Warrior

Class overview
Name:	Warrior-class Guided-Missile Destroyer
Builders:	Wilkinson-Taggart Shipyards
Operators:	Federation Navy
Preceded by:	Sardonic-class destroyer
Succeeded by:	Salonika-class destroyer
Cost:	DDG-87: $1.58 billion (FY2016)
In service:	1989-Present
Building:	2
Completed:	42
Active:	41
Lost:	0
General characteristics
Type:	Destroyer
Tonnage:	9,700 Metric tons
Length:	156.9 m
Beam:	22 m
Draught:	9.45 m
Propulsion:	4 x CODOG turbines generating 27,000 shp (20,000 kW); coupled to two shafts driving five-bladed screws
Speed:	30+ knots
Range:	4,800 nmi at 20 kn
Boats & landing craft carried:	2 x Mk. VI Rigid-hulled inflatable boat
Complement:	22 officers, 300 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems:	RN/SPD-4 AESA Radar RN/SPS-22 Surface Search Radar Tungsten SSC-12 Sonar Array with option for towed array ARES Combat System RHEA Defence Network
Electronic warfare & decoys:	RN/SLS-082 Electronic Warfare Device Beluga Anti-Torpedo Countermeasure System Trixton 500 Defence Suite
Armament:	Missiles: 32 cell forward Vertical Launch System 64 cell aft Vertical Launch System 96 missile capacity, such as: Lance Missile Archer Missile Peltast Missile Trebuchet Missile 2 x Foreganger Missile quad-launchers Guns: 1 x 127mm lightweight deck-gun 2 x Oerolikon Millenium CIWS 2 x 25mm Bushmaster remote-controlled cannons Torpedoes: 2 x Triple torpedo tubes Type 14A Helix Lightweight Torpedo
Aircraft carried:	2 x Cassini helicopters.

The Warrior-class destroyer is the Federation Navy's primary class of destroyer and is the largest destroyer class ever fielded by the Navy. The vessel is named after F.N.S Warrior (BB-5), the flag-ship of the Federation Navy from 1902-1928. The helms wheel of the old battleship is aboard the lead ship of the class, F.N.S Warrior (DDG-49), in the Officer's Mess.

Design for the destroyer began initially in 1985 with the admiralty requiring a replacement for the aging Karzelek-class destroyer that had been in service since the 1960s. The newest block of the class at the time, Block IIB, had not lived up to expectations of a life extension and a newer, more modern class of destroyer would be more financially suitable in the long term. Subsequently, the F.N.S Warrior was commissioned in 1989 and became the largest destroyer in the history of the Federation Navy.

Both the older Karzelek-class and the Hawk-class destroyer, a dedicated Anti-Air destroyer, both being slated for removal from service in the 1990s to ensure that the Navy could maintain the budget the new government were imposing on it. Therefore the Navy's primary shipbuilding facilities at Naval Station Leander all retooled for usage in the construction of the class along with other shipbuilding facilities along the country's coast. Subsequently the class of ship was constructed from 1990-2014. When the Ares-class destroyer was cancelled in early 2015, an order was put in for three further instances of the Warrior-class. As of August 2017 ships - F.N.S Matic, F.N.S Angiolini, and F.N.S Borghi - are at varying levels of readiness. F.N.S Matic was christened in mid-August 2017 and the remaining two ships are expected to enter service in 2018.

The class was designed to operate as a multi-role platform, fitting into the Anti-Air Warfare (AAW) theatre with usage of powerful anti-air missiles and the ship's high power radar. The same radar system and two dedicated anti-ship launchers ensured that the destroyer would always fit into the Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW) role as well. Finally, the ship's on-board sonar array mounted in the nose, a towed array stowed below the flight deck and it's carried aircraft would ensure it could effectively conduct Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) as well. Modular design, such as a universal vertical launch system and a combat mainframe capable of having fire control systems for individual weapon types installed and uninstalled as necessary meant that new weapons can be seemlessly integrated into the design with no major refit necessary, a change-over from the Karzelek-class that required it's foreward launcher to be completely refitted for new weapons.

Operational history

On 22nd April 2004 F.N.S Warrior intercepted two unidentified submerged contacts entering Federation waters and, after a challenge went unanswered, began Anti-Submarine operations. Sustained torpedo launches against one contact resulted in it vanishing with the other withdrawing, although no confirmation on the nationality of the submerged contacts nor wreckage has been found.

F.N.S Ponzi abandoned exercises on 5 November 2010 to respond to a cargo vessel on fire. The actions of her crew saved the ship and at-sea repairs restored it to operational capabilities. The vessel earned a Meritious Duty award for their actions.

Design

F.N.S Triumph (DDG-60)

Design for the Warrior Began in the knowledge that it's predecessor, the Karzelek-class destroyer would be remaining in service as a dedicated ship-to-ship combatant for the foreseeable future. With it and the Hawk-class destroyer, an anti-air class, being in service, the Warrior was designed to operate as a multi-mission combatant with abilities in all arenas of naval warfare. The Block I design placed an emphasis on Anti-Air Warfare (AAW) and Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW). The F.N.S Warrior, launched in 1989, became the largest destroyer ever built by the Federation Navy and sea tests saw the installation of two dedicated anti-ship launchers, capable of firing a total of eight missiles independent to the armament selection of the vertical launch system which at the time remained exclusive to the ship's Anti-Air Warfare duties.

The ship has a bow-to-stern length of 156.9 meters, a beam of 22 meters and a draught of 9.45 meters. Advances in construction means that whilst the first ships were constructed entirely in-house, the newer ships of the class are being built in sections and assembled in one central location instead, vastly improving time and money efficiency.

The ship has four 'plates' for the RN/SPD-4, a Active electronically scanned array (AESA) multi-function radar that is plugged into the ARES Combat System to allow for detailed tracking and target management for Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) operations, Anti-Air Warfare (AAW), Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW), and Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW). The radar is capable of active and passive search in air/land engagements. The RN/SPD-4 is coupled with the RN/SPS-22, a short-range two-dimensional radar system for surface-search and navigation. It's two dimension (azimuth and range) pulsed radar is designed for surface operations to allow the ship to see sea traffic and obstructions (sea clutter, bouys, etc). The secondary capability of the radar i for anti-ship missile and low flying aircraft detection. The rotation of the radar is typically set at a low speed for high detail images, but can be sped up and energised further for hyper-detailed images at the expense of emitting a larger image on hostile ships passive radar. The higher rotation and emitted signal allows the operator to discern targets better or to differentiate targets should two smaller objects enter close proximity and 'merge' with eachother on standard radar mode.

Transporation to and from the ship comes in two primary forms: Two standard Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boats (RHIBs) are stowed on the starboard side of the vessel, parallel to the stern exhaust and are deployed/retrieved using a manned crane. The RHIBs are meant for operations in VBSS duties, hostile boarding duties or for inspection/deployment of personnel to locations as necessary. The ship also has a sizeable hangar mounted on the stern, capable of holding either one Majestic Heracles or two Majestic Hermes helicopters. These helicopters have a wide variety of uses as transport helicopters, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) combatants or for other usages with minimal refitting time aboard ship.

Armament and Sensors

Ships of DesRon VIII firing their missiles

The Warrior is equipped with the ARES Combat System, an advanced command and decision (C&D) and Weapon Control System (WCS) platform that utilises advanced computers and radars to track enemy targets and to guide munitions to destroy them when necessary. It combines multiple resources both aboard the ship and elsewhere in order to efficiently depict and control the battle space around it, with direct uplinks to Strategic Command's satellite network allowing for fast communications of data when allowed in order to index and recall information as necessary. The ARES is divided into several boxes; A centralised control box that contains the system's unique user interface that is accessed from the ship's Combat Information Center (CIC) and hooks directly into the ship's sensor systems. The system's Command And Decision (C&D) and Weapon Control Systems (WCS) are then immediately spread out among the applicable areas through a highly modular system that allows it to be reconfigured for munitions aboard or for platform it is utilised on.

The ARES' Command And Decision mainframe operates in five quadrants: The ship's navigation system and display charts are overlaid onto a tactical grid that the system and operators can see and modify as necessary. This plugs into the ship's search radars, the second quadrant, for real time tracking of nearby entities in the air, on land or sea, and under the water. The C&D's Proof-Of-Identify system will aid crew members in identifying and indexing ships as needed. The system's Electronic Support Measure (ESM) suite is coupled with the ship's Electronic Countermeasure Suite (ECM) on the RN/SLS-082 Electronic Warfare Device and aids in the identification and tracking of entities. The ESM suite is also able to solve radar 'echoes' - Images too faint to identify - and incoming missiles with an improved accuracy over previous platforms.

Satellite Communications and Tactical Information Link systems are operated via the C&D system and allow the ship to maintain steady communications whilst in operations. This is also a method in which the ship's RHEA Defence Network gains third-party details of incoming ordnance for area defence. The last quadrant of the C&D system is the ship's sonar system, managed on the Warrior by the Tungsten SSC-12 Sonar Array and it's towed cable. The sonar system has two main objectives; To identify and track submerged contacts and to perform detailed hydrographic surveys to keep the undersea geography accurately mapped. This proved crucial in 2006 when F.N.S Pullo mapped the collapse of a three mile submerged cliff area to expose volcanic vents in the Grey Sea. The discovery proved volcanic activity in the area, the activity of which successfully brought back marine life to that particular area. A part of the C&D system that is organically attached as and when needed is the ship's carried helicopters, which interface their airborne sensors and any carried systems (Such as a dipping sonar) to it.

The Weapon Control System (WCS) of the Warrior is typically divided into Anti-Air Warfare (AAW), Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW), Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), and Electronic Warfare (EW) categories, all of which directly interface to the Command and Decision network for pin-point accuracy. The ship's Electronic Warfare suite is the RN/SLS-082 which was mentioned previously as also housing the ship's Electronic Support measure (ESM) suite. The Electronic Countermeasure suite uses a multi-mode, multiple-engagement frequency modulator to present false images to incoming ordnance or enemy fire control systems trying to 'paint' the ship with a target beam. The emitters for the ECM are capable of a self-modulated energy pattern that constantly shifts during usage in an attempt to throw off ship's trying to counter the jamming system. The Countermeasure suite also works as a method of detection for incoming missiles and has an automated decoy deployment system that takes over from crew-members to launch RBOC (Rapid Blooming Off-board Chaff) if needed.

The ECM suite forms a part of the Weapon Control System's defensive mode, which combines it, the previously mentioned RBOC to the ship's Trixton 500 Defence Suite and Beluga Anti-Torpedo Countermeasure System. The Trixton 500 is a modular system that utilises 1.2 ton rotary launchers to deploy active countermeasures into the direction of incoming missiles. The suite is also capable of holding and firing anti-air and anti-surface missiles for short range combat against hostile aircraft and boats making an attacking run. One such missile the Trixton 500 is capable of firing is the Pilum Missile, a short-range anti-surface/ship missile with a range of eight kilometers. The suite is also capable of launching anti-torpedo countermeasures, either as a decoy submerged chaff or as a torpedo-hunting interceptor. The Trixton is aided by the RBOC and an array of active/IR decoy launchers throughout the ship. The defensive mode also directly utilises the ship's two Millenium CIWS and 25mm remote operated cannons as needed, although usage of the 25mm cannons is a toggled-on slave as opposed to naturally available.

The offensive mode of the Weapon Control System is wide ranged and offers crew members an easy-to-use interface for managing, maintaining and using the ship's weapons. The Warrior possesses facilities to store up to 96 missiles within it's vertical launch system and a further eight dedicated anti-ship missiles within mid-ship mounted launchers. The ship, by default, has eight Foreganger Missiles, a supersonic anti-ship missile capable of Mach 2.3 and a range of 209 kilometers. The Foregangers are fired at a slanted curve away from the ship to it's sides and quickly expend a solid-fuel booster to achieve operational flight speeds. The Foreganger Missile Control System (FMCS) controls the usage of the Foregangers.

Warrior-class destroyers can hold a wide array of missiles within it's 96-cell vertical launch system. Initially the class exclusively utilised the system for Anti-Air Missiles, however as missiles such as the Lance Missile came into service, the options have increased dramatically. The Lance Missile, operated by the Lance Control System (LCS) has a wide variety of variants that allow it to strike targets on land or at sea with conventional high explosives or thermobaric warheads. A cluster munition deploying missile, the Lance SD-5, also see's naval usage for actions against small craft or for scattered bombardments of larger enemy combatants. The traditional anti-ship missile of the Lance family, the AS-3, is being phased out of service in favour of the supersonic Trebuchet Missile, a ram-jet weapon capable of delivering up to 300 kg of explosives coupled with it's own kinetic energy to an hostile target. Whilst the Trebuchet is marked for usage against seaborne targets, it has proven equally effective in engaging targets on land. Within the ship's vertical launch system is the newest in it's original arsenal of Anti-Air Warfare (AAW) missiles, the Archer Missile family. The missile is capable of conducting localised area defence or long-range anti-ballistic missile defence (ABM).

The 127mm light-weight deck gun on the front of the ship is a dual purpose weapon with automatic loading and remote operation from the ship's CIC. By default the weapon holds 66 rounds of varrious nature within automated loader drums. The weapon, which is cooled by water jets, is capable of conducting a sustained barrage of 40 rounds per minute with certain types of ammunition fired reaching ranges of 100 km. The ship is also equipped with two 25mm remote operated bushmaster guns, capable of firing over 200 rounds per minute to ranges of 3000 meters.

Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) aboard the vessel is accomplished three fold; The ship possesses two tri-barrel torpedo launchers above the hangar which fire the Type 14A Helix Lightweight Torpedo, which is capable of independently tracking and eliminating hostile submarines at a speed of 40+ knots (46 mph+). The torpedo is also stored in the Peltast Missile, which is fired from the vertical launch system and is capable of placing the torpedo into the water at danger-close ranges to reduce the ability of the submarine to counter it in time. Finally, the ship has room for one medium helicopter or two light helicopters, which are all capable of carrying anti-submarine detection tools or torpedoes in which to engage them with.

Ships in class

F.N.S Ponzi (DDG-58)

F.N.S Aylmer (DDG-70)

Name	Number	Comissioned	Status
F.N.S Warrior	DDG-55	1989	Active
F.N.S Monti	DDG-56	1990	Active
F.N.S Christakos	DDG-57	1990	Active
F.N.S Ponzi	DDG-58	1991	Active
F.N.S Goodman	DDG-59	1991	Active
F.N.S Copello	DDG-60	1992	Active
F.N.S Moreau	DDG-61	1992	Active
F.N.S Hollard	DDG-62	1993	Active
F.N.S Baptise	DDG-63	1994	Active
F.N.S Pullo	DDG-64	1993	Active
F.N.S Marchese	DDG-65	1995	Active
F.N.S Davidson	DDG-66	1994	Active
F.N.S Hayward	DDG-67	1996	Active
F.N.S Eriksson	DDG-68	2000	Active
F.N.S Hester	DDG-69	1999	Active
F.N.S Aylmer	DDG-70	1997	Active
F.N.S Gremillon	DDG-71	2000	Active
F.N.S Venturi	DDG-72	1999	Active
F.N.S Marchese	DDG-73	1998	Active
F.N.S Calliope	DDG-74	2000	Active
F.N.S Michaels	DDG-75	2003	Active
F.N.S Kinkaid	DDG-76	2002	Active
F.N.S Sorrentino	DDG-77	2002	Active
F.N.S Taylor	DDG-78	2004	Active
F.N.S Peterson	DDG-79	2006	Active
F.N.S Cushing	DDG-80	2007	Active
F.N.S Baptiste	DDG-81	2007	Active
F.N.S Luchetti	DDG-82	2008	Active
F.N.S Cupellini	DDG-83	2008	Active
F.N.S Hale	DDG-84	2007	Active
F.N.S Nettling	DDG-85	2009	Active
F.N.S Keener	DDG-86	2007	Active
F.N.S Van Clyde	DDG-87	2009	Active
F.N.S Forelli	DDG-88	2011	Active
F.N.S Dane	DDG-89	2012	Active
F.N.S Sheen	DDG-90	2012	Active
F.N.S Marra	DDG-91	2013	Active
F.N.S Greene	DDG-92	2014	Active
F.N.S Meer	DDG-93	2014	Active
F.N.S Matic	DDG-94	2017	Active
F.N.S Angiolini	DDG-95	2017	Active
F.N.S Borghi	DDG-96	2018	Active
F.N.S Bottocini	DDG-97	Fitting out	Est. 2018
F.N.S Chapman	DDG-98	In construction	Est. 2019

See also

• Federation Navy
• Warrior-class Destroyers