Guide:Marshall: Difference between revisions
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Four aft-firing defense laser emitters were mounted at the stems of the nacelle struts, two per side, and four more divided across the main hull surfaces amidships. Two phase cannons at the bottom of the aft hull, below the shuttle hangar, completed the aft deterrent. But the main weaponry of the ships was directed forward. The modern command hull of the vessel was a hammerhead shape, 104 meters wide, nearly as capacious as the saucers of ''Tritons'' or ''Enterprises''. Instead of crew berthing spaces, however, it mounted command facilities in the center and groupings of laser emitters and phase cannons on the sides. In the event of catastrophic failure to the ship, the crew could be protected by jettisoning the nacelles, ejecting the antimatter ammunition and fuel, and finally by severing the command hull from the rest of the ship; the sequence would give the crew time to move into the separable section from their duties in the main hull. Theoretically, the command section could survive a landing on a class M planet, although the huge gliding parachutes required for securing the final descent were seldom installed on the ships. | Four aft-firing defense laser emitters were mounted at the stems of the nacelle struts, two per side, and four more divided across the main hull surfaces amidships. Two phase cannons at the bottom of the aft hull, below the shuttle hangar, completed the aft deterrent. But the main weaponry of the ships was directed forward. The modern command hull of the vessel was a hammerhead shape, 104 meters wide, nearly as capacious as the saucers of ''Tritons'' or ''Enterprises''. Instead of crew berthing spaces, however, it mounted command facilities in the center and groupings of laser emitters and phase cannons on the sides. In the event of catastrophic failure to the ship, the crew could be protected by jettisoning the nacelles, ejecting the antimatter ammunition and fuel, and finally by severing the command hull from the rest of the ship; the sequence would give the crew time to move into the separable section from their duties in the main hull. Theoretically, the command section could survive a landing on a class M planet, although the huge gliding parachutes required for securing the final descent were seldom installed on the ships. | ||
[[Image:Marshall.jpg|left|300px|thumb|Photographed from a viewport of her command hull, the main hull of ''USS Montgomery'' begins her fatal spiral down into the turbulent atmosphere of [[Galorndon Core]]. Fierce battles were fought in this system of seemingly zero strategic value, as both sides tried to perform wide flanking maneuvers. As it was difficult and risky to navigate more than a few lightyears at a time at warp speeds, stops at star systems like this were common and tempted both sides to deploy a ship or two to lie in ambush. The fortunes of war were unpredictable, and the warring sides abandoned the tactics after suffering heavy losses against unexpectedly powerful enemy contingents paying visit to the systems.]] | [[Image:Marshall plunge.jpg|left|300px|thumb|Photographed from a viewport of her command hull, the main hull of ''USS Montgomery'' begins her fatal spiral down into the turbulent atmosphere of [[Galorndon Core]]. Fierce battles were fought in this system of seemingly zero strategic value, as both sides tried to perform wide flanking maneuvers. As it was difficult and risky to navigate more than a few lightyears at a time at warp speeds, stops at star systems like this were common and tempted both sides to deploy a ship or two to lie in ambush. The fortunes of war were unpredictable, and the warring sides abandoned the tactics after suffering heavy losses against unexpectedly powerful enemy contingents paying visit to the systems.]] | ||
An incredibly heavy arsenal of warp-phased particle beam cannons (four Type A and six Type B weapons, rivaling cruiser armament) was initially carried on the ''Marshalls'', but the primitive shields of the Romulan warcraft proved surprisingly resilient to these weapons – it was generally felt that the added cost and complexity of the guns and their massive power systems outweighed their usefulness. The destroyers were crammed with weapons already, so later refits eschewed use of phase guns, leaving these destructive but power-hungry weapons to cruiser-sized vessels. Cruisers would indeed continue to feature these cannon as primary or secondary armament until the advent of modern phaser technology. | An incredibly heavy arsenal of warp-phased particle beam cannons (four Type A and six Type B weapons, rivaling cruiser armament) was initially carried on the ''Marshalls'', but the primitive shields of the Romulan warcraft proved surprisingly resilient to these weapons – it was generally felt that the added cost and complexity of the guns and their massive power systems outweighed their usefulness. The destroyers were crammed with weapons already, so later refits eschewed use of phase guns, leaving these destructive but power-hungry weapons to cruiser-sized vessels. Cruisers would indeed continue to feature these cannon as primary or secondary armament until the advent of modern phaser technology. | ||
Revision as of 06:15, 12 January 2014
| |
| Marshall | |
|---|---|
| Class Overview | |
| Category | heavy destroyer |
| Operational | 2156 - 2207 |
| Constructed | 36 |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 225.1 m |
| Beam | 117.0 m |
| Height | 45.5 m |
| Mass | 222,700 tons |
| Performance | |
| Cruise Speed | w 3 |
| Max Speed | w 3.8 |
| Endurance |
|
| Complement | |
| Officers | 12 |
| Enlisted | 145
|
| Tactical Systems | |
| Beam Weapons |
|
| Missile Weapons |
|
| Shields |
|
| Transporters | 1 4-person Personnel Mk-I pad |
| Auxiliary Craft |
|
| Historical | |
| Ships of Note |
|
| Canonicity | |
| Design | SFC |
| Name | SFC |
| History | SFC
|
Just before the outbreak of the Romulan war, the Earth government had agreed on the futility of the ongoing attempts at peace overtures with the brutal pirates and other space menaces. Instead, it decided to add an incredibly heavily armed ship based on emerging engine technology to Starfleet’s arsenal. The finesse of the Triton cruisers would be replaced by brute force, the optimized positioning of components by sturdy structures and heavy bracings. Four prototypes for the class were under construction when the Intrepid first reported on the Romulan raids. When the true extent of the Romulan threat was revealed, these ships had just been declared operational, and the UE government immediately mounted an effort to complete ships of this class in greater numbers. In this effort, Andorian (and later, Tellarite) economic help was important, a factor that led to strong popular approval on Earth of the proposed interstellar federation with these cultures.
The Marshall class destroyers relied on a Westinghouse twin-chamber antimatter-spiced fusion reactor, rather drastically different from the unit used aboard the Enterprises. A matter-antimatter ratio of 10:1 at cruise meant huge energy expenditure compared with the Enterprise ratio of 227:1. The SEMT ‘Everest’ coils were of conventional make, similar to the Triton PB-3 units at 100,000 tons apiece, and offered a cruise speed of warp 3 and a dash speed of warp 3.8. While these systems represented a crude force approach and were soon outdated, the reaction drive was developed to such perfection that no further technical innovations would be needed for some 200 years. Its two very narrow reaction engine nozzles were mounted side by side between the warp nacelles, and combined unprecedented thrust with an emission profile smaller than in any prior design. Between them, the powerplant, fuel tank and adjoining machinery were housed inside polarizable armor plates. In the aft part of the armored hull, a general storage area also featured a shuttle docking hangar, with a large rolling entry door above the fantail. The four shuttlepods sometimes gave way to up to six sublight fightercraft, found useful against certain types of Romulan threat.
Four aft-firing defense laser emitters were mounted at the stems of the nacelle struts, two per side, and four more divided across the main hull surfaces amidships. Two phase cannons at the bottom of the aft hull, below the shuttle hangar, completed the aft deterrent. But the main weaponry of the ships was directed forward. The modern command hull of the vessel was a hammerhead shape, 104 meters wide, nearly as capacious as the saucers of Tritons or Enterprises. Instead of crew berthing spaces, however, it mounted command facilities in the center and groupings of laser emitters and phase cannons on the sides. In the event of catastrophic failure to the ship, the crew could be protected by jettisoning the nacelles, ejecting the antimatter ammunition and fuel, and finally by severing the command hull from the rest of the ship; the sequence would give the crew time to move into the separable section from their duties in the main hull. Theoretically, the command section could survive a landing on a class M planet, although the huge gliding parachutes required for securing the final descent were seldom installed on the ships.
An incredibly heavy arsenal of warp-phased particle beam cannons (four Type A and six Type B weapons, rivaling cruiser armament) was initially carried on the Marshalls, but the primitive shields of the Romulan warcraft proved surprisingly resilient to these weapons – it was generally felt that the added cost and complexity of the guns and their massive power systems outweighed their usefulness. The destroyers were crammed with weapons already, so later refits eschewed use of phase guns, leaving these destructive but power-hungry weapons to cruiser-sized vessels. Cruisers would indeed continue to feature these cannon as primary or secondary armament until the advent of modern phaser technology.
A warp torpedo launcher was carefully shrouded by layers of armor at the top of the main hull, firing spatial torpedoes over the command hammerhead. Up to 400 warshots were carried, not quite as potent as the heavier projectiles of the Enterprises and modified Tritons, but devastating nevertheless when fired in rapid salvoes of four. Romulan projectile weapons remained weak in comparison throughout the war, yet were far from impotent when properly applied. In 2156, the brand-new USS Patton of the Marshall class (NDH-2201) was the first UESF ship to fall prey to the Romulans and yet be able to report it. The Patton had been patrolling the known Romulan areas rimwards of Triangulum Australe after the transmission of the first Earth peace offering, and was attacked by three Romulan ships, apparently a carrier and her two cruiser escorts on their way to Beta Rigel. Perhaps overconfident, CAPT Spadora decided to engage them at low relative speeds and bring her ship’s total firepower to bear on the targets at once. But Romulan lasers swiftly cut through the polarized hulls, and two nuclear missile hits amidships reduced the ship to scrap. The Patton still had time to send a subspace message of the attack, resulting in a declaration of war by Earth.*
From 2156 on, ship after ship of Marshall class tried to push through Romulan defenses to attack their capital ships in numerous major confrontations. Operating in conjunction with Triton (or, if available, Enterprise) class heavy cruisers, and sometimes with older long range vessels, these ships were also essential in deep space operations directed at Romulan staging areas and supplying posts.
But Marshalls were expensive to produce. At the cost of a Marshall destroyer, the Romulans could field twenty small bird-feathered missile boats that could wear down the mightiest of Starfleet vessels before perishing. Desperate for a decisive battle, the UESF sought Romulan centers of production, finding none, and hunted for Romulan carriers, spreading out its forces in the process. Meanwhile, Romulan forces pressed on, threatening Tau Ceti with a daring deep-penetration maneuver and raising concerns about a massive attack on Earth itself. The brief victories of 2159 temporarily halted this onslaught, but did not make the quest for decisive battles any easier.
The war could only end in one way, UESF admirals and generals said: a direct attack at the twin Trianguli worlds themselves, a terror raid that would “bomb the bastards to the stone age”, as the strategy was eloquently formulated.
Ten of the Marshalls that survived the war went on serving in the UFP Starfleet, with NCCs between 26 and 35. In addition, ten attrition replacements (NCC 34-43) were completed, and the class formed the backbone of UFP defenses against the Romulans until the introduction of more modern vessels in the size range. A major innovation introduced on the Marshall ships was the first truly effective operational version of the mass-repelling graviton/subspace shield, courtesy of the Andorians. Capable of countering both Romulan missile attacks and EM and particle beams, the shield was considerably more effective than the electromagnetic shields of the Romulan warcraft that had been fought against in the war, which could not withstand kinetic-kill weapons. The Triton and Enterprise cruisers were also able to accommodate the heavy shield generators and thus gained a new lease of life.
Following the turn of the century, the ships were gradually phased out. Still, a general shortage of destroyer-sized vessels meant that the last Marshall was not retired until 2207. USS Hannibal (NCC-29, originally NDH-2216), which served as Admiral Hamilton’s flagship during the war, is preserved on the Fleet Museum above Earth, partially refurbished to Romulan war era condition and serving as a war museum.
*Curiously, neither the Romulans nor the newly formulated and not yet completely official Federation Council ever formally declared war. Officially, the fight was between the United Earth Starfleet and space pirates known as Romulans, not between the UFP and the Rihannsu Star Empire.