Winged Heroes

all utopian cruisers and destroyers from 1997 to 2020, complete!

ELVIRA CLASS
In use from 1997 to 2008, 2 ships build.
In 1995, when utopia began to build up a navy to counter the Nicaraguan forces, the need arose for a command ship. 2 ships would be build, so there would always be at least one available. The design based on a heavy destroyer/light cruiser hull, with gas turbine propulsion

the original design was based on the Dutch M-frigates, but much larger. The planned armament consisted of 3 76mm guns and 2 goalkeepers, anti ship missiles and an air defense system. There weren’t enough goalkeepers available, so utopia placed an order for 3 OTO Melara DARDO 40mm guns. The USA didn’t want to sell the SM-2 to utopia, but an MK 48 launcher was no problem. A redesign followed, and during the final design stage a 127mm gun was added for extra firepower. Missiles were bought from The Netherlands.

Both ships were commissioned in January 1997, 6 months before the end of the war. The unicorn was completed without its 127mm gun because it wasn’t delivered on time. The ships were immediately used in action, and in March both ships were present at the raid on Nicaragua’s main naval base. In this action the Unicorn was destroyed. The action was successful though: Nicaragua had no longer a fleet powerful enough to attack utopia. The Elvira has never seen serious action after that. After the first Utopian war the Elvira was outdated and was being replaced by new ships and from 2008 onwards the Elvira was permanently docked close to utopia city as a memorial and museum.

To honor the sacrifice of the Unicorn, from 2008 onward every ship of the utopian navy (and later of the Freedom Forces Navy) would carry the same unicorn symbol as this ship carried on her missile launchers.

Some specs of the ships:
- L*B*D: 160m*18m*6,5m
- Lmax*Bmax*Dmax: 162m*18m*8,5m
- displacement: 9500 metric tons full load
- Max speed: 29 knots
- Battle speed: 26 knots
- Complement: 300
Arnament:
- 3 OTO Melara 76 mm Compact guns
- 3 OTO Melara 40 mm twin DARDO guns
- 1 OTO Melara 127 mm gun (*Elvira only)
- 8 Harpoon Anti Ship Missiles (8 others stored below decks)
- 20 RIM-7 NSSM (NATO Sea Sparrow Missile)
- 2 GIAT 20 mm/90 M693 guns
- 12.7mm guns in non-fixed positions.

elvira UCL-01 1997-2008 laid up as museum ship
unicorn UCL-02 1997 sunk

KONGO.
In use from 1998 to 2008, 1 ship build.
At the end of the first utopian war Japan sends a small fleet to help out utopia. While this fleet comes too late to help out in the war, it is stationed there for a few months. Core of this fleet was the AEGIS destroyer Kongo. Both fleets practice a bit together, while the governments of Japan, The Netherlands and Utopia make a deal for a joint development for a new multirole destroyer. (This DDG would lead to the fictional heroes class later)
in January 1998 Japan and Utopia decide to use the Kongo as test ship for weapons and processing systems. The Kongo was leased by Thales utopia (indirect by the utopian government) and the rest of the Japanese fleet was sent home. In three stages the Kongo was tested:
stage 0: as build, but without the SM-2 and SM-3 missiles and the phalanxes. Instead NSSM and the earliest Katana missiles were used.
stage 1: STIR directors instead of the original ones, new computers but still AEGIS

stage 2: AEGIS removed apart from the SPY-1 arrays, mast replaced by an prototype integrated mast system, MK 41 replaced with UVLS, OTO 127 compact replaced with OTO 127 LW and the full missile suite that later would be used on the fictional heroes class.

In 2008 the Kongo was taken out of service as test ship. Japan donated the ship to utopia, which moored it next to the Elvira in utopia bay. Although the sensor systems are no longer active, rumors say that the VLS system is now linked to utopia's air defense.

specs:
- L*B*D: 151m*21m*6,2m
- Lmax*Bmax*Dmax: 161m*21m*9m
- Displacement: 7500 metric tons full load
- Max speed: 31 knots
- Battle speed: 27 knots
- Complement: 250

Kongo : UDG-00 : 1998-2008 : decommisioned, laid up as museum ship

FICTIONAL HEROES CLASS
In use from 2003 to 2024, 18 ships build
when the carrier plans were changed in 1999, the UFN needed the Mjolnir class escort cruiser no longer. While the Mjolnir concept evolved the need for a more multirole, common use class of ships emerged. For this, the multirole destroyer project was started. This project started with the hull and basic layout of the 4th Mjolnir design.
The projected specifications were very high, especially for a design that needed to be mass produced:
- 64 Cell VLS
- 360 degrees CIWS cover, not counting the main guns
- At least 200 degrees gun cover of at least 76 mm guns.
- Self defense against air and sea targets had to be done without crew exposed to the weather.
- Self defense had to be guaranteed, area defense had to be perfect in the range of 150 km.
- In small groups these ships (or combined with other types) should be able to work together to enlarge the defensive range.
- All to fit in the hull of the Mjolnir 4, with an OA length of 150 meters and an OA beam of 19 meters.
Damen utopia proposed a design based on the APAR and SMART-L first, but asked THALES to design a new radar system at the same time. This new radar system, fitted in a single mast, would have been designed especially to fit in the new destroyer’s mission profile.

This new mast, the SADF (Single mast Air DeFense) system, was a mast design based loosely on the APAR, SMART-L and SMART-S systems. It consisted of 4 director facets, based on the APAR’s. The range is 150 km. above that there were 2 rotating radars, counter rotating to make the radar coverage about 99% during every moment. The top one had a range of only 200 km, but was more precise and had build in IFF it can also double as fire control radar if the guidance channels of the directors are all used, but this with a range of only 70 km. The lower one has a range of 300 km, but is not precise enough to do main guidance, and also has a blind spot 10 km around the ship.
Apart from the radars there is a satcom on top of the mast, with an ECM suite underneath. These parts are borrowed from the THALES I-mast system. Below the radar systems is a COM panel placed, this system is mainly for datalink purposes but can be used for all kinds of communications. The satcom and this panel serve as the main base for the datalink system that makes it possible for compatible ships to use one common radar field, which makes up for the limited range of the radars (to be exact, the radars could have such an limited range because of this system)

After this mast was completed, the structure could become a lot more compact. The design was slightly changed with a very compact structure and very good fields of fire for the guns. And here the designers took all they could: they made the design better than required. The final armament specifications of the ship are:
- 64 Cell VLS
- 360 degrees CIWS cover of THALES Goalkeeper systems
- 360 degrees cover with 76/127mm guns
- 360 degrees cover of 4 OTO Melara marlins

The VLS cells were filled with:
VLS Block 1:
• 16* quadpacked Katana 0 short/mid range AA missiles
• 32* katana 2 mid/long range AA missiles
• 16* mixed load (variable per ship and mission, some take more 0, some put some strike weapons in these cells when needed, but most of the time they are filled with more AA missiles)
VLS Block 2:
• 16* U-TPMS (torpedo carrying missile)
• 16* ULRASM anti ship missile
• 32* mixed load, such as cruise missiles, AA missiles, anti ship missiles or decoys. Most of the time Katana 2 missiles.

Other specs:
- L*B*D: 138m*18m*5,3m
- Lmax*Bmax*Dmax: 151m*19m*6,8m
- Displacement: 7500 metric tons full load
- Max speed: 31 knots
- Battle speed: 27 knots
- Complement: 250

[ img ]

SIRS CLASS
In use from 2017 to 2026, 6 ships build
The sirs class is a class consisting of 6 ships. These ships were commissioned from 2017 till 2020, and saw a lot of action during the last days of the war. They were named after Knights of the Round Table.

The sirs class is designed with 2 things in mind. First of all, it had to be a flagship that could command small fleets and task groups. Second they had to be able to strike. Standard arnament consisted mostly of cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles.

The ships were known for their good (but outdated) looks, high top speed and, by the ones who have been on board, for their unique two-level CIC. The top level did the fleet command and offensive weapon systems, while the lower one controlled the ship itself and the defenses. In the center was an opening, through which the admirals and captains seats could move up and down freely. (Note: opinions differed if this was a good system. fact is that it worked operationally, but no other class of ships has ever used this feature again.)

arnament consists of:
- an 64 cell block at the bow and an narrow 32 cell block aft
- 2* OTO 127 LW gun
- 2* Thales goalkeeper CIWS
- 4 ASW torpedo tubes

Other specs:
- L*B*D: 183m*19m*5,3m
- Lmax*Bmax*Dmax: 197m*19m*6,8m
- Displacement: 13500 metric tons full load
- Max speed: 31 knots
- Battle speed: 26 knots
- Complement: 250

(note: both the fictional heroes class and sirs class take the new Fafnir Cruise missile from 2017/18, when it becomes available. this upgrades their strike capabilities a lot, because utopia never used dedicated cruise missiles before, because they focused on defenses. these missiles are not shown on these drawings, because they show the ships as build, except for the kongo of course, which is shown as after her last modification)

please comment, as always.

Shipbucket

Who is online