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The Donnager-class battleship is a class of modern Martian Congressional Republic Navy (MCRN) battleship.
Specifications[]
As the battleship hull classification in the MCRN (Martian Congressional Republic Navy), the Donnager-class serves multiple roles throughout the Sol System. At the time of the UN-MCR War, nine Donnager-class vessels existed in the Sol System before the Attack on the Donnager, serving in a variety of roles including fleet command and coordination, and infantry deployment craft.
Complement[]
The Donnager-class is capable of hosting a crew complement of 2086 personnel, including squads of Martian Marines and their elite Force Recon units, equipped with Goliath Powered Armor. Thanks to the ship's interior hangar bay, located near the aft of the huge vessel, ships of this line can host their own escort ships in six interior ship berths. Each berth can hold one Corvette-class light frigate or one Morrigan-class patrol destroyer. The battleship additionally hosts a number of Chariot-type Dropships, repair skiffs and - depending on deployment - executive shuttlecraft.
Armament[]
The most notable elements of the Donnager-class complements are its two dorsal VX-12 "Foehammer" Turreted Ultra-Heavy Railguns. At the time of the class' construction, these weapons were the highest-spec ship mounted railguns in the Solar System. The railguns are situated on large hardpoints. Thanks to the foresight of MCRN engineers, the Donnager-class hosts a total of four railgun hardpoints, capable of doubling the ship's railgun complement when upgrade becomes available.
The Donnager-class' other main weapons are its six fore and eight aft rapid-reload missile launchers. Launchers are linked to fore and aft shared magazines of high-explosive (HE), heath, flechette, and nuclear warheads. For defense, the Donnager-class employs forthy-four Nariman Dynamics 40mm PDCs, linked to the K-19 "Banisher" High-Accuracy Point Defense Targeting Computer, at the time, the most advanced target tracking system employed by the MCRN. Four PDCs are mounted on nacelles aft, eight on nacelles fore, two are placed between nacelles on ship's aft sides defending the hangar area. Three are mounted on each of the four corners of the ship's midsection where the railguns are mounted, and another four are placed near the bow of the vessel. Another two are placed between the railgun mountings and the Epstein drives for all four sides of the vessel.
Aside from its primary armaments, the Donnager-class serves as a capable command vessel in combat, with its ranging lasers and tactical systems to help guide and coordinate the efforts of fleet elements against hostile ships. These battleships house a large maximum brig facility taking up multiple levels of the ships hull, near the docking bays for more convenient prisoner transfer, and equipped with automated security including bulletproof pressure doors and aesthetic gas dispensers. In the event that a Donnager-class battleship is boarded by hostiles, same as other military ship types, they are equipped with a 'Condition Zero' fail-safe protocol, which will scuttle the ship, ensuring the ship cannot fall into enemy hands.
Utilities[]
- Sophisticated Medilab Facility
- Sizable Cargo Bays
- Heavy-Armored CIC (Combat Information Center)
- Redundant CIC Facilities
- Security Brig
- Onboard MMC (Martian Marine Corps) Barracks and Armories
- High Power Ranging Lasers
- High Power Rangefinding Lasers
- Sophisticated Fleetwide Communications Systems
Service history[]
At least two Donnagers in Mariner Valley shipyards.
The Donnager was conceptualized as the primary focus of the MCRN's fleet modernization program, with a look towards design future-proofing for years to come. To this end, the Donnager was developed in tandem with the Morrigan-class patrol destroyer and Corvette-class light frigate, with the Donnager's internal storage bays capable of holding its escorts allowing the Donnager to project force. This program would produce eight Donnager-class vessels, whose production would use up a considerable portion of the Martian defense budget. All eight ships of the class were laid down and constructed at the MCRN Callisto shipyards.
During Operation Silent Wall, the lead ship of the class, under the leadership of Captain Theresa Yao, undertook a systematic campaign of pirate suppression in the Asteroid Belt, during which time the ship's many brigs would see use in transporting criminals back to Mars for sentencing. During the UN-MCR Cold War, eight ships of the class would be active in the system, with the Donnager serving as the MCRN flagship and lead element of the MCRN Jupiter Fleet alongside the Schiaparelli, Hotspur, and Firebrand. The MCRN Saturn fleet would be led by the MCRN Icaria Planum. All other Donnagers - the Harman Dae-Jung and Bellaire - were assigned to the MCRN Home fleet.
A hologram displaying ship movements in the Jovian system including possible Donnager-class ships.
“We've gone too far” — Following the destruction of the Canterbury by unknown actors, the MCRN Donnager would be assigned to investigate the hauler's destruction and pick up several survivors before itself being fired upon by the same class of stealth ships that had destroyed the Canterbury. The ensuing battle would see the Donnager destroy several vessels before self-destructing. This battle would mark the first instance of a Donnager being lost in combat. Following the Donnager's destruction, the Icaria Planum would take its place as the flagship of the MCRN.
During the UN-MCR War, the Donnager class would see its first real action against the United Nations Navy (UNN) in a hostile context was during the Ganymede Incident where the MCRN Hotspur was stationed during the engagement.
After the UN-MCR war ended the MCRN was heavily demobilised with two Donnager-class hulls being broken down at Mariner Valley shipyard along with several Corvette-class light frigates. Of these two hulls one was heavily dismantled with the second largely still intact when the Mariner Valley shipyard bombing occurred causing heavy damage to the shipyard creating a vaccum and destroying at least one large crane.
With the United Nations (UN) and Martian Congressional Republic (MCR) having taken losses and withdrawn to defend their homeworlds both fleets tried bringing as many ships into service. As part of this the MCR worked to bring an additional Donnager-class ship back into service.
During the Free Navy Conflict (TV), the MCRN Sagarmatha was lost with all hands during the Battle for the Sol gate, in a surprise attack from Medina Station. Weeks later, the Tynan, Camina Drummer's ship, was seen scavenging an unnamed, heavily-damaged, inoperable Donnager-class battleship. Detected by the Free Navy ship, the Jotunn, the Tynan was detected and forced to detonate the Dewalt's drive destroying itself along with the Jotunn and Donnager-class wreck.
Notes[]
- It is questionable if Donnager-class actually can even fit twelve Morrigan-class ships into its hangar bay, additionally vessels are purposely built for thrust-gravity (accel/decel) and having six patrol destroyers positioned to opposite of thrust-gravity direction makes them impossible to board under thrust, so other than obviously cutting thrust during actual lift-offs from hangar bay, same is necessary just for attempt to board the "upside down" ships, while interiors, gear and entire structure (floors, ceilings, doors, airlocks, docking bridges, walking bridges, etc) oriented to opposite of boarding direction. Twelve Morrigan-class ships fitting to Donnager-class hangar bay overall and especially the way it was presented on photos and schematics is admirable, but not at all likely.
- Ship's mass of 250 000 was stated in dry tons by Spacedock in his ship breakdown video. Dry ton does not describe the mass of the final product, instead it is a unit for material market where upon traffic of large amounts of material even below 0.1% excess materials will, depending also on prices of excess materials compared to the price of material sold, severly damage a buyer/seller.
- Not even rare final products made of single material will express their mass in dry unit, because mass is between conditions for value of the final product, together with craftsmanship, time/work invested, talent, brand, etc, let alone final products made of and containing hundreds of various materials.
- Although dry ton amounts to 1017kg same as British Imperial long ton (describes the mass of the final product), use of the two should not be confused.
- Mass of the final product stated in dry tons other than misconception, also points to mass in long tons + excess materials (0.1 to few %), while additionally mass expressed in long tons converted to tonnes (tonne = 1000 kg) will be 1.7% larger.
- 250 000 dry tons = 250 000 long tons + unknown amount excess materials i.e. 254 000 tonnes minimum, if excess materials ignored, or their percentage undetermined.
Known ships[]
| Designation | Image | Appears | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCRN Donnager |  |
Season 1 | Scuttled after stealth ships damaged it and was boarded while investigating Scopuli distress call and Canterbury destruction. |
| MCRN Bellaire |  |
(TV lore) | Assigned to MCRN Home fleet. |
| MCRN Hotspur |  |
Season 2 | Assigned to MCRN Jupiter fleet, Ganymede border patrol. |
| MCRN Icaria Planum |  |
(TV lore) | Flagship of the MCRN Saturn fleet which became flagship of the MCRN after the Donnager's destruction. |
| MCRN Harman Dae-Jung |  |
(TV lore) | Assigned to MCRN Home fleet. |
| MCRN Firebrand |  |
(TV lore) | Assigned to MCRN Jupiter fleet, MCRN Callisto shipyard defense. |
| MCRN Schiaparelli |  |
(TV lore) | Current Flagship of MCRN Jupiter fleet after UN-MCR War. |
| MCRN Sagarmatha |  |
Season 5 | Assigned to protect Sol Gate along with UNN Tripoli and UNN Montenegro. Destroyed during the Battle for the Sol gate by the Free Navy. |
Trivia[]
- The name "Foehammer" for the Donnager-class's railgun turrets comes from J.R.R.Tolkien literature, being a direct interpretation of the Elvish name of Gandalf's sword "Glamdring." It is also referenced in Stephen King's "Eye of the Dragon" and is the callsign of a human pilot in the Halo science-fiction universe.
- Only three known ships of this class have been lost, the Donnager, the Sagarmatha, and an unnamed Donnager-class.
- Ships of this line are among the largest warships ever built by humans, and the largest made by Mars.
Media[]
![Early concept for season 1[5]](/wiki/File:Donnagerearlyconcepts1.jpg "Donnagerearlyconcepts1.jpg (224 KB)")
References
- ↑ The Expanse TV Series - Season 2, Episode 12: "The Monster and the Rocket" - In a background shot of Ganymede orbit
- ↑ The Expanse TV Series - Season 5, Episode 10: "Nemesis Games" - Battle for the Sol gate
- ↑ Of the 59 PDCs stated in
Spacedock: Donnager Class Battleship - Official Breakdown on YouTube, only 43 seem to be present on most TV models, with additional four or eight on some ships.
- ↑ The ceiling clamps necessary for additional six patrol destroyers shown in Spacedock: Morrigan Class Patrol Destroyer - Official Breakdown on YouTube don't seem to be present in the show.
- ↑ Tweet from Chris Danelon
Spacedock: 
