Block V Paris-Class Superheavy Frigate

The Block V Paris-Class Superheavy Frigate is an experimental, prototypical Frigate hull configuration in service with the UNSC Navy and official affiliate services. Produced in the post-war revival years in order to compete with more contemporary classes, the Block V is a 'revitalisation effort' of the Paris bloodline. It features striking design innovations, most notably a 'mirrored' design ethos that seeks to confuse enemies of Earth, and disguise the profile of the vessel from sensors.
The most notable feature, and clearly the most obvious, is the dual 'undercarriages' on both the dorsal and ventral sides. Built in tandem, these pyramidal structures house the majority of the crew quarters and service infrastructure. With command and senior staff located more towards the 'tips' of these 'wings', and entry-level staff, MPs, marine contingencies, and maintenance workers located near the 'core'.
This was ostensibly done to keep command staff closer to the primary and auxiliary bridges, another feature of the design. The dual bridge setup is to ensure that the Block V is less likely to be disabled or rendered a mission-kill by a single pulse-laser blast or plasma torpedo. It's also to ensure that, in the event of the primary bridge being destroyed, secondary command staff can take the helm in the auxiliary bridge, and continue to command the vessel in the absence of the Captain or Commander.
Offensively, the Block V is heavily armed, and lightly armoured. The space-saving measures of the 'wing quarters' were necessary only because the Block V holds four Magnetic Accelerator Cannons. Two upon the top 'boom' of the vessel, and two mounted on the bottom boom. These tandem launchers are of varying lengths and barrel bores, and require an obscene amount of power to generate.
Typically, Paris-Class vessels utilise a single MAC in the top boom, while the bottom boom supports it by serving as both capacitor bank, targeting suite, and ammunition storage. With the addition of the three supplementary cannons, this infrastructure had to be moved. It was moved to between the booms, and so the base infrastructure of the Paris-class template was 'shunted' rearward. In the case of Crew Quarters, they were relegated to the wings.
The four MACs also bring with it a host of other 'concessions' that were required in order to make the design functional. Namely, the Archer missile silos have been reduced from 26 to 13, and the Harpoon nuclear missile silos were reduced from 12 to 6.
In order to deliver the same acceleration as other Blocks of Paris-Class Frigates, the engines required a tuning, and the power plants that ran the ship were expanded. This was coupled with a reduction of the armour thickness, in anticipation of the future-ubiquitous application of energy shielding technology, as was seen on the Strident-Class, and some of the Anlace-Class frigates produced for Battlegroup Dakota.
This never occurred, and so the Block V remains a contemptuous, contentious subject among command staff and admirals alike. Beloved for its MAC volleys and varying payload utilities, beloathed for its comparatively flimsy armour, low-longevity, and confusion onboard architecture.
Category:UNSC Ship Classes
Category:Ships