the pay of Valhalla Naval National, the sole naval production provider for the Macabee Navy. This makes the battleships much more quiet when under operations, although the battleships are still making noise.
Dimensions:
The Elusive class Battleship is three hundred meters long, thirty meters over its counterpart, the Iowa. It's waterline lenght is somewhere near two hundred and sixty meters, while its beam is thirty-two meters long.
Fully loaded the Elusive displaces sixty thousand tons.
EMP Hardening:
There are two things to consider when considering hardening targets against EMP. The first question to answer is whether the hardened system will become useless if shielded. The second question to be answered is whether the target is economically worthwhile to harden. The answers to these two questions are used to determine what devices should be shielded
To explain the first consideration, Makoff and Tsipis give the following simple example. If there was a communication plane with many antennas used to collect and transfer data, it would not be useful if its antennas were removed. However, to harden the plane, the antennas would need to be removed because they provide a direct path to the interior of the plane.(18) It is important to understand how the hardening will affect the performance of the hardened item.
The second consideration is very easy to understand. Some systems, although important, may not seem worthwhile enough to harden due to the high costs of shielding. "It may cost from 30% to 50% of the cost of a ground based communication center…just to refit it to withstand EMP," and, "as high as 10% of the cost for each plane."(19)
There are two basic ways to harden items against EMP effects.20 The first method is metallic shielding. The alternative is tailored hardening. Both methods will be briefly described.
Metallic shielding is used to, "Exclude energy propagated through fields in space."(21) Shields are made of a continuous piece of some metal such as steel or copper. A metal enclosure generally does not fully shield the interior because of the small holes that are likely to exist. Therefore, this type of shielding often contains additional elements to create the barrier. Commonly, only a fraction of a millimeter (22) of a metal is needed to supply adequate protection. This shield must completely surround the item to be shielded. A tight box must be formed to create the shield. The cost of such shielding (in1986 dollars) is $1000 per square meter for a welded-steel shield after installation.(23)
The alternative method, tailored hardening, is a more cost-effective way of hardening. In this method, only the most vulnerable elements and circuits are redesigned to be more rugged. The more rugged elements will be able to withstand much higher currents. However, a committee of the National Academy of Sciences is skeptical of this method due to unpredictable failures in testing.(24) Also, the use of this method is not recommended by the National Research Council. They doubted whether the approximations made to evaluate susceptibilities of the components were accurate. They did concede that tailored hardening may be useful to make existing systems less vulnerable.(25)
Cost: 5 Billion USD