Pallas-class destroyer

Class overview
Name:	Pallas Class Destroyer
Builders:	Vickers Armstrong Arthurista
Operators:	Commonwealth Navy
Preceded by:	Paladin-class destroyer
Completed:	8
Active:	3
General characteristics
Type:	Destroyer
Displacement:	9,600 tonnes full load
Length:	161m waterline, 172m overall
Beam:	16.8m
Draught:	8.8m
Propulsion:	4x Rollers Engineering Olympus TM3 (21,000 kW each), 2-shaft
Speed:	In excess of 30kn
Sensors and processing systems:	As of 2015: Type 997 Artisan 3D medium range air/surface search radar, Type 053 bow sonar Type 2087 Low Frequency Active Sonar (towed), Navigation radar
Armament:	As of 1985: 1 x 4.5 inch Mark 8 naval gun 1 x Ikara ASW missile 2 x GWS-25 6-shot box launcher for Sea Wolf point defence missiles, 24 manual reloads carried 8 x ACM-2 Renove anti-ship missiles 2 x Triple 324mm torpedo tubes for Mark 46 or String Ray lightweight ASW torpedoes 2 x 7.62mm miniguns 4 x 7.62mm L6A2 General Purpose Machine Guns As of 2015: 1 x 4.5 inch Mark 8 naval gun 122 x cells for V90 vertical launch system (typical armament: ACM-1 Cerberus), RUM-139 VL-ASROC 2 x 22-cell launcher for RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile 8 x ACM-2 Renove anti-ship missiles 2 x Triple 324mm torpedo tubes for MU90 Impact lightweight ASW torpedoes/torpedo interceptors 2 x 7.62mm miniguns 4 x 7.62mm L6A2 General Purpose Machine Guns
Armour:	steel shrapnel sheets, kevlar spall liners
Aircraft carried:	2 x light helicopters

The Pallas-class is an Arthuristan class of destroyers. They were first accepted into service by the Commonwealth Navy in 1975. Eight vessels of the class remain in service as of 2017.

Design and development

The Pallas were intended as first-line fast anti-submarine vessels to protect carrier battle groups from hostile nuclear-powered attack submarines, as well as provide command and control facilities as flotilla flagships for smaller frigates comprising an anti-submarine task groups. To that end, they were built as very large vessels for the time, significantly heavier than the aging 1940s-era Paladin-class destroyers they were intended to replace.

Anti-submarine warfare systems

The heart of the vessel was the Type 053 hull-mounted sonar. This is a solid-state system, which can operate in a variety of active and passive modes, including direct path, bottom bounce and convergence zone. It proved so successful when first introduced that the class did not receive a towed sonar until the mid-80s, and it remains a highly competitive system to this day with the appropriate upgrades. Once a submarine was identified, it could be attacked by the ship's two on-board Lynx helicopters, or the Ikara anti-submarine missile system.

Anti-surface and anti-air systems

By contrast with its sophisticated anti-submarine systems, anti-air capabilities were austere. Equipped with two manually-reloaded six-shot box launchers for Sea Wolf, it was barely capable of self-defence against aerial threats at short range. Similarly, surface-attack capabilities were an afterthought. Initially, it was armed with nothing more than a 4.5 inch Mark 8 naval gun for maritime targets. Later, eight ACM-2 Renove anti-ship missiles were added in the mid-80s.

Early service

The ship was initially criticised by some commentators as over-large and under-armed, but quickly proved to be a success. It was one of the first classes of Arthuristan warships to utilise modular construction methodology and as a result the shipbuilding process was relatively efficient and cost-effective. With broad beam and high freeboard, these were excellent sea-boats with long-endurance. Together with its generous command facilities, they were often used in the 'flag-showing' and independent long endurance patrol roles which 1940s-era cruisers were often tasked with, at least in areas with relatively low air-threat. While not 'armoured' in the sense that 40s-era ships were, with its extensive compartmentalisation, automated damage-control systems and tough steel construction, the Pallas would prove to be a very survivable design. Finally, the class's modular design was intended to be able to easily accomodate upgrades, a prescient decision by the naval architects responsible.

Strike upgrade

In the late-1980s, the Ikara system was deemed to be reaching obsolescence. At the same time, the V90 vertical launch system had just been declared operational. Accordingly, the Ikara was removed and between 1987 and 1990 three ships of the Pallas class had two missile batteries installed in fore and aft, each with 61-cells and a fold-up crane which would allow the launchers to be re-loaded in calm sea-states outside of combat. Thus upgraded, the ships were redesignated as 'strike destroyers', or 'DD(S)', tasked with providing deep interdiction and fire support for Arthuristan land operations with the ACM-1 Cerberus cruise missiles. They also retain their considerable anti-submarine capabilities, having been upgraded with a towed sonar system and the ability to fire the RUM-139 VL-ASROC. Anti-air defence was improved with the substitution of the Sea Wolf with Rolling Airframe Missiles.

Another round of upgrades in the early-2010s equipped the ships with modern sensors - the Type 997 Artisan 3D medium range air/surface search radar and Type 2087 towed sonar. The ship's anti-air capabilities remain modest, as it still lacks the ability to provide long-range air search and fire control support for surface-to-air missiles with sufficient range for the area defence role. As the ACM-1 Cerberus gained moving target interdiction capability and reduced RCS, the Pallas also became formidable anti-ship platforms.

These three upgraded Pallas-class vessels remain in good condition despite their age, and there are no current plans for their replacement.