Fictional heroes class
When the carrier plans were changed in 1999, the UFN needed the mjolnir class escort cruiser no longer. While the Mjolnir concept evolved (see
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1116 ) the need for an more multirole, common use class of ships. 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 an 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 an design based on the APAR and SMART-L first, but asked THALES to design an new radar system at the same time. This new radar system, fitted in an single mast, would have been designed especially to fit in the new destroyers mission profile.
SADF mast
This new mast, the SADF (Single mast Air DeFenSe) system, was an 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 an 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 an range of only 70 km. The lower one has an range of 300 km, but is not precise enough to do main guidance, and also has an blind spot 10 km around the ship.
Apart from the radars there is an 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 an 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)
arnament
After this mast was completed, the structure could become a lot more compact. The design was slightly changed with an 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 arnament 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
surface gun cover
AA cover
In the above graphs:
- Red= main guns
- Blue= Marlins
- Yellow = Goalkeeper
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.
And now… the ship!
top view
I will calculate some specifications pretty soon, have to practice what I learned on my education and this is something interesting to test it on…. So the specs, ship list and operational use will come soon… so keep an eye on this post for future edits the next few weeks. An lineplan is in the making as well.
also, yeah, I know there are some floating objects behind the ship. I still need to make some internals, so not all WIP parts are gone... when all is done I might swap the images and also show some of the internals
so, now, please comment on the latest incarnation of this beautiful ship