The Hammerhead, a unique ship that many have seen as a missing link in the arsenal of the military. Long has their been suggestion for a Corvette to fill this role. A versatile gun ship capable of filling a number of jobs from personal escorts to marine deployment. This is the true successor to the Redeemer, its big brother. But is that all that its cracked up to be? Lets have a closer look. First and foremost this is not a Capital ship. It can in no way be compared to a Polaris in shape, form, function, size or role. Where the Polaris is a deep space patrol ship this is more of a medium range gunship as shown by its medium size quantum tank. This effectively keeps it limited in travel unless escorted by a Starfarrer and a ship with a Capital radar like a Hull D or E. If possessing nuclear weapons is a form of deterrent then this can be seen the same. Short of an Eclipse or a military Capital ship challenging it, very few would get within its firing range. Its size at a 100 m puts it at a unique position is terms of maneuverability. Not too large that it cannot quickly get its targets within its firing arc and not too small that it cannot be effective enough to provide cover. Its 2 Large fuel tanks should provide it with enough capability to maneuver itself to achieve space superiority. As a defensive ship, its AFB capability might be limited due by the 2 x medium size fuel intakes that probably has a slower rate of fuel recharge which is ideal to not really get pulled away from the area you are trying to achieve dominance over. The hammerhead is certainly a unique design and affords it the ability to have its turrets sweep in a 360 degree arc providing not only overlapping coverage but also concentrate fire to nuke targets. Aesthetically where the actual shark was purposed by nature to be able to have more electro-receptors to hone in on their prey this ship was given a medium range radar. While its marine counterpart is a predator, this is more of a defensive ship having Medium sized radars and sensors capable of tracking and engaging close by enemies while relying on other ships for scout details. The only reason I see this is to probably give anyone not in a hammerhead, time to reflect and simply run away or hide. Sporting 24 x S4 spread over a Quad x 6 turrets, this is easily a DPS beast. Its wide profile does afford it a 360 degree angle allowing it to focus and bear down most of its turrets in multiple directions. So what are its potential drawbacks? - Weight at 195,000 Kg makes this ship lighter than a Vanguard. This might be an error or like any nuker its heavy on DPS but light on tankability and armor. Its 2 large shields hopefully overlapping (must ask in Q&A) should provide some amount of resistance but I cannot see this as an alpha striker. This would also make it an easy target for an eclipse. In comparison a carrack weighs in at 4,397 tonnes and a Polaris a military corvette 17,155 tonnes while a Gemini 3,517 tonnes. - Mid-space. I was hopping this ship if not possessing an advanced radar would be able to ram into other ships or structures like a battering ram with its massive hammerhead shape. Seems that the space in between serves little purpose other than to increase its profile which could have been technically smaller in breadth had the beams been brought together and provided one large area. - 40 scu cargo - I understand that cargo is not its focus but this seems unreasonably small considering its large size. At least 250 scu would be a decent amount of space. - Firing 24 x S4 is going to draw a significant amount of power if lasers or plasma weapons. While ballistics can be an option, in most cases large ships should run a laser loadout to be able to spam the firing at max range without having to worry about running out of ammo. For such a loadout a powerful powerplant is definitely needed. I'm not sure if 2 x L power-plants would be sufficient to power both weapons and shields. Coolers again seem to be another issue that needs looking into. Firing 24 x S4 could have overheating issues. If this is the case are we supposed to run ballistics? - The bridge location below and its proximity to the turrets and the large space in between the ship provides a potential blind-spot. If you feel like Luke Skywalker, that would be this deathstars potential weakness. - Medium radars - If targeting incoming targets such as torpedoes is very important, the medium scan radius may not provide enough time to get ready to take on an incoming torpedo making its dependability on a craft with a large to capital detection range all the more important. Disclaimer : At this point everything above is potential conjecture based on info we have and subject to change until flight ready.