Titan Class Dreadnaught

Though still retaining the designation of a dreadnaught, the Titan class of the fourth and fifth generations fit more easily into the role of fast battleships. Begun under the reign of the Terran Emperor Traian, the Titan class was designed as a compact, efficient close engagement brawler capable of standing toe to toe with even Mykentian Second Republic capital ships. Due to the energy refracting composite armor used by Mykentian ships, the Titan was equipped with exceedingly powerful dual use railguns that could be switched to particle beams. Considered by many to be obsolete off the drawing board due to its reliance on robust, mechanically driven systems and multiple redundancies, the Titan class more than proved itself during the Monsos War. While most classes of ships suffered horrifying losses during the war, over eighty percent of the Titan’s in service either survived, or were able to be returned to service following repairs. This survival rate made Titan’s one of the most sought after postings in the Imperial fleet.   Immediately following the Monsos War, a comprehensive refit and structural redesign was ordered, resulting in the massive structural members of the original design being replaced with lighter weight box frames. Combined with the now available composite armor reducing the need for heavy ablative armor and new ion and gravitic drive systems, the Titan’s handling and acceleration dramatically improved.   Internally modular, with rails to support various self contained compartments, the Titan’s were easily upgradable, with even first generation ships remaining in service through the Second Enmalex War.      

ORIGINS

In 824 MY the Terran Emperor Traian was presented with the proposal for the new Delta class warship. As an expanded and upgraded form of the Gamma class then in service, which was itself a revision of the Beta class, the Design Board considered the design safe and conservative. Traian, who was in the midst of a major restructuring of the Imperium, saw no reason to simply build a bigger and better version of a design that had already been in service for over a century. Furthermore, in spite of being designed as refinements of previous generations, no components were interchangeable between the existing classes, and even many ordinance types were class specific.   Traian called for the development of a new generation of ships, built with a common, standardized design that would simplify both manufacture and logistical support. Each class would also have to be easily upgradeable, with a planned operational lifespan of one hundred years.    

Dreadnaught Plan

Within weeks of the order, the Design Board and Admiralty jointly presented the emperor with the rough outline of the Second Generation Fleet. Centered on task forces based on a new heavy battleship, the fleet was intended to provide the maximum flexible response possible and allow for rapid redeployment of forces. The emperor immediately focused his attention on the new battleship, pointing out that it would have to be able to stand toe to toe with Mykentian ships that were larger, more technologically advanced, and more powerful than anything the Imperium could produce.   While the Imperium possessed many Mykentian ships and had reverse engineered most of their systems, they lacked sufficient understanding of some of the systems, or the means to manufacture them. The inability to duplicate Mykentian shields or composite armor would mean the new battleship would have to be massively armored. The emperor mentioned that this made the new battleship rather similar in concept to the historical HMS Dreadnaught. The Design Board opted to give the new ship the designation of dreadnaught, rather than battleship to emphasize its revolutionary nature. Furthering this idea, the emperor suggested that they abandon the previous naming scheme and name this new class “Titan.”    

Design Requirements

The new Titan Class would have to be able to withstand any attack, by any known and understood weapons system. It would also have to be able to engage an enemy at any range, while also serving as the command ship for the task force. The Design Board would set up a new project to design the new ship on a rather rudimentary station in orbit of Saturn’s moon Titan. This would allow them to work both in secrecy and in isolation from other design programs. They would focus their efforts on three areas: platform survivability, power, and redundancy.    

Survivability

Many would later comment that the first generation Titan was “essentially a stupendous block of armor that had been drilled out to turn it into a warship.” While inaccurate, it does capture the immense effort that was put into ship survivability   The outer layer of armor was a titanium based composite alloy five centimeters thick. This in turn was backed by a layer of Kevlar over a metallic foam, also five centimeters thick to absorb projectiles which penetrated the outer armor. This would be repeated five times before reaching the primary belt armor, which in most places was one meter thick. The internal volume was divided into sixteen damage control zones, each with independently powered life support systems, a damage control center, and divided by twenty centimeter thick armored bulkheads. These were in turn divided into a total of over one hundred individual damage control compartments, divided by ten centimeter armored bulkheads. Internal spaces within the compartments were walled with two centimeter armor plate. A central armored citadel, walled with fifty centimeter plate contained CIC, primary fire control, primary damage control, and the primary servers needed to coordinate the various systems.   Automatic armored doors provided access between the various sections. These could be controlled from damage control, manually with a switch at the door itself, or by the local sensors attached to the door mechanism. With the goal of providing the maximum reliability possible from the design, these doors were purely mechanical. The sensors attached to the bulkhead were simple pressure and temperature gauges, set to trip a mechanical switch if they detected a drop in pressure or significant increase in temperature. Upon activation, four hydraulic pistons would push the door closed, initially slowed by a spring mechanism above and below the door to give time for crew to escape. The door would slam closed over the last five centimeters of travel with enough force to sever virtually anything in its path. The automatic doors could then be opened at the panel by activating an electrical motor attached to a driveshaft that would pull the door open. If power was not available, a hand crank was located on the bulkhead that could be connected to a cam gear to open the door manually.   Long corridors and several critical areas were also equipped with, for a Titan, lightweight flash doors that were triggered automatically by either temperature or pressure increases to contain fire or explosions. In corridors the doors were locked in the open position until activated, but other areas such as CIC had them closed at all times, opened by a button on the bulkhead.    

Power and Redundancy

The Titan class would be the first Imperial ship to utilize a plasma power distribution system. Plasma generated by the fusion reactors would be directed through conduits that ran throughout the ship in an interconnected loop. Unlike Mykentian ships using a similar system, the Titan used solid conduit, containing the energized plasma inside with physical magnets that could not be disrupted by EMP or power dropouts. Spaced along the conduits were power couplings, utilizing simple superconducting thermocouples to provide electrical power to the nearby systems. After running through the complete loop, plasma would then be fed back through the reactor to be re-energized.   Shipboard power was provided by two fusion reactors in the engineering section, though cross-connects to the reactors for the jump and propulsion systems were installed as added redundancy, as well as a smaller, backup fusion reactor in the forward section.   In the event of a complete power failure caused by the stalling of the delicate fusion reactors, they could be restarted using the plasma from within the conduits, or by redirecting the high energy plasma stored for use by the jump system into the reactor to jump start it. In the event this was not available, the Titan was also equipped with a fission reactor that, if run at maximum output could provide enough power to restart a single fusion reactor. However, the wiring to provide this power was run only to the two shipboard power reactors as the fission plant was designed primarily to provide electrical power as a backup to the plasma distribution system.      

Design Iterations

 

First Generation

Weaponry: 54 x 30 cm Imperial Pattern railguns in single mount ball turrets, 16 missile launchers in retractable mounts, 4 heavy plasma cannon in fixed forward mounts
Power system:
    Primary: Fusion
    Secondary: Gravitic
    Tertiary: Fission with Battery backup for essential systems
Propulsion: Plasma Drive      

Second Generation

Weaponry: 108 x 10 cm Thomason Pattern railguns in dual mount ball turrets, 8 multiple missile launchers, 4 heavy missile launchers
Power system:
   Primary: Gravitic
   Secondary: Fusion
   Tertiary: Fusion with Battery backup for essential systems
Propulsion: Gravitic with ion assist      

Third Generation

Weaponry: 90 x 10 cm Thomason Pattern railguns in triple mount ball turrets, 6 multiple missile launchers
Power system:
   Primary: Gravitic
   Secondary: Fusion
   Tertiary: Fusion with Battery backup for essential systems
Propulsion: Gravitic with ion assist      

Fourth Generation

Weaponry: 114 x 10 cm Thomason Pattern railguns (90 triple mount forward, 24 dual mount aft), 8 multiple missile launchers, 4 heavy launchers
Power system:
   Primary: Gravitic
   Secondary: Fusion
   Tertiary: Fusion with Battery backup for essential systems
Propulsion: Gravitic with ion assist      

Fifth Generation

Weaponry: 86 assault launchers, 6 light Lucifer pulse cannon, 4 heavy assault launchers
Power system:
   Primary: Quantum
   Secondary: Gravitic
   Tertiary: Fusion with Battery backup for essential systems
Propulsion: Gravitic with ion assist      

Noteworthy Ships

 

7 - Balchder Harlech

   

42 - Old Reliable

Commissioned August 26, 841 (2239), Titan-42 would become the Titan in service for the longest continuous period. She would be involved in the 2nd Imperial War, Monsos War, Antoskan Wars, Galatian War, Domian Reformation, and both Enmalex wars. Battle history would include Battle of Terra, Battle of Mykentia, and Battle of Pergamia.    

118 - Endurance

Battle history includes Battle of Terra, Battle of Vaga Imbrium, Battle of Mykentia    

975 - Ironsides