Another sort of realistic space destroyer 5

Jovian Spaceborn Armed Forces Fusion Destroyer Clarke.
Other angles: Link 1 Link 2 Link 3 Link 4
 
Length: 200m
Height: 62m
Width: 100m
Dry mass: 12 500 tons
Full load: 18 000 tons
Complement: 70
 
Armaments:
2x 200mm EM canon
16x 10m Long range missiles
24x 6m Semi guided short range missiles

 
Main engine: Inertial confinement fusion
Thrust: 10 MN
Fuel: He-3 - D
Fuel supply: 1200 tons
Mass flow: 1,53 kg/s
Acceleration while fully loaded: 0,55 m/s
Delta-v: 448 km/s

Side engines: 2x Open cycle gas core nuclear rocket
Thrust: 6 MN
Propellant: LH2
Propellant supply: 2 800 tons
Mass flow: 63,15 kg/s
Acceleration while fully loaded: 0,33 m/s
Delta-v: 16 km/s
 
Thrusters:
Hydrogen - Oxygen chemical rockets

Clarke class destroyer, the first Jovian fusion destroyer, this ship's completion marked the formation of Jovian Spaceborn Armed Forces and was the first dedicated warship of allied Jovian moons. It was introduced into service in the late stages of war with Martians, and until that point the only spaceborn resistance the Jovians could provide was with improvised warships made from converting civilian nuclear, and even chemical rocket ships. While those did provide some nuisance to the invaders, in the end, they just didn't have the range and capability to prevent Martians from dictating battlefield conditions. Worse still, even in large numbers, they where no match to Martian destroyers, only barely managing to take down a single destroyer at the very beginning of the conflict. That early victory was paid with great sacrifice, and while Martians wouldn't allow for such a situation to happen ever again, the Jovians did manage to recover the downed destroyer's fusion engine.

With Saturnian assistance the engine was reverse engineered, boosting Saturnian progress with fusion engines on their side, and paving the way for Clarke class destroyers for Jovians. Fusion engine was the main focus, and at the same time other parts of the ship where built on separate locations, awaiting the final assembly. Side mounted nuclear rocket engines where added for redundancy, in case of main engine failure, and to provide additional thrust if needed in combat. The head piece is practically the only pressurized part of the ship, and was made to be detachable, so it's a ship on its own, with very limited range range. Bellow head, all the major components where connected with heavy reliance on struts, decreasing the ships durability, but also lowering its overall mass. Sensor masts, EM cannons and external cargo holds where added after the struts, completing the ship at last.

As a warship it was plagued with many issues, most coming from the improvised and rushed way it was built, some of which where improved on by subsequent ships of the same class, and some with practiced use. Its long range weapons where limited by subpar sensors, but where very potent if other ships provided sensor data. Crew accommodations where very cramped, and only minor simulation of gravity was provided by deployable centrifuge. The worst flaw was its poor anti missile defense, with EM cannon providing point defense, and heavy reliance on decoy flares, the ship wasn't able to defend properly from long range missile attacks, forcing a configuration in which several of its long range anti ship missiles would be traded in for area defense missiles.

Even with all the optimizations, Clarke class was simply no match for Martian Lothbrok class destroyers, and several of her class where lost while proving the fact. The real advantage they provided was their long range interplanetary capability. With it the Jovians where no longer forced to remain on the defense, and Martians had to rearrange their formations to compensate, opening weak spots to be exploited. With the increasing resources the war was draining from Martians, and power shifts on other fronts, they where forced to pull back their occupation force, and eventually sign a peace treaty.

Nowadays newer and much more capable Wells class destroyers have taken the frontline position, while those of Clarke class that remained operational where relegated to shorter range patrols and anti pirate duties.