User:07 Contrite Witness/Maryland-class battleship

"I wouldn't be so hard on her, lieutenant. In her heyday, [the Martians] knew they couldn't beat her, and her arrival stopped dozens of wars before they even started.''"
 * "''With respect, Captain, that was over a century ago. Now, even a duster frigate isn't going to be scared off by it."

- Captain Liang Yu and Lieutenant Alfred Niemczyk

The Maryland-class battleship is a line of first-generation capital ships that are still, though only just, in service with the United Nations Navy. Though once a mighty warship that served as the backbone of UN Squadrons, so heavily overgunned that these warships could defeat entire fleets of smaller attack craft, they are now too long in the teeth to serve as frontline combatants.

Role
At the time of their introduction, the Maryland-class battleships were used as the unshakable core of UNN armadas. In battle, they were designed as fleet killers, with a comprehensive protection scheme to withstand fire from any task force the Martians may deploy, and enough weapons to suppress and force their ships to divide up. A token screening force would be provided to protect them from small raiders and boarding craft. However, the Maryland-class fulfilled an important role on the strategic level as tools of deterrence and power projection. Contested stations of significance would be protected by one of these battleships, searching Martian ships with impunity and, hopefully, make it far more difficult for them to expand into certain regions. If Mars wished to continue contesting them, they either needed to build bigger and strain their smaller economy, or accept the very costly casualties these ships would inflict on them. Though sound in theory, the introduction of massed missile armaments, followed by railguns on their first-generation battleships, made any theoretical confrontation far less risky.

As the decades dragged on and second and later third-generation warships were commissioned, their roles had to change with the times. They were still significant assets in the Belt, but they were relegated to second-line tasks - enforcing embargoes and terms, hosting negotiations of some importance, and watching over joint-control facilities. Perhaps their most important task was relaying communications across the fleet, but dedicated ships were available that could do this cheaper. Eventually, some were phased out of combat service and refitted for support purposes - typically ammunition ferrying.

During the Earth-Mars War, the Maryland-class became some of the most active capital ships the UN had deployed. Because of their age and the fact that nobody particularly wanted to keep them, they were assigned to any mission that required their firepower. Vital convoys carrying war material and outposts in strategic locations were protected by these ships to deter raiders, and bases were bombarded to deny them to the enemy. Had the war gone on longer, they may well have been used on high risk, near-suicidal missions against Mars itself.

Specifications
The Maryland-class bares a strong resemblance to the Sun Tzu-class heavy command ships, with both vessels in fact splitting off from a common ancestor that was never adopted by the UNN. While the latter vessel was enlarged to serve as a troop ship and flagship for admirals, the Maryland had its weapon and protection systems augmented. These huge suites took up a lot of space within the battleship's hull, cutting down on crew spaces and amenities that made them unpopular ships to serve on.

Armament
Though their statistics give the impression of a formidable warship, the Maryland-class are hampered by badly-outdated technologies that should have been replaced with various modernisation programs. They are last ships that carried electrothermal naval guns, in the form of thirty Mark 19 300mm/35 caliber guns in ten triple turrets. The widespread adoption of railguns significantly increased the lethality, range, and precision of modern battleships, giving them a disadvantage in all but knife-fighting distances. Only the semi-guided nature of their shells, as well as their high rate of fire, keeps them competitive. The turrets are positioned to concentrate their fire on each of the battleship's broadsides, a decision that makes them easier targets, but one that complies with the old requirement for coverage at all angles.

The Maryland is also equipped with twelve heavy torpedo bays. These have been upgraded across the class, and can now accept the same missiles as those used on the UNN's other capital ships. The lack of space means that an autoloader cannot be accommodated, increasing crew complement and the time to reload after firing. There are also 50 smaller cells, once used for launching multipurpose anti-air and anti-ship missiles, now only used for counter-torpedo defence.

The point defence network consists of 38 point defence guns. These used to be the old Hellfire-9 25mm turrets, dedicated anti-air weapons that have received much praise for their reliability and ability to keep the ships safe from harm. There was a planned refit to replace these with Mikazuki Munitions' point defence cannons, whose dual-purpose role should have offered better protection and standardized the UNN fleet on the 40mm projectile. However, the same low-quality targeting computer used on the Leonidas-class compromised their accuracy, and so the refit was cancelled before all members of the Maryland-class could receive them.