Kraken-Class Battlecruiser
Length: 2.25 kilometers
Width: 1.05 kilometers (average)
Height: 420 meters (average)
Primary Armament:
(Original)
32 K Industries M94 Han cannons (4 guns per turret)
(Post Final-Refit)
24 Haemosu Heavy Laser Cannons (3 per turret)
(Post Decommissioning)
N/A
Secondary Armament:
(Original)
80 Mark-4 Dual-Purpose Xavier Artillery cannons (forty turrets)
4 Primary Torpedo Tubes
55 Secondary Torpedo Tubes
(Post Final-Refit)
130 Mark-4 Dual-Purpose Xavier Artillery cannons (sixty-five turrets)
4 Primary Torpedo Tubes
60 Secondary Torpedo Tubes
(Post Decommissioning)
N/A
Tertiary Armament:
(Original)
Ankylosaur Point Defense Array
(Post-Decommissioning)
N/A
FTL:
(Original)
Warp Drive (Gen-II)
Range: 150 lightyears every 12 hours.
(Post Final-Refit)
Warp Drive (Gen-III)
Range: 215 lightyears every 12 hours.
(Post Decommissioning)
Warp Drive (Gen-V) [Pulled from Behemoth-Class]
Range: 165 lightyears every 6 hours.
Complement
(Original)
8,000 - 10,000 crew.
(2,000 minimum)
Passengers: (Maximum Capacity)
(Original)
45,000
(Post-Refit)
50,000
(Post Decommissioning)
60,000
History:
Across the Koprulu sector, there has been no greater symbol of Terran force projection than the mighty battlecruiser. Serving in a variety of roles over the almost three hundred history of the Terrans, it has been present in every major conflict, and has earned a reputation as a powerful weapon of war, and been a symbol of fear, hope, and power. Every battlecruiser ever fielded by the Terrans can trace their ancestry to the first of their kind in the Sector: the Kraken-Class battlecruiser.
Despite what many think, the Kraken-class was not the first battlecruiser design possessed by the Terrans. When the original Supercarriers were launched from Earth, they were loaded not only with the tools and supplies needed to survive on their new worlds, but also scientific and cultural knowledge, along with many technological designs, including weapons and starships. Among them was the original battlecruiser design of the Koprulu Sector Terrans, designated; XPBC-1029, Experimental Patrol-Battlecruiser-1029.
The original design was deemed at first unnecessary for the original colonists, instead focusing on establishing their new colony and all the facilities required for further survival. As the Terran Confederacy established itself and began to expand its reach to different planets and then solar systems, the plans for the XPBC were revisited for construction. It did not take long for the scientists to determine that it was impossible for the Confederacy to construct the vessel in accordance with the blueprints. The ship was simply too advanced for what they had been given, and required the expansive and intensive industries of old Earth.
The theories for why the designs for such a powerful ship were sent with the colonists have been fiercely debated since their unveiling. With theories ranging from the plans having been obsolete designs, or the original mastermind of the Supercarriers had intended for the colonists to be some kind of bastion against the UPL. The current prevailing theory, and one backed-up by records recovered from the remains of the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Force, is that all of the designs and blueprints had been rejected by the UPL from service with their armed forces for reasons still unknown. This, combined with the estimated travel time, likely gave them the confidence that even if the colonists were to form an Interstellar power, by giving the colonists rejected and obsolete designs to work with, whatever new power that might arise would not be able to contest Earth and her colonies.
However, the Confederacy determined it had a need for such a warship, and thus commissioned Project Scion. The Project was to take the original XPBC design, and either redesign the existing blueprint to be capable of production by the Confederacy, or produce an entirely new design derived from it. The result of this Project was the Kraken-Class, the first of the Terran battlecruisers.
The Kraken-class was derived from the original plans, and such a decision was not without its trade-offs. In terms of performance, the Kraken performed similarly in most regards to the proposed performance of the original design. This was achieved, despite a considerably lower tech base, by enlarging many of the components of the ship, such as the Fusion Reactor, engine nacelles, warp drive conduits, and other systems, with some almost doubling in size. This resulted in the Kraken-class growing from the XPBC'S original 1.1 kilometer length to an incredible 2.25 kilometers. Despite these changes, which made the Kraken both economically and technologically feasible, it still consumed an immense amount of resources. As such, the Confederacy would only ever lay down three hulls of the class. The Kraken, the Dauntless, and the Perseus, with the last being completed in 2389.
These three battlecruisers would serve as the flagship vessels of the Confederacy, with each being in charge of the First, Second, and Third Armadas respectively. At its height, each Kraken commanded a fleet of thirty-two escort ships, including three cruisers. While the number of vessels in each 'Armada' is a far cry from those of the Terran Dominion, even after the Great War, these fleets were the ultimate form of power projection by the Terran Confederacy.
One key feature of the Kraken-class, unlike its successors, was its armored prow. While modern battlecruisers are well known for their hammerhead-design, the Kraken-class's prow was shaped like an arrowhead muzzle-brake; with a flattened front, and angling towards the stern. Rather than trying to retain any semblance of aerodynamics, the arrowhead muzzle-brake design was meant to protect the rest of the ship in the event of accidental, or intentional, ramming attacks. Early Warp Drives could have significant drift, and there were not as many safeguards in place to prevent a ship's emergence directly next to another ship. This, of course, granted the option of ramming attacks if desired, though this practice was heavily discouraged.
The Kraken-class would ultimately be supplanted by the much smaller, more advanced, and cost-effective Leviathan-class battlecruisers. While the two designs would serve together for some time, the Kraken would be retired entirely first, two decades before the unveiling of the first Behemoth-class battlecruisers. The Kraken-class was ultimately retired due to the myriad of new technologies that were developed during its service. While there were modernization programs to incorporate these technologies into the hull, it was simply more cost- effective to construct Leviathans, which had been designed with these new technologies in mind. By the time the decision was made to retire them, the Confederacy deemed it too costly, and simply retired the class after another half-decade of service.
The three Krakens, being the largest ships in the Terran Confederacy, were not scrapped at the end of their lives as most thought. Instead, each was carefully decommissioned, and then converted into museum ships. The Dauntless would be permanently stationed over Tarsonis, serving in its role from orbit, the Perseus would be stationed over Tyrador IX, and the namesake ship, the Kraken, would serve as a roaming museum ship for the entirety of the Confederacy. From recovered data, it is known that the Confederacy had plans for the ships in a worst case scenario. When the ships were being decommissioned, care was taken to ensure each ship could be reactivated, rearmed, and modernized if it ever became necessary.
Why this plan was never enacted will likely forever remain unknown, though it is theorized that the Confederacy was in the process of enacting this plan, as the Perseus was in orbit over Tarsonis for 'unexpected repairs' when the Zerg Swarm attacked the planet. Of the three ships, both the Dauntless and Perseus were destroyed in the Fall of Tarsonis, with the Perseus actually falling from orbit and crashing onto the surface. The Kraken would escape the worst of the war, having been in orbit of Vardona at the time, on its way back to the Tarsonis.
The Kraken would remain out of the hands of the nascent Terran Dominion in the collapse of the Terran Confederacy, its crew deciding that they could not and would not turn over the warship, even disarmed, to those they viewed as terrorists. Instead, it would not only continue in its role as a museum ship, though all tours onboard were effectively canceled, but as a refugee ship. The crew would take the ship to dozens of worlds that had been besieged by the Zerg and the Protoss, collecting fuel, supplies, and refugees. Its massive bulk and thick armor belt, which had not been decreased at all when it was decommissioned, along with its now unique armored prow; shaped like an arrowhead muzzle brake, allowed it to simply hammer a path through contested space in the rare instances it was required. Over the course of the last stages of the Great War, and the Brood War, the Kraken would cease to be a museum ship, serve as a refugee ship, before becoming a de-facto colony ship. The crew, and the refugees rescued, would modify the ship to accommodate for the many refugees that would fill her hull, and make repairs and upgrades to her hull and systems as best able.
In the aftermath of the Brood War, Emperor Arcturus Mengsk made an offer to the crew of the Kraken; they could turn the ship over to the Dominion for a hefty award, amnesty for their service to defunct Terran Confederacy, and Dominion-wide recognition for their efforts in saving so many refugees. Alternatively, the Dominion would recognize the Kraken as an independently owned and operated colony-ship, with those on board granted amnesty, in addition to yard time for repairs and modifications. On the condition that the ship would be permanently decommissioned in its role as a warship by Dominion engineers. The crew, wanting to retain their independence, and continue in their altruism, chose the latter. At the end of the repair and modification, the ship would be renamed the Hestia's Hearth, for its role in providing a safe haven for those onboard, and the firestorm of its dramatic entries through atmosphere.
At the time of this publication, the Hestia's Hearth can be found in orbit of the world of Meinhoff, serving as a waystation/stop-over for any incoming or outgoing travelers.
Armaments:
Primary armament:
Of all the battlecruisers, the Krakens were the only ones to not be equipped with laser cannons at the onset. Laser weapons were still a new technology, both commercially and militarily, back on earth and her colonies, with nearly all laser weaponry being dedicated ground-to-space guns, and the first generation of laser cannons had come online only a decade prior to the Long Sleep. The Confederacy was working towards replicating the feats, but in the interim, opted for traditional ballistic weapons, and the proven ElectroThermal-Chemical-and-Magnetic Accelerator(ETCMag) Hybrid technologies. The chosen armament was the K Industries M94 Han cannon, one of many ancestors to the C-14 Impaler gauss rifle. At a caliber of 50cm centimeters, 19 inches, each gun was capable of firing a nearly three and a half ton shell at Mach 4.5, at a rate of four to six rounds a minute.
The Krakens had a total of thirty-two M94 cannons, divided into eight quadruple gun turrets. The turrets were equally divided between the 'deck' and 'keel' of the ship, ensuring that no matter the direction, there was a maximum of sixteen guns that could be aimed at a target. At the time of their service, the M94 was the single most powerful gun on any warship, capable of piercing the armor-belt of any other ship it might engage. Theoretically, the M94 still pose a threat to even modern battlecruisers, yet these mighty guns would be replaced nonetheless as the first laser cannons were approved for field-testing.
These guns would fall out of use in the Terran Confederacy however with the advent of the first generation of heavy laser batteries. While significantly more costly than the M94, the laser batteries were not reliant on ammunition stores, required significantly less ammunition, and possessed similar performance in almost all regards. The only deficiency in comparison to the M94 cannons being range in void combat, due to the nature of kinetic versus energy weapons. The first generation of the new laser batteries would be installed on the successor class; the much smaller and refined Leviathan-class battlecruiser. The first of these laser batteries would replace two M94s per turret, resulting in a hybrid kinetic/DEW weapons configuration, with the next refit replacing all M94s with heavy laser cannons, in triple turrets.
The Haemosu heavy laser cannons which would replace the M94s are a different breed from the modern laser batteries. Rather than a single short burst of energy, early laser cannons fired long cohesive beams of energy at the target and shared more in common with modern mining lasers. A necessary feature, with early lasers requiring massive amounts of power, and being underpowered by Confederate standards otherwise. These kind of laser weapons, colloquially referred to as 'beam' weapons, would be the standard laser weapon of the Terran Confederacy's navy until the advent of the Behemoth-class battlecruisers.
Secondary and Tertiary Armament
For secondary armament, each ship was armed with eighty Mark-4 Dual-Purpose Xavier Artillery cannons in forty Mark 2 Turrets. These guns were placed across the ship at strategic points, primarily to defend against enemy gunboats and boarding craft. The number of turrets would rise to an incredible sixty-five at the end of the final refit and modernization program, as aerospace fighters, bombers, and fighter/bombers, along with next generation gunboats became an increasing threat against capital ships. Each gun was capable of loading and firing a wide variety of ammunition; from basic Armor-piercing and High-explosive, to Flechette flak and Mining charges, allowing them to engage any number of targets. These guns would ultimately be made obsolete by the introduction of gauss turrets on a smaller scale than the M94s.
Supplementing these were a number of torpedo tubes across the ship's hull; each capable of loading and firing a variety of torpedoes at numerous targets. Most of these torpedoes were indeed for any potential enemy ships beyond the effective range of the primary armament. The largest of these were located on the ship's 'wings', with two torpedo launchers on each wing meant for engaging enemy capital ships. These cannons would almost never see use and were the predecessor to the Solar Flare A2R Plasma Torpedo Launcher on the Behemoth and Minotaur-class battlecruisers.
Rounding out the ship's armaments are the Ankylosaur Point Defense Array. Dotted across the entire hull of the ship, each gun-emplacement consisted of eight light caliber autocannons, arranged in a circle and utilized an electrothermal-chemical (ETC) system. Their main role in combat was to intercept enemy munitions, such as torpedoes and missiles, later expanding their role to intercept the first generation of aerospace fighters. The Ankylosaur Point Defense Array would see various upgrades and be installed on various other warships, including the Levithan-class battlecruiser, before ultimately being phased out by gauss turret based point defenses.
Complement:
Each Kraken was crewed by, on average, eight thousand crewmen, though they could be operated by as few as two thousand and had a maximum crew of ten thousand for optimal operations. This was not including the onboard complement of troops; including dropship and vehicle crews, of which there could be as many as forty-five thousand at max capacity, if uncomfortably. The rare instances in which the passenger count was at max capacity, three individuals would be assigned to all berths, including officers. Many of those onboard would go on to state that in such situations, if they had the option, would opt to berth within the vehicles onboard. These instances were rare, with passenger counts averaging closer to a much more comfortable thirteen thousand individuals.
This number was further expanded during the refit programs. The installation of the first laser batteries led to the conversion of several compartments into, aside from what was needed for the new weapons systems: additional berths, food and water storage, kitchens, and other passenger and crew amenities. Upon decommissioning, all of the ammunition bunkers and capacitors for the laser batteries would be converted as well, raising the passenger complement to a staggering sixty thousand individuals at maximum capacity.
In terms of war material, the Kraken-class possesses a large number of hangars and connected storage bays for infantry equipment, armored vehicles, aerospace craft, dropships, and workshops. The Kraken-class not only predates the usage of mobile production centers that is the norm today but was the precursor to such structures. The ship possesses an onboard foundry capable of refining various ores and Minerals and is capable of manufacturing all kinds of war material. This capability not only extended the operational capacity of its forces onboard but allowed it to resupply and effect minor to moderate repairs on not only itself, but its escorts.
The foundries aboard the Hestia's Hearth were left largely intact in its final decommissioning, as all the blueprints on board were, if not for the Kraken-class, considered to be incredibly outdated by modern standards. Examples of the best equipment it could produce being the Pressurized Power Suit, the precursor to the CMC-200 series power armor, and Mark-4 Cold Fusion Cells. Mark-4 Cells produce the same amount of power as the modern Mark-15 cells used in the CMC-300, per cell, but are significantly obsolete, with each Mark-4 weighing 10 kilograms, an in-field failure rate of 4%, and more than a dozen times the size of a Mark-15.
A/N: So, an update and details.
This entry is marked tentative because it is up for changes. I feel there is something missing from this, and as such, many edit this heavily. So keep that in mind before commenting on this please. One thing I want to note though: the Hestia's Hearth is completely disarmed. The only armament she has now is her armored prow.
As for chapter updates, I am having some difficulties. I have ideas, I am fairly certain I know where I want to go, but am having trouble putting words to paper as it were. There may be a larger gap than before, until the next chapter. I ask everyone to be patient.
In the meantime, I will be also trying to write side-stories to flesh out more of my own entries into canon, to lay the groundwork for future events and discussions.
Next side-stories to include, in no particular order:
Dumassas's industrial capabilities (some of them)
Stories on Dumassas, and at the colony, and Hub.
How It's Made: Special Edition: Neo-Steel
EDIT:
Damn it, SB!
Firehawk242 Thank you! Corrected.
BlankSlate Thank you for the suggested values. I'll actually go with those.