NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Well here it is, my first real attempt at creating a dreadnought. I combined many good things from my former vessels, especially the armour scheme. On the nanotube issue, I suggest reading this: http://www.ou.edu/engineering/nanotube/comocat.html. The plastic used on the ship has been upgraded severely, following the latest developments in aeroplane technology, Huzen Hagen gave me a most interesting link in April http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/leadingedge_20050317.shtml this link tells a short story about self-healing plastics, whenever the material comes into contact with air, a chemical reaction is triggered that will "heal" the wound. This works extremely well with bulletholes, shrapnel damage and other minor cracks and holes.

IC:
At a glance
Here we are today, presenting the latest naval breakthrough. I admit dreadnoughts already roam the seas lately, but a vessel this advanced, dare I say superior to all others is unique. The Apparition Class bears some of the most high tech features on the diciplines of detection, prevetion and protection. Several unseen in the world of shipping, and that is exactly why we, the Allied Guffingfordian Shipyards, are so proud of it. Though certainly not the biggest in the classes of known dreadnoughts, this ship packs quite a punch thanks to the enhanced Stantard Naval Armour Scheme© (SNAS) produced by Guffingfordians, in Guffingford. Aviation is added, weapon systems are top notch. An even more advanced version of Man-o-War is added, all I can say about it is: a downgraded stand-alone version of Blacksteel. Now, onto the specifications.

- Arthur Ballistan, CEO of Allied Guffingfordian Shipyards.

Dimensions
Length: 890.32m
Beam: 119.3m
Displacement: 1.720.117 tonnes
Draught: 24.7m
Maximum speed/cruise speed: 28 knots maximum/25 knots cruise
Crew: 8600 men, including 600 marines who can also be given various tasks.
Range: unlimited due to nuclear reactors provided food and other products are being transported to the ship.
Misc: double EMP hardened command towers; effects of graphite weapons kept to a minimum. Single EMP hardening added to other structures of the ship. Extra enforced armour against kinetic attacks.
Aviation: One flightdeck able to hold 25 naval fighter or naval fighter/bombers. Fully equipped hanger, repair bays, re-armament bays; 2 helipads with one fully equipped hanger.

Armament
Missile launching systems: VLS Launching cells, SAM batteries (Rosseau Missiles)
X-axis: (bow to keel) positioned missile batteries (anti-ship; submarine): 3×24 missile tubes.
Y-axis: (top to bottom) positioned missile batteries (anti-submarine; anti-ship; cruise missiles) 4×10 missile tubes
Z-axis: (left to right) positioned missile batteries (anti-air; cruise missile; anti-ship) 4×10 missile tubes on layer one
Total missile capacity: 2100 + 1 for each launching cell.
Guns: 4×21" ETC battlegun, rapid fire exhaust and hydraulic cooling system. Cooling fluid is pumped through small 'arteries' burned out of the solid metal piece maintaining a constant low temperature.
20×22mm anti-aircraft gun. Triple barrel firing mechanism, computer operated.
8×122mm coastal bombardment cannon.
8×455mm penetration mortar, coastal bombardment.
8-10-8 Torpedo tubes, 8 on the side hulls, 10 on the main hull; able launch Macabee designs.
2×96 ILMS MissileWatch anti-missile system on main hull; 4×64 ILMS MissileWatch on each side hull.

Armour
Armour: (taken from here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8803796&postcount=1).
Layer 1 (outside layer): A 10mm layer of polycarbonate, on top of that ultra hightech starlite (UHTS) 10mm and a fireresistant coating in addition to the 10mm of UHTS. The last two effectively destroy any chance from the outside to drop firebombs, or napalm on the ship. The fire-resistant coating prevents the fire from getting grip and the UHTS is a material that can handle up to 10,000°C temperatures a few hours. No fire can burn as hot as 10k°C, so the ship is pretty fire proof. An additional layer to absorb light rays can be added, but it is optional. Anechoic coating can be added in addition to the previous coatings.

Layer 2: 17.5mm thick strips of hardened steel cross-banded with titanium, also 17.5mm embedded in a layer of nylon, 12.5mm on both sides. This is the main ballistic armour of the ship, able to withstand the most common types of naval artillery and coastal guns. The energy of blasts is directed to shock brackets, and to the buckyball honeycomb structure of layer 3.

Layer 3: Honeycomb structure made of hardened steel, the plates filling up the holes are made of polycarbonate/nanotube composite 50mm in thickness, same holds for the honeycomb thickness. The plates are molten with the most advanced laser technology, and the honeycomb construction lies embedded in a layer of polycarbonate (on both sides 10.5mm thick). The diameter of the carbon nanotube hexagons is 25cm. Because the carbon nanotubes layers are. One honecomb structure is 4 meters wide, and 2.5 meters high, which are connected together by laser burning technology, and the gear structure.

Layer 4: Laser-burned layers of high-compression carbon nanotubes, each plate is 1×1 meter; connected to each other using the gear structure.

Layer 5 (inner layer): A 10mm layer of hardened steel, supported by bulkheads able to absord and redirect energy to the superstructure of the ship. Sensors are placed on the inside of the armour to quickly detect any heat changes, impact spots.

Bulkheads: 90 bulkheads on the X axis, 22 on the Z axis.
Reinforced bow; double hull; reinforced keel; reinforced rudders.

Detection suites
Surface Search and Air Search Detection Suites Direct Satellite datafeed; 'Man-o-War' active & passive phased array; Direct Satellite Uplink connected to Naval Command station(s); CELLDAR Active & Passive Phased Array; RADAR; IRCAN anti-aircraft warning system; Highland III 3D RADAR system.
Fire Control: Blue LADAR missile control steered missile firing management; 'Man-o-War' suite - active and passive phased array
Missile Control: CELLDAR threat assessment, thread identification; Sirius anti-ship missile warning system. LADAR II and infrared target locking. Active & passive phase array
Submarine Control: DETAR high frequency SONAR; Bow towed array. Buoy system connected to ship - passive and active phased array; submerged buoy system - passive and active phased array. SONAR and LADAR systems all included.
Weather observation post: 1 doppler radar; 2 satellite uplinks

Propulsion
3-6-3 Pebblebedded Barrow & Spencer 'Badloe' nuclear reactors waterjet propulsion powering up 8 five bladed propellors. Side exhaust system lowers the use of the rudder, increases stability and provides a more rapid course change. Three main reactors are also used for distillation of seawater, making it consumable. Each reactor is attached to a single shaft, powering up three five bladed rotors each. From the outside water is injected at high pressure at the exit of the rudder shafts, providing more power. The 4 outer reactors are attached to a single shaft, while the 4 inner ones provide power for the main propellors with 2 reactors connected to one shaft - 1 being used for all other power requirements on the ship. - Taken from the Toryu Class Trimerian Battleship entry with a few minor adjustments, which can be viewed here (http://guff.modernwarstudies.net/wbb2/thread.php?threadid=19). A quieted propulsion system and other features are added.

Computer systems
TACCOM, ANGEL, Highland artillery control; Man-o-War battle control and system maintainance; Man-o-War Damage Control & Handling.

Other systems
- Advanced towed torpedo decoy systems
- Anti-Torpedo noisemakers
- AN/SLQ-30 torpedo countermeasures system
- AN/SLQ-450 electronic warfare system
- Chaff launchers
- Graphite canisters
- Implemention of stealth features (whereas possible)
- SSTDS Torpedo defense system
- SRBOC 8-barrelled Mk 36 decoy launchers
- RADAR jamming
- LADAR deflection/absorpsion (whereas possible)

OOC2:
Comments, questions? Please post!

OOC: Not too shabby. Not shabby at all in fact. Certainly I would say one of the few 'Dreadnoughts' in the world that could go one against one with a Refitted Doujin (http://s7.invisionfree.com/FDI/index.php?showtopic=51) with an actual chance of not being completely floored.

Decent armour, a good reliance on missiles, could probably use a better CIWS and ILMS, but you have that compensated by a good missile armament. Could probably use a few more reactor sets too. The armour is probably too complicated to be easily repaired however, and even with the most advanced materials this lack of repair capacity will be a problem in prolonged engagements.

The only other major change I would make would be to go with lighter guns. Thirty inchers, though powerful, have such low firing rates and such stressful recoil that it will prove a long term maintenance problem. But whatever anyway, looks good.

EDIT: Oh, and one last thing, she is ridiculously underweight, I would try adding at least another million tons or so to that displacement :/

If you want, I may be able to do a 3D design of it on AutoDesk Inventor. Get me the sides, front and back, and top and bottom, and I'll try and make it. Nice job!

On the armour issue, I believe an msn contact of mine showed an extra addition to plastic that makes it regenerate. I will get back to you, because if it works with polycarbonate and the others, I have truly self-healing armour. Oh yeah, can you telegram me some information on the ILMS system, Huzen Hagen can redesign the whole CIWS thing.

Changed the displacement, forgot a zero there. And downscaled the guns :)

EDIT: Zeon, if you mean textures and such, I can arrange that.

I don't mean just the textures, I mean an entire, detailed 3 dimensional model. I can take screenshots of the ship at different angles and post them up someplace. You could just link to them here.

Impressive. A ship that combines the qualities of a battleship, a destroyer, and a light aircraft carrier. Plus those armour specs aswell, I'm trembling with fear of this ship!
Truly a fine ship to hit the seas!

ooc: I'd better get to work on a new battleship to stand up to that thing. That armour just seems invincible, i can't see away round that stuff

OOC: When will these be for sale? (and please tell me you will be selling them)

ooc: I'd better get to work on a new battleship to stand up to that thing. That armour just seems invincible, i can't see away round that stuff

OOC: Space-based kinetic energy weapons designed to strike ground targets, super capital ships stick out like a sore thumb.

OOC: Space-based kinetic energy weapons designed to strike ground targets, super capital ships stick out like a sore thumb.

OOC: Aye, or a tactical nuclear weapon... (though Tungsten Rods hurtling from space seem more feasible)

OOC: ILMS basically stands for Inner Layer Missile System, its not a specific system in itself but a descriptive (like CIWS) of certain types of weapons, namely, short range missiles designed to engage missiles and aircraft at close in ranges to the ship in a similar manner to CIWS.

These weapons are superior to CIWS with regard to engaging faster/more manuoverable aircraft and missiles as the rounds are more destructive and capable of course correction. RL ILMS's include the Raytheon RAM and the NATO Sea Sparrow (NSSM).

OOC: Space-based kinetic energy weapons designed to strike ground targets, super capital ships stick out like a sore thumb.
Considering you have about 30,000km worth of warning time with an unguided and rather inaccurate projectile, tungsten rods arent as scary as people think.

The armour is of an excellent scheme, but it's only about 5" thick and extremely expensive. It'll be untouchable to all the crap current navies use (except maybe the Shipwreck missile) but against a 25" shell or one of those huge missiles people like it's assailable.

Very nice ship by the way.

Considering you have about 30,000km worth of warning time with an unguided and rather inaccurate projectile, tungsten rods arent as scary as people think.

The armour is of an excellent scheme, but it's only about 5" thick and extremely expensive. It'll be untouchable to all the crap current navies use (except maybe the Shipwreck missile) but against a 25" shell or one of those huge missiles people like it's assailable.

Very nice ship by the way.

Well, assuming you've funneled enough money into sending rail guns into space by the same logic would you assume that said weapon had a very nice supercomputer running the targeting data? Add that to the fact that the Tungsten Rod will be traveling quite fast toward a relatively slow moving target.

Well, assuming you've funneled enough money into sending rail guns into space by the same logic would you assume that said weapon had a very nice supercomputer running the targeting data? Add that to the fact that the Tungsten Rod will be traveling quite fast toward a relatively slow moving target.
It doesnt matter. Assuming perfect accuracy from the launch assuming the ship maintained its current course and speed, it's still inaccuratte due to things like wind, rain, the atmosphere etc, and although it's fast it still has to drop a huge distance. Someone calculated it a while ago... from general orbit the SD would have about a hour or so of maneuvering time. Easily enough.

It doesnt matter. Assuming perfect accuracy from the launch assuming the ship maintained its current course and speed, it's still inaccuratte due to things like wind, rain, the atmosphere etc, and although it's fast it still has to drop a huge distance. Someone calculated it a while ago... from general orbit the SD would have about a hour or so of maneuvering time. Easily enough.

Hm, well could I get a link to said calculation? (Im not questioning your logic, I only ask because im working on a space weapons program at the moment.)

Hm, well could I get a link to said calculation? (Im not questioning your logic, I only ask because im working on a space weapons program at the moment.)
No I dont know where it is. Basically 36,000km is a long way to go, and it isnt going to be done instantly.

Remember, tungsten rods only make nice holes. They are solid pieces of metal impossible to aim accurately unless you intent to hit a stationary target. Because these come almost straight down, calculating their trajectory isn't really difficult. Besides, which military doesn't knock out enemy satellites (especially weapon platforms) prior to the real fight?
Kinetic weaponry may be effective, but because the armour scheme is specially designed for taking hits of concentrated energy (missiles/rockets/shells) as well as energy that goes into all directions (explosions), you will need mutliple KE weapons to do a significant amount of damage. And all the missile tubes will be fitted with Guffingford-Macabee missile designs instead of the standard Harpoon missiles. The Apparition Class will not be on sale, because that means I'm giving away a superior naval asset.

And thanks for the information Freethinker, I'll add it ASAP.

Remember, tungsten rods only make nice holes. They are solid pieces of metal impossible to aim accurately unless you intent to hit a stationary target. Because these come almost straight down, calculating their trajectory isn't really difficult. Besides, which military doesn't knock out enemy satellites (especially weapon platforms) prior to the real fight?
Kinetic weaponry may be effective, but because the armour scheme is specially designed for taking hits of concentrated energy (missiles/rockets/shells) as well as energy that goes into all directions (explosions), you will need mutliple KE weapons to do a significant amount of damage. And all the missile tubes will be fitted with Guffingford-Macabee missile designs instead of the standard Harpoon missiles. The Apparition Class will not be on sale, because that means I'm giving away a superior naval asset.

And thanks for the information Freethinker, I'll add it ASAP.

What about torpedoes? Specifically super-cavitating ones with nuclear warheads.

SuCav torpedoes, because they're basically missiles, need to carry more fuel than a normal torpedo, cannot turn and are extremely difficult to guide as everything gets distorted to hell once it leaves the SuCav bubble. Torpedoes on the whole may not be a bad idea, but this is heavily compartmented so the damage would be fairly localised. Generally nuclear attacks are responded to in kind... this is, of course, if you can get within range of the vessel to fire them.

SuCav torpedoes, because they're basically missiles, need to carry more fuel than a normal torpedo, cannot turn and are extremely difficult to guide as everything gets distorted to hell once it leaves the SuCav bubble. Torpedoes on the whole may not be a bad idea, but this is heavily compartmented so the damage would be fairly localised. Generally nuclear attacks are responded to in kind... this is, of course, if you can get within range of the vessel to fire them.

I only brought that up because the Russians developed one (looking for a link) that carried a small nuclear warhead specifically designed to destroy large ships. Right now thats the only solution I can think of as far as dealing with one of these beasts. Either that or have high altitude bombers drop laser guided HE munitions... And those would most likely be intercepted by fighters.

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