Kainan Wolfe
Shadow of War
- Intent: To design a minelayer for the Confederacy and Eternal Empire
- Image Source: AdamKop @Deviantart
- Canon Link: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Karavin Concern
- Affiliation: Closed-Market | Confederacy of Independent Systems, Eternal Empire
- Model: Typhoon-class Minelayer Corvette
Production: Minor
- Material: Durasteel, Starship Components
- Classification: Corvette
- Length: 174.08 Meters
- Width: 41.03 Meters
- Height: 53.12 Meters
- Armament: Average
- 1x Turbolaser Cannon
- 4x Point Defense Laser Cannons
- 32x Deployable Proximity Mines - Defenses: Average
- Light Durasteel Armor Plating
- 1x Shield Generator
- 2x Anti-missile Octets - Hangar: Low: Shuttle bay containing a single Crew Shuttle
- Maneuverability Rating: Average
- Speed Rating: High
- Hyperdrive Class: Average: 2
- Starship Sensor Package
- Starship Ion Engines
- Starship Hyperdrive
- Starship Shield Generators
- Starship Repulsorlift Engine
- Starship Maneuvering Thrusters
- Starship Communications Package
- Starship Life Support System
- Starship Escape Pods
- Starship Inertial Dampeners
- Starship Medical Bay
- Starship Barracks
- Crew Complement: 8 Officers, 10 Engineers, 20 Infantry (security), 40 Crew members
- Modular Proximity Mine Deployment System: The Typhoon-class carries up to 32 proximity mines within its hold, which it can deploy very rapidly due to onboard systems designed to facilitate this. Due to this system, it can deploy a variety of different types of mines, as long as they conform to the same form factor, ranging from concussion, ion, proton and interdiction, to gravity and pulse mines
- Fast: Designed to rapidly deploy its mines in order to halt or hinder the advance of enemy ships, the Typhoon is a fast, "sprinter" warship which can move swiftly to its designated waypoint
- Area Denial: Capable of quickly deploying a minefield, the Typhoon can swiftly create obstacles that can hinder advancing enemy ships and given enough time, several groups of these corvettes can create significant problems for attacking enemy forces
- Weak Armament: In an effort to reduce the ship's weight in order to increase its speed, the designers of the Typhoon only included a few very light weapons primarily intended to fend off enemy fighters and are ill-suited for confronting other ships
- Blind Spot: The mine deployment systems made it impossible to place any rear-facing armament and as such, the Typhoon is extremely vulnerable to attacks from behind and requires adequate escorts
Answering the Nelvaanian government's request for a small, fast ship that can quickly deploy minefields in order to supplement orbital defensive emplacements and platforms when and where needed, Karavin Concern set out to design, test and build a new class of corvette. The specifications outlined by the Eternal Navy were somewhat unusual in that they required a fast ship which can dart around the battlespace and swiftly reach any vulnerable points in order to plug them before the enemy can exploit such openings.
The resulting Typhoon-class was a sleek, elongated ship built around a central tube-like specialized cargo hold which runs throughout the length of the ship. Outfitted with specialized equipment intended to deploy the ship's complement through a port located inbetween the corvette's four main engines, this cargo hold drastically reduced the space available for reactor systems and as such, a smaller reactor had to be installed further towards the front of the ship.
A further drawback of this design is the inability to install any rear-facing armaments, as the engines had to be spaced apart and further out in order to make room for the minelaying port, thus creating a vulnerable blind spot which could be exploited by enemies, should the corvette come under attack.
As a result of the lower power output, the number of weapons had to be drastically reduced in comparison to other ships of similar size, while only light armor could be installed, as the ship's mass had to be cut down as much as possible in order to meet the military's performance requirements. The resulting ship is a lightly armed and armored racehorse, capable of sprinting towards a destination, quickly deploying its complement of mines, then swiftly withdrawing.
Ill-suited for direct combat, the ship's armament only consists of a few point defense lasers primarily intended to fend off small formations of enemy fighters, such as advanced scouts which may run across it as the corvette is carrying out its task of deploying proximity mines.
Despite these drawbacks and in spite of the fact that the Typhoon-class was originally designed solely at the request of the Nelvaanian planetary defense forces, the high command of the Confederate Defense Forces quickly saw the value in having such a ship in the Confederate navy and a number of additional Typhoon-class corvettes were soon commissioned by the Confederate government.
