Gorgon-class Battleship

Gorgon Class Battleship

"We watched those three Covenant CCS class cruisers tear up nine frigates. I don’t know how many men we lost that day. All I know is that we were late.  So we decided to make them pay.  The captain ordered that we activate the plasma counter measures and navigated us straight in, Archer missiles firing away.  We may not have survived if the cruiser’s shields had already been knocked down, but our Archer missiles tore through them like a knife through butter.  And us?  They couldn’t touch us.  One battleship killed three cruisers, better odds than having three war-era ships against one frigate.  I think it was about that time that humanity began to realize that the tables had turned."

- Anonymous Crewman

Design
The Gorgon-Class battleship was designed in 2558, and the first one constructed made its maiden voyage in mid-2560.

For a battleship class, the Gorgon is fairly small, but just as well armed and armored, and has a curious design. Most ships follow a linear design, with engines to the rear and the bridge at the fore, with hangars and support bays between the two. The Gorgon, however, is the first human ship to have a bridge in the center of the ship.

Armament
The Gorgon is equipped with 6000 Archer Missile Pods. In 2572 these were phased out in favor of Mk. II Archer missile pods.

The rapid-fire MAC cannon has the ability to fire four MAC rounds in one charge, and can reload and recharge within two minutes.

Armor
The Gorgon battleship is encased in fifteen centimeters of Titanium-A armor, in addition to five centimeters of biosteel on the interior.

The biosteel is treated to be resistant to high-heat sources, having a melting point double that of steel (Approx. 5000o C).

Counter-Measures
The Gorgon is the first human ship with anti-plasma counter measures. In laid with the armor are magnetic cores that can disrupt plasma attacks from Covenant ships. These do, however, require massive amounts of energy and temporarily halt the charging of the MAC cannon.