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The Truman-class dreadnought is a battleship class in the United Nations Navy (UNN) that primarily serves as a Flagship of UNN battlegroups.
Not as sleek nor as sophisticated as her Martian counterpart, the Donnager-class, the Truman-class makes up for its lost advantage in numerous other ways. Famed for its sturdiness and reliability, it is one of the longest-serving vessels in the history of the UNN, having protected Earth's interests across the system for decades.
Characteristics[]
The Truman-class dreadnought is armed with 2 Farren-Pattern heavy railgun turrets that are able to inflict lethal damage, and are some of the most powerful and accurate weapons systems available to the UNN. Matched only by the Martian Congressional Republic Navy (MCRN) railguns. Truman's railguns are able to strike a target almost instantaneously within 1000 kilometers, launching an unguided tungsten projectile that will effortlessly perforate the full mass of the targeted craft, tearing through multiple decks and often striking a critical subsystem to neutralize the target vessel in a single shot. These weapons are supported by 42 to 46 Redfield Ballistics 40mm Point Defense Cannons (PDCs), spread across the surface of the dreadnought for maximum defensive coverage, as well as 22 to 36 missile launchers compatible with a variety of warheads. The effective targeting range of the Truman-class is shorter than that of most MCRN warships but its extensive PDC grid enables it to endure even the largest missile volleys, protecting the ship from harm. Unlike on Martian warships, the PDCs of the Truman-class dreadnoughts aren't retractable.
Vessels of the Truman-class employ six S-400 Epstein drives that work collectively to accelerate or brake the enormous vessels' mass with great efficiency. Vessels of this class are seen to have an impressive acceleration for their mass.
A pair of hangar bays and accompanying external docking clamps are located in the midsection of the Truman-class, where its complement of 6 L-Type UNN dropship skiffs, as well as a smaller number of short-range repair skiffs and reconnaissance drones are housed. Embarked dropships widen its mission profile to include Marine transport and deployment and surface reconnaissance.
The class shows its age in several ways, such as naked pipes and wires above corridors and constant electrical issues. The circular CIC (Combat Information Centre) of the class is however perhaps the most notable example of the ship’s age, as it makes use of computers operated with keyboards, switches and sticks rather than touchscreens and holographic interfaces as seen aboard MCRN ships and other more modern ships. However, many may have been upgraded to include touchscreen and holographic interfaces as such with the UNN Thomas Prince.
Perhaps one of its most valuable traits, its versatility is an attribute that has stood the test of time, and is surely the "crown jewel" of the ship. Few vessels are able to serve as both a battleship and a troop transport without sacrificing effectiveness in both areas, but the streamlined design of the Truman-class allows the vessel to singlehandedly carry out missions that would otherwise require a small flotilla. This high level of adaptability has earned the Truman-class its impressive reputation, and serves as an enduring reminder that technological sophistication is often no substitute for a simple and reliable design.
Facilities[]
The Truman-class dreadnought contains many various facilities within for a warship this size. Some of them include:
- Advanced Medical Facilities.
- Comfortable Living Quarters.
- Extensive Cargo Space.
- Dropship Loading and Repair Facilities.
- Standard Tightbeam Communications Systems.
History[]
“United by War” — At the time of the war between Earth and Mars that broke out following the Ganymede Incident, the Truman-class dreadnought was one of the longest-serving vessels in the history of the UNN, having been protecting Earth's interests across the system for decades and serving as the immovable center of UNN battlegroups. The UNN Agatha King (T-DRN-32) served as the Flagship of the UNN's Jupiter Fleet under the command of Admiral Souther until he was relieved of command by Fleet Admiral Augusto Nguyễn who ordered the dreadnought for Io to retrieve Jules-Pierre Mao's Protomolecule hybrids.
When several UNN warships refused to obey Nguyễn's orders following a failed mutiny initiated by Souther against Nguyễn for waging an illegal war, the Fleet Admiral declared them deserters and destroyed one of the ships, the Jimenez, with a missile from the Agatha King which prompted other UNN ships loyal to Souther to fire on the Agatha King in retaliation. However, their missiles were shot down by the Agatha King's PDCs and the UNN dreadnought proceeded to destroy several more UNN warships in retribution. The Agatha King was later hulled by a hybrid pod that was hit by PDC fire from the MCRN Hammurabi over Io after Nguyễn initiated a mass launch from the moon's surface targeting Mars and the UNN dreadnought and her crew subsequently became infected by the Protomolecule. The Agatha King was later scuttled after an infected Cotyar Ghazi intentionally destabilized the ship's reactor.
The Thomas Prince entering the Ring.
Several months later, the Truman-class dreadnought UNN Thomas Prince (T-DRN-47) carried various religious clergy and artists including Annushka Volovodov into the Ring. The Thomas Prince was one of the ships in the Slow Zone to be suddenly stopped by the Ring Station, leading to serious casualties at the start of the Slow Zone Incident with Commander Kunis assuming command as the highest-ranking officer amongst the surviving crew. After the crew of the Rocinante broadcast that all of the ships in the flotilla needed to shut down their fusion reactors to convince the Ring Station that humanity was not a threat and release their ships, the Thomas Prince was the first ship to do so under Kunis's orders at the insistence of Dr. Kolvoord. Afterwards the Thomas Prince returned to Earth's solar system through the Ring alongside the rest of the flotilla.
Truman class defending the Sol gate against Belter blockade runners.
Following these events, the UNN Tripoli and onther unknown Truman class were deployed to blockade the Sol Ring alongside other UNN and MCRN vessels to prevent unauthorized access to the Ring space and engaged a group Belter refugee ships when they attempted to run the blockade however several of the ships broke through the blockage and during the chase the Tripoli subsequently destroying one Belter ship and damaging the Barbapiccola with its PDCs when the vessels ignored orders to stop and accelerated towards the Ilus Ring. The Tripoli subsequently remained on station to guard the Sol Ring other next several months until a loss of communication with the Rocinante and RCE Edward Israel at Ilus coupled with recent attacks on Earther colony ships by Marco Inaros that the OPA failed to handle to the UN's liking prompted the UNN to deploy the Tripoli into the Ring space itself, causing tension with the OPA (Outer Planets Alliance).
2 reffited Truman-class dreanoughts (Bottom & Top).
The UNN dreadnoughts Tripoli and Montenegro were tasked with the defence of the Sol ring alongside the MCRN Sagarmatha as part of the EMC Sol gate fleet.
During the Battle for the Sol gate, all three ships suffered serious damage from a precision micro-meteor strike. These micro-meteors were covered in Martian Stealth composites. The UNN vessels were later destroyed under an overwhelming and unexpected volley of missiles fired from rogue MCR ships approaching the Ring from the vessel's flank. The Montenegro and Tripoli can be assumed lost with all hands, as the Sagarmatha.
During the Free Navy Conflict, four Trumans' were present orbitting Earth.
Known Ships[]
| Designation | Photo | Appears | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNN Agatha King |  |
Season 3 | UNN Jupiter Fleet Flagship commanded by Admiral Souther and taken over by Admiral Nguyễn and sent to the Jovian moon, Io; destroyed in intentional core explosion to contain Protomolecule outbreak aboard. |
| UNN Thomas Prince |  |
Season 3 | Flagship of the UNN task force sent to investigate the Ring.
((The ship of this name in the books, unlike its show counterpart, is a Xerxes-class battleship)). |
| UNN Tripoli |  |
Season 4, Season 5 | Upgraded with 14 additional missile launchers and had a third "wing" added with 4 more PDCs. Assigned to the Sol Ring to prevent unauthorized access with the UNN Montenegro and MCRN Sagarmatha. Destroyed in combat against elements of the Free Navy and rogue MCRN forces during the Battle for the Sol gate. |
| UNN Montenegro |  |
Season 5 | Assigned to protect Sol Ring along with the UNN Tripoli and MCRN Sagarmatha; destroyed in combat against elements of the Free Navy and rogue MCRN forces during the Battle for the Sol gate. |
| UNN Hiram Grant |  |
The Expanse: A Telltale Series | Destroyed in the UNN MCRN proxy battle prior to 2347 |
Media[]
Trivia[]
- Dreadnought means "fear nothing", and is most famously used in connection with John Arbuthnot Fisher, a British admiral. The term appears in Fisher's family motto: Fear God and Dread Nought - and was from there adopted as the name of HMS Dreadnought, a ship built under Fisher's direction to be more heavily armoured, more heavily armed, and faster than any preceding battleship. The term Dreadnought initially described the name ship and those built subsequent to her - and for a time Dreadnought was used interchangeably with the word battleship. The HMS Dreadnought triggered an arms race that quickly lead to her being surpassed in armour, gun power, and speed. The design generation beyond HMS Dreadnought were known as Super-Dreadnoughts. By the time Super-Dreadnoughts were surpassed the terms had become meaningless and common usage reverted to battleship.
- The Truman-class dreadnought is likely named after Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States and the only person as of the 21st century to have authorized the use of nuclear weapons in warfare.
- In "Hard Vacuum", Admiral Delgado presumably describes the Tripoli and the Montenegro as belonging to the "Nathan Hale-class battleships". This is presumably the result of a production error, or a mixup on the Admiral's part given the appearance of the Nathan Hale-class in the 6th season.
- At the end of 5th season, three known Truman-class dreadnoughts have been destroyed: the Agatha King, Tripoli and Montenegro.
- During the Free Navy Conflict (TV) not more than six Truman-class dreadnoughts were still in service with two being destroyed at the Battle for the Sol gate and the other four being deployed to defend Earth.[2]
References
Spacedock: 
