The SDF Destroyer is a type of warship that appears in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, part of the Settlement Defense Front military.
Overview[]
SDF destroyers are the most numerous vessels encountered in all campaigns and appear to be the backbone of the SetDef's Navy, being fought by the SWC-141 Retribution in numerous battles.
The naming convention for SDF destroyers is the three-letter prefix "SDS" followed by a name. These names are usually those of Martian geographic features, such as impact basins (SDS Utopia), moons (SDS Deimos), mountains (SDS Nereidum) or other terrain features (SDS Iani Chaos). However, some atypical names also exist, such as the SDS Valiant.
Characteristics[]
As the primary warship type of the SDF Navy, destroyers are equipped for a variety of different roles. The vessels are designed primarily for the vacuum of space, possessing relatively little aerodynamics and being quite angular in shape. The vessels are oblong, with a compression two-thirds of the way towards the stern of the ship on both sides, near the vessel's wheelhouse; this appears to house access for airlocks and shuttle bays. The vessels possess what appears to be a prominent, horizontal conning tower on their dorsal side, above and behind the bridge. The ship's bow possesses a notable cavity, a common trait amongst SetDef ships.
The forward section of the dorsal side has an elongated, prominent bulge, which contains the launch systems for the ship's missiles. While the underside of the vessels appears to be a uniform section, some of the "bulges" are actually the doors for the ship's cargo bays, which can open up for ingress and egress. The ship's surface is covered with various features such as access hatches, radars, supply tanks and weapons systems.
Internally, the ship possesses features similar to those of terrestrial warships, as well as those required for space combat. Areas such as the administrative sections, armouries, cafeterias, cargo holds, the Combat Information Center (CIC), computer mainframes, conference rooms, crew accommodations, hangars, life support systems, medical bays, ordnance bays, and so on are all present within the ship. The ship has various bulkheads and pressurized doors that allow it to be compartmentalized in the event of a depressurization or a hull breach. The ship's CIC has windows but can cover these with armoured shutters to maximize protection during combat. The sides of the ship also appear to have windows that can also be covered with armoured shutters, as well as several airlocks allowing access to the ship's interior. The interiors themselves are also fairly spartan, even by military standards, reflecting the SDF's focus on efficiency and functionality over comfort and luxury.
Like many spaceships in Infinite Warfare, SDF Destroyers are capable of generating their own artificial gravity. While the exact method by which this occurs is unknown, it would appear that the mechanism ensures that the gravitational field generated is perpendicular to the ship's floor, ensuring that crew members are only pulled downwards towards the immediate floor and not in different directions. This gravity can seemingly be disabled quite selectively, with gravity being deactivated in one room but left on in others.
The ship has a crew complement of both sailors and security personnel. This includes C6 androids, which are often found docked at various stations when not in use.
Offensive and defensive systems[]
SDF destroyers are heavily armed, possessing numerous autocannons and missile launchers. They are quite capable of taking on their UNSA counterparts.
Point-defense weaponry[]
For defense, the vessel uses 30mm Grunion autocannons, 20mm OST autocannons and MMT38 Whiplash missiles. These are often used to target anything small that might threaten the ship, such as Jackal fighters, but they can also be used in an offensive role against other warships if required. Grunions appear to be tri-barrelled rotary weapons. The autocannons are mounted in rotating turrets and distributed across the vessel's dorsal side to provide a larger amount of fire cover. The OSTs appear to possess a single barrel, though they have a high rate of fire. They are less common, when compared to Grunions.
Whiplash missiles are located primarily in the ship's forward dorsal "bulge", behind a pressurized door. Each Whiplash launcher is actually a square pod of four missiles that protrudes from the launch bay when in use.
R-28 Taskmasters[]
For both offense and defense, the ship seems to use R-28 Taskmasters, which are twin cannons mounted on the sides of the dorsal centre line. The R-28 seems to be a fairly high calibre-cannon with a low rate-of-fire that can inflict considerable damage upon warships, judging by what can be seen at the end of Operation Blood Storm when Nick Reyes is trying to hold on to a hijacked SDF Destroyer. Destroyers seem to be able to mount up to eight Taskmasters, distributed evenly across either side of the ship.
The R-28 can be used either for attacking enemy vessels or for defending the vessel in point-defense roles.
Tactical cruise missiles[]
For offense, the ship uses tactical cruise missiles. The missiles are launched from fixed launch bays. It seems there are at least three cruise missile variants, judging by what can be seen in the ship's armoury, with each being differentiated by its colour. The missiles seem to have their warhead type stencilled onto them, followed by an alphanumeric designation:
- Black - Fuse Class F6
- Red - Impact Class O2
- White - NCLR N15
The missiles are loaded onto mobile racks in the ordnance room, where they can presumably be supplied to different parts of the ship. Destroyer ordnance rooms seem to have different racks and control systems for different missiles, with the controlling consoles having the missile type clearly marked on the floor underneath them, though different missiles have been seen on the same rack.
Each missile's name seems to indicate what type of weapon it is, with O2s detonating on impact and F6s having delayed fuses. The N15 missiles are actually equipped with nuclear warheads, as writing on the floor in front of consoles controlling their racks clearly states "NUCLEAR", which is presumably also what the "NCLR" written on the missiles stands for. They also seem to possess yellow warning hazard labels on them which the O2 and F6 missiles lack. While the yield of the N15 is unknown, destroyers are shown to carry numerous N15 missiles, potentially granting each destroyer a devastating amount of firepower.
Modularity and additional weapons[]
It would appear that the weapons systems of SDF destroyers are somewhat modular, as some destroyers, such as the SDS Galaxius, have large turrets mounted on top of their forward missile launch section, which house twin cannons which seem to be of a substantial calibre; Galaxius possessed two of these weapons. SDS Cydonia appeared to have a similar addition, featuring a turret that resembled a larger version of the Taskmaster.
In addition, the exact distribution of the other armaments can vary - for example, it seems some destroyers have two OSTs between their rear engines, whereas others use two Grunions instead. Similarly, the missile bulge may be defended by OSTs or Grunions.
Air wing[]
SDF destroyers also seem capable of carrying a limited air wing consisting of Skelter fighters and Warden dropships, though not nearly as many as SetDef carriers. To accommodate this, the vessels possess at least one hangar bay. This air wing can engage in a variety of operations including air-to-air combat, ground attack, reconnaissance and ship assault.
Protection[]
SDF destroyers are reasonably well-armoured and can withstand a fair degree of punishment before being destroyed (this may also be due to their mass and size). Jackal fighters do not seem to be able to do significant damage by simply attacking the ship's hull directly but instead often destroy them by taking out many of their weapons systems, which likely causes enough internal damage to kick off a chain reaction that destroys the ship in a massive explosion.
Destroyers also seem to be equipped with a system reminiscent of chaff/flare launchers like the SRBOC, consisting of five tubes, mounted across the dorsal surface of the hull.
Mobility[]
The ship is propelled by large thrusters located at the very stern of the vessel. Destroyers are equipped with two large and two small thrusters. Like other warships in the game, SDF destroyers are also capable of faster-than-light (FTL) travel, which occurs via a Drop Engine. Like their UNSA counterparts, SDF destroyers are capable of hovering within planetary atmospheres using several sets of small ventral thrusters.
For power generation, SDF destroyers appear to utilize some type of nuclear reactor.
Role[]
Like their terrestrial counterparts, SDF destroyers are capable of engaging in multiple different roles, operating either on solo raids or group missions. It is not unusual for destroyers to operate by themselves, possibly due to the relatively low number of warships in Infinite Warfare relative to the sheer size of the Solar System.
SDF destroyers may also fly within the atmosphere of a planet to attack ground targets, acting as a sort of hovering artillery, and often in support of ground elements.
It is quite common for destroyers to be accompanied by squadrons of R-7 Skelter fighters.
Named Ships[]
Below is a non-exhaustive list of all named SDF destroyers and their current status.
- SDS Galaxius (active)
- SDS Icarius (active)
- SDS Nerio (active)
- SDS Pavonis Mons (active)
- SDS Iani Chaos (destroyed)
- SDS Solis (abandoned)
- SDS Crivitz (destroyed)
- SDS Argas (destroyed)
- SDS Deimos (destroyed)
- SDS NB Quirinis (destroyed)
- SDS Nemesis (destroyed)
- SDS Tharsis (destroyed)
- SDS Phobos (destroyed)
- SDS Valiant (destroyed)
- SDS Nereidum (destroyed)
- SDS Ascraeus (destroyed)
- SDS Elysium (destroyed)
- SDS Arsia (destroyed)
- SDS Argyre (destroyed)
- SDS Utopia (destroyed)
- SDS Anseris (destroyed)
- SDS Isidis (destroyed)
- SDS Daedalia (destroyed)
- SDS Peraea (destroyed)
- SDS Cydonia (under construction)
Gallery[]
Concept Art[]
Trivia[]
- A Grunion is a species of fish.
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