OBT Forum

Type: Armageddon Class Missile Cruiser
In Service: 2578
Number in Service: 12

Mass: 450,000 tons
KF Integrity: 10
Sail Integrity: 4
Thrust: 5/8
Fuel: 10,000 tons
SI: 75
Armor: 675 tons Standard Armor (45 + 8 per side)
Heatsinks: 1840

Docking Collars: 0
Fighters: 24
Small Craft: 2
Crew: 250
Lifeboats: 7
Escape Pods: 7
Grav Deck: 0
Cargo: 15,698

Bays:
Bay 1: Fighters (24) 6 doors
Bay 2: Small Craft (2) 2 doors
Bay 3: Cargo

Weapons:
Forward:
20 White Shark Launchers

Fore Left/Right:
5 White Shark Launchers
15 Large Lasers

RBS/LBS:
20 White Shark Launchers

Aft Left/Right:
20 Large Lasers

Aft:
10 White Shark Launchers
10 Large Lasers

Ammo:
800 Jericho Missiles

Overview:
The Armageddon Missile Ship is a radical new ship design that was proposed by Marshal David Santos of the Concordat Navy.  As war between the newly formed Star League and the Taurian Concordat became more and more likely, Marshal Santos began to study the situation and develop plans and ideas for the upcoming war.  While most of his efforts involved developing a series of contingency plans for responding to attacks by the Star League or the Federated Suns, he also looked into new equipment that could help level the playing field.  While the Concordat could match or even beat the Star League in a one on one engagement, the sheer size of the Star League and it's massive resources, production capacity and population could never be matched by the Concordat.  In a war of attrition, the Star League could easily afford to lose 2 ships for every one they destroyed as they could replace those losses far faster then Concordat could.  Marshal Santos quickly saw the need for a new ship design, one that could be a force equalizer between the massive Star League and the tiny Concordat.   He soon sketched out the basic design of the Armageddon Class Missile Cruiser, a new ship capable of delivering massive damage to the enemy while being cheap and easy to manufacture.  It was during Marshal Santos' chance meeting with the new Protector Mitchell Calderon in 2574 that he was able to convince the Protector to support funding and development of the Armageddon. 

Capabilities:
The Armageddon’s sole purpose is to deploy nuclear weapons against the Star League fleet. The ship carries an incredible 80 White Shark Missile Launchers and 800 Jericho Nuclear Anti-Ship Missiles. The Jericho is a standard White Shark missile which carries a 50 Kiloton Nuclear warhead instead of the standard warhead. The missile is so powerful that a single one can destroy a Battleship. With 80 missile launchers the Armageddon can theoretically wipe out an entire Star League Battlegroup in a single volley.  The only other weapons carried by the Armageddon are 80 Large Lasers, which defend against enemy aerospace fighters.

Mounting large engines, the Armageddon is one of the fastest warships ever built, equaling the thrust capability of the Pinto class Corvette. The high acceleration allows the vessel to quickly approach a Star League fleet, fire it’s missiles and retreat before they can return fire. In order to mount such large engines on the ship, the design team had to leave off any secondary anti-capital ship weaponry and could only mount a limited amount of armor.

The Armageddon also has the ability to carry up to 24 fighters for self defense. Typically the ship deploys a variety of lighter designs that are capable of keeping up with the speedy warship.

Deployment:
The first use of the Armageddon was in March of 2580 when the SLDF invaded the Pleiades Cluster.  The 3 Armageddons then in service (The TCW Armageddon, TCW Ragnarok and TCW Judgement Day)  were organized into the 7th Special Attack Squadron and were stationed in the cluster along with the 1st and 3rd Taurian Fleets.  While the Taurian fleets engaged the 2nd SLDF Battle Fleet, the 7th SAS raced to intercept the 1st SLDF Battle Fleet.  In a short and vicious engagement, the 7th inflicted heavy losses on the SLDF 1st Fleet, with only a few survivors retreating to the system's jump point. 

The 7th, soon to be joined by the 9th, 15th, and 22nd SAS would see action in numerous battles during the war.  The sailors of the SLDF Navy came to fear these ships and would retreat when one of these squadrons appeared.