User:Kaphraxus/Akkadia-class Heavy Frigate

'Akkadia''-class Heavy Frigate

Background
As the Human-Covenant War dragged on, UNSC HighCom needed a replacement for the paper thin UNSC Frigate that had proven to be next to useless against the alien juggernaut. HighCom wanted a cost effective warship that could at least hold its own against the smallest of Covenant ships. Thus the Akkadia-class was born, built off of the Heavy Frigate design introduced in Operation:TREBUCHET. The final version of the Akkadia-class was nowhere near as cheap as HighCom would have liked, so they were only built in small quantities. However, these vessels proved themselves to be a match for Covenant Frigates and Corvettes.

Layout
The interior of the Akkadia-class has less space than a comparable Frigate, this is to accommodate increased armaments and a larger MAC. However the interior compartments and the bridge are almost identical to their Frigate counterparts, if slightly newer. The flight deck has been expanded to hold 12 Pelicans compared to the 10 carried on a normal Frigate, this is to compensate for the lack of a central hanger bay.

Dimensions
Akkadia-class Heavy Frigates are slightly longer than their counterparts in order to accommodate the larger MAC. This puts them at a almost as long as a UNSC Destroyer, however, destroyer still mass more than an Akkadia-class.

Armament
A standard Akkadia-class carries far more weapons than a Frigate or Heavy Frigate but it still lacks the punch to successfully engage anything larger than a covenant frigate on its own. As a result of being produced relatively late in the war, these ships are armed with some of the latest in UNSC hardware. The two examples of this are the 12cm Mk. 35 deck guns and the MAC.

In order to supplement the power of the ships MAC, Akkadia-class vessels were equipped with twelve Mk. 35 "Mangonel" Mass Drivers. Newly designed by the UNSC and based upon the larger "Onager" these deck guns fire 12cm depleted uranium slugs at 11,000 meters per second. While they lack the range and power of a standard MAC, their small size allows more of them to be place upon a single ship, where their numbers can chip away at covenant ships.

The MAC of an Akkadia-class a new Type VI MAC, designed for use on destroyers, the Akkadia-class's length allowed for these MACs to be mounted in their superstructure. While doing more damage than a Frigates MAC, the Type VI also can utilize more than one type of ammunition. Specifically iridium cored vanadium-steel rounds, these rounds are designed for only one purpose, neutralizing Covenant shield systems. Upon impact, the vanadium casing superheats the iridium creating a powerful but short lived plasma discharge. These rounds are not as effective against hull plating because the plasma dissipates too quickly, therefore they are primarily used to disable a ships shields.

As well as the upgraded MAC and deck guns, the Archer Missile pods have been enlarged to store 50 missiles instead of the 30 carried by other Frigates.

Crew
Akkadia-class ships carry around the same amount of crew as a comparable Frigate, this includes a company of Marines and a squad of ODST's.

Superstructure
In order to increase the class's survivability, its armor was increased to 90 centimeters of Titanium-A and the superstructure has been re-enforced with cross braced titanium struts. The Akkadia-class boasts 15 centimeters of "Reactive" armor, this is designed to dissipate pulse laser and plasma damage before it can harm the vessel. It is quite effective but under sustained fire it burns away rapidly.