Laser

Lasers were the most common shipmounted energy weapon. Anti-ship lasers had lenses that ranged from several decimeters to over a meter in diameter and operate in the X-ray rangeModern space weapon lasers are so commonly X-ray lasers that the term “laser” is generally synonymous with “xraser” in naval parlance. Their rarer gamma emitting cousins are called “grasers.”(); they had effective ranges of about 1,000,000 kilometers (500,000 km against targets with sidewalls). A majority of ships also mounted clusters of smaller point defense lasers for the anti-missile duty, that were powerful enough to destroy shuttlecraft. Grasers were a larger, more powerful version of lasers, and operate in the gamma ray range.
A ship's broadside lasers and grasers would have been physically shifted forward through the hatch in the surface of the ship and locked their lenses into holes in the sidewall.Honor Harrington though it amusing that modern space navy weapons had to "run out" their guns like the muzzle-loaded cannon of Ancient Earth wet navies. () This was because the lenses were not optical but gravitic, and the emitter head needed some clearance in order to be safely activated. ()
Lasers and grasers fired in pulses, which normally allowed a mount to fire two-to-three times in the amount of time it took a normal-sized ship to rotate enough to intersperse its wedge.
Each mount also featured its own independent lidar, in case the mount was cut off from main sensors or CIC. The lidar had a very narrow field of view, but made a sufficient backup. ()
== Examples ==
=== Republic of Haven ===
* L72 Laser - This laser system was in use on the Brilliance-class light cruisers. ()
* L75 Anti-Ship Laser - This anti-ship laser system was developed during the mid-1860s PD and put on the Charles Wade Pope-class light cruisers. ()
== References ==
Category:Weapons
Category:Weapons Technology
Category:Space Weapons Technology