Federation Iowa class Battleships
USS Iowa is my conjectural battleship class design for Star Fleet Battles. Iowa and her sisterships are based on a dreadnought sized primary hull with a larger secondary hull housing the advanced 1X equipment. Ships authriozed under the Naval Constuction Contract number 2161 are not as large as the Klingon's B10 or conjectural Federation Mars class BB but rely on their advanced technology, speed, maneuver and overwhelming firepower to match the larger ships in combat.
The "fast batleship" desgination is not to be confused with the fast cruisers, I use the fast desgination as a historical tip of the hat to the orginal Iowa class battleships authorized by Congress on 17 May 1938. The BB61 class were designed from the start with an abundance of horsepower, 212,000 shp which would drive the ships to 33 knots. My starships were intended to have high speed, excellent reserve power and be able to engage hostiles vessels at the time and point of their choosing. If faced with foe of superior numbers, then Iowa could disengage and still fire heavy weapons astern.
Another idea that really isn't featured in SFB is hull modularity as shown in the USN Spruance Class Destroyers and modern build Nimitz
Class Supercarriers constructed by the good folks in Newport News Virginia. Many of the major systems and hull components are modular so, you could remove them from the hull and install different equipment for different mission profiles. In peace time, these ships would have excellent endurance so they could be fitted to perform deep, long range research such as heavy galactic survey ships, with considerable self protection.
At the top of the primary hull on the O1 and O2 level where the bridge would normally be on Class One Starship, is sensor packages, which are modular and can be changed for different missions. A bridge module could be mounted if necessary, but primarily, the battle bridge and Combat Information Center ( sometimes known as Strike Warfare ) is located with in the primary hull on deck 8 to protect the command staff and flag personnel ( if embarked ) during combat operations.
The purpose of the plasma torpedos in the secondary hull, is to add to the excellent potental alpha strike and to offer weapons that you could hold until your ready to stike. I like the type-F and type-L torpedos because they do not require a holding cost. Also, after launching the torpedos the tubes can be used to protect the photon torpedos tubes from pentrating damage.
These are first generation X-ships.
The shuttle bay is large enough to operate eight advanced fighters and shuttle craft but they would be no match for a carrier space wing but with 8 craft embarked, that adds mission flexibility if operating singularly or as the core of a fleet.
For all you rule hounds: Disclamer: My designs break a huge number of SFB rules and are intended for fun, not to be taken seriously. Consider the Iowa class for defence against alien invasion, andromedans, ISC, dominion, shadows, borg--whatever! Spank the buttocks of evil with justice at your leisure.
Battleship USS Iowa NCC-2161
Update version for this classic design.
Update SSD with fighters.
Update SSD with Mega Phasers
Battleship Kirishima NCC-2180 - heavy plasma firepower
Battleship Montana NX- 2167 - improved battleship with a heavy phaser suite.
Battleship Musahi NCC- 2177 - advanced type L plasma torpedos.
Battleship Washington NCC-2168 - mega-photos, six GX drones racks
Battleship Yamato NCC-2170 - Armed with Mega-photons
Last updated 21 December 2003
