|
||||
|
|
HYPERION HEAVY CRUISER
Even though Omega class Destroyers now represent the heart of the Earthforce Navy, Karmatech's Hyperion class Heavy Cruiser still plays a major role in the defense of Earth and her many colonies. Modern Earthforce Heavy Cruisers are powerful warships, 1,025.39* meters in length and armed with several large gun emplacements and a squadron of six Starfury fighter craft in her launch bay. The Heavy Cruiser is often the first ship sent into a hazardous situation, as it can deliver a massive weapons payload and has proven time and again its resiliency in battle. In the Heavy Cruiser's nearly 40-year long service to the Earth Alliance*, three variants and distinct subclasses to the Heavy Cruiser design have emerged. These subclasses consist of the following: Roosevelt, Hyperion, and . The Roosevelt subclass represents a smaller version of the Hyperion and is a scout class vessel, not a heavy cruiser and measured only some 600 meters in length.* The Midwinter subclass came into service as early as 2245 and was designed to replace the Hyperion as the dominant warship in the Earthforce Navy. Midwinter was larger than the standard Hyperion, measuring 1,188.7 meters and was the first line of Heavy Cruisers to incorporate the X-Ray Particle/Laser technology purchased from the Narns during the Earth/Minbari war and sported a modified plasma cannon.* While a handful of Midwinters were built during the Earth/Minbari war, following the end of the conflict the military elected to suspend their contract with Karmatech in favor of Rocketdyne's new Omega class Destroyer. Modern Heavy Cruisers are powered by three fusion reactors, with a energy output of 8.94*10^21 joule*, and an time average power output of approximately 191.7 Terawatts over eighteen months or 4,929 Terawatts under combat conditions, time averaged over three weeks. Ships propulsion is provided by three BB9K ion/particle engines** and a series of maneuvering engines strategically placed throughout the ship. Heavy Cruisers also have independent jump capability provided by three Lockheed-Mitchell Corp. vortex generators. Newer variants of the
Earth Heavy Cruisers sport an impressive new weapon array, which
includes two single function particle/lasers mounted on both port
and starboard sides of the ship**.
There are another eight medium Pulse Cannon turrets on the ships
ventral and dorsal surface and one double barreled Heavy Plasma
Cannon just above and behind the ships forward sensor antennas,
though and the Midwinter the Plasma Cannon was suplimented with
a newer Pulse Cannon** similar
in design to those found on the Omega class Destroyers When the Hyperion class Heavy Cruisers went into service in 2226, it was the most powerful ship in the whole of the Earthforce Navy. At that time however, Earth Alliance engineers had not yet perfected the drive shaft design required to build a rotating section on military ships. Thus Heavy Cruisers, unlike Destroyers or some Dreadnoughts, do not have artificial gravity. All of the officers, soldiers and pilots on board a Heavy Cruiser live and work in a "micro-gravity" environment. Do to the degrading effect upon the human body of living in a zero gravity environment, they can not perform long term mission and usually operate only near Alliance territories. Still, with the Earth Alliance constantly expanding, many of the warships in Earthforce without rotating sections have been equipped with a device referred to as the fairs wheel. This is a large rotating ring placed in strategic parts of the ship. Here, crew members can rest in a simulated gravity environment, provided by the centrifugal force of the ring's movement. These rings can hold between ten and twenty people at a time and all crew members are required to spend no less than one hour per day in the gravity ring. The fairs wheel enables the crew to exercise and maintain the strength of their bones, which can become extremely brittle in a zero gravity environment, after a given measure of time. Many of the cruisers used during the Earth-Minbari war are still in use today, such as the EAS Hyperion and the famous EAS Lexington which, under the command of Lieutenant Commander John J. Sheridan, achieved the Earth Alliances first and only major victory of the Earth/Minbari war. Like many of the Hyperion class ships, the Hyperion and Lexington have been upgraded with new weapons, armor and they will continue to serve the Earth Alliance faithfully in the coming years, as both escort and support ships for their successors. Following the refit of the old Heavy Cruisers, Hyperion class ships now have a tactical capability that puts them on par with almost any other ship in service today. It should be noted however that Heavy Cruisers are still far less powerful than the new Omega class Destroyers as illustrated when the EAS Alexander destroyed the Heavy Cruiser Clark's Town with one shot from her aft particle/laser. [*Size
as stated by Tim Earls.] |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
