Vanguard Class Dreadnoughts

Dreadnought class ship acting as part fleet command vessel, carrier, repair vessel, and a multitude of other functionalities. The ships serve as whatever the fleet that accompanies them needs at that particular moment serving as a mobile base of operations. Its size and capacity allows for the basing and docking capacity of Cruiser class ships and smaller. Although the number of support ships in a Vanguard fleet provides better services in a single category, the Vanguard class ship can perform any function, including fuel refinement in the event that any of the support vessels are unavailable or destroyed, maintaining fleet effectiveness.
The Vanguard ships also have the capacity to build additional ships to replace missing fleet assets, up to battleship class vessels, although when creating ships of these sizes, the dreadnought cannot move from its location. Despite the lack of maneuverability the defensive capacity of the dreadnought is unmatched by any other ship within the Terran Ascendency.
Offensively, the Vanguard dreadnought is woefully underpowered, relying mostly on the ships attached to the fleet, the ships and fighters contained within it, and its multiple layers of defensive armaments to draw out attacks while the rest of the fleet engages whatever is attacking it. Even though it's armaments are lacking, it still has some offensive firepower in the form of ballistic weaponry and missiles.
Defensively, the Vanguard dreadnought has multiple layers of defense. Boasting Class-C shields as a primary defense, it has multiple shield cores creating a multi-layered defense. In the event that one core is overloaded, another core is already present to take on the defense, while the first recharges. In addition, the outer hull layer is bristling with defensive flak cannons and laser point defenses to stop enemy fighters, bombers, missiles, and torpedoes. In the event that the shields and defensive counter measures are inadequate, the ship also has multiple layers of armor to protect it.
With all this mass, the speed of the dreadnought is extremely slow given modern day speeds, taking nearly five years to travel the distance between the Earth and Pluto, without the use of the Tunnel Drive. The Tunnel Drive is capable of creating a Tunnel for multiple ships, however, it is unable to pull the entire fleet with it and requires coordination among multiple Jump Ships to move through the tunnel.
There is a single main power core present on the ship providing power for all activities aboard the ship. There are redundant secondary power cores present, but these are unable to fully power all aspects of the vessel in the case of primary core failure. The secondary cores only serve as a backup and to allow time for the primary core to be repaired or restarted.
The crew compliment of the Vanguard dreadnought stands at roughly 5,000. This does not include any of the individuals for the ships that are docked with the Vanguard, civilians living aboard, or the non-military support staff. In crisis situations, the Vanguard can house 50,000 individuals comfortably with an additional 500,000 in cryogenic suspension. The cryogenic bays are powered with their own reactors that operate independently of the main power grid in the case of a primary core shut down.
Due to the nature of the mission and the ship size, there is a number of civilians who live aboard the dreadnoughts. Mostly family members, these individuals also maintain the leisure facilities, mess halls, and most other non-essential functions. Most civilians associated with the fleet have opted to remain on the colonization vessels.
Dreadnought class ships are a size below the Titan class ships, but boast greater maneuverability able to leave Earth orbit and travel outside the solar system. The next sized vessel below them are Rampart class carriers.

Class

Vanguard Class Dreadnoughts

Used by

• Vanguard Class Dreadnoughts

Manufacturer

Terran Ascendency

Owning Organization

Terran Ascendency