Eridonia Archives
(CEG-Era) (Cruiser) Hammer-class Heavy Cruiser
Hammer-class Heavy Cruisers were the heaviest warship in service with the CEG Fleet, and later, the Military of the Phoenix Republic. Designed on ancient earth some time in the 23rd century, the Hammer is one of the oldest known warship designs.
A Heavy Cruiser designed and built by the CEG. Hammer-class design places emphasis on heavy armour protection and frontal firepower, at the expense of wide turret coverage and speed. The class possesses an incredibly strong belt of armour along the ventral portion of the bow, to the ventral-midhships, capable of resisting even heavy firepower from "A"-type main batteries on Federal Navy warships.
In contrast to UTN designs, the entire main battery is located on the bow of the warship, with three, dual Heavy Mass Driver turrets. The design was built around frontal firepower and protection, and was widely deployed by the Phoenix Republic as a ship-of-the-line in such a role against opposing UTN Fleets. However, due to warship's age and poor tactical deployment by the Republic's Naval commanders, the warship was largely unsucessful against the modernised UTN Federal Navy, of which used stand-off range artillery weapons to great effect.
The two infamous 'Sisters' of the Invasion of Phoenix, Vysokiy and Molotok, were Hammer-class Heavy Cruisers, and perhaps the only example of their effective use in the campaign.