User:CrimsonTacit/Sandbox/Ghemor Class
The Ghemor-class carrier is a large, state-of-the-art Cardassian warship designed for point defense duties in battlegroups alongside the Damar-class battleship and Detapa-class escort. Using extremely wide forward firing arcs and two squadrons of Hideki-class patrol vessels, the Ghemor is a direct counter to the Akira and Alita-class cruisers in service with Starfleet.
Science and Exploration
As a support vessel, the Ghemor is not intended for independent exploration, but her larger size compared to the Galor and Keldon allow her to be equipped with more labs. Her sensors are also extremely advanced, though they are tuned for threat analysis more than exploration. Where a Ghemor would be useful in an exploratory capacity is her ability to deploy lots of smaller vessels. The same features that make her adept at scouring a system for fugitives would be useful in conducting a survey.
Diplomacy
While primarily intended to support Damar battlegroups, a Ghemor would also be an excellent flagship of a group of older Cardassian warships, in which case it could find itself playing a diplomatic role. It has similar capabilities to these older vessels, with guest quarters and a conference facility, and can host dignitaries in superior comfort than a Galor can. In situations where the Cardassian Union has decided to seek peaceful relations with a smaller power rather than conquest, a Ghemor would be a less-intimidating emissary than a Damar.
Engineering
Maintaining the typical ankh-shape of Cardassian vessels, the Ghemor has a forward hull substantially wider both proportionally and literally than older Cardassian destroyers and cruisers. The purpose of this wide hull is to provide a huge forward firing arc for the ship's main weapons and to provide accommodations for the crew, as the main body of the ship has significant space devoted to hangers. The width of the ship also allows for four sets of shorter warp coils, which further allows for increased mission space within the hull. There are four impulse engines that give the ship substantial sublight maneuvering capabilities. The primary reactor is oversized for the ship and takes up the "tail" module. Like other new Cardassian designs, hybrid Cardassian-Dominion technology is used throughout, which makes her complex to maintain and operate.
Tactical
The Ghemor is primarily a warship. With eight dual beam banks mounted forward on the wings, she can create a screen of phaser-polaron fire in a full 180-degree dome ahead of the ship to ward off small vessels. To handle larger threats, there are three heavy phaser-polaron arrays mounted in the forward deflector assembly, as well as four torpedo launchers flanking the bridge. Aft torpedo coverage is provided by two additional launchers flanking the aft sensor array, which also contains an additional aft-firing heavy phaser-polaron emitter. An additional dozen phaser-polaron emitters dot the hull to provide additional close-in coverage. In concert with a Damar battlegroup, two Ghemors are intended to protect the flanks of the larger battleship by creating an impenetrable field of fire, while taking shots at cruisers and other capital ships as the opportunity presents itself.
As a carrier, the Ghemor embarks six Hideki-class patrol vessels which are launched from aft-facing doors amidships. While the Ghemor lays down fire in its forward arcs, the patrol vessels are given cover to flank the enemy. Like with many Cardassian vessels, Ghemor-class starships are weakest from the sides, and so having two squadrons of patrol craft aboard gives them a better shot at avoiding being flanked. These ships are also ideal at hunting down smaller raiders—a tactic that the Cardassian military has become adept at thanks to lessons learned fighting the Maquis.
Shipboard Life
Comfortable and advanced, the Ghemor is a sought-after posting for Cardassian soldiers. While not quite as prestigious as the larger Damar, these ships are still rare and powerful. Crews of these ships are selected for their talent and loyalty, and are rewarded with spacious quarters and access to recreational facilities like holosuites not found on smaller ships. At this point, a Ghemor captain would be a highly-trained gul with many years of experience. Medical facilities on the Ghemor are also well-equipped, located centrally near the hangers, which makes the ship suitable for medical response missions.
Ghemor-class History
Following the Dominion War, the Cardassian military was in tatters and the Union itself was reliant on Federation aid to feed its people and to help with rebuilding. Eager to turn a corner, nearly all of the debris and other reminders of the war were quickly expunged from their worlds. The restored Obsidian Order seized every bit of Dominion debris left in Cardassian space, primarily to aid in their ostensible primary mission of prosecuting collaborators and war criminals, but also out of a desire to retain the one thing they had that might one day give the Cardassian Union an edge. Operation Akleen, named for the founder of the Cardassian Union, was initiated to reverse engineer this technology from a secret base in concert with their extensive sensor records from the war. Working slowly and methodically, the Obsidian Order's scientists were able to create new hybrid sensor, computer, engine, and weapons systems from the scraps of Dominion technology they salvaged, despite not having fully functional components to any one system. Utilizing this technology was not considered to be a high priority because of the need to rebuild more pressing infrastructure and because utilizing it would likely lead to souring of relations with the Federation—and potentially a violation of the Treaty of Bajor—so the Detapa Council kept it in reserve.
When aid was rescinded in 2385, the Detapa Council reconsidered its position and authorized the secret design and construction of a new flagship. They barely had the resources to feed their military let alone field a fleet like the one they had pre-war, so they knew they needed a technological advantage to make up for it. Thus the Damar-class battleship was born, alongside the smaller Ghemor-class carrier and the Detapa-class escort. Unlike the previous Cardassian military doctrine which used phalanxes of many ships of the same class, these new vessels would operate in mixed-class battlegroups using tactics learned from both the Dominion and the Federation.
Design of the Damar proceeded first, and the Ghemor was created with nearly-identical systems at a smaller scale. Though a very large vessel by Cardassian standards, the Ghemor was only half as large as the battleship that she was being designed to support. As the design matured in the 2390s, the Detapa Council was confident enough to authorize a full fleet of the new classes to form a reconstituted Eleventh Order, rebuilt with Dominion technology after the Dominion sacrificed the 500,000 soldiers of that Order during the Dominion War.
By 2401, at least two Ghemor-class vessels were in service, as they appeared alongside the CUV Damar during the crisis which led to the renewal of active insurgencies in the Former Demilitarized Zone. Starfleet Intelligence estimates that there may already be several dozen of these ships in service, based on observations of material and personnel flow around Cardassian space.
The Ghemor Class In Play
- Ghemor-class warships serve as a counter to the Federation's own combined cruiser-carrier vessels, the Akira and Alita, and will be operated in similar ways. These ships emphasize beam weapon power over torpedoes, though.
- There are many more Ghemor-class vessels in service than the larger Damar, but there wouldn't be more than a dozen or so of them in total. They are rare, powerful vessels that would usually be close to their flagships or serve as flagships of a group of smaller, older ships.
- The Ghemor is intended to operate in a battlegroup of one Damar-class battleship, two Ghemor-class cruisers and three Detapa-class escorts, alongside an embarked defense screen of Hideki-class patrol ships carried aboard the flagship and the two carriers. As before, Starfleet has only observed one of these formations, but Cardassian ships are almost never alone, so you shouldn't expect the Ghemor to be an exception to that.