(Any art created for this ship would have to somehow find a way to incorporate four stacks)
A contemporary of the Type 51 gunboat, the Picket was one of the last entirely pre-dreadnought combat jumpships developed by the Terran Alliance, with the design work begun in 2280, but the first hulls laid down in 2304. Though technically rendered obsolete by the innovations made with the Dreadnought, the Picket still filled the need for a "fast" fleet level escort with a jump range that, while shorter than a Dreadnought, was sufficient to keep pace with the existing heavy transports used by the Hegemony military and major shipping concerns. It was also a dedicated combat and escort ship, unlike the aging City class cruisers which currently filled the role of fast escort. This allowed designers to "cut out the fat", as it were, resulting in a leaner, cheaper, and less maintenance intensive design while retaining or exceeding most of the City's combat capabilities.
The ship's design concept shows some similarity to the Cruiser class (though thankfully not the aesthetics) due to its heavy missile based armament. Like the Cruiser (itself descended from a pre-dreadnought design) the Picket series was intended to rely on nuclear weapons for its primary hitting power, ideally engaging from well beyond normal weapons range. As a last ditch armament, the vessel also carried a few naval cannons in single mounts and turrets of smaller quick firing guns around the small craft bays. Sufficient for handling most expected opponents, but quickly rendered unimpressive as naval technology advanced. Due to fears of escalation, the expected nuclear armament was never actually used in combat by a Picket series vessel (at least not in Terran service), and even the earliest vessels would deploy with only a small number of nuclear warheads to complement their conventional missile systems, and even these warheads were removed from all ships by 2320.
The Terran Alliance (and later Hegemony) put into place plans to construct over fifty Picket series destroyers in batches of six ships, with each subsequent batch incorporating improvements and changes based on experiences with the prior designs. The first four batches were to be built using the existing jump core, while subsequent classes would incorporate a compact jump core and significant changes to the base design. In practice however, due to changing priorities and funding as well as concerns that the Picket wouldn't live up to expectations, the final order was reduced to thirty six vessels, built in batches of four (designated the A through I classes) over the next ten years, all of which were built largely to the original specifications with only minor improvements incorporated into the designs. Despite the concerns of Hegemony Admirals, the Pickets proved themselves capable fleet escorts for decades, earning another production run of twenty ships in 2317 (the J through N classes) for Hegemony service, and an additional sixty ships built for export over the subsequent twenty years, causing the Picket to spread in small numbers across the entire Inner Sphere and near periphery.
Though ultimately a successful design, the Picket series enjoyed a relatively brief period in the limelight, gradually replaced in front line Hegemony service by the Essex after 2351. Among the house fleets the Picket was able to hang on longer, but even then modern ships rendered them obsolete by the mid 25th century. The last Picket class ships saw service with the Periphery states as late as the Reunification War, most notably as command ships for groups of Taurian merchant raiders and CSS squadrons. The last of the Picket series Destroyers were finally broken up for scrap in the early 27th century.
Picket series Destroyer
Mass: 300,000 tons
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Advanced)
Introduced: 2305
Mass: 300,000
Battle Value: 16,908
Tech Rating/Availability: E/E-X-X-X
Cost: 4,758,380,000 C-bills
Fuel: 4,000 tons (10,000)
Safe Thrust: 3
Maximum Thrust: 5
Sail Integrity: 4
KF Drive Integrity: 10
Jump Range: 20
Heat Sinks: 277
Structural Integrity: 50
Armor
Nose: 15
Fore Sides: 15/15
Aft Sides: 13/13
Aft: 11
Cargo
Bay 1: Small Craft (20) 4 Doors
Bay 2: Cargo (10823.0 tons) 1 Door
Ammunition:
240 rounds of AC/5 ammunition (4 tons),
120 rounds of NAC/10 ammunition (0.8 tons),
120 rounds of White Shark ammunition (160 tons)
Dropship Capacity: 0
Grav Decks: 1 (80 m)
Escape Pods: 30
Life Boats: 30
Crew: 22 officers, 83 enlisted/non-rated, 24 gunners, 100 bay personnel, 20 passengers, 20 marines
Notes: Mounts 236 tons of primitive aerospace armor.
Weapons: Capital Attack Values (Standard)
Arc (Heat) Heat SRV MRV LRV ERV Class
Nose (30 Heat)
1 Naval Autocannon (NAC/10) 30 10(100) 10(100) 10(100) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/10 Ammo (30 shots)
FRS/FLS (30 Heat)
1 Naval Autocannon (NAC/10) 30 10(100) 10(100) 10(100) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/10 Ammo (30 shots)
RBS/LBS (48 Heat)
3 Capital Missile Launcher (White Shark) 45 9(90) 9(90) 9(90) 9(90) Capital Missile
White Shark Ammo (30 shots)
3 AC/5 3 2(15) 2(15) 0(0) 0(0) AC
AC/5 Ammo (60 shots)
ARS/ALS (48 Heat)
3 Capital Missile Launcher (White Shark) 45 9(90) 9(90) 9(90) 9(90) Capital Missile
White Shark Ammo (30 shots)
3 AC/5 3 2(15) 2(15) 0(0) 0(0) AC
AC/5 Ammo (60 shots)
Aft (30 Heat)
1 Naval Autocannon (NAC/10) 30 10(100) 10(100) 10(100) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/10 Ammo (30 shots)
