Guide:Djartanna: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 04:37, 19 August 2014
| Djartanna class destroyer | |
| Djartanna | |
|---|---|
| Class Overview | |
| Category | Destroyer |
| Operational | 2139 - 2162 |
| Constructed | 316 total:
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| Dimensions | |
| Length |
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| Beam |
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| Height |
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| Mass |
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| Performance | |
| Cruise Speed |
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| Max Speed |
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| Endurance |
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| Complement | |
| Officers | 8 |
| Enlisted | 50
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| Tactical Systems | |
| Beam Weapons | Original:
Romulan War refit (select ships):
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| Missile Weapons | Original:
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| Shields | |
| Auxiliary Craft |
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| Historical | |
| Ships of Note |
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| Canonicity | |
| Design | ENT |
| Name | FASA |
| History | FASA
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Coping with the expansion of colonized space was largely a theoretical exercise for the UESF of the early 22nd century. Out of the roughly 5,000 warp vessels built by Earth so far, some fifty were battleworthy interstellar combatants within range of colonial holdings, ‘range’ being generously defined as a response time of less than a year. A further hundred could be deployed for battle across ‘short ranges’, yet even the major off-Sol colonies at a Centauri lay outside these parameters. Rather than attempt to increase the strength or range of the interstellar response fleet, UESF found it theoretically more attractive to build large numbers of local action warp interceptors. As some two hundred of such destroyer-type vessels would be needed to protect Earth, Mars and Earth Colony One alone, though, practical execution was beyond Earthly means.
Yet these were not the only means available for the Terran colonists of the a Centauri system. There had already been extensive technology exchange between the first settlers and native inhabitants, and the industrial potential of the Centaurans had surprised the Terrans over and over again. In the 2120s, joint ventures moved beyond basic colonial matters such as the construction of shelters, local transportation or water purifier plants. The first tentative deals were now signed between Earth and Centauri defense corporations to provide the system patrols with the necessary spaceships. Signatures by military authorities followed slightly thereafter.
Interstellar cooperation did not come easily, what with millennia of differing engineering traditions, economic systems or even units of measurement separating the two cultures. But Centauri Overseers were just as interested as UESF Command in providing a credible defense against alien cultures, especially when the Vulcans were taking an ‘actively passive’ stance on the matter. A destroyer design with Earth-provided warp drive was created in a joint program between 2136 and 2139, and fielded in large enough numbers to provide defense for both human and Centauran home systems and their respective primary colonies.
The basic hull shape of the Djartanna destroyers was a typical lifting body of Earth design. Yet when attached to the two rather gargantuan S40 nacelles with integrated ramscoops, the Djartanna was largely consigned to vacuum, and to relatively pedestrian maneuverability and impulse performace as well. A separable landing section was therefore designed for the vessels, a rounded pillbox shape fitting snugly at the bow. This armored sublight spacecraft was originally intended to be fully capable of transatmospheric operations. The cost of lift engines in terms of mass and manufacturing expenses was soon found to be prohibitive, though. The role of the section was redefined as emergency bailout module, and the space and mass margin reserved for takeoff systems was given to tactical systems instead.
As completed for the Djartanna (DD-88 in Starfleet registry, although such pennant paint was only applied after fifteen years of operations), the forward hull was indeed jam-packed with such systems, most of Earth origin. At the bow was the main deflector and sensor array; beneath, an Armscor 4 GW plasma cannon in a retractable, fully traversing turret; and general C3I systems, secondary polarizing rotors for hull armor, and fire control and atmospheric navigation computers distributed within the four-deck, 36 m dia. volume. This layout left little room for personnel spaces, mainly on the centermost two decks. The habitable part of the top deck consisted of the rounded navigation bridge, workplace for six of the ship’s eight officers. The pressurized sections of the bottom deck in turn were mere accessways to the plasma turret and other machinery.
A pair of corridors connected the pillbox to the surrounding greater spaceframe, allowing the 50 crew access to the main armor polarizers, the dorsal and ventral rapid-fire Almaz 2 GW plasma cannon, as well as the twin missile tubes that formed the main armament of the class. The interiors provided no relief to the berthing space problems, as whatever was left over from the tactical systems was dedicated to the threefold propulsion system. The S40 FTL engines could drive the vessel close to warp two, and theoretically enabled an interstellar scale of operations. Their power source was common with the sublight cruise system: a massive centerline fusion reactor that featured a main accelerator chamber directly aft and two repeaters farther outboard. For combat sublight propulsion and atmospheric maneuvering, a separate third propulsion system featured four gas-core fission engines in identical, rectangular pods. In emergencies, these would detach with the pillbox hull to give it initial boost toward safety. In normal operations, they would remain idled save for orbital insertion or separation boosts. Yet when engaging the enemy, the fission rockets would provide a crucial 45% increase in overall thrust for the integrated vehicle.
The RCS packages on all corners of the spaceframe were tied to primary hull control systems for maneuvering, as were the gravitically augmented gyroscopes for fine attitude control. From Vigilance subclass onwards, two further RCS units were added on the leading edges of the wings supporting the warp engines, and several collision avoidance radars installed around the hull. Another late addition was a series of glass bead dispensers for fooling enemy lasers and for quickly mining regions of space with shrapnel dangerous to small vessels. These replaced the berths for Rutan ‘Firefly’ spatial shuttlepods, forcing the Djartannas so equipped to rely on external means of crew transfer. While the arcane defense system did not do much good against large spaceships, it was still very effective against light and unshielded Romulan fightercraft. The polarizable hull surface armor of the destroyers in turn was immune to such threats, and allowed UESF to ditch several outdated concepts on space combat maneuvering dating back from the previous century and a half.
As many as 316 ships were built in all, in sixteen batches on five orbital dockyards in the a Centauri A and Sol systems. Each batch featured incremental structural improvements on the basic design. The communications media were eager to report the Mendor as the first ‘alien’-built ship to be officially incorporated into the UESF, even though off-Earth commercial designs had been in more or less regular use for half a century already.
Most of the destroyers operated nominally under shared command but in practice within either UESF or Centauri Guardian Forces. Optimized for local action and not for the long interstellar deployment runs necessary for war in the main fronts of the Romulan war, the destroyers held a defensive posture throughout that conflict. In 2158, when Romulan forces were feared to reach Earth, frantic measures were taken to step up local defenses, and numerous outdated Djartannas were summoned to act as shields for the Homeworld. They had served in this role with notorious indistinction during the Klingon and Xindi incursions, being far too slow to actually intercept anybody, and were eager to redeem their reputation now, patching up defensive holes through sheer numbers. Several engagements with Romulan advance forces ended in Romulan retreat, but Starfleet now had to assume the enemy had accurate knowledge of the inner worlds and their defenses.
Towards the end of the war, the ships were gradually replaced with more efficient designs that were better suited to the fast-moving offensives of the final war years. In 2162, the last Djartannas were retired as grossly outdated, and Marshall heavy destroyers were assigned to take their place in humble defense duties – a good indicator of the rapid pace of weapons development during the conflict.
Few other warships of a single type have been built for Earth or the Federation in such large numbers. The current Federation industrial infrastructure would be quite capable of fielding hundreds of ships a year in the modern destroyer size range (or dozens of ships per year and per star system in the Djartanna size range!) yet the military dogma do not include such massed use of manned spacecraft, nor the maintaining of large reserves of military vessels. Whereas the technology of the Romulan war era dictated that ships be available in quantity in every starbase, outpost and strategic target, current warp technology allows for the warships to be normally deployed on exploration missions far away from the potential war theaters. It remains to be seen if this arrangement survives the continuing expansion of Starfleet-patrolled space and the increasing of distances. It is possible that Starfleet in the future will be forced to adopt the garrison strategy favored by most of the ancient empires, despite its obvious drawbacks.