TechMemo:Hull Plating
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Star Fleet Engineering
Bureau of Starship and Starcraft Technology
Star Fleet Engineering
Technical Memorandum
Stardate: 170318 (18 March 2005)
RE: Hull Plating and Ablative Hull Coatings
Since the earliest days of the Star Fleet, all ships have been equipped with hull plating. Hull plating consists of two basic systems which work in concert. Areas of the hull are electrically charged which is intended to draw energetic charged particle beams towards certain areas of the hull. These areas of the hull have a superconductive network which is meant to spread out the impact of any incoming radiation by dispersing the energy over a large area of the hull material so that the energy flux remains below the maximum threshold which the material can withstand. As energy continues to come into these superconducting channels, the coolant temperature rises and they are less able to dissipate incoming energy. This is the process by which hull plating efficiency drops off during a prolonged engagement. As temperatures in the coolant drop with dissipated energy, hull plating efficiency again increases.
A second method used to protect the hull material from damage is the application of ablative coatings. Ablative hull coatings are intended to absorb incoming energy and vaporize. This takes a large amount of the incident energy and prevents it from reaching the hull. Many starships employ some degree of ablative coating. In lighter designs, the thin hull paint layer itself may be the only ablative coating. In larger, armored starships there may be up to several inches of ablative coating. Ablative coatings can generally be repaired in space by stores carried aboard the ship. The coating must be affixed to the hull and treated to obtain full strength, so the application usually takes several hours.
