Punic-class supercarrier (EXverse)

The third largest vessel ever built by humanity, the Punic-class supercarrier - hull classification symbol: SCV - was a class of massive carriers built to sustained prolonged campaigns in harsh environments. Produced for the CMA Navy by the legendary Sinoviet Heavy Machinery and personally supervised by its founder, it was initially known as Space Control Vehicle in order to better reflect the role fulfilled by this new class.
As CMA needed ships capable of supply ground troops for months if necessary, Weiguo proposed to build ships not only large enough to accomplish this task, but also capable of responding to attacks. However, due to massive upkeep costs required to run those big vessels, CMA never used them too much, often leaving them at naval stations throughout all the Insurrection.
Since the CMA's budget was always declining, the colonial armed forces were forced to put them in reserve by the start of the 2510s, and then to cede Punics to UNSC Navy, which, thanks to budget higher than ever, refitted all twelve ships constructed and it prepared them to the newly approved Operation: TREBUCHET; during this operation they performed very well, often in combination with , squashing every rebellion before they could spreading.
With the start of the Human-Covenant War, Punics were retrofitted again, maximizing their effectiveness against medium and heavy tonnage Covenant ships. However, since the enemy was too superior technologically, Punics couldn't change the tide of the war, even if they partially inspired the powerful . None of them, anyway, survived the war, with the last one, the UNSC Trafalgar, being destroyed above Reach in 2552.
== History ==
=== Born of the Space Control Vehicle ===
By the half of the 25th century, Insurrectionist movements began to born a little around the Outer Colonies. The CMA, which at the time had the task to patrol and secure that region of human space, interrogated itself about their fleet of warships: since the establishment of the Outer Colonies in 2390, CMA shifted away from UNSC's control to have its own logistic structure, which meant that it could buy ships without UNSC support; despite this, CMA leaders realized that many of the Outer Colonies were far from naval depot, so in harsh environments it became difficult sustained ground forces, as carriers hadn't enough space for prolonged campaign, but only for well known blitzkrieg operations.
While UNSC drew out itself by the issue, since Outer Colonies weren't under its jurisdiction, CMA should evaluate the situation. CMA analysts convinced fleet commanders to fund massive carriers capable to sustained the largest quantity of ground and air assets ever carried by a warship. However the colonial navy command wasn't so convinced to spend more than the half of the CMA's budget in these massive vessels, mainly because aside from some small rebellions, counter-insurgency operations weren't long enough to justify an expense of the kind.
Something changed around the second to last decade of the 25th century, when tensions were growing more than ever. Due to the fear to not be able to handle the situation, the colonial navy command issued a RFI to every shipyards containing data about this new carrier: a class able to sustain an entire Marine Expeditionary Force for months, maybe a full year, enough because a campaign could have been successful, and sporting cruiser-grade weapon systems. Other than these, this new class would have more purposes than only carrying and refueling ground troops: seeing its theoretical size - the RFI stated at least three hundred millions metric tons of displacement, for a length no less than three kilometers - it should have been also capable of dominating a planet's orbit by both starfighter wings and its own weapon systems.
Someone complained about the fact that the Navy would still lacked the capability to deploy and to resupply marines, and that smaller, atmospheric vessels would have been better. Besides, they believed that these enormous vessels wouldn't resolve the Insurrection-issue, seeing the small budget granted to CMA, which would inevitably led to build only a handful of these ships.
Because something of the kind was never made before, only two shipbuilding companies were able to match CMA's requisite: the legendary Sinoviet Heavy Machinery and the Halifax Spacewerx. First one was founded less than a century prior, however it was already the role model in military shipbuilding and fifteen years prior it had developed the massive Epoch-class; second one, instead, was the premier civil shipbuilding company and it was the builder of the Phoenix-class. Each of these companies proposed a large vessel, exceeding three kilometers in length and four hundred million metric tons of displacement, with a large and cavernous hangar while having a cruiser-scale armament and a thick armor; however, Halifax Spacewerx's project focused on a command ship through a vast flag bridge, distinct from the ship's command bridge, by which an admiral could manage a large fleet of vessels; on the other hand, Sinoviet's vessel was much more carrier-oriented, in fact it foresaw a flag bridge in case of using it as a flagship, but it wasn't standard, and a better complement arrangement.
Despite this, a difference became the key of the Sinoviet's success. While Halifax dominated the civil market even with kilometers-long staryachts and starcargos, it hadn't much success in the military one, limiting to small-to-medium warships; as such, it had to convert an entire line of shipyard for military purpose, so not granting production times required by CMA. By contrast, Sinoviet already built kilometers-long warships, such as the aforementioned Epoch-class and various other cruisers for both CMA and UNSC.
At the end of the 2488, Sinoviet was awarded twenty of what became formally known as Space Control Vehicles; this designation came because the supercarrier subtype was still a concept at the time, and by the fact that UNSC hated to be surpassed on newer project, CMA didn't want to get it angry. The first ship built, the UNSC Punic, didn't give the name to the class as a result; only when UNSC acquired the entire line twenty-three years later things would changed.
=== The civil war and UNSC control ===
The increased 2491 CMA's budget, among the latest budget increment for the colonial military, granted a boost to Sinoviet's shipyards, granting two vessels built at a year.
However, after in 2494 UEG realized that CMA could be compromised by rebel infiltrators, it decided to decreasing CMA's budget from year to year. As such, CMA was forced to cut orders down to twelve vessels, the last of which came out from shipyards in 2496, just a year before UNSC found evidence of Insurrection infiltrators among CMA's ranks. Anyway, during these years the SCV, which also became its hull classification symbol, proved very well, as it demonstrated its ability to hunt down rebels in a entire system for months, without cut them some slack. Its armament, despite the later introduction of the Magnetic Acceleration Cannon, would never been updated, as it was enough to combat rebel ships, granting that funds could diverted elsewhere.
However, by the start of 2500s, CMA became even more unable to field these enormous ships, as their upkeep costs was going far beyond CMA's financial capabilities. For this purpose, between 2503 and 2513 only the UNSC Trafalgar was still active, while the rest was put in reserve, limiting its costs. In 2513 the decision that change the Punic-class' history: instead of scrapping all its capital ships, CMA decided to cede them to UNSC, alongside all its line of cruiser, remaining with only destroyers, frigates and corvettes; as by then UNSC was controlling the majority of Outer Colonies, CMA saw reducing its action space to a handful of sectors, and this decision contributed to CMA's survival as independent from UNSC's financial support.
UNSC decided to upgrade Punics, thanks to the fact that they were still relatively new. UNSC requests were many: making flag bridge standard, revised all weapon systems, new engines, a Series IV CODEN SFTE, four underside hardpoints for frigate-size vessels or smaller - because hyperspace travels were inaccurate - and many other improvements. Only the armor was left as it was, because upgraded on it there weren't, and the complement arrangement remained the same. While officially considered an upgrade, it was a complete refit.
By this time Punics were used in the ongoing Operation: TREBUCHET, in which were involved many UNSC air, ground and naval assets; forming a valuable duo with the smaller, but much more useful by logistic purpose, , they together squashed every rebellion before they could spreading, however UNSC had troubles in locating rebel leaders, so insurrection movements reborn shortly after their destruction, as in a vicious circle. What is more, their powerful armament, that included two Super MACs, never found valuable target to be used, the same happening with cruisers.
=== The Human-Covenant War ===
The advent of the Human-Covenant War overruled all convictions inside the Navy. While initially believed that Punics could stand up against heavier Covenant ships, the Second Battle of Harvest showed that this belief was completely wrong; due to this, Sinoviet was tasked in 2526 to refit once again all twelve Punics with modern technologies. 
Sinoviet's premier architects put every effort in order to maximize Punic effectiveness beyond original designers' imagination. As such they filled some of the space left empty during the first refit with additional armor and weapons, they fitted counter-shield missiles and they updated the twin Super MAC's, other than a new engine and modern sensors. What came out from shipyards was the most powerful ship in the entire Navy, a title hold for some years.
The importance of Punic-class was so high that Naval Command carefully decided to whom give them. So, when admiral Cole was given command of the majority of the UNSC expeditionary fleet, seven Punics were included, while the rest were stationed around the vital colonies of Camber, Reach, Meridian, Atlas Moons and Estuary. Only a handful of admirals could boast themselves to have a supercarrier under their command, as Cole knew that such powerful ships could be wasted if put in wrong hands: indeed, the naval hero give only one Punic and only to selected flag officers, to the point that three of the supercarriers remained under his personal leadership.
Anyway, two were lost between 2527 and 2532, while a third one during the Battle of Jericho VII. After Covenant started the Siege of Inner Colonies in 2536, all Punics were recalled to defend critical colonies from attacks; by then, naval doctrine and methods of operation were considerably improved, granting to all ships more effectiveness against Covenant counterparts, however technology was still inferior, and Inner Colonies were lost at a slower but constant rate.
Anyway, their effectiveness against heaviest Covenant ships inspired a super battleship variant which proved to be highly effective in counter even the ; although considered a variant of the Punic due to the recycled superstructure, it was slightly different in external and internal design. However, shortly after the production of three prototypes began the Project: OUROBOROS, which drained resources saved by the cancellation of the Meteor-class, denied a worthy variant of the mighty supercarriers.
== Overview ==
=== Hull ===
=== Crew and complement ===
=== Powerplant ===
=== Armament ===
==== Production version ====
Punic-class' armament varies between production, upgrade and refit version.
First one sported 180 M44 Ares missiles, each one containing one single warhead, 8 Mark 10 Breakwater naval coilgun batteries, 40 M58 Archer missile pods, each one containing thirty warheads and 200 M810 Helix point defense guns. As the class was designed and built before the advent of the MAC system, this was considered a standard cruiser-grade armament, which made Punics capable of holding their own against all type of ships. As rebel groups never fielded ships bigger than a frigate, SCVs never used their full firepower.
Ares missiles were the predecessor of Archers and they had been long the preferred conventional missiles, thanks to a large payload carried. However, their size didn't allow a pod to host more than a single warhead, so limiting the numbers of Ares that a ship could carried. Anyway they were the primary weapon systems of all CMA and UNSC's warships until the introduction of the MACs.
Breakwaters made up the secondary armament; while implemented to have a powerful alternative to the standard Spitfire battery, Breakwaters were too powerful to be used against rebel ships, other than having many flaws due to the fast developing process and a new, improved design.
Helix, instead, was the primary anti-fighter and anti-missile systems at the time. Thanks to a gatling-type gun and a huge numbers, they could create an impressive barrage, with enemy starfighters powerless against it.
==== Upgrade version ====
The upgrade version sported a modernized armament, however the top issue remained, that was the lack of valuable targets. Despite this, UNSC Navy charged naval architects to fit the most powerful armament ever fitted, as the Navy had already developed the concept of supercarriers and, according to the new doctrine, they would have been the most powerful vessels of a battle fleet.
As such, 2 Mark VI, Super Coil - CR-01A MAC were employed as the primary armament. Developed to be the most powerful ship-based MAC ever built, this MAC gun was composed of hundreds of the heaviest coils ever designed for vessels; while this version could accelerate a 1,500-tons slug at two hundred kilometers per seconds, its charging time was amongst the longest ever seen by sailors, as each shot required at least five minutes. However shells were powerful enough to destroy every ship, so this wasn't an issue at the time. Lighter shells could be fired too, such as 1,200, 800 and 500 tons, and each one had a cooldown much inferior. The Mark VI was inspired by the studies made for Mark V version, which was restricted to OWPs.
As secondary armament, the upgrade version sported 80 M42 Archer missiles, each pod contains thirty general-purpose missiles, for a total of 2,400 ordnances, and they can be used with various warhead options. While smaller than Ares, in order to be carried in larger quantities, they were also bigger than M58's model, carrying much more explosive and, thus, being more powerful. Nonetheless they still retained the modularity the M58 had.
As tiertiary armament, Breakwaters remained, however only two of them were left due to the installation of the MACs.
Finally, 100 M965 Rampart point defense guns and 80 M85 Scythe turrets were fitted. Differently from Helix, Fortresses are more powerful seventy millimeters-coilgun batteries, having a slower rate of fire but a higher caliber. About Scythes, they were classified as anti-aerospace turrets, labelling them as capable of engaging larger threats than fighters and bombers. However it's small caliber, smaller even than Fortress' one, meant that it was only capable of supplementing Fortress PDGs, even if their accuracy was legendary.
==== Refit version ====
After the Second Battle of Harvest, it became clear that such armament, while the most powerful of all commissioned UNSC ships, it wasn't enough to compete against Covenant cruisers and carriers. Above all, the MAC guns' charge time became a big issue.
Naval architects managed to install a newer version of the previous installed Super MAC; known as Mark VI, Super Coil - CR-01D MAC, it featured two massive Super MACs which had a rudimentary recycle system: thanks to new engines, the cooldown was decreased to two minutes - ninety seconds with all power directed to coils - still an immense time which forced flag officers to use Punics as long-range artillery. The installation of the new main guns was necessary as the previous ones were already obsolete and they could no longer be defined super: in fact the CR-01D model was considered a variant of the CR-01A - the name itself lead to think that - but in reality it was a variant of the Moncton's Super MAC, thanks to new super coils. Cr-01D performances were inferior only to Festung's Super MAC one: it could fire a 2,000 tons slug at 5,000 kilometer per second, speed not reachable by any ship-based MAC gun. Other shells carried were the 1,600, 1,200 and 800 tons, each one used on a target-by-target basis. These shells required less energy and time to be fully charged, but they were also less powerful. 
As a carrier, Punic-class sported more missiles than coilgun batteries. Oversized M42 Archer pods were fitted, which means that every pod can contain double the amount of warheads compared to standard numbers; as such, other than increasing the number of pods up to one hundred, each one contained sixty Archers, for a total of 6,000 ordnances. 20 M96 Howler missile pods, each one containing sixty ordnances for a total of 1,800 warheads, were fitted to complement Archers and giving Punics a shield-piercing specific-weapon; this happened because Howler were designed to focus the explosion on the missiles' point of impact, in a similar way to Bident. But they were also less expensive and easier to produce than the latter.
2 Mark 15 Breakwater naval coilgun batteries still formed the tertiary armament. The Mark 15 version reduced charge time and power required by using a new type of magnetic coils. However improvements on long-range accuracy were slights, as Korolev tried to used a newly-designed stabilization system, but it had to update that used on Mark 10 version.
Point-defense guns remained the same, due to the already high effectiveness guaranteed.
== Roles ==
== Ships of the line ==