This artwork is mine and can be found here: SvetTheFallen
In the mid 2000's when the RIRN (Rhydin Imperial Republic Navy) was in its earliest days of formation, and the Orion class SSN made its first appearance, the RIRN Fleet Command realised early-on that it would most likely lose its technological advantage on the waves should it's main enemy of Renor Xukuth, continue its deadly arms build up. The Chiana class SSN was a pre-emptive measure by the RIRN to stay just a few steps ahead at a time when tensions had never been higher.
While the Xar'zith (Ice) class, less than 10 years old, was a very capable submarine, its core technologies came from an age-gone-by, and it was fairly obvious to all concerned that something newer. Utilizing updated and improved technology, would be needed over the coming years. Improvements to the Flight 2 and 3 Xar'zith (Ice) Class did much to improve their capabilities, but refits could only be taken so far.
The Chiana class was built and designed on-the-fly; a very unusual move considering the typically long development processes of designing and building submarines in the past. Nevertheless, by 2007, the first of the new SSNs would join the fleet and reign as one of the most lethal attack submarines the world has ever seen. Well armed, protected and using the newest technologies available, it is a force to be reckoned with.
During the early-to-mid 2000s, RIRN submarine design leaned heavily towards very conceptual and experimental designs often inspired by living creatures that dwelled beneath the sea. For a vessel designed for science and exploration, it was a fine philosophy, but for a warship such as the Chiana, especially one that had to be built to a rapid budget of time, most commanders agreed that it was simply not feasible. As a result, submarine design took a backward step, and while not the prettiest of things ever created, the Chiana was nonetheless rugged, durable, efficient, fast and very effective at what it did. Like the Xar'zith (Ice) class before it, it features the characteristic cigar-inspired hull form of conventional attack submarines, and lacks a dorsal ‘sail', making it, overall, a very streamlined design.
The Chiana was the first full-production RIRN submarine to be designed with a Fusion reactor in mind, and its size is abnormally large for a fast attack submarine, coming close to the length and weight of the larger Quellarin (Castle) class Strike Cruisers. As fortune would have it, the Chiana would be the benchmark for which all submarines designed and built over the next decade would be measured against. The Chiana is more expensive than the Xar'zith (Ice), and is nearly 3 times the price of traditional class SSNs, but its capacity to match the other two submarine types at this offset more than makes up for the price tag.
Submerged Displacement: Approximately 20,210 tonnes
Hull Composition: Double layered 3rd Generation Titanium double hull supported by a reinforced, composite steel frame, layered in genetically engineered hull skin.
Hull details: Anechoic, genetic prototype hullskin developed as an acoustics countermeasure. The genetically-engineered material covers the exterior of the hull as two layers, each approximately three and a half inches thick. Both layers are highly tensile, densely composed structures which absorb and distort active acoustic signals such as sonar pings, thereby drastically reducing the effectiveness of sonar equipment directed at the vessel.
Secondly, the hull skin attenuates sounds emitted from the submarine - especially from engine machinery. This substantially reduces the passive sonar visibility of the submarine, rendering it effectively stealth to passive detection at extended ranges.
The genetic composition of the hull skin is one of the most classified and tightly controlled secrets in the RIRN Navy's engineering corps. The degree of effectiveness of the technology is unparalleled by any other navy in the world, and it is reported that the technology has helped in reducing the sonar signature of RIRN submarines by up to 85 or 90 percent.
Note: Genetic Engineering and Usage of this type has violated numerous international treaties. Buyers may come under penalties of own treaties and etc.
Computer System: RIRN VI-A Combat Central Processing Core
Computer Specifics The RIRN-VI is the 'standard' for small boat systems within the RIRN. A fiber optic computer system, it is much faster than silicon processors, and shares many physical similarites to high-end civilian computers. The computer's primary advantage over civilian systems is found in its software - the RIRN-VI cores aboard Chiana class SSNs make use of a processor management and resource allocation, streamlining ship operations and allowing the crew to focus on other tasks rather than maintaining computer systems.
The RIRN-VI Fiber Optic core is considered a low-end computer in the military. They are relatively cheap and easy to maintain - one of the few advantages they have over the circuitry of next-generation systems found aboard larger, more advanced ships.
Sensors: Internal: Hypersonar; active and passive sensor suites Effective Range : Approximately 90 nautical miles (est.)
Hypersonar technology relies on a combination of 'traditional' acoustic monitoring equipment such as active and passive sonar, and laser-based range finding, it stands for Hypersonic Navigation and Ranging; as the name implies, it uses faster-than-sound technology to detect shipping, map terrain and aid in navigation. The Chiana class mounts a total of 3 hypersonar arrays mounted bow, stern, and midships, with an additional towed array providing coverage of its rear quarters.
Operating passively, hypersonar sensors are able to work in conjunction with the ship's computer to use repeated, low-band particle beams to build up a 3D picture of the environment while an integrated passive array intelligently detects and identifies acoustic signatures within that environment. This is the preferred method of operation, as it maintains complete stealth capability for the submarine while still providing at least a marginal picture of the environment around the vessel - while there is no guarantee that a submarine will be detected by the passive components of the array, the laser array ensures that even if targets cannot be identified, they will be detected, ranged and targetted. Only next-generation active camouflage systems employed by some nation's vessels have the capacity to evade passive hypersonar entirely.
Used actively, hypersonar becomes a double edged, but ultimately infallible sword - First sweeping the area with a high-sensitivity laser array to gather preliminary data, the ship's computer then isolates targets of opportunity which are then battered with a series of uni-directional audio pings, the system literally bounces sound waves off specific solid objects in the water repeatedly and reflects them back to the array, with each ping building up an incredibly detailed picture of the target in real time. The only draw back to this system is that the target being 'illuminated' will also have access to the same information - active acoustics work both ways.
Nonetheless, the system is a marked improvement over first-generation active sonar technology used throughout the later part of the 20th century where a single ping could be detected by any submarine in the area. The new directed-array used in hypersonars will limit the 'saturation' of the ping to one specific vector, thus maintaining the submarine's stealth against any other target in the area. Only a sophisticated inter-ship battle network (Such as the encrypted, globe-spanning communications system used by the RIRN) would be able to make use of another ship's sensor information in real time, and forces which do posess such communications ability are very rare; most certainly, the Battlenet has been one of the RIRN's major advantages over a variety of hostile navy's(and significantly less advanced) command and control networks.
Combining active hypersonar on a single ship with such a network between a taskforce would enable an entire battlegroup to receive real-time and incredibly detailed target information without revealing their locations.
Defensive Systems: Mark IX and X Intercept Torpedoes ECM Packages and Noise Makers
The 10 VLS tubes mounted just aft of the submarine's bridge provide the Chiana with the ability to support littoral operations, making it a preferred platform for special forces deployment from both Navy Special Forces (NSF) and Marine Force Recon. (MFR) Each missile tube is autoloading, and supports the Zuelsul 1 and Zuelsul 2 conventional hypersonic cruise missiles which have maximum speeds exceeding Mach 7, and can be armed with a variety of non-nuclear warheads including cluster munitions, deep-penetrating bunker busters, high explosive, and EMP.
Fully loaded, The ship's torpedo rooms can hold a total of 70 21-inch torpedoes, while the missile room stores 30 Zuelsul missiles (with an additional 10 already in the launch silos)
EVA Assets: Negligible; air locks can support 2 externally-docked shuttles midships.
by The City State Rhydin » Wed May 11, 2011 3:28 pm 