Rifleman class attack corvette

Designed around the Mass accelerator cannon that nearly runs the length of the ship it has the appearance of a ancient pre-spaceflight underwater vessel known as a submarine and even has four missile ports built into the front of the ship two per side giving it a very ancient submarine look though it is a vastly more powerful vessel than any known variant of Submarine or Naval Vessel. 
 Design Goal
Fast and well armed the class sacrificed armor to facilitate higher speed and maneuverability though it was also coated in a Sensor dampening paint and has some lesser stealth technology built into it was never intended as a stealth ship it was intended as a fast multi role ship to ship 
combatant though it was never deployed as the crew of the test ship described the crew spaces as "extremely cramped and narrow" resulting in only one prototype ship 
being constructed and all following planned ships converted into other more effective designs.
 Weaponry Design Requirements
One of the main requirements for the design process was a mass accelerator cannon as this weapon system was said to be the weapon of the future. The Rifleman class could be said to be a compact design as all of its weapons were mounted either in recesses in the hull or affixed to the side of the ship though the 6 weapon hardpoint/pylons at the rear though this did restrict the aft firing arc of even the secondary weapons it gave the ship the capability to mount weaponry in excess of what it could normally mount at the expense of speed and maneuverability in combat.
==History of the class==
 Other Information and Completed Vessels 
One prototype ship was built for the original testing and it worked well with one exception the interior of the ship was very cramped every corridor was only wide enough to just fit two people passing sideways with limited space on either 
side and the corridors were shorter than the modern regulation and the piping, electronics, and almost every conduit could be accessed along any hallway and were at least partially exposed throughout the ship making for dangerous conditions if 
one were to rupture. Crew quarters were cramped double bunking with very limited accommodations and shared restrooms though the ship prototype did have one shuttle 
bay it could only fit one shuttle thus reducing its utility. The original prototype ship was equipped with 90 cryo pods in two bays which meant that the ship could have every last crewmember in cryosleep at once or double its crew aboard in an emergency though the life support could handle easily twice that the food and space could not support that number as the maximum standing space is only enough for approximately 114 people the reasoning for this multiply redundant and over built life support system was never fully explained by the designer possibly he had never seen space though it is unknown what caused him to design the ship this way as he died soon after completion of the prototype
 Only Known Vessel
UNSC-EX Rifleman
Category:Ships