TTA: TDA 107C Partisan
From about 2053 the pattern of warfare began to change. For a number of reasons, the large-scale multiship confrontations of the earlier period of the war could no longer be risked by any of the combatants as losses had been severe on both sides.
Gradually fighting resolved itself into smaller scale attacks and counter attacks. Battle fleets became tightly co-ordinated strike units and the requirement shifted from massively armed and armoured battle cruisers to smaller, faster vessels with powerful weapons at the cost of less protective armour and equipment.
One of the first examples of this new breed was the TDA 107C Partisan, which is still one of the smallest warp-drive ships ever produced. It consisted of little more than a DeVass generator in an unarmoured shell with weapons fitted into the gaps, and a light-thrust hydrogen drive unit stuck on the back.
To pilot these ships required a special kind of courage as the crew lay in cramped positions surrounded by the fuel storage tanks along each side of the hull and the reactor perched above and behind them; but uncomfortable as they may have been, they proved effective and enjoyed considerable success in bringing the War close to the enemy's home.
The first examples were built in the Martian yards but the production lines were moved to an orbiting manufacturing complex off Jupiter when another major Proxima offensive seemed imminent in 2057.
Initially there were many problems with the Parrtisans' detection gear, which repeatedly became disorientated immediately after a warp jump had been made, and several ships were thus lost to the targets they were attacking, but once overcome they soon proved their worth in harassing the enemy's supply ships, and were able to strike deep into the enemy's lines before disappearing back to thir bases.
It was not too long, however, before it became apparent that they were too lightly armed to be effective in the long run. As the Proxima detection equipment improved and their own new generation of warships entered service, the Partisan began to find itself outclassed, and was eventually replaced by the more sophisticated Avery Hornet. Nevertheless, it was still far from redundant as a military vessel, and continued to serve as a long-range scout throughout the war.
When the fighting reached the home planets of Proxima Centauri the Partisan again came into its own in the battles for the aquatic world of Proxima IV, as it was able to move easily in the dense atmosphere to strike at secondary targets.
Today, there are few Partisans left. Only two are still operating as military vessels, the remainder having been sold to commercial concerns, where they are used mainly as survey ships by some of the smaller prospecting agencies. There are, however, two good examples in the Mars War Museum although one of these lacks its DeVass generator.
Specification |
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Manufacturer |
Various |
Classification |
Local Defence Interceptor |
Main Drive |
2 Avery Sunburst high high-output engines |
Personnel |
3 human crew |
Armament |
Assorted nuclear weapons |
Defense |
High-density Plastisteel armour 14 cm thick |