NOVA II CLASS DREADNOUGHT

The new Nova II class Dreadnought, waited for a long time, is the ship aimed to replace in hers original role the Nova DN, and will become a mainstay in the defensive and offensive operations of the fleets.
The history of the specifications that gave origin to this class is interesting, because she is, in fact, the outcome of the same concept materialized by the first Nova: bring in a battle situation a massive firepower, with heavy protection.The original Novas (Alpha and, later, Beta) performed very well in the Dilgar war and in the following period, but were inadequate during the Earth-Minbari war, essentially due to the technologycal gap between Earth and Minbari, and, not to forget, to the numerical and initiative advantage of the Minbari, coupled with the ineffectiveness of the E.A. Sensors and tracking systems.

After a long period of relative obscurity, The Novas came back to the lime light during the "Drakh Line Battle" in 2266, when many of these old dreadnoughts fought side by side with the Omegas and Warlocks. In that situation, the concept of Dreadnought in its antiship role was deadly effective, and revalued this specific mission, with three main consequences:

1- The Earthforce rushed in service the Nova Delta, that, even if the outcome of an emergency program, packs, in a ship smaller than the destroyers, the firepower of two and 1/2 Omegas, at a price lower than the one of a single destroyer. With a good maneuverability and powerful weapons in the same time, good sensors and better armor, this ship has proven itself capable and useful, even if limited in his operative roles, and will remain in service for a long time.

2- The Centurion program - This new class of ships is the total sum of the very best and most advanced technologies in terms of weapons, propulsion, armor and protection, sensors and systems. These very large units are something more than a simple Dreadnought, and are conceived to handle menaces of the highest level, but, even if they are probably the most powerful and effective warships of the E.A., they are very large, very complex, and more of all, extremely expensive. Because of this, and thanks to the polyvalence and effectiveness of the Warlock class destroyers, the Centurions will never be mass production ships.

3- The Nova II Program - The Eartforce expressed a specification for a "Line Dreadnought", with a basic artillery firepower close or equal to the Centurions, but very less expensive and faster to build than the Centurion itselves or even the Warlock class Heavy Destroyers: essentially it was the same concept materialized by the Nova Delta in respect to the Omega Destroyers, but in this case related to the Warlocks.

The Nova II Dreadnought is built around the same main artillery weapon system of the Centurion, Twelve M381 Gravitic Fusion pulse cannons for the short and medium range engagements and four heavy Hard Ray Q-Spoiling pulse lasers, in this case the Potent QSL-2T "Long Lance" used on the Tillmans, but with much smaller and less powerful G.O.D. cannons (The Mk.IX instead of the enormous Mk.MkX or MkXIII), less fighters and without the provisions for a gravitic drive. The propulsion and energy systems and the hull are proportionally smaller and of simpler design. The outcome is a warship of simple, straight lines, with formidable firepower, very heavy protection, excellent sensors and fair acceleration and maneuverability, well able to cover its role, at a price that is a fraction of the cost of a Centurion and that is just more than a half the one of a Warlock. More important, the ship is easy and fast to build, affordable, and extremely robust and sturdy, due to the heavy armor (Carbonat-VI-A multi layer) and to the refined design of the hull, with enhanced compartimentation, triple hull, and modular building: for example, the whole forward section (Hammer), heavily armored, holds the hangar, the main sensors and the launching tubes for the missiles. This is a virtually separated part of the hull, and, while able to take the hardest punishments without collapsing, can be detroyed and ripped avay, without the consequent destruction of the main hull, that is separated and protected by a triple armored bulkhead able to sustain even the explosion of one of the main missile magazines (magazines that are designed to explode forward and downward). The Magazines itselves are heavily armored. Similar design concepts are applied to all the other sections and systems: the main fusion reactors are installed in the section 4 ( The rear engine block ), while the auxiliary reactor is installed in the section 2 (the center section), that holds the Vortex Generators of the Jump Engine.

The Engines are four Lockheed-General Electric I-99GE05 Plasma engines, a development of the Beagle-Bryant BB-16-G of the Tillmans, powerful and affordable; the main energy grid is centered around five reactors: four Westinghouse "Event Horizon-IV" and a Westinghouse GRCK-3000 for weapon feeding and overpower availability, all Gravitic Enhanced Fusion Reactors, with the same conceptual scheme introduced by the Nova Delta and applied in many new buildings due to his simpleness and effectiveness. The GRCK-3000 reactor is utilized as auxiliary gravitic field source for the gravitic crew module (Gravity cage principle).

The weapon system, Beyond the main artillery, includes six heavy missile launching tubes with a reload and sixteen medium launching tubes with a reload, 32 starfuries, with the same hangar and catapult systems of the Omegas, four heavy railgun turrets and an excellent point defence based upon 24 light Particle/pulse turrets, with MK III interceptor grid and energy web.

Must be remarked the fact that the Nova II are extremely effective warships, but are unable to cover all the roles of the Warlocks Heavy Destroyers: the Warlocks will be the real backbone of the fleet, like the Omega actually are, due the well balanced design and operational flexibility; a Nova II is not a polyvalent unit, it is an iron fist, conceived essentially to be used in fleet engagements, and designed in function of standing power and artillery firepower. After the first 4 batches, the production shifted on the "Brigtwarrior" Nova II standard. The less recent ships have been upgraded at the same standard.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Class: Nova II
Type: Dreadnought
Length: 1,702.6 meters
Mass: 122.5 million metric tons
Acceleration: 3.15 G
Crew: 206
Troop: N.D.
Fighters: 32Lockheed SA 32-A Thunderbolt Starfury.

POWER/PROPULSION:
4*Westinghouse "Event Horizon-IV" Gravitic Enhanced Fusion Reactors.
4*Lockheed-General Electric I-99GE05 Fast Feeding Plasma Engines.
1*Westinghouse GRCK-3000 Gravitic Enhanced Fusion Reactor
2*Lockheed-Mitchell M51E16 Jump Vortex Generators.

WEAPONS:
2*Earthforce Arsenals Mk IX Heavy Particle G.O.D. cannons.
12*Westhinghouse-O.T.O. Melara M381 Heavy Gravitic Fusion Pulse cannons
4*A.M.S. QSL - 2T "Long Lance" Q-spoiling Hard-Ray Heavy Lasers.
4*O.T.O.Melara 406/240 "Vulcano" heavy railgun turrets.
2*Westinghouse-O.T.O.Melara HPM1 "Mjolnir" Heavy Plasma Mortars.
24*Walther-Raytheon WRK 1005 Pulse/Particle beam Cannons.
12*Raytheon "Blue Phoenix" Missiles,6*launching tubes with automatic loading.
32*Sandia "Shillelagh" Missiles,16*launching tubes with automatic loading.

DEFENSE:
12 to 28 meter armored hull (Multi-layer composite armour),CARBONAT VI-A series, anti-neutron ablative armour.
24*Interceptor Mk. III Defense Grid Energy Projectors

E.A.S. LEONIDAS - NOVA II CLASS DREADNOUGHT