United Earth Destroye

Name: United Earth Destroyer Species: Human - United Earth Technology: Warship

Background

The United Earth Destroyer is one of the heaviest warships deployed by at the outbreak of the Earth - Jovian war. It is capable of atmospheric flight as well as space combat. 

It carries a variety of weapons which include defensive laser cannons and guided missiles. The Destroyer engines are powered by a nuclear power plant, which also generates power  for artificial gravity generators and laser cannons .

The Destroyer was first seen in combat against the Jovian warships on Mars in 2195 and is still in use to defend Earth.

While the Jovians use heavy Graviton Weapons as the mainstay of their offensive technology, the United Earth Destroyer uses conventional laser pulse weapons which are ineffective against Jovian designed shields. This was seen during the Jovian invasions of the Moon and Mars, and can be seen during the battle for Earth. The United Earth Destroyer is both outmatched and out gunned by the equivalent Jovian warship and must have an escort and superior numbers in order to effectively engage the enemy.

During the events surrounding the Nadesico's disappearance on Mars many Destroyers were given access to more advanced  materials and weapons technology by Nergal, though not every Destroyer has yet been upgraded to use this technology.

The Destroyer carries more crew than the Frigate, and needs a crew of Humans, its Jovian rival carries robot pilots.

Weapons

The pre war Destroyer is armed with a battery of conventional pulse lasers and carries several smaller batteries of laser cannons for self defense. It is also capable of carrying a variety of guided and semi guided rockets and missiles. The pre war Destroyer is easily outgun by most Jovian vessels and can not effectively face them in combat without having vastly superior numbers. 

While some Destroyers carry defensive Graviton Fields, it has not been shown if they have been given access to Graviton Weapons or Phase Transition Power Plants, though it is likely that they have been given access to these weapons. 

The mid War Destroyer (upgraded with new technology) was used during the fourth battle for the moon which was a defensive battle. In order to have freed the moon it is probably that the Destroyer would have to have been given superior weapons technology as well as defensive shielding.

Armour

The United Earth Destroyer is protected with heavy weight metal and ceramic armor plating and can stand sustained fire from most conventional weapons carried by warships of the same vintage. It lacks a defensive distortion field and is not able to withstand even moderate fire from graviton weapons rendering it ineffective against against Jovian warships.

The destroyer can stand sustained fire from most Jovian insects but is not able to effectively retaliate or retreat. Its armor can not protect it from this kind of attack because the determination of the insects will always wear down the armour.

After the Nadesico returned from Mars many Destroyers where given Distortion Fields by Nergal, though it is likely that not ever Destroyer was equipped with a defensive field in this time frame. The first use of a defensive field was seen during Episode 8 - The luke warm cold equation, though it is not known if this was a barrier field or a distortion field. 

A Destroyer that carries a defensive Distortion Field can stand sustained fire from the heavy weapons used on board Jovian warships. It is probably that the Destroyer has barrier shielding, though this has minimal defensive capabilities against the more advanced Jovian Destroyers.

The use of Graviton Weapons on United Earth Destroyers would give their forces the firepower to be effective against most enemy warships in combat and as the moon had been liberated and the battle for Earth was no longer solely dominated by Jovian forces it is probably that the Destroyer was at least in some instances armed with heavy graviton beams.