USS Constitution

USS Constitution

After the closing of the Brazil-American War, Congress and the public opinion fell into a pacifist mode. The war had marked the first time since 1814 that a hostile power had attacked the US on its own soil, and the destruction was enough to sober up all but the most jingoistic politicians. Part of this sweeping "return to normalcy," as one senator put it, was a Congressional initiative to reduce the costs incurred by the Armed Forces. Part of the cost-reduction process was the replacement of older ships from the 1980s. These ships were built on varying platforms and each class required its own separate bureaucracy to maintain its spare parts and other services. Congress decided to reduce the number of classes while making them all as similar as possible, and to that end the Freedom Universal Hull was developed.

The Constitution-class missile cruisers were the first to be built upon the FUH. They were extremely versatile due to the nature of their Vertical Launch System: the center block could fit Spire, Standard 3 or pairs of Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles down the middle cell, and additional Tomahawks, Harpoons, and Standards could be launched from the peripheral cells. ESSM missiles were packed four to a tube in front of the bridge. Together, the ESSMs and Standards provided an impenetrable missile shield, while the Tomahawks and Harpoons fought off enemy ships. The now-famous Spire was still the weapon of choice for accurate, long-range strikes on land targets, to the point where some questioned the need for Tomahawks at all.

Backing up the missile complement were a pair of 64 megajoule railguns, the most powerful in the world. Each projectile impacted with the force of a Tomahawk missile's detonation, with similar precision and almost no chance of detection or interception. The effectiveness was still somewhat hampered because electricity had to be diverted from the drive motors in order to reach full power, though, which meant a missile complement was still included. For close-in support against sea skimmer missiles, a powerful TERCIO CIWS is perched above the missile tubes. An MQ-8 Fire Scout UAV deployed from the extreme stern of the ship.

The Constitution was mostly automated, meaning a single shift is composed of only 20 crewmen. There were a total of 60 crew onboard allowing for 8-hour shifts.