SPECIFICATIONS

GOVERNMENT: Ceres Regency
TYPE: Interstellar Space Battleship
MODELS: Bismarck class SBB-72
DATE INTRODUCED: 2072 AD
LENGTH: 922.8 feet
WIDTH: 194.6 feet
HEIGHT: 179.7 feet
MATERIAL: Composite-Alloy
POWER PLANT: 4x Ceres Energy CEFR-80K
OUTPUT: 80,000 megawatts each (320,000 total)
ARMOR TYPE: Composite-Alloy
ARMOR THICKNESS: 6 inches
DISPLACEMENT: 45,000 tons
CREW: 371 (81 Gunners, 45 Engineers, 45 Electricians, 45 Technicians, 45 Operators, 36 Officers, 18 Medical, 60 Flight)

PROPULSION

             FASTER THAN LIGHT DRIVE:
             3x Pallas Research PRID-T2-4500 Type-2 intersection drives
             SPEED: .12 light years per hour each (.36 light years per hour total)

             SUBLIGHT:
             7x Io Factory #5 EMD-32400 electromagnetic drives
             SPEED: 6,080,000 mph each (30,400,000 mph/.045C total)

             MANEUVER:
             2x Hygiea #3 HYID-22,500 high yield ion drives
             SPEED: 38,000 mph each (76,000 mph total)

WEAPONS:

             PRIMARY (OFFENSIVE):
             9x Lithgear LG-PC-2002 dual 200-megawatt PHELAC turrets; Effective Range: 1600 miles; Payload: unlimited with nuclear battery clutch system; ROF: 3 blasts every twenty seconds with a cyclic rate of 9 blasts per minute.

             PRIMARY (ASSAULT):
             38x Lithgear LG-PC-1002 dual 100-megawatt PHELAC turrets; Effective Range: 800 miles; Payload: unlimited with nuclear battery clutch system; ROF: 3 blasts every twenty seconds with a cyclic rate of 9 blasts per minute.

              SECONDARY (OFFENSIVE):
              2x Io Factory #4 ITL-Mark VI ten-shot ion torpedo cruise missile launcher; Missile Type: IDST-10K ion drive computer-guided space torpedoes armed with one 10,000-pound nuclear warhead; Effective Range: 1056 miles; Payload: 20 space torpedoes each in an autoloading torpedo tube; ROF: 1-10 torpedoes per two seconds with a cyclic rate of 300 torpedoes per minute per torpedo battery.

              TERTIARY (OFFENSIVE):
               1x Lithgear LG-EMPAC-5000 5000-megawatt electromagnetic particle accelerator cannon; Effective Range: 25,000 miles; Payload: unlimited with nuclear battery clutch system; ROF: 1 blast every ten seconds or six blasts per minute each cannon.

ELECTRONICS:

             1x Microwave Radio Communications array with a range of 1000 AU.
             1x Super Luminal Velocity communications array with a range of 10 light years.
             1x LADAR array with a range of 220,000 miles.
             1x Passive EMS sensor array with a range of 1,000,000 miles.
             1x Active EMS sensor array with a range of 100,000 miles.
             1x Super Luminal Velocity sensor array with a range of 20 parsecs (65.2 light years).
             3x Gravitational Control/Antigravity unit. Effect: Provides artificial lift, g-force compensation, and enhanced maneuverability, and warp bubble generation for the triple intersection drives.

DEFENSE SYSTEMS:
             6x Europa Research ER-DF-3000 3000-megawatt deflector field generators; Effect: Generators have an output of 150 gigajoules and a regeneration rate of 15 gigajoules per 10 seconds.

HANGAR BAY:
             1x 7200-yd3; Bay holds 12 PzWM-01 PanzerWeirMechs (50 tons each), and 48 JdWM-02 JägerWeirMechs (25 tons each)

SPECIAL SYSTEMS:
              62x Ganymede Industrial  GI-EP-01 emergency escape pods; DETAILS: Escape pods have 24-hour life-support, a speed of Mach 1 (760 mph), 3 weeks of food for six people, full reentry capability, parachutes for free fall, life raft for six people (water landing), and 24 hours of fuel for rocket engines.

Description/Overview:
         The Bismarck was nearly everything the Ceres Regency could ask for and wanted out of the spacecraft design that would lead their armada of rebel ships against the Solar Empire and crush the EFR.  Bismarck was little more than an enlarged version of the Scharnhorst class, but the extra 10,000 tons displacement of warship made all the difference to the leadership of the Regency.  They knew that a ship of its size and scope had both a tangible level of destructive force and a psychological measure of power that could strike fear into their enemies.  The adversaries of the Bismarck class would have to overcome their instinctive fear of a ship its size and strength much in the way the UNSC forces had to deal with the dreaded Posse Comitatus of the Earth Federal Forces.
         Bismarck incorporated the same “Dr. Wilhelmshaven” triple intersection drive configuration as that of the Scharnhorst class.  Three Pallas Research PRID-T2-4500 4500-megawatt Type-2 intersection drives made up the faster-than-light drive cluster of the Bismarck.  Each of these engines could propel the vessel at a maximum speed of .12 light years per hour individually or .36 light years per hour collectively.
         The sublight engines of the ship consisted of five Io Factory #5 EMD-32400 32,400-megawatt electromagnetic drives.  Individually, each of these engines was able to push the ship at a speed of 6,080,000 mph.  The collective speed of the five main sublight drives was 30,400,000 mph (.045C).  These engines gave the Bismarck the means to travel anywhere in the Solar System in a relatively short period.
         The Bismarck was fitted with a pair of Hygiea #3 HYID-22500 22,500-megawatt high yield ion drives for close maneuvers and emergency propulsion.  The speed of these engines was 38,000 mph each, or 76,000 mph total.  These speeds were appropriate for flight around spacestations, moons, planetoids, and planets.
         The Bismarck was armed with the nine Lithgear LG-PC-2002 twin 200-megawatt PHELAC turrets.  These weapons were standard on all Ceres Regency warships of the 1st Interplanetary War era.  As with the Scharnhorst class battlecruiser, the Bismarck array of PHELAC turrets was able to fire as converging-beam weapons in the forward, aft, top, port, and starboard arcs of the warship.  This gave the ship excellent PHELAC turret coverage for a ship of its size.
         The broadside guns of the Bismarck were thirty-eight Lithgear LG-PC-1002 dual 100-megawatt PHELAC turrets mounted in two batteries of five, one battery of six, and one battery of three turrets per side of the ship along its equatorial axis.  These cannons were able to fire as CBWs in volleys of nineteen cannons per side against one target.  This bombardment of PHELAC turret beam weapons was very effective against Solar Empire, USR, and EFSM warships, but had minimal effect against the energy-resistant armor of the Prodono-type military craft.
         To deal with this deficiency against the alien warships, a pair of Io Factory #4 ITL-Mark VI ten-shot ion torpedo launchers was mounted on the vessel.  These launchers fired the IDST-10K ion drive computer-guided space torpedoes armed with one 10,000-pound nuclear warhead.  These were the same ion torpedoes as those used on the Scharnhorst class.  These weapons were intended for anti-alien warship bombardment.  However, they were used primarily as ballistic anti-fleet weapons.
         The main beam gun of the Bismarck was one Lithgear LG-EMPAC-5000 5000-megawatt electromagnetic particle accelerator cannon.  This beam weapon was more powerful than both of the Scharnhorst class dual main EMPACs combined.  These weapons were a Bismarck captain’s first and last line of defense when engaging in ship-to-ship combat with other space battleships and similar capital ship vessels of an opposing force.  The LG-EMPAC-5000 was a potent beam weapon for its era.
         The Bismarck had an impressive layer of armor plating which protected it from nearly all weapons employed by the powers of the Sol System during the 2070s. However, the Regency conspirators were insistent that these extremely valuable warships were given a powerful array of deflector field generators to protect these battleships.  Six Europa Research ER-DF-3000 3000-megawatt deflector field generators were mounted to cover each of the six separate arcs of the vessel.  
         Like the Scharnhorst before it, the Bismarck used emergency escape pods for the crew to abandon ship should the need arise.  Sixty-two Ganymede Industrial GI-EP-01 escape pods were located in strategically positioned launch points along the ventral and dorsal sections of the ship’s hull.
         The Bismarck class became the mainline battleship of the Ceres Regency during the 2070s with some 47 known to have been built by 2073 and an unknown number afterwards.  What is known is that the Bismarck was a very successful design.