Ship Cruiser AISN Damocles
| Damocles | |
|---|---|
 Damocles | |
| Type | Cruiser |
| Combat role | Artillery |
| Service | |
| Used by |
Antarean Federation Antarean Imperial Space Navy |
| Wars | Second Antarean War |
| Specifications | |
| Displacement | 135Mt |
| Length | 1600m |
The Damocles class is an older Antarean whose design legacy dates back to the early days of the Federation. Envisioned as a stopgap vessel to fill the role left empty by the Federation navy's lack of dedicated torpedo dreadnoughts, the Damocles was cheaper to build and easier to man than its massive cousins.
Armed with a preponderance of long distance weaponry, the Damocles surrenders the close-range mounts usually found on a ship of its class. Most of the ship's interior has been hollowed to make room for its impressive torpedo magazine, which has a superior spread than most League or Federation Cruisers designed to date. However, the ship has been plagued with problems that have hampered its effective use.
First, the configuration of its torpedo tubes, its primary armament, has them arranged mostly along the spine of the craft. Because of the somewhat awkward setup of its profile, this leaves the ship with its broadside firing capability effectively weakened and also makes the ship vulnerable to light craft that manage to stay out of its firing arc by dipping under the "wings" of the craft to deliver punishing blows to its fairly vulnerable midsection and rear.
Also, with so few energy and kinetic batteries, the ship is woefully over matched even by smaller vessels, such as frigates and smaller cruisers. Worst of all is the Damocles' point-defense coverage, which, while dense along most firing orientations, is virtually non-existent around its rear engine-bloc. This vulnerability coupled with the ship's poor armor coverage lead to severe losses among vessels of this class during the Federation's undeclared war with the ULP.
The Imperial refit program scrapped several drone bays for a greater torpedo magazine and improved the ship's survivability by adding a more powerful generator for denser shield coverage and advanced propulsion systems rendering the ship a more mobile weapon platform. Unfortunately, little has been done to correct the ship's problems with its aft point-defense coverage, and as a result, there have been few confirmed sightings of Damocles class vessels operating in regular Imperial Navy formations.
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