Bisbos.com

The combat history of this long obsolete ship was brief by any standard and was eclipsed early in the War by the increasingly sophisticated detection systems employed by both sides.
The design was approved in 2033 after early indications that intelligent life existed in Alpha Centauri and within reach of our Solar System. At that time it was not known what attitude the peoples of Alpha Centauri would adopt towards us, and the Cyclops was introduced as a precautionary measure. We had no long-range ships capable of delivering maximum-effect nuclear weapons to surface targets, and it was this gap which the Cyclops was intended to fill. Little more than a mobile launch platform for the powerful 'Vulcan's Hammer' nuclear missile, the Cyclops was not popular with flight crews, being considered by them something of a 'sitting duck'.

The ship's warp generator was situated in a housing which encased the main hull and was vulnerable to any damage. A hit sustained from even low-power secondary armament could therefore prevent the unfortunate crew from 'jumping' clear of the battle zone, and as the ship's main drive was less efficient than that of most current interceptors the chance of survival was slim. Another drawback was that as the ship was little more than a piloted rocket it was 'severely limited in maneuverability when passing through an atmosphere, which it would do when launching its payload. This also happened to be the point at which it was likely to be subjected to fire from both the surface and other spacecraft. It is not therefore surprising that personnel allocated to these ships were less than enthusiastic.
Despite their early obsolescence they did see action for two brief periods of the war. The first was in the desperate Battle for Mars when every available craft was thrown into the fight. The warhead of the missile usually carried was replaced by an improvised 'scatter' pack which on detonation released a barrage of small nuclear rockets. Primitive but effective, this device helped to halt the Proxima onslaught, but at the cost of twenty three ships destroyed.
The second period was during the closing months of the war, when Cyclops were used in the final offensive against the Proxima Homeworlds. By this time the enemy's capacity for retaliation was very limited and although two or three of these ships ended their days there none were lost in action.
Outdated before the war had even begun, the Cyclops was withdrawn immediately peace was declared and was not even placed on the reserve list. One example still exists but is owned by a private collector and is not on public display.