Portanova Class Battleship

The Portanova Class Battleship is a space warship class designed and constructed for the Freethinker Commonwealth by the Zero-One MonoCorporation (01MC). Intended to defend Commonwealth-allied assets and project Commonwealth power, 01MC designed the warship around Commonwealth specifications, installed the infrastructure required for construction (a secure high-output facility under 01MC control), and trained Commonwealth military personnel in the maintenance (not the design, as per 01MC technological control policy) of its systems.

Statistics

Dimensions

Length

688 Metres

Beam

256 Metres

Height

223 Metres

Mass

2,221,000 Metric Tons

Crew Complement

454 (135 Officers/319 Enlisted)

Armament

Due to the needs of three-dimensional combat, the Portanova Class generally has its weapons arranged in three 'rows' of weapons, each rotated 120 degrees around its centerline from each other. Defensive armament is placed somewhat differently to ensure full coverage, both in line with the main battery 'rows' and on utility masts separating the forward and aft mountings.

Main

36 x 16"/40 01MC G/FACM-N/001 Forced Annihilation Canister Munition (FACM) cannon in twelve triple mountings (27 fore, 9 aft).

The FACM cannon fires a self-contained, self-annihilating canister of about 50% antimatter efficiency to generate a high energy (115 EJ) gamma-ray laser. The waste energy consists mostly of plasma bloom from the barrel (vaporized matter), waste heat primarily removed with said bloom using open-cycle cooling, and neutrino radiation. The magazines carry 17,280 Mk.7-16 Inch FACMs for a fire endurance of four hours at two rounds a minute, but slightly less than half an hour at a full fire rate of six rounds a minute per gun with all guns. Additional munitions storage is available in the cargo hold, but those FACMs are not available for immediate loading into the guns (albeit internal volume is designed to allow for the easy movement of pallets back and forth).

Missiles

60 x 01MC ML-S/305 Block F strategic (50 tons or less) missile launcher tubes in six blocks of ten tubes (two by five, oriented with short axis along the longitudinal).

These missile tubes were originally intended to launch 01MC M-S/305 fifty-ton strategic missiles but have been modified to accept almost any strategic missile under 50 tons and within volume restrictions of 20 m in length and 3 m in diameter.

Self Defence

20 x 01MC L-BB/1G 1GW point defense broadband lasers in 5m diameter effective-lens domed housings, 420 x 01MC D/L-BB/300 "Brilliant Pebbles" expendable bomb-pumped laser drones

These active defensive systems are primarily designed for use against light craft and missile interception, with an emphasis on multipurpose operation. The broadband lasers can be used at extended ranges to dazzle the homing heads of infrared, microwave, and radar guided missiles and thus mission-kill them, or burn through them at x-ray frequencies at closer range. They are mounted in dome-like adaptive optic housings for hemispherical fire arcs and powered by six beam engines ensconced under the internal armor layer. The "Brilliant Pebbles" laser drones are essentially five-ton medium delta-V flying high-megaton atomic weapons with multiple peripheral emitters (for anti-fighter use) and one core emitter (for anti-capital use). They may be seeded as mines or deployed in an extended point-defense 'cloud,' and are mounted as clusters of blisters clamped to the outside of the outer spaced armor baffles. They can be retrieved, assuming sufficient delta-V, but are generally intended to be expendable and reproducable inside the Freethinker Commonwealth's native technological base (outside of the logic cores, which are provided by extended Zero-One MonoCorporation contract).

Electronics

Sensor systems

01MC HW/SENS-N/801 "SitAware" space sensors package (phased array-based RADAR, LIDAR point modules, gravimetric sensor bands)

The SitAware 801 package is a full-ship sensor system covering all major methods of threat detection and analysis to provide a battlespace situational awareness sufficient for Portanova's mission. While not an exceptional sensor package, it is sufficient to detect mobile threats (on average) at distances twice its maximum FACM beam cohesion range and provides sufficient measurement accuracy for long range (hyperbolic approach) missile deployment against orbital and surface targets.

Command/Control

01MC C-MO/C3-N/203 "Battle Organizer" central computer and fire control network

The Battle Organizer system ties the entire ship together to allow for a high level of automation in the acquisition and tracking of targets, although stopping short of having full command authority. Unusually (yet like most 01MC battle control networks) the Battle Organizer is not tied directly into ship sensors or communications systems, instead communicating with those segregated computer systems through a limited-message mechanoptical relay system to eliminate the likelihood of remote cyberwarfare. The Battle Organizer can identify targets based off of sensor feeds, prioritize them based on case-study and simulation, and display these results with verbosity ranging from quick summary to full detail. Physical architecture as a distributed network increases survivability and allows for near-full operation even while damaged at the expense of greater load and slower reaction times. Tactical programming follows a 'natural English and drawing board' method which allows the system to execute complex orders independently if crew coordination or response time is insufficient.

Electronic Warfare

01MC C-MO/EW-N/142 "Sand Thrower" EW central controller, various communications/EW blisters and antenna farms, tie-in to broadband lasers, six optical chaff canister launchers, and three decoy launchers.

The Sand Thrower computer system coordinates all ECM and ECCM activity, either under crew guidance or using internal optimization control to neutralize threats and maximize advantage. It contains several classes of Zero-One Network Security-approved combat knowbots for offensive and defensive cyberwarfare, allowing Portanova to 'hack' inadequately protected adversary systems. It can coordinate the efforts of the point defense lasers to spoof, dazzle, blind, or completely burn out enemy radars and schedule the deployment of optical chaff for maximum effect against expected energy weapon salvos. It can also coordinate the actions of its three decoy drones to confuse enemy smart missiles designed to detect 'ordinary' decoy movement. Any and all of its functions can be overridden and controlled by the crew, albeit at the probable expense of reaction time.

Propulsion

Powerplant

3 x 01MC PP/F-H2/200G 200 GW diatomic hydrogen open-cycle light-element fusion plants, distributed network of batteries and capacitors for emergency and 'dash speed' energy storage

Portnova's three fusion reactors are primarily dedicated to propulsion power (528 GW at maximum sustainable burn) and point defense laser power (34 GW). Under normal cruising operation, only one reactor is necessary, although all three are generally operated at lower levels in order to decrease reactor spin-up time to full combat levels in case of emergency. The 10% antimatter efficiency reactors are powered by diatomic hydrogen kept in cryogenic centerline tankage, but cooled by flow-through powdered graphite stored in toroidal tankage around the liquid hydrogen, acting as both insulation and protection for the hydrogen tankage. Graphite was chosen for coolant due to its ease of production (with the right equipment, it can be harvested 'in the field', especially from carbonaceous asteroids) and storage (as it is generally inert). The three fusion reactors act essentially as giant resistojets, converting the graphite to plasma and expelling it out of several baffles in the outer hull, along with light metals from the fusion reaction. At full output, the reactors will each expend one thousand tons of fuel and coolant each per day; this allows them to be used as emergency reaction drives should the primary gravitic drive fail.

The Portnova Class carries sufficient tankage volume to accommodate eight months of maximum sustainable output (720,000 tons) but, as with all spacecraft, fuel mass can be exchanged for additional equipment mass at the expense of delta-V (or, in this case, endurance and range). Coolant and fuel usage is roughly linear to power production so at standard cruising power output only about four hundred tons are expended per reactor per day; fuel endurance increases appropriately.

Engines

1 x 01MC PO/GW-N/350 tailored gravitic inertialess drive (primary), 6 x fusion reactor open-cycle cooling vent (secondary)

The 350-series gravitic drive projects a non-inverse-square-law gravitational field in a 350-meter radius sphere around Portnova with a mild discontinuity at the edge, providing for near-inertialess acceleration up to the high three- and four-digit gravity range (some inertial effects due to relativity must be considered). This system can project variations in any direction and variation, making it a one-stop mobility solution allowing flight in any direction and both gross and fine orientation control. Backup systems consist of subgrav units installed around the ship; while still reactionless, subgravs are not inertialess and so their accelerations are naturally limited by the internal gravity system. Redundancy is naturally limited by the need for the gravitic core (for optimal efficiency) to be at the centroid of the ship; likewise, survivability is increased for the same reason. The GW-N series is designed for relatively simple "plug-and-play" maintenance even under combat conditions, so lack of redundancy is not considered an issue by 01MC at this time.

In case of irreperable gravitic drive failure, the fusion reactor vents can act as a standard reaction drive with a maximum theoretical delta-V of 7,900 meters a second.

Performance

~100-300 g cruising acceleration, ~600 g max sustainable acceleration, ~2000 g dash acceleration, eight months endurance at max sustainable output (barring mechanical failure), 7900 m/s maximum delta-V (reaction drive).

Armour & Protection

Basic Composition

High-quality structural steel hull with an internal steel armor 'bubble' containing the gravitic drive, reactors, laser engines, and CIC; external crystal steel carbide cermet composite for maximum ballistic and ablative properties with a layer of spaced cermet armor baffles. Internal spall layers of lightweight steel for both the outer and inner armor hulls; no spall protection for the spaced armor baffles (none considered necessary).

The passive armor systems emphasize energy dissipation over ballistic protection, given the low threat of low-speed kinetic kill projectiles and the growing abundance of high-speed kinetics and beam weapons in the modern threat environment. The armor cermet blend is intended to radiate absorbed energy with high grey-body efficiency; failing that, it ablates to 'evaporate away' energy from incoming hits. The layer of spaced armor baffles are intended to allow the Portanova Class to survive at least one more hit than it should; a lethal hull-penetrating hit would instead be expended and decollimated on the baffle, where spalling will have limited to no armor penetration on the thicker armored hull.

The ship's overall design is compartmentalized to prevent one-shot kills. Atmosphere bleed vents were considered an unacceptable and unneccessary penetration of the hull armor and thus omitted as explosive decompression due to puncture is an unlikely event, given that 30% of the Portanova's mass is dedicated to structure and armor; the Portanova Class is a superior pressure vessel to most submarines.

Active Systems

Licensed Cetagandan-pattern Langston Field generators for both fusion vent wall shielding and zero-in zero-out shielding with an estimated ultimate energy load of 1 EJ, 01MC DS/S-W-N/9102 wavicle shielding emitters, 6 x 01MC DS/S-G-PD/50 point defense gravitic 'wall' disruption shields.

The active protection systems are designed to maximize survivability at the expense of maneuvering and weapons power. The first line of defense consists of wavicle shielding emitters that can 'remote detonate' c-fractional warheads and disrupt beam and kinetic weapon collimation, making them less likely to permanently damage the armor on impact. The second line of defense consists of 20m-radius circular 'wall' gravitic shields that shred incoming weapons fire into completely decollimated microwaves through spacetime distortion; their small size requires that they be 'aimed' into position and with six emitters only four at most can come to bear at any given attack angle. Finally, the Langston Field allows for a way to disengage while under fire, although its primary role is to be constantly on to protect the fusion cooling vent walls. Once the Langston Field absorbs more energy than its ultimate energy load, the generator will overload and the field will collapse, directing the energy inward toward the ship. 01MC recommends the Langston Field only be used as a last resort when destruction is otherwise certain anyway.

Production

Program

Manufacture