Oberth Class Sublight Destroyer

(Version 1.00 - Last Modified: 07/21/2003)

Designed to patrol Earth's star system and to escort the far more vulnerable ARMD carriers, this class entered service in 2005, years before the launching of the SDF-1. Though most were destroyed by the Zentraedi immediately after they entered Earth orbit and when the SDF-1 attempted to link up with ARMD-01 and -02, or later when they were recalled to Earth just before the Zentraedi Holocaust, some survived and continued to patrol the solar system until they were decommissioned just before the SDF-3 departed for Tirol.

The Oberth ships were fairly spacious and was popular with its crews before the Zentraedi arrived, which proved that the ship was woefully underpowered to deal with the far larger and deadlier Zentraedi vessels. They also served to evacuate the personnel of Mars Base Sara after the threats made by anti-unification terrorists to destroy the base any everyone in it. With the help from several dissidents in European countries, these terrorists captured the Koroljev and used it to destroy the Oberth, which was carrying part of the base's complement and was unprepared to resist, killing everyone onboard. The Goddard, under the command of Captain Henry Gloval, was dispatched to deal with the Koroljev, which had entered orbit around the moon and was making propaganda broadcasts against the United Earth Government. Shortly before entering orbit of the moon, the Goddard ejected several of her Trident missiles. The ship then proceeded in a high orbit and on a standard attack course towards the Koroljev. This ship's hijackers, fully expecting the Goddard to make a head-on attack (the only attack they thought possible in space) and prepared for this. They were caught completely off guard when the ejected and completely undetected missiles used their occultation by the moon to ignite their engines and then made a parabolic orbit with a periapsis at a mere 1500 meters above the moon's surface, coming up behind the Koroljev at high speed and using the moon as radar background. Koroljev's crew never even saw them coming. This case was later hailed by officers as an excellent example of using the particulars of celestial bodies (in this case, the Moon's lack of an atmosphere which made the very close fly-by possible) in space tactics.

After the end of the First Robotech War, the Oberth class vessels served admirably as patrol ships and were instrumental in rooting out and destroying several Zentraedi destroyers and picket ships that had escaped the Zentraedi Holocaust. However, they were only assigned these duties as the Zentraedi vessels were damaged and underpowered already, and because allied Zentraedi vessels were standing by to help them out if necessary.

The Oberth class was the first Human only design for a space warship, and was the prime vessel for the further exploration, examination, exploitation and transport between the planets of the solar system during the first years of the 21^st century. As the first design and with the designers only partially understanding most of its technologies, it had its flaws, but it served faithfully during the First Robotech War and for many years afterwards. Like the ARMD carriers, the Oberth class was designed to fight the Zentraedi fleets as they were hypothesized from the wreckage of the SDF-1: one large mother ship of the SDF-1 type, and a number of smaller escort ships, which might or might not have fold-capability. As such, the Zentraedi Tou Redir came reasonably close to the escort ships of the military theorists' pipe dreams, but even these smaller ships were far more powerful than had been anticipated, and the Oberth class, designed to fight these ships, was usually overmatched against even of these ships.

The Oberth class was well armed for its size and design era, with four powerful forward fixed particle guns, multiple point-defense lasers, and 15 deadly anti-warship missiles. Nevertheless, the most comparable Zentraedi vessel, the Tou Redir scout, was more efficiently armed and armored. An Oberth class ship can prevail against this smallest and most numerous of Zentraedi vessels only if it utilized its maneuverability to avoid the scout's guns while it tried to bring its forward battery to bear. However, the limited field of fire of the main gun battery made the Oberth's attack run fairly predictable for Zentraedi fire control parties, with usually unpleasant results. There were two flights of the Oberth class, the first flight consisted of four ships, named after space pioneers, having four identical forward cannons. The second flight, named after famous women from world literature, had two of its cannons replaced with more powerful versions.

Names and Disposition:

• Flight 1:

Shipyard Name	Name	Year Commissioned	Notes
AMES-01	Oberth	2005	Destroyed by the Koroljev in 2008.
DD-02	Goddard	2005	Decommissioned in 2021.
AMES-03	Koroljev	2005	Destroyed by the Goddard in 2008.
DD-04	Tsjolkovsky	2006	Decommissioned in 2021.

• Flight 2:

Shipyard Name	Name	Year Commissioned	Notes
AMES-05	Miranda	2006	Destroyed in Earth orbit in 2009.
DD-06	Desdemona	2006	Decommissioned in 2021.
AMES-07	Circe	2007	Destroyed in Earth orbit in 2009.
AMES-08	Titania	2007	Destroyed during the Zentraedi Holocaust in 2011.
AMES-09	Cordelia	2007	Destroyed in Lunar orbit in 2009.
AMES-10	Esther	2008	Destroyed in Earth orbit in 2009.
DD-11	Dido	2008	Decommissioned in 2021.
AMES-12	Katherine	2008	Destroyed during the Zentraedi Holocaust in 2011.
AMES-13	Beatrice	2008	Destroyed during the Zentraedi Holocaust in 2011.
DD-14	Deidamia	2008	Decommissioned in 2021.
AMES-15	Lavinia	2009	Destroyed during the Zentraedi Holocaust in 2011.
DD-16	Hermine	2009	Decommissioned in 2021.
AMES-17	Galadriel	2009	Destroyed during the Zentraedi Holocaust in 2011.
AMES-18	Rixanne	2010	Destroyed during the Zentraedi Holocaust in 2011.
DD-19	Cosette	2010	Decommissioned in 2021.
AMES-20	Jane Eyre	2010	Destroyed during the Zentraedi Holocaust in 2011.

Ship Information:

• Ship Class: Destroyer
• Ship Type: System
• Year Commissioned: 2005 CE
• Crew: 100
• Troops:
  • Air Group: 4
  • Marines: 40
  • Total: 44
• Total Crew and Troops: 144

Vehicle Complement:

• Other Complement:

1	SC-27 Star Goose Space Shuttle

M.D.C. by location:

• Particle Beam Cannons (4) - 200 each
• Retractable Defense Laser Turrets (32) - 100 each
• Heavy Missile Turrets (3) - 300 each
• Retractable Weapon Hatches (35) - 100 each
• Airlock Access Hatches (8) - 50 each
• Hanger Door - 100
• Front Sensor Cluster - 75
• Bridge - 400
• Reaction Thrusters (8) - 800 each
• Maneuvering Thrusters (6) - 200 each
• Hull Regions (4, Engine Section) - 200 each
• Hull Regions (20, Main Body) - 100 each
• Main Body - 2800 *


M.D.C. Armor Rating - Hull Region: 8
M.D.C. Armor Rating - Main Body: 15
Notes:

*	Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will shut down the entire ship, including life support, gravity control, communications, weapons, and engines.

Speed:

• Sublight: Can travel at up to 10 percent of the speed of light (0.10c) and accelerate / decelerate at a rate of 0.12 percent of light (0.0012c) per melee.
• Atmospheric Propulsion: The ship cannot operate in an atmosphere; it cannot come within 74.6 miles (120 km) of a planet's atmosphere without being caught in its gravity well.
• Maximum Range: Effectively unlimited by drive system, but onboard supplies for the crew and troops will last for 10 months before the ship needs to be restocked. Water stores were recycled almost completely and hydroponics installations provided the crew with a steady supply of fresh foods.

Statistical Data:

• Height: 210' (64 m)
• Width: 568' (173.1 m)
• Length: 1280' (390.1 m)
• Weight: 159,835 tons (145,000 metric tons)
• Reactor System: Mk-II Protoculture Reactor with a life span of 15 years.
• Propulsion System: Chemical Rocket
• Gravity System: None
• Cargo: None

Weapon Systems:

1. PB-1 Particle Beam Cannons (4 for Flight 1 and 2 for Flight 2)
   The PB series of particle cannons represents a blend of Zentraedi and Human technologies. While not as powerful as the particle cannons mounted on Zentraedi ships, they were designed to be strong enough to deal with the escort ships that the RDF believed they would have to face. For Flight 1 destroyers these cannons are mounted on the top and sides of the hull in a fixed forward position. For Flight 2 destroyers these cannons are mounted on the top of the hull in a fixed forward position.
   • Range: 62.1 miles (100 km) underwater, 124.3 miles (200 km) through an atmosphere, and 124,274 miles (200,000 km) in space.
   • Damage: 1D4x100 M.D. per single blast.
   • M.D.C. Weapon Rating: 24
   • Rate of Fire: Each cannon can fire once per melee.
   • Payload: Effectively unlimited
2. PB-2 Particle Beam Cannons (2 for Flight 2)
   The PB-2 was slightly more powerful particle cannon and was installed on all Oberth destroyers built during the second Flight. These cannons are mounted on the sides of the hull in a fixed forward position.
   • Range: 62.1 miles (100 km) underwater, 124.3 miles (200 km) through an atmosphere, and 124,274 miles (200,000 km) in space.
   • Damage: 1D6x100 M.D. per single blast.
   • M.D.C. Weapon Rating: 24
   • Rate of Fire: Each cannon can fire once per melee.
   • Payload: Effectively unlimited
3. Retractable Defense Laser Turrets (32)
   Another Earth designed weapon based on alien technology, these were to serve as the ships anti-mecha weapons against enemy attacks. 16 of these weapons are scattered over the dorsal hull and the other 16 are scattered over the ventral hull.
   • Range: 1584' (482.8 m) underwater, 3168' (965.6 m) through an atmosphere, and 60 miles (96.6 km) in space.
   • Damage: 1D6x10 M.D. per single blast.
   • M.D.C. Weapon Rating: 8
   • Rate of Fire: Each cannon can fire four times per melee.
   • Payload: Effectively unlimited
   • Bonus: +2 to strike
4. Heavy Missile Launchers (3)
   These are heavy anti-ship missiles and supplement the particle cannons to make the destroyer dangerous to the small ships of the Zentraedi fleet. They are mounted on the aft dorsal and remained concealed until they fire.
   • Missile Design: Lockheed Trident F4 Cruise Missile
   • Missile Type: Anti-Spaceship
   • Missile Guidance Systems: Select any two available guidance systems.
   • Missile Warhead: Any available type.
   • Range: 1600 miles (2575 km) in an atmosphere and 3,019,777 miles (4,859,860 km / 16.2 light seconds) in space.
   • Speed: 3000 mph (4828 km/h) in an atmosphere and an acceleration of 6% of light (0.06c) per melee in space, with a maximum duration in space of 32 melees and a maximum safe speed in space of 60% of light (0.60c).
   • Damage and Blast Radius: Varies with type of missile warhead.
   • Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2 or 3 missiles. Each launched can fire twice per melee.
   • Payload: 5 missiles per launcher, for a total of 15 cruise missiles.
   • Modifiers: Automatically hits a stationary target in space, has more advanced targeting equipment that gives a bonus of +6 to strike a moving target, but has a penalty of -10 to strike any target under 500 tons (453.6 metric tons).

Special Systems:

1. Electronic Warfare System
   The ship is equipped with a basic RDF EW suite.
   • ECM: 3
   • ECCM: 2
   • EWS Abilities: None

Standard Systems:

1. Life Support System
   The ship has a fully operational life support system that provides fresh atmosphere throughout the ship. The life support system can sustain a maximum of 500 people indefinitely or 1000 people for a short period of time in case of an emergency.
2. Communication Systems
   The ship is equipped with three communication systems. The first is a long range laser system with a maximum range of 100,000 miles (160,934 km), the transmissions travel at the speed of light, but they rely on line of sight, so it cannot communicate with a ship that is on the other side of a solid object. The second system is a long range radio system with a maximum range of 8000 miles (12,875 km), the transmissions travel at the speed of light, but they are easy to intercept and jam. The third system is a satellite relay system that allows the ship to boost the range of the other communication systems indefinitely by using satellites or other ships to relay the transmission. The ship's communication array can contact with up to 150 ships simultaneously.
3. Sensor Systems
   The ship is equipped with three sensor systems. The first is the Electromagnetic Detection Equipment that detects other sensor systems at twice the maximum range of their transmitter. The second is a powerful array that uses standard radar waves, which are fairly easy to jam, but it is obvious when the radar array is being jammed. The sensor can track tiny targets at a range of up to 150,000 miles (241,402 km), small targets at a range of up to 1.5 million miles (2.4 million km), medium targets at a range of up to 3 million miles (4.8 million km), and large targets at a range of up to 4.5 million miles (7.2 million miles). The third is a Subspace Mass Sensor that uses gravity-based technology to detect target's at real time speed. The sensor can track tiny targets at a range of up to 100,000 miles (160,934 km), small targets at a range of up to 1 million miles (1.6 million km), medium targets at a range of up to 2 million miles (3.2 million km), and large targets at a range of up to 3 million miles (4.8 million km). See Human Ship Systems for more details on sensor systems.
4. Targeting Computer System
   Connecting the ship's sensor systems with the weapon systems is the Targeting Computer System. The system is designed to control all of the weapons currently equipped on the ship. This system can track up to 100 targets simultaneously, providing detailed information about the targets from the ships data files. All direct fire weapons receive a bonus of +2 to strike and all missile weapons receive a bonus of +2 to strike. These bonuses are in addition to any previously stated bonuses or penalties.

Combat Summary:

• ECM: 3
• ECCM: 2
• Combat Actions: 3
• Strike: +2 to strike with direct fire weapons and +2 to strike with missile weapons.
• Dodge: +1 to dodge
• Targeting System: Can track up to 100 targets simultaneously.