Swordfish-class Air Escort Destroyer

The Swordfish-class is a vessel in Vekllei.

The Swordfish-class air escort destroyer is a type of air escort destroyer of the Marine Services of Vekllei. It is a successor to the Baker-class, but is slightly larger to accomodate a larger missile magazine. The class is designed to provide escort for Commonwealth fleets and their carriers, and operates mostly in these formations since they lack substantial anti-ship and anti-submarine defences. While not as armed as Vekllei cruisers or as specialised as submarine hunters, the Swordfish-class is second-to-none in terms of naval anti-air armament.

Three missile arms on two launchers at the fore and centre decks are capable of firing No. 3 Rackham missiles sequentially. This is a common and versatile missile platform in Vekllei, and can carry specialised payloads including nuclear armament. These missiles are about 10 meters tall, and are fed into the launchers via automatic magazines in the armoured hull of the destroyer. They have a reliable air interception range of about 300km. The system is complemented by No. 6 Shemozzle anti-ship and anti-submarine missile launchers.

There are two 76mm “Vanguard” guns at the bow and aft, and two 40mm point-defence canons on the flanks. The class is powered by the same Vampire marine nuclear power plant as its predecessor, but improvements to its hydrodynamics allows slightly faster sustained speeds of up to 33 knots. The crew size is slightly reduced to 310, due to increased automation in various ship systems. In total the ships have a displacement of 9,000 tons and a length of 165 meters, and are home stationed in Naval Station Mira.

The Swordfish-class is also fitted with improved sensor and electronic warfare systems under a Master and Auxiliary Automatic Asset Command computer. These updates were made to counter American improvements to chaff detection in their anti-ship missiles.