VICTORY CLASS DESTROYER

	class:	Victory
	type:	Heavy Destroyer
	length:	2,990.31 meters
	mass:	310 million metric tons
	crew:	150 - 600 persons
	troop:	2,000 [?]
	fighter:	56 Starfury fighter craft
	power:	Quantum Gravimetric reactor Fusion reactors
	duration:	20 years [?]
	weapon:	1 Super Quantum Discharge Cannon 8 Heavy Quantum Discharge Cannons 6 Heavy Neutron Cannon 12 Fusion Beam Cannons Multiple Anti-Fighter pulse cannons along hull Missiles [multiple launchers]
	defense:	10-15 meters re-enforced hull with Plasteel / Crystalline Armor mesh Tractor Beams Gravitic Defense Fields Minbari Stealth Device

The Victory class Destroyer was conceived by President John J. Sheridan of the Interstellar Alliance, to answer the new Alliance's need for a large, heavy assault capital ship with all the strengths of the Whitestar class Monitor and none of the weaknesses.  This vessel was designed in cooperation between the Minbari Federation and Earth Alliance, and incorporates the very best of both race's technology as well as the advanced technology gained from both the Vorlons and the Shadows.

At 2,990.31 meters* (1.857 miles) in length, almost twice the size of a Minbari Sharlin class War-Cruiser, the Victory class Destroyer has significantly greater firepower, and comparable speed and maneuverability to any other ship of her class.  Armor consists of a Plasteel/Poly-Crystalline armor mesh, again based on Minbari armor designs, capable of deflecting/refracting over 80% of all energy directed at the ship's hull *. In addition to having the toughest armor of any known starship, the Excalibur is also armed with the latest advances in defense grid technology that include a new countermeasures system that releases small metalic discs which can be fired from the ship. These discs break energy weapons down to their various frequencies*. In normal space, the Excalibur has a maximum safe velocity of 3,000,000 m/s, but can obtain higher velocities in hypespace.**

It had been the intention of the ISA to provide the Victory class vessels with Vorlon bio-armor and shields, which would make the Victory class Destroyers more than a match for any starship traveling the space ways today.  Unfortunately, due to a recent Drakh attack on the planet Earth, the surviving prototype Destroyer "Excalibur", was forced to forgo her scheduled stop over on Minbar and was rushed right into service.  This decision was based upon the Victory class Destroyer's impressive performance during the battle with the Drakh, and the fact that it would take months to grow and merge Vorlon bio-armor over the hull of the new Destroyer... time the ISA did not have if they were going to find a cure for the biogenic plague released on Earth*.

Victory class Destroyers are armed with newer, more powerful variants of the heavy Fusion beam cannons, Anti-Neutron particle weapons, phalanx plasma defense turrets and antimatter bolt cannons, as well a the infamous Quantum/Gravitic discharge cannon sported by the Whitestar fleet, with a LOW-END output of 2,000 Terawatts - 2.0*10¹⁵ watt . *  This beam is probably more powerful, given that it  vaporized a Drakh Raider occored in a fraction of a second and the beam continued on for hundreds of kilometers. If comprised of matterials much stronger than iron (our base matterial for determining the low-end figures) and if comprised of technology and armor superior to that of the Minbari, the output of this weapon would be on a scale of 1.6*10¹⁷ watt .  It was also seen that the Victory is apparently armed with a heavy assault cannon, the most powerful energy beam weapon seen outfitted on a starship created by the younger races.

The main gun of the Victory class vessel is believed to comprise the total energy release of all power generated by the vessel's main reactor, and combines this massive energy discharge with a release of pure antimatter and the destructive force of the gravity based impact beam used to contain the antimatter stream, as well as several unknown principles unique to Vorlon based weapons.  Given what was seen during the weapons test phase, the main gun of the Victory class Destroyer is estimated to have a LOW-END power output 5 Exawatts - 5.0*10¹⁸ watt**.

Given that this weapon drains the Victroy class vessel of all the power generated by her reactors for 60 seconds however, we can estimate that the maximum output of this weapons may be between 1.06*10²¹ and 7.07*10²¹ joule.  This weapon can only be fired once however, as the power drain renders a Victory class vessel powerless for nearly 60 seconds, leaving the ship only her reserve fusion reactors to fall back upon **.

Information on this vessel is scarce at present, as the project is still in the testing stages and the base where the new Destroyers were being constructed were destroyed by the Drakh following the betrayal of the project's head Sam Drake. New fleet yards are being built and this new breed of Capital ship might be in service in as little as three standard Earth years.  At present there are plans to build approximately 800 of this class vessel, with each Victory class Destroyer possessing enough firepower to stand toe to toe with three or more enemy ships in the largest capital ship classification.

Only one Victory class Destroyer is in service at this time - the Excalibur.  The Victory herself, the namesake of this new class of warship, was destroyed when she rammed the bridge of a Shadow planet killer.  Newer production line variants of the Victory class may include the bio-armor that the prototype currently lacks.  More information to be posted at this terminal at a later date.

[*Size of 2,990.31 meters verified by Tim Earls - Visual Effect director for B5/Crusade and over rides Gideon's comment that the ship was one and one quarter miles long - he should have said one and three quarters.]
[*Refractive/deflective properties as stated in "A Call to Arms."]
[* Countermeasures stated in the episode "To the Ends of the Earth", released as a novel by JMS at www.bookface.com.]
[** Velocity stated in the episode "To the Ends of the Earth", released as a novel by JMS at www.bookface.com.]
[*Note:  Minbari do not have a complete grasp of Vorlon technology used in the creation of the Whitestar Fleet.  It is unknown how effective a job they could have done fitting the Excalibur with bio-armor or Vorlon shields.]
[*Low-End figures for standard Quantum Discharge Cannons based upon the vaporization of a Drakh Raider by this weapon in A Call to Arms. See "Excalibur's Weapons" in the SCIENCE section for more information.]
[**Low-End weapon output of main gun based upon the destruction of the asteroid seen in "A call to Arms", the episode "War Zone"See " For details, please view "Excalibur's Weapons" in the SCIENCE section.]
[**High end output based on the episode "War Zone" and the fact that Drakh ships are not made of iron. Questions regarding the main gun of Excalibur can, again, be found in the SCIENCE section of this site.]