[MarkTheSaint]

I have seen documentaries on how they built the nuclear aircraft carriers, section by
section, and how they tested the systems aboard and hoisted the broom for a clean
sweep for successfully passing all the tests the first time. I like to see a version of this
for a battlestar and see it pull out of the shipyard under power like in the star trek
movie to cap off the experience.

Then I have a proposal for a ship type that would make the battleship fans jaw drop in
awe. Have the ship be 5000' long, 1000' wide and 500' high. The shape of the ship
would have a slight arch in the middle on top and bottom. The bridge would be tapered
on top, bottom, port and starboard sides and attached on front. The engine section
would be slightly smaller that on a battlestar. The arch section has 8 gun turrets, four
on top and 4 on bottom, with each gun turret having 3 guns each. Each gun is an
electromagnetic rail gun that has a 600" bore and is 500' long and can shoot 60-ton
shells 10,000+ mph. When not deployed the turrets are pointed toward the center of
the ship with the guns enclosed in bays with huge doors. When the guns are deployed
the doors pop open and the guns swing up and out of the bays and then the turret
swings into position as the targeting system locks on the target. Imagine having all
24 guns pointed at a Cylon base star and ready to fire!

The gun shells can come in three types with the first type being used for shield
penetration so it is made of raw uranium or other heavy element to pack as much mass
as possible to knock out the enemy shield generators when they hit. The second type
is the explosive kind that destroys the enemy ship from within by detonating a powerful
explosive charge. The third type is when Cylon raiders are coming in swarms and clouds
numbering in the hundreds of thousands or millions. The shell travels a fixed distance and
then explodes into 24,000 5-pound pieces of shrapnel that travel in a cone pattern like
a shotgun blast. When hundreds of these shells are shot and then detonate, the cones
of shrapnel overlap over a large area, creating a "wall of death" that is moving at high
speed at the enemy fighters, causing damage, disablement and destruction on them.
Then the vipers can go in clean up any resistance that is left. There are still details to
work out but it would be nice to have some fire power to take on a fleet of basestars.