Allen Avadonia should have expected this when he invited Fishtron and myself to his server for a build party.  Having just seen "The Martian," my mind was consumed with visions of what is now one of my absolute favorite sci-fi starships: the Mars Transfer Vehicle Hermes.  I'd experimented with a modular-style building system earlier, soon after I finished Venture, and finally had a chance to play with it.  What resulted is my second hard sci-fi starship, the American destroyer USS John Glenn.  While it may not look related to my Celestial Chaos line of ships, it does have a lore role I will get to in the lore section of the post, so be patient.  In the mean time, this was also one of my favorite ships to build, so when I'm not bouncing aimlessly around barely-made space warships, I'll probably be working on more ships like this, as well as my entry to the Life on Mars build contest.  Interior to come, although it's a low priority.

Specs!!!


Class: John Glenn 
Type: Guided Missile Destroyer (Designation SDDG)  
First Flown: 11/15/2015 
Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding (Newport News Orbital Fleet Yards)
Length: 244 m  
Width: 135 m  
Height: 75 m  
Armament:  

• 2 BAE Systems Mk12 4.7" Single-Barrel 50 GJ Railguns. (120 mm)
  
• 2 BAE Systems Mk45 5"/54 cal. Guns.
  
• 16 Raytheon SRIM-162 Evolved Star Sparrow Missiles in 2 Mk29 Mod 6 Guided Missile Launching Systems
  
• 72 Raytheon SGM-109 RCS-Equipped Tomahawk Cruise Missiles
  
• 160 Boeing SGM-84 RCS-Equipped Harpoon Anti-Ship Missiles
  
• 6 Raytheon 200 MW AGIL (All Gas-Phase Iodine Laser) CIWS Turrets With Phalanx Fire Control System   
  
• 24 Raytheon Phalanx 20mm CIWS turrets (Modified for rail-based firing system and space by Trojan Technologies, firing Timed Self-Destructing Explosive Bullets)
  
• 1 Raytheon AFN/ALQ-32(V)6 Electronic Warfare Suite Connected To BAE Systems Mk 36 SRBOC Decoy Launchers
  

Sensors/Detection:

• AFN/APY-1D (Air Force-Navy Astronautical Radar Surveillence and Control) 3-Dimensional Radar System
  
• AFN/APG-76 Fire Control Radar
  
• AFN/AQY-1D 3-Dimensional Quantum Detection System
  
• AFN/AGY-4D 3-Dimensional Gravity Detection and Ranging (GRADAR) System
  
• AFN/AGG-1 Fire Control Gradar
  
• AFN/AYK-1 (Air Force-Navy Astronautical Data Processing Computing) Flight Control Computer
  
• AFN/ADN-4 (Air Force-Navy Astronautical Radiac (Quantum Link) Navigation) QUANLINK Stellar Navigation Computer
  
• AFN/ADC-2 Entanglement-Based QUANCOMM Communications System
  
• AFN/AYG-6 Combat Data System (Fire Control Computer)
  

Top Speed:  

• Sublight: 45,000 m/s (0.015c) 
  
• FTL: N/A
  

Powerplant: 1 General Electric FA1G (Fusion-Astronautical First Generation General Electric) Magnetic Mirror Deuterium-Fueled Hot Fusion Reactor and 2 Solaren SNB-30-10 Adjustable High-Efficiency Blanket Solar Arrays
Thrust: 1 Boeing/Zephyr Industries VAC5 Coaxial VASIMR Engine
FTL: None.  2 Brony Aerospace FR15 Warp Coil Assemblies Under Consideration For Outer Solar System Defense.
Shields: General Dynamics Mk12 Mod 4 Electromagnetic Hull Plating System, Carbon Nanotube Skin  
Maneuvering System: Fixed Liquid Fuel RCS Jets
Displacement: 40,000 tons  
Commissioned Ships:  

• USS John Glenn (SDDG-01)
  
• USS Johnston (SDDG-02)
  
• USS Ernest E. Evans (SDDG-03)
  
• USS Samuel B. Roberts (SDDG-04)
  
• USS Robert W. Copeland (SDDG-05)
  
• USS Hoel (SDDG-06)
  
• USS Leon S. Kintberger (SDDG-07)
  
• USS Heermann (SDDG-08)
  
• USS Amos T. Hathaway (SDDG-09)
  
• USS Paul H. Carr (SDDG-10)
  

Crew: 80 (72 Enlisted, 8 officers) 
Maximum Range: 1 light year without replenishment  
Cost: $30 billion USD
Auxiliary Aircraft: 

• None, but equipped with 4 5m docking ports on the ring to accomodate large craft and one 3m docking port on the bow.
  

Very quickly after launching Liberty, the UTS realized that they were undertaking a huge task in the defense of Earth, the Sol System, and local colonies and bases.  Their FTL systems meant they had the ability to get ships to anywhere in controlled space, but strategic studies revealed the massive amount of ships, and from there the massive cost, needed to defend to their standard all required territory.  In the mean time, they were already getting requests from allied countries for space technology, and the Skylord companies who developed it were appealing for export permits.  The Skylord government seized a golden opportunity, and offered full access to certain space technologies to their allies as part of the Earth Alliance Treaty, in which signatories would fund and build their own force of sublight (and for a select few, superluminal) warships to assist in orbital and local Solar System defense as part of the Earth Alliance Treaty Organization.  While the battlecruiser USS Alan Shepard (SCG-01) was the first treaty warship to be launched, followed by the British HMS Astral (SC-01), the John Glenn was to be the first class of relatively mass-produced starships, with only the Japanese Akatsuki-class destroyers coming close at 8 examples.  Other nations have yet to launch their ships, with the Israeli Navy still developing theirs, as they initially focused on improving the technology they were given, and the HMAS Canberra (SCVF-01) still under construction as the first EATO carrier.  The Norwegian cruiser HNoMS Thomas Fasting (SC-101) was derived from the Glenn spaceframe, but is still considered its own design.

The John Glenn class itself fulfills the role of a destroyer in the EATO fleet, despite being one of the largest craft in service.  Fast and long-range compared to other sublight spacecraft, they usually serve as either escorts for larger warships or as leaders for action groups scattered throughout the solar system.  One of the most expensive US military projects in history, eclipsing the Shepard due to the intent to mass-produce, the Glenn class serves as the premier non-Skylord EATO ship, with a good balance of firepower, maneuverablity, and electronic warfare.  Its artificial gravity ring means it can support humans for much longer than many other EATO vessels of similar roles, which lack such systems, although most countries will soon be receiving Miraculan artifical gravity systems like the ones aboard Skylord ships.  The Glenn is armed with enough guns to hold its own in close quarters, but where it really shines is long range, where it can supplement its railguns and naval cannons with large cruise and anti-ship missiles adapted from their naval originals in weapons pods that can be entirely replaced to expedite reloading.  In approved cases, it can also serve as an orbital bombardment platform, with the USS Johnston launching 20 Tomahawks and 10 railgun rounds at ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq as part of a renewed offensive inspired by the Skylord ground force surge into the region.  While mostly a product of Skylord technological development, the Glenn produced a few technological innovations picked up even by the UTS, namely Timed Self-Destructing Bullets for CIWS.  One issue the Skylords put on their "To Do" list was how to stop the CIWS of ships in a fleet from ripping surrounding ships apart when they miss.  Raytheon developed a 20 millimeter bullet with a small computer and explosive charge capable of being programmed via RF to detonate at certain distances from the ship, turning the bullet into a much less-harmful cloud of debris.  These engagement zones could be coordinated with fleets to still maintain a full CIWS field while not destroying each other.  Trojan Technologies and Raytheon have begun working on integrating fire control radar with the bullet's timers to take into account ship movements, actively adjusting the engagement zone to prevent friendly fire even if all ships around the vessel are moving, and this system is expected to be fielded on all UTS Space Fleet and EATO ships as soon as possible.  When not in combat or docked at Naval Space Station San Diego (in geostationary orbit over Naval Station San Diego), the Glenn-class ships serve as exploration and colonization transports, especially USS Hathaway, which has been assisting with international Martian science missions since its launch, recently carrying the Russian Znanie-1 crew and equipment.  Not as versatile as the FTL-capable Venture and Liberty-class starships, the Glenn class ships are still some of the most multipurpose and capable craft in the EATO arsenal.

One side note: Naval historians and crew jokingly interpret the majority of the names of the vessels, after ships and crew of the World War II Battle off Samar, to be the Navy's pessimistic outlook of any situation where EATO ships would actually have to be used, although SPAWAR denies the link.