Persei-Aries War Resumes

The Shahada al-Qadir (Witness of the Almighty) is the latest battleship class being produced by the larger shipyards in the Arab League and associated colonial caliphates.  They are the largest warships ever built by the League, even if they are somewhat light compared to other battleship designs in peer navies.  They are in many ways classic examples of League Navy design and construction, keeping many of the quintessential features of the League’s warships, even if such features make the Shahada class quite unusual among dreadnoughts of the Ten Powers.

As flagships of the League Navy, the Shahada battleships are dedicated command and control platforms, with extended passenger accomodations, CIC suites, and hangar bays for additional “admiral’s elbow room.”  Such design features are fairly typical for a battleship, what is not so typical is the Darkstar drive capable of hurling her 396,000-ton bulk into a 10th magnitude distortion wave.  Most battleships manage only a 9th (or even just an 8th) magnitude wave, making the Shahada one of the faster FTL battleships in Known Space.  Such faster Darkstar drives are common in the League Navy, of course.  As one of the last powers to make the leap into interstellar space, the Arab caliphates found most of the easier, closer colonization sites already claimed and so had to venture further to stake their national claim.  Today, this legacy manifests itself by making the League Navy the overall fastest, longest-ranged, and most agile superluminal battlefleet in Known Space, and the Shahada battleships are no exception.

The Shahada is also something of a hybrid class, a battleship carrying not only heavy guns but also a respectable aerospace strike group and impressive torpedo load.  In her normal strike group configuation, a Shahada carries two “Alnazir” (Beholder) scouts, twelve “Mylekinir” (Fire Angel) fighters, and six “Demkikam” (Vengeance) bombers.  This load is only slightly less than a typical light fleet carrier, but due to the expanded launch bays and hangar facilities, a Shahada can launch all of these at once.  The Shahada also carries a withering twenty-tube torpedo array, mounting the “Ahrasyfa” (Storm) Class IV warhead.  Simulations and early engagements have shown that when used in conjunction with the aerospace strike group, this complete strike package can threaten almost any warship in Known Space.

For her main armament, the Shahada carries five triple turrets of 25-teravolt EPCs, opting for more turrets and more barrels of a slightly smaller gun, rather than huge cannonades as we see in the Colorado, Tirpitz, Yamato, and Qin Shuhangi classes.  Three turrets are carried forward (two dorsal, one ventral), and two aft (one dorsal, one ventral), ensuring coverage on all quarters.  Also note the torpedos are arranged fore and aft in a “broadside” configuation, common among many battleship and heavy cruiser designs that incorporate gravitic torpedoes in the weapons array.  At least in this sense, the Shahada is a classic battleship design, her weapons loadout arrayed for maximum broadside output.

One curious omission is the complete lack of any secondary batteries.  Indeed, except for the torpedoes, the Shahada carries only mass drivers as secondary weapons, and even this battery is somewhat light compared to other classes.  This lack of a secondary gun battery – combined with somewhat mediocre mass driver defense and front-loaded main battery layout – makes the Shahada abnormally vulnerable astern.  True, all battleships are somewhat vunerable from astern, and all battleships rely heavily on an escort fleet of cruisers and destroyers, but with the Shahada this drawback is somewhat more pronounced.

Also, however fast she may be in FTL, at sublight cruising and engagement speeds, a Shahada’s thrust-to-weight ratio is nothing special.  A Shahada’s maneuver envelopes and accelleration curves are comparable only to heavier ships with much more firepower, and when compared to battleships of her own weight, she’s downlight sluggish.  This isn’t a problem with her advanced power plant, it’s a concession made to the power demands of her Darkstar drive and aerospace hangars, launch bays, workshops, and associated support systems.

The Shahada al-Qadir is definitely an unusual battleship, and requires an unusual commander that can make the most of her uncommon strengths and also minimize her drawbacks.  As a “jack of all trades,” she’s the “master of none” – clearly designed to be part of a battlefleet of other vessels.  So far this doctrine seems to be working, with the class racking up impressive records against Japanese and Black Dragon opponents.

So far nine ships of the class are confirmed:

• Shahada al-Qadir (Witness of the Almighy)
• Rasul al-Allah (Messenger of God)
• Sayf al-Iktikham (Sword of Reprisal)
• Ayn al-Saalihin (Eye of the Righteous)
• Kalimat al-Nabii (Word of the Prophet)
• Abd al-Adl (Servant of the Just)
• Qatil al-Shiriyr (Slayer of the Wicked)
• Sayf al-Iman (Faithful Sword)
• Idrab Rahim (Merciful Strike)