Notional 9000tFL USN FFG with THE POWER OF THE ATOM

[erik_t]

The inevitable cruiser stretch is now presented. 10m parallel-body midsection segment inserted forward of the hangar for flag facilities and enhanced comms. Total crew capacity is +50 for 450 total ( (N-1)*50 for Mk 8). HF disposition gets a bit better, and we add two more small multiband satcom domes. It's impossible for a flagship to have too much satcom. This also motivated a slight rearrangement of the HF midships stuff on the DDG, but nothing worth a re-upload right now. There will be more inevitable changes anyway. There always are.

For the first time in a surface combatant since... Long Beach? Albany?... we have an actual flag bridge. Now, the big deal admiral fellow can't actually see forward without either opening the windows, but he's got cameras for that. And it's been intimated that the less the flag officer is actually able to directly see from his duty station, the less he can **** up daily operations... thanks to the way the superstructure blocks are built independently, he or she has to go to the weather decks or down to the main deck to even get to the pilothouse to complain about things in person!

Plenty of space for his staff, and for additional command and administrative spaces below the main deck, as well as more enlisted to support that staff and additional dry stores to accommodate the enlarged crew.

No changes otherwise.

[erik_t]

God bless you, Thales, for finally putting numbers to my backup satcom requirements [PDF WARNING].

I am well aware of how often vessels remain on station with various single-points-of-failure having failed, and I keep coming back to satcom (and more broadly, long-range comms) as a specific point of frustration. Well, we finally have serious honest-to-God VHF and UHF line-of-sight, HF skywave, UHF satcom, and X/Ku/Ka band satcom on the bow and stern, near emergency generators. The HF Rx capability is similarly improved, too, almost all of these gains coming from leveraging submarine-based retractable masts (indeed, the forward HF Rx is the only system not specifically designed for such!).

Final comms tally, for those keeping score at home:

Thales ICAS VHF/UHF LOS: 4x1 + 1x facing aft at helo control
Large multiband domed satcom (UHF/SHF/EHF): 2x
Small multiband domed satcom (UHF/SHF/EHF): 2x
OE-538 VLF/LF Rx, HF Tx/Rx, UHF+VHF LOS Tx/Rx, UHF satcom Tx/Rx, GPS Rx, IFF Tx/Rx: 3x
Thales Divesat satcom (SHF/EHF): 2x
AS-2537C/SR 35' HF whip Tx/Rx: 1x
AS-3771B/U 14' HF whip Tx/Rx: 1x
AS-2537C/SR 35' HF whip Rx: 3x
VMB-11512-N VHF/UHF Tx/Rx: 1x


I have also revised the mission bay and UNREP doors yet ****ing again, continuing to try to minimize RCS. I think these are the best yet.

Nixie-legacy torpedo countermeasures and the towed array live on in the stern, but a new stern view of Zumwalt made me realize all of this ought to be submerged into the shell of the ship right aft.

[Tempest]

VERY nice! The level of detailing is excellent.

All the best

Tempest.

[APDAF]

Hmm... if you have fusion power... what is stopping you from having huge rail guns that use that power?

[erik_t]

In short, everything outside of the magic fusion power source is extremely grounded tech that could be in service in five years if we felt like making an Apollo-level financial commitment. It's an open engineering question as to whether railguns will ever be practical or feasible in the context of replacing heavy shipboard guns.

[erik_t]

In the process of some fiddling, I realized I had plenty of area and volume to add a pair of LockMart C-RAM lasers on the beams aft. These are notionally 20kW class, as best I understand things (I've paired up two 10kW ADAM units, which have demonstrated the ability to shoot down mortar rounds and, I think?, 155mm shells). They should also do just fine at shooting down Iranswarm boat-launched rockets. Do I have topweight for these units? I dunno, add more beam so we can have more beams! Steel is cheap, air is free, and we're hilariously overpowered.

I also somewhat enlarged the L-band IFF/2D search AESAs. They ought to be at least as capable as Mk 23 TAS, which honestly is not a joke as a search set. One USN FF (I forget which) replaced SPS-40 with Mk 23 for testing in the 1980s and never switched back.



I also revised the cruiser version, now with a much less punitive flag bridge. Admiral Boss Man still can't see directly forward, but life's a bitch. You've got a bunch of TVs on the forward bulkhead. We're generous enough to give ADM Man a pair of designated MX-10MS for all-weather viewing over 360deg, a pair of additional medium satcom (equivalent to anything on a Burke) plus a casualty unit, another OE-538 multiband antenna, and another 7m RHIB. Maybe we can build the world's tiniest, most pathetic cabin on it.

[sebu]

As said before, this is something to follow up. A beautiful vessel with thought-out details.
Couple questions: what are these presented? I think those might have something to do with "inner-layer" defence?
(sorry for cut )
And: do you have a price tag for this vessel

[heuhen]

As said before, this is something to follow up. A beautiful vessel with thought-out details.
Couple questions: what are these presented? I think those might have something to do with "inner-layer" defence?
(sorry for cut )
And: do you have a price tag for this vessel

In the process of some fiddling, I realized I had plenty of area and volume to add a pair of LockMart C-RAM lasers on the beams aft. These are notionally 20kW class, as best I understand things (I've paired up two 10kW ADAM units, which have demonstrated the ability to shoot down mortar rounds and, I think?, 155mm shells).

[sebu]

Ah, lazy me...

[erik_t]

Way back on page 5,

A secondary VLS has been introduced amidships, essentially the XM501, for Nulka... and some other goodies. Hellfire/Sea Griffin (both have their advantages, and they'll both fit, so pick whichever you prefer) is included, as well as LockMart's very nifty EAPS C-RAM missile (PDF), the latter quadpacked. Each pallet of XM501 holds fifteen rounds, so we have 90 of these little baby cells aboard each design. Critically, these could be reloaded by manpower at sea from a below-decks magazine (presumed elevator path indicated in bright pink). Given the potential load of, say, 40 Hellfire, 10 Nulka, and 160 EAPS rounds without even touching the main VLS, I declare the small boat threat officially dead. Hurrah.

Estimated unit cost: ALL THE MONEY