EarthForce Capital Ships

Hi! I'm Captain John J Sheridan. Before you ask, this isn't my office. I'm only on a quick stop-over for supplies and some R&R for my crew. Commander Sinclair invited me here today to tell you a little about my ship. That's the EAS Agamemnon, one of the early Omega-class destroyers to come off the production line after the Earth-Minbari War.

Omega Class Destroyer

From stem to stern, she measures something like 1.7 kilometers, which makes her the biggest capital ship in the Earth Alliance, with a crew of around 850. The sensor arrays project from the bow, where you have the fighter bays above and fuel stores below. She can carry a full complement of 36 fighters, by the way. The fighters launch forwards, two abreast, from the bay. Next, you have the forward defence grid. Following that, you have the extended mid-section, which is the most noticeable part of the ship. This rotates, in order to provide artificial gravity for the crew. I can't tell you how useful this is for deep space missions - we couldn't have kept the crews fit and ready without it. After that, there's the aft defence grid, followed by the jump engines and the fusion particle thrust drive. Like most capital ships, the Omega can make its own jump-points; the four fusion engines are for in-system propulsion.

EAS Agamemnon

I've just come in from patrolling the Rim, keeping the peace and flying the flag for the Earth Alliance. Here, I've got a publicity shot of the Agamemnon on patrol in Sector 37. We had some trouble with raiders earlier this month, but when we showed up, they just ran.

That's a long-haul EA freighter you can see alongside the Agamemnon. They were really pleased to see us, I can tell you. ISN ran a news item on us that month, hence the picture. That was taken out near the Orion system, if I recall. Either that, or near Vega 5.

This is our sister ship, the Alexander. She was in action recently. The forward heavy X-ray fusion laser is firing.

Offensive Firepower

What firepower does the Agamemnon carry? Well, the Omegas have six of the latest heavy X-ray fusion lasers, in fixed mountings facing two forward and four aft, angled for ship-to-ship combat. These beam weapons are the primary offensive capability; they're about the most effective stand-off weapon over a long distance in space. They can cut an enemy craft in pieces in seconds, either slice them apart, or cause them to explode as their hull vaporises. You'd have to have some pretty good ablative armour to withstand that. The targeting system is pretty good, such that you can take a vessel down from a couple of thousand klicks away. What you might not appreciate is that the focusing fields for the beams give quite a good directed field of fire.

This is the Alexander again, this time firing the aft-facing heavy X-ray fusion laser.

As a secondary offensive system, there are six heavy pulse discharge cannon, facing two forward and four aft. These are phased plasma weapons; they fire in tandem from the same hard-points as the heavy lasers. A common tactic in a battle is to fire the pulse discharge cannon while the fusion lasers are recycling - you just keep hitting the enemy, so they can't react.

Before we had the heavy lasers, pulse cannon were the best weapons available. But they were outclassed by the other race's particle beam weapons, like the Minbari neutron cannon, for example. We also carry a full arsenal of missiles, which we can arm with various warheads, including tactical nukes.

In this picture, you can see us emerging from a jump point with our Alpha Wing flying in close support. It's a good way to launch a surprise attack, since you don't waste time launching fighters at the destination.

Defensive Firepower

The primary defence grid is built around plasma pulse cannon, medium particle beam lasers and interceptors. These guns are basically a defence screen against enemy fighters, mounted on twelve omni-directional turrets, four forward and eight more aft. They track round 360° and can ruin a fighter jock's day. Sometimes, a rail gun is the most effective screen - it can throw up a curtain of fire that incoming fighters won't penetrate. Each turret can switch between particle beam and pulse cannon fire, linked into the defense grid's interceptors.

Interceptors are defensive energy weapons for blocking enemy fire. They're computer-controlled to respond to any threat and target incoming fire with a counter-attacking stream. Often, you can dissipate the kinetic energy of a pulse cannon burst. The Omegas also have eight- to ten-metre armour protecting the hull.

Exit to Transport Tube

Would youl like to hear more about other EarthForce capital ships? Captain John Sheridan is off duty, and he seems willing to spend some time talking with you. Click on the Omega Class Destroyer to continue.