Guide:Emmette

Emmette
Class Overview
Category	Destroyer
Operational	2123 - 2169
Constructed	26
Dimensions
Length	160.1 m
Beam	166.4 m
Height	36.0 m
Mass	96,800 mt
Performance
Cruise Speed	w 1.4
Max Speed	w 1.9
Endurance	6 months
Complement
Officers	8
Enlisted	50
Tactical Systems
Beam Weapons	2x 4.0 GW plasma cannon (dorsal midhull) 2x 4.0 GW plasma cannon (ventral midhull) 2x 2.0 GW plasma cannon (dorsal midhull) 2x 2.0 GW plasma cannon (ventral midhull)
Missile Weapons	1x fwd missile tube (w/ 35 fusion missiles) (ventral bow)
Shields	electromagnetic shield (22 T) polarizable armor on hull navigational deflector on bow glass bead emitters (on select vessels between 2142 and 2152)
Auxiliary Craft	none
Historical
Ships of Note	USS Jacari (NDD-16)
Canonicity
Design	ENT
Name	Rob Bonchune/Foundation Imagining
History	Timo

Background: The Hobbyist's Guide

The main military obligations of the UESF's early forerunner, the United Earth Stellar Navy, were in maintaining Sol system security and in protecting the ongoing exploration and exploitation efforts there. For this work, there were plenty of government spacecraft there that could traverse the intrasystem distances in a matter of days or weeks, ranging from lifting body interceptors based on Mars to vacuum-only patrol ships of DY descent. Yet timely defenses and disaster response called for insystem warpships as well. Due to technological challenges as well as the diverse operational requirements, it took a significant amount of time until the UESF could standardize on a single ship type as its patrol mainstay.

The Emmette military warpships were early on classified as destroyers, despite not being intended to destroy too many things during normal operations. Their designation was derived from naval tradition: their role was foreseen as the medium spacegoing warship, between the point defense interceptors and corvettes and a hoped-for new generation of space cruisers. Their hulls were built to be sturdy and capacious, able to accommodate many new internal systems if technological development so warranted. Their propulsion system was also generously engineered, with a single massive fusion reaction engine feeding from the direct power loop and two boosters with their own fusion reactors, augmented by four more environmentally friendly nozzles for landings and takeoffs.

Atmospheric operations were further facilitated by the lifting body shape, which featured two massive main landing legs behind smoothly faired hatches beneath the aft hull and a single centerline leg farther forward. The bow of the vessel was extensively armored with polarizable plating, forming a protective citadel for the crew. Lesser armoring was applied on the aft sections, the fuel tanks, reactors, and engines; direct hits against that part of the ship would be unsurvivable in any case.

Weapons were largely carried in long fairings that ran from the forward hull to the four auxiliary engines. Near the forward ends were twin mounts for plasma cannon, each featuring a two-gigawatt Almaz rapid-fire gun forward, and a four-gigawatt Armscor gun with a longer recharge time aft, plus a fire-tracking sensor in between. Forward and aft of the gunports were the cooling units of the cannon. A single missile launcher was also carried, but buried inside the citadel for the necessary hands-on operation and maintenance. The armored port for the launcher muzzle was directly beneath the bow; the bow itself held a navigational deflection field projector, one of the first to be installed on a transatmospheric Earth vessel.

Yet transatmospheric operations were but a minor part of the mission profile of the vessels. The 4W1200 FTL engines could drive the vessel close to warp two and theoretically enabled an interstellar scale of operations. In practice, top speed could not be sustained for more than a few hours, but there was enough endurance for a slow transfer flight to a nearby colony if need be. Primary combat and rescue operations alike called for a short warp jump to a location within a few lighthours at most, followed by precision sublight maneuvering. For the latter, RCS packages on all corners of the spaceframe were tied to control systems, but these would be covered by armored hatches for atmospheric ops and sometimes for combat, as well. Gravitically-augmented gyroscopes would take care of fine attitude control. Several cameras and radars were installed around the hull, but there were no structure-compromising portholes or other openings in the modern-looking armor; the only means of entry were airlocks in the landing pad bays, accessible from the surface via ladderways and their adjoining small lifts.

As an Emmette touches down at a Luna starport, size comparison can be made with typical light warp-augmented interceptors of the 2100s.

The 26 ships completed for the UESN were perhaps not as numerous as certain previous UEDP acquisitions, but were expensive and demanding construction projects nevertheless. They thus had to become a mainstay of Sol defenses for the following five decades. Technology moved forward in leaps and bounds in most areas, warp drive being a frustrating exception. Yet new warships were not being built: the Emmettes could be equipped with newer models of plasma cannon or targeting sensor, or given better life support or navigational software, but no funds would be forthcoming for the construction of all-new spaceframes. There was little need, after all. The Emmettes were holding up well, largely thanks to seeing very little action in the first place.

It was only in the 2130s and the onset of serious investment in Earth’s fledging interstellar colonies and alliances that the need arose for further defensive starships. The Djartanna class was a modest design optimized for mass production, yet essentially replaced the Emmette as the defender of Sol. A final few examples of the older type survived to fight in the Romulan War, and the last two units were not retired until 2169. At that time, they were simply relics of historical curiosity value only.

Gallery

• 
  Bow
• 
  Dorsal
• 
  Dorsal stern angle
• 
  Forward dorsal angle
• 
  Stern
• 
  Ventral
• 
  Ventral beam angle
• 
  Ventral stern angle
• 
  An Emmette class jumping to warp

Notes

• Memory Alpha also refers to this as the Emmette class ship. The novel Uncertain Logic refers to it as the Ganges class. Also note, the Warp Delta (so called because of production notes) is very similar, but is denoted as the Ganges class here.

• Based on their age and limited range, I've decided the Emmettes that continued operating post-war remained with Earth Fleet.

• The infobox must still be updated with Timo's named ships (only). (Remove this entire line when complete.)

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• Back to the Table of Contents
• Back to "Into The Romulan War"
• Appendix A: Of Ship Statistics
• Appendix B: Glossary
• Appendix C: Star Fleet Organization - General Outline
• Appendix D: Abbreviations From Outside