Triton-class destroyer

Triton-class Heavy Destroyer



The Triton-class Heavy Destroyer was a heavy warship class in service with the Allegiance Navy during the time of the Swarm War.

Role
The Triton-class was designed by Frasier Fleet Industries to fill the role of a fast, mobile ship-destroyer. They were capable of intercepting and destroying the majority of enemy warships. It had another role of supporting larger warships in battle, such as the Ares-class Battleship and Athena-class Cruiser. Its primarily offensive armament gave it a high kill/death ratio against other warships, specifically smaller ones such as frigates. It was able to recieve a large amount of punishment thanks to powerful shields and thick armour, and provided a swift weapons platform for destroying enemy ships. It was capable of rivalling most ships in its class and also larger ships such as capital ships. All of these factors made it one of the most powerful Allegiance ships for her tonnage as well as a sought after command. Often these ships were accompanied by smaller vessels such as the Apollo-class Frigate. It could also function as a rapid power projection platform, able to quickly deploy to trouble areas and subdue conflict with its presence, or at the very least, maintain the situation until the arrival of larger, slower vessels.

External Layout
Externally, the Triton-class was fairly standard for Allegiance ship design. She featured a long, narrow prow, supporting the main Heavy Particle Cannons. These were grouped into three groups of two, with cannons firing alternately. the prow was broken up into two sections, the larger upper one, housing four cannons, and the smaller lower one, with two cannons. Along this lower prow were six nuclear warhead launchers.

Aft of the prow, the ship was bulked out into the main hull. This section housed the vital ship's systems. Port and starboard of the main hull wer two 'arms' which jutted out, and allowed space for the six Heavy ship cannons. The arms stretched aft and provided a platform for the sixteen Particle Cannons, eight on each side, four above and four below.

Below these was the opening for the hangar, flanked on either side by the deployment bays. These provided shelter and protection for the exposed hangar. On the inside of these deployment sections were numerous hangars, containing Sabre Dropships or ground vehicles. Like all openings these were protected by powerful blast doors as well as energy shielding holding in the atmosphere.

To the rear of the vessel were the engines. These were mounted in two pillar-like formations and provided the immense thrust necessary to push the ship through space.

External bulkheads throughout the ship operated on failsafes and helped to keep the ship intact during heavy firefights.

Internal Layout
Inside the ship, the prow was mainly dominated by the Particle Cannons, their power capacitors and cooling systems. However, on the upper and lower prows where they met the main hull, were the majority of crew quarters.

Inside the main hull was the main ship systems and areas. The Bridge, or Command Centre, was one of the most important locations on the ship. From there, the commanding officer and command crew controlled the ship's functions, ranging from movement to weapons fire. It was situated right in the heart of the vessel, in the least vulnerable location. Situated throughout the ship were various smaller terminals from where the ship could be controlled, with the correct access codes.

Directly behind the bridge, though a few hundred meters further aft, was the main power core. Here, the zero-point energy used to fulfill the ship's immense power requirements was produced. The reactor was 323.8m across, 295.7m high, and took the form of a semi-spherical chamber with the core in the centre and struts forking symetrically in.

The main cargo bay was located to the rear of the ship, holding large amounts of ammunition and supplies. The main ammunition store for the ship itself was located between the upper and lower prow, protected by thick armour plate and several metres of other ship functions.

The prow heavy cannons took up more than a third of the ship's overall length, with little else besides in that area. The cannons had an almost direct connection to the core, meaning that their charge-up time was drastically reduced. Special capacitors prevented the cannons from being overloaded by the core's massive energy outputs.

Main engineering was located immediately above the power core. Catwalks and accessways from enineering allowed access to the core. If the core ever shut down, to do so would take 40 hours. SImilarly, to start up the core again, a minimum of 24 hours would be needed.

To the rear of the Triton-class were the engines. These provided the thrust necessary for the Triton-class to out-manoeuvre hostile warships. Like the Particle Cannons, they were stopped form direct linkage with the power core only by a massive capacitor, which allowed the regulation of energy to the engines.

Forward of the engines were the barracks and vehicle housings. These could accomodate an entire Army or Marine batallion and their attached vehicular force.

To the port and starboard of the barracks were the 16 Light Particle Cannon turrets and their controls. These had an indirect link to the power core unlike most energy-intensive systems.

On the ventral side of the ship was an opening protected on either side by large structures. The opening was the hangar bay, a long deck with a drop bottom at the end. Inside the structures to the port and starboard of the hangar were various other support hangars. On the bottom surfaces of these were orbital insertion pods for getting troops quickly onto the battlefield. There were two rows of six tubes in total, with three pods stored in each tube on magnetic retracting racks. When one pod was launched, another immediately slid down in its place.

Armament
The Triton-class Heavy Destroyer had a large armament geared towards defeating enemy cruisers. Mounted on the prow were six Heavy Particle Cannons, powerful anti-armour energy weapons. On the port and starboard bows were two rows of four turrets, 16 in all. These were Light Particle Cannon turrets, designed to blast through ship battleplate at broadside rangesand long-range. In addition, the ship's prow featured numerous missile tubes, firing anti-armour warheads. A number of these were adapted for the ability to launch tactical nuclear warheads. Scattered sparsely on the ship's surface were Heavy Cannons, which fired anti capital ship shells (HPHE). These were high-penetration, high explosive rounds designed to penetrate the ship's armour and damage it from the inside. Rounding off the ship's armament were the CIWS (close-in weapons systems). These consisted of Flak Guns and Heavy Machine Gun turrets, designed for intercepting incoming starfighters and projectiles such as missiles, shrapnel or debris. These weapons had neither the range nor the firepower for engaging armoured, shielded or anything further than short-range targets, so were reserved for fighters and missiles only.

Also for anti-fighter purposes were five prototype Particle Cannons with the ability to track small and fast targets- something previously impossible for such large weapons. These fired in rapid succession until they overheated or their target was destroyed.

The 6 Heavy Prow Particle Cannons each had an individual output of 500,000 Terajoules, 23.1 times the power of standard MAC rounds. As for the rate of fire, power was not the issue, but rather cooling. The weapons, unlike MACs, used directed energy technology, meaning they overheated. A single cannon could fire seven times before needing to pause to cool, but it could pause at any time in between. After a full firing sequence, the cannon would remain inoperable for three minutes at least before the barrel was cool enough to allow another shot.

Weaknesses
As the Triton-class focused on large targets, naturally the smaller ones were overlooked. Although possessing a decent amount of anti-starfighter weaponry, the ship was still vulnerable to starfighters, particularly bombers. This problem was exacerbated by the very small starfighter complement the Triton-class itself possessed. The largest warships such as Heavy Cruisers and Battleships could generally outgun the Triton-class.

Ships of the Line
(Not a complete list)

ANS Watchman

ANS Authority of Truth

ANS Monarchy

ANS To Darkness All

ANS Clarity of Peace

Shielding

 * The Triton-class gained shielding abilities from its the shield projectors, mounted at equal intervals along the ship's length. Powered directly from the core, the shields used up a phenomenal amount of energy- more than some planets.
 * Given that the shields of the Triton-class could withstand up to 350,000 Terajoules of energy per minute before falling, and a standard MAC round of the UNSC possessed approximately 21,580 Terajoules of energy, the shields of this vessel would be able to withstand 16.2 standard MAC rounds within a minute. Super MAC rounds deliver 21.6 zettajoules (21,600,000,000 Terajoules) of energy, meaning that the shields could withstand 0.0000162 Super MAC rounds per minute. In other words, Super MAC rounds could utterly destroy the Triton-class with one round. Nevertheless, the shields were remarkably powerful.
 * Given that the shields of the Triton-class could withstand up to 350,000 Terajoules of energy per minute before falling, and a standard MAC round of the UNSC possessed approximately 21,580 Terajoules of energy, the shields of this vessel would be able to withstand 16.2 standard MAC rounds within a minute. Super MAC rounds deliver 21.6 zettajoules (21,600,000,000 Terajoules) of energy, meaning that the shields could withstand 0.0000162 Super MAC rounds per minute. In other words, Super MAC rounds could utterly destroy the Triton-class with one round. Nevertheless, the shields were remarkably powerful.

Armour

 * The armour of the Triton-class was designed in layers, each with specific properties. The first layer was high-absorbent, heat-ablative armour plate that absorbed the blasts from Particle cannons and explosions. It generally performed well against projectiles although the faster velocity ones could penetrate this armour.
 * * The second layer was Tritonium, a metal alloy with hardness higher and reactivity lower than diamond. It was impregnated with a microscopic latticework of neutronium strands, providing a tough defence against projectile-based weaponry. High-penetrations rounds could not normally damage this armour sufficiently to cause lasting damage.


 * The third layer was a carbon composite that was tougher than most metals and specifically aimed at withstanding directed energy weapons and concussive blasts.


 * The next layer was a layer of Titanium, conditioned to strengthen it, impregnated with latticed neutronium filaments, an extremely dense solid capable of withstanding devastating assaults..


 * The final layer of armour is a layer of Boron Nitride. It can withstand almost any assault and protects the ship from dangerous radiation emitted from many celestial bodies, as well as the thermal energy generated from the ship’s re-entry into atmosphere.


 * Underneath this final layer of armour is a grid of energy shields which activate almost instantaneously once the external armour has been penetrated. These shields are not designed to hold up against enemy fire and so fall quickly in this event.

External Layout
The general layout of tne Triton-class was fairly standard for Allegiance warships. The prow of the ship was angular and narrow, supporting the main cannons which ran down through the heart of the ship.

Behind the Scenes
I designed this ship with a very human style in mind. It's supposed to be reminiscent of the UNSC ship designs with its prow heavy weaponry and vertical, column shape. I realised that when i squished this ship through the y axis it looked like a really cool battlestar. Wierd.