Nike Kai-class

"The Nike Kai Class Cruiser, is the next-generation variant of the popular Nike Class Light Cruiser, and is sold across the Earth Sphere to any that are able to buy them. This new design quite superior over the older Nike Class..."

- Taken from Jane's Space Ships and Warships, CE72 Edition

The Nike Kai Class Cruiser is the successor design to the old and aging Nike Class first introduced a little over a decade before. These cruisers would be produced entirely by Sphinx Heavy Industries who would sell them to many around the Earth Sphere.

General Overview
With the Bloody Valentine War in full swing Sphinx Heavy Industries would look to expand on the Nike Class Cruiser Line with a whole new design and not anymore refits or rebuilds which they had been doing for the past few years. This new design would be the Nike Kai Class Cruiser, a whole new look at Nike Class which combined the original design with the lethality of the Altairan Albatross Class Heavy Cruiser and Black Knight Barachiel Class Battlecruiser. Overall the new Nike Kai Class would be the perfect successor to the aging Nike Class Cruiser Line.

The Nike Kai Class would sport a whole new weapon layout from the old Nike with three Thunderbird 100cm Duel High Energy Beam Cannons, taken from the successful Albatross Class, eight Hammer Linear Cannons, and a variety of support weapons including various different missile launchers and torpedo launchers. Also the Nike Kai would sport a similar modular hanger layout of the older Nike Class which allows it to either carry mobile suits or mobile armors, though by the time the Nike Kai was fully introduced Mobile Suits become ever more popular and the mobile armor starting its descent. The Nike Kai Class sported a dedicated modular and extend-able linear catapult, first developed for the CE68 Refit Package for the Nike Class, on the ship’s ventral hull right in front of the ventral Thunderbird Turret. All this combined with the new four engine layout made the Nike Kai Class a fast, tough ship able to take on most enemy ships.

When Sphinx announced the development of these new ships in late June to the entire Earth Sphere they would be surprised by orders not only from their usual third-party customers like the Lunar Colonial Alliance and Venture Militia but both the United Emirate of Orb and Kingdom of Scandinavia which where building up new Space Fleets for their nations due to the preparation for being eventually dragged into the war sometime in the near future. The ships of the United Emirate of Orb would become known as the Fujin Class Cruiser, while the Kingdom of Scandinavia ships would become known as the Thor Class. This is mainly thanks to the minor changes and the sheer number of ships purchased by these two neutral nations.

Sphinx would also offer a program for those who still used older Nike Class Light Cruisers which would completely rebuild these old ships into the Nike Kai Class inspired CE70 Upgrade Package at a reasonable price. Many of the Third Parties which still used Nike Class including the Venture Militia, the and a few mercenary groups took them up on this offer. These newly rebuilt ships where a bit different from the regular new-build Nike Kai Class but still looked similar just a bit smaller and compact. They also don’t have the ventral turret thanks in part to these rebuilt Nike Class sporting the same reactor they where first built with.

By the time of the end of the war Sphinx would sell about seventy ships of the class split between the main Nike Kai Class, Fujin Class, and Thor Class. The majority of which would make up the bulk of the Peacekeeper Alliance Fleet at the Second Battle of Jachin Due. They would also rebuild over thirty older Nike Class Cruisers into newer Nike-70 Class Cruisers. After the war Sphinx would start construction of another flight of these ships to not only replace those lost during the war but to expand their business with many more customers interested in their ships including the recently arrived Martian Republic, and Orion Colony Cluster.

“Thunderbird” 100cm Duel Barrel High-Energy Beam Cannons
The same weapons found on board the Albatross Class Heavy Cruiser, and are the cruisers main weapons against enemy ships. Two of the guns are mounted onto the side superstructures where the useless sidebridges had been on the original Nike Class. The third would be located on the ventral hull right behind the ship's catapult and hanger.

“Hammer” 45cm Medium Linear Cannons
A smaller version of the "Sword" guns on the original Nike Class and are arranged to counter the blind spots from the Thunderbird turrets. While smaller they are still quite lethal to enemy ships thanks in part to the success of the "Valiant" series linear guns. They are perfect choice for use against enemy anti-beam coated ships.

“Pixie” 35mm High-Speed Single Barrel CIWS/AMS Cannons
The same gun on the larger Albatross Class Heavy Cruiser just arranged a bit different mainly around the superstructure. Like the Albatross they work hand-in-hand with the Gremlin flak guns to defend the ship against enemy missiles and mobile suits.

“Gremlin” 20mm Angled Flak Cannons
Another carry-over from the Albatross Class and is arranged a bit different from other ships equipped with them for instead of being mounted in small banks they are mounted in single guns along the hull with two duel banks located above the side guns of the ship.

Mark IX 15-Tube External Missile Launchers
An original weapon that was developed for the Nike Kai Class alone and it is thanks to Sphinx studies in missile and ammo explosions on ships that has these launchers in external ranks. Though it should be noted that these launchers are hard to reload without support from a Tender or a Dock. Therefore many customers request these weapons to be removed from the design, but this is often only for smaller groups that don't have the ability to support their ships with Tenders.

Mark X 4-Tube VLS Missile Launchers
Another of the new missile launchers developed for the Nike Kai Class and is developed thanks to data on the VLS launchers on ZAFT ships. These missile launchers are able to fire larger missiles then the Type IX launchers and are normally equipped with "Bolt" Cluster Missiles or larger "Archer" Flak Missiles.

Mark XXII Torpedo Tubes
The last of the weapons on board the Nike Kai Class and are similar in nature to the torpedo launchers on the Barchiel and Albatross Class ships instead of the smaller launchers on board the older Nike Class. These launchers are able to fire "Long Lance" Anti-Ship Torpedoes and "Pike" Torpedoes.

VDS Nashville
One of the first of the class to built and is operated by the Venture Militia. It would become notable when it would join the Earth Orbital Patrol Force Fourth Patrol Force and the AFS Archangel during the attack on the Bolthole Pirate Base in early CE71. It would be one of two Militia ships to join on the attack and would be reasonable for destroying the aging Nike Class Light Cruiser Devil Due single handed when it tried to sneak away after the end of the battle.

ODS Hoori
One of the first of the Fujin Class Cruisers to be commissioned into the Orb Space Forces and would be notable when it would be the first responder to the Collapse of Heliopolis thanks in part to being on anti-piracy duty in the Lagrange Three area. During this it would exchange a few shots with the ZAFT Laurasia Class Frigate Ziegler when it was searching for the AFS Archangel hiding in the new Heliopolis Debris Field. However no damage would be reported to either ship. It would later rendezvous with the approaching ASDF Third Fleet where it would work in concert with Third Fleet to recover the Heliopolis Lifeboats.

Fujin Class Cruiser
The Orb operated Nike Kai Class Cruisers and besides one major change they are the same ships as the main class. Basically the Fujin Class removes the Mark X VLS Missile Launchers to make room for a larger hanger which can carry six machines. Other changes include a different paintjob and changing the "Pixie" Cannons with the heavier "Igellstung" Cannons.

Thor Class Cruiser
The Kingdom of Scandinavia operated subclass of the Nike Kai Class which besides a paintjob and some minor changes to the hanger the Thor remains the same as the main class. However unlike its Orb operated counterpart only around a dozen of these ships where ordered.

Nike-70 Class Cruiser
A variant of the older Nike Class that is rebuilt into the Nike (CE70 Refit) Class Cruiser, or just known as the Nike-70 Class to sit it apart from both the handful of remaining original Nike Class and the new Nike Kai Class. The only real difference with this rebuild is that it is twenty-five meters shorter and doesn't sport the third beam cannon. It also sports the same reactor of the older design therefore the reason it can not support any further beam weapons.

Miscellaneous Information
Notes: Based on the Salamis (Kai) Class Cruiser from Gundam 0083 OVA, just with slight modifications to make it work in the Cosmic Era.