Whitestar Class
CLASSIFICATION: Whitestar (Gun Ship)
LENGTH: 250 meters
TONNAGE: 60,000 metric tons [?]
MANEUVERABILITY: Class A
CREW: 38
TROOPS: N/A
FIGHTER(s): 4
POWER SOURCE: Minbari Quantum-Gravimetric reactor based on Vorlon
technology - Power Output 2.6 exawatts [?]
DURATION: UNKNOWN (beleived to be less than 5 years)
WEAPONS: 2 Pulsed Neutron Cannons - 4 Pulsed Fusion Cannons - 1
Quantum-Gravimetric Discharge Beam
DEFENSES: Vorlon Bio-Armor - Tractor Beams - Vorlon Shields -
Minbari Cloak
The “Whitestar” is the newest class of Minbari attack ship. This vessel, designed in cooperation between the Vorlons and the Minbari, incorporates the very best of Minbari technology and the standard technology of the Vorlons.
This vessel was designed to fly in large groups, in order to overwhelm opponents with a combination of large numbers and heavy fire power. Built small and maneuverable enough to combat fighters, but large and sturdy enough to face off against capital ships, the Minbari “Whitestar” class vessel has proven its self to be a deadly attack ship.
A single Whitstar, packing greater firepower than a standard EAS Omega Class Destroyer and incorporating Vorlon armor and shields, make it nearly impossible to best in a fire fight, one-on-one. The Whitestar is the single most advanced combat vessel ever constructed by any of the younger races and will continue to serve the Rangers and the "Army of Light" well for the next 100 years.
At the "Battle of Proxima" a fleet of 14 Whitestars and 22 Starfuries engaged the Destroyer group of six Omega Class Destroyers blockading the Earth Colony Proxima III. During the course of this battle seven Whitestars took damage and one was destroyed when the EAS. Pollux successfully hit it in the port and dorsal engines. Out of control, the Whitestar then crashed into the Pollux destroying both vessels. It should be noted that during the course of this battle, the Whitestar ships were not attacking at full power. Their objective was to damage and disable the Earth Destroyers, thus their weapons were not set to maximum.
After recent events with the Drakh (who's technology is equal to that of the Minbari), it has been determined that a Whitestar does have enough fire power to take out a capital class ship, when weapons are set to full. It is thus beleived that Captain Sheridan's Whitestar forces were pulling their punches during the "Battle of Proxima" to give the Allaince ships a chance to surrender.
TACTICAL INFORMATION: V-6.1
WEAPONS:
The Whitestar has three major offensive weapons. 2 pulsed Neutron
Cannons, 4 pulsed Fusion Cannons and one Quantum-Gravimetric
Discharge Beam.
Pulsed Fusion Cannon compress high mass particles like Lawrencium, into a new and even more dense compound. The massive energy release, along with the newly created mass, is then forced through the weapon’s projection matrix creating a bolt of destructive energy. The Fusion Guns aboard the Whitestar have a maximum energy output of 100,000 Terawatts [100,000 X 10^12 watt], and a maximum range of 200,000 kilometers.
Pulsed Neutron Cannon is a molecular weapon and works like the standard Minbari Neutron cannon, save the Anti-Neutron burst his contained within a energy bubble. The Neutron Cannon has a maximum energy output of 200,000 Terawatts [200,000 X 10^12 watt], and a maximum range of 300,000 kilometers. They can be fired in short bursts, or as a lannen beam and are extremely effective against all matter.
The Quantum-Gravimetric Discharge Beam is the Whitestar’s most powerful weapon. Based in part on the Minbari Neutron cannon (some times refered to as a slicer beam), but heavily modifed using Vorlon technology, the Quantum-Gravimetric Discharge Beam is produced by creating alternating graviton beams combined with a heavy anti-matter discharge from the ship's Quantum Singularity reactor. This weapon has an energy output of 300,000 Terawatts [300,000 X 10^12 watt] and a maximum range of nearly 900,000 kilometers. Standard blasts last as long as five seconds, at anywhere between 6,000 Terajoules and 1.5 million Terajoules.
ARMOR:
The Whitestar’s hull is made up of Vorlon Bio-Organic
technology, thus the Whitestar is actually a living entity.
Whitestar's organic armored hull is almost impregnable and the
vessel has the ability to adapt to any attack. With every
conflict, the Whitestar develops new countermeasures, learning
new ways of counteracting attacks. No weapon has the exact same
effect on the Whitestar twice, because with every new encounter
the ship has already set up new countermeasures, reducing the
effectiveness of any weapon upon it.
SHIELDS:
The Whitestar’s defensive systems consist of shields, a
stealth device and weapon interceptors.
Shields consist of alternating gravimetric distortion waves, and a complex network of energy and particle fields. The shields disburse any and all energy fired upon the Whitestar around the ship, leaving only the kinetic impact of the blast which is created by the explosive energy release of weapon's against the shields. Little to no energy directed at the Whitestar ever touches the hull. Any weapon used against the Whitestar must be significantly more powerful than the energy output of the shields, in order to destroy the vessel in a single blow. During the Earth Cyvil war, at the "Battle of Proxima III", an Earthforce Destroyer fired a plasma blast at a Whitestar at point blank range. The blast was rated at 800 Terawatts and the Whitestar suffered no major damage. The shields have been seen deflecting blasts in the thousands of Terajoule range, suffering only moderate damage. Multiple impacts from heavy energy weapons or even less powerful weapons can, of course, destroy a Whitestar if used long enough.
The Minbari stealth device creates a jamming field that absorbs incoming sensor beams, thus shielding the ship from many forms of long-range, short-range and targeting sensors. For many of the less developed races, the Minbari stealth renders their ships invisible to scans. This is not to say that the stealth device makes the ship truly invisible however. More advanced sensors can pick up a Minbari ship through the stealth field, but the sensor echo is extremely small. For an Earth Destroyer armed with the most advanced sensor equipment, at best a Whitestar has an echo the size of a small trash can.
Originaly it was believed that only races capable of detecting the Whitestar when it was in stealth mode, were "First Ones." Now that the “First Ones” are gone, it has become apparent that the Drauk and other former minions of the Shadows can also get a reading while the cloak is active. The Minbari Cloak still prevents the ship from being detected by most enemy sensor devices and most opponents still don’t even know the Whitestar is in the area until the it is within visual range.
Interceptors are projectiles that are fired into the path of incoming weapon’s fire, absorbing the power from said weapon.
ENGINES:
The Whitestar is powered by a (Vorlon based) Minbari
Quantum/Gravimetric reactor, with an estimated energy output of
2.6 exawatts (2.6 x 10^18th power).
Real space drive engines consist of 3 independent, Vorlon Gravimetric-Wave engines. There is no need for maneuvering thrusters, as the Gravimetric-Wave engines allow for omni-directional propulsion. For general purpose forward thrust, the Whitestar is also equipped with 2 redundant, omni-directional Positron engines.
Unlike most ship’s her size, the Whitestar has the ability to open it’s own jump point into Hyperspace, without the assistance of a larger vessel or a Jump-Gate. Traveling via Hyperspace, the Whitestar could quite literally cross the Milkyway Galaxy (100,000 light years) in roughly seven weeks. Most larger ships with jump capabilities do not have as much power as the Whitestar, despite the size difference. It should be noted that ships capable of opening their own jump point into Hyperspace, unaided by a Jump-Gate, are significantly larger than the Whitestar. Ships of the Earth Alliance, Minbari Federation, and Centauri Republic with this capability are often 500 meters or greater in length, at nearly a million metric tons.
SHUTTLE BAY:
Some Whitestars are equipped with Shuttle Bays in the aft,
between the rear Gravitic Attitude stabilizer fins. This bay is
large enough to accommodate an Atmospheric shuttle (with wings
retracted), and a maximum of four (4) Minbari fighters. This
option is at the sacrifice of the ship’s rear fuel tank,
thus reducing the vessels mission duration.
CREW:
The Whitestar has a maximum crew capacity of 68 people. Under
normal conditions, the Whitestar has a crew of 38 duty personnel,
and 2 command level officers.
SHIP’S SIZE:
From front end, to back end the Whitestar is approximately 250
meters (820 feet), and weighs an estimated 60,000 metric tons. No
exact figures have been released as of yet, however this
information seems to be consistent with what has been seen of the
Whitestars in comparison to other vessels in the B5 universe,
based on the Whitestar collision during the "Battle of
Proxima III", and the more recent S5 episodes
"Meditations on the Abyss" and "Darkness
Ascending."
Deck Diagram
Image of Whitestars in
action
Image of Whitestar
entering Hyperspace
Images of Whitestar in
Hyperspace
Image of Whitestar near
nebular
Image of Whitestar taken
by B5 cambot
