Semovente-class battlecruiser

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Semovente-class battlecruiser
Semovente2.png
General Information
Armaments
1x Voight-Nakamura heavy railgun
4x 360mm rapid-fire torpedo ports
18x 40mm point defense cannons
Crew
240 Standard
50 Skeleton, limited functionality
Associated Factions
Status Information
Home Reality

The Type 504 Railgun Battlecruiser, more commonly known as the Semovente-class battlecruiser, is the mainstay capital ship of the New Order Navy. Introduced shortly before the start of the New Order's conflict with the Free States Alliance, the Semovente-class became well known as an exemplar of the New Order's military and technological prowess, and as a symbol of Sefer Yeztirah's ever-expanding rule.

Design[edit | edit source]

The Type 504 is widely considered to be the fastest known warship of its type, with a rate of acceleration matched only by smaller corvette and gunboat types. The Square-cube law demonstrates that as a ship gets larger, it becomes exponentially more and more difficult to accelerate; the Type 504 was designed to exploit this fact by avoiding all unnecessary weight, creating a warship capable of going toe-to-toe with rival battlecruisers in terms of firepower, but far outpacing them in terms of speed. This design philosophy came about owing to the expectation that the New Order would be forced into adopting a strategy of hit-and-run attacks against the far larger Free States Alliance.

The Type 504 possesses a set of four interlinked drive nacelles which can automatically adjust their thrust volumes to compensate for changes in the ships' centre of mass; these nacelles are bidirectional, allowing the Type 504 to accelerate 'backwards' without needing to turn and re-orient itself in that direction. In practice, this ability is commonly used by commanders to 'pull backwards' from engagements whilst keeping the central railgun pointed at a target, allowing these ships to exploit their superior weaponry without giving enemies the ability to 'close in' and use their own weapons.

Armament consists of four 360mm rapid-fire torpedo tubes ports used for engaging long-range threats, as well as the signature Voight-Nakamura heavy railgun, renowned for its ability to penetrate any known shielding or armament in a single blow. The heavy railgun is often mistaken for being the class's primary long range weapon; being mounted to the ship's spaceframe and being therefore reliant on the ship's rotation to aim, it actually possesses insufficient accuracy for long-range engagements, which is where the class's torpedo suite instead comes into play. The class also possesses a suite of 40mm point-defence cannons for intercepting incoming munitions and fighters.

Like all modern New Order vessels, the decks on the Type 504 are arranged perpendicular to the direction of travel rather than parallel; a crewman standing on the bridge of the ship will have their top of head pointing towards the 'front' of the ship and the soles of their feet pointing towards the 'rear'. This drastically reduces artificial gravity requirements as the acceleration of the ship will naturally 'push the floor up' against the crew, simulating gravity; conversely, when the ship uses its forward-facing thrusters, all crew must anchor themselves securely as otherwise they will 'fly upwards' and impact the ceiling. The majority of the seats throughout the ship are on mechanical gimbals and will orient themselves correctly during deceleration and turns.

The Type 504's immense power generation requirements are met by two fusion reactors, each linked to a pair of radiator panels used to vent waste heat from the vessel. These radiator panels also serves to reduce the mass of the vessel significantly, when compared to the internal heat-sinks more commonly used by comparable vessels. If thees radiator panels are sufficiently damaged, the ship will need to scale down its power consumption in order to avoid catastrophic overheating.

Combat History[edit | edit source]

The Type 504 has seen use in every naval engagement of the conflict so far. During the opening months of the war, hit-and-run attacks by these then-unknown ships inflicted considerable damage of the naval forces of the Free States Alliance, targeting shipyards as well as repair and resupply facilities with a view towards reducing the FSA's numerical advantage over the New Order. The first Type 504 to be lost in action was the ONV Semovente, which was destroyed by Admiral Perseus of the Malchiorian Navy; the FSA then began to refer to Type 504s as Semovente-classes, a designation the New Order themselves soon after adopted in honor of the fallen warship and her crew.

Notable Ships[edit | edit source]

  • ONV Semovente - the first Semovente-class warship to be lost in action, and the retroactive namesake of the entire class.
  • ONV Adriatica - flagship of Arc Valorus, who unsuccessfully attempted to capture Klak and was later killed aboard this ship.
  • Arc Judmon's flotilla:
    • ONV Ban Seed - Arc Judmon's flagship
    • ONV Ban Hama
    • ONV Ban Mora