AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
VALIDATED
Class/Model/Name: Ticonderoga class Missile Cruiser
Tech: Inner Sphere / 3067
Vessel Type: WarShip
Rules: Level 2, Standard design
Rules Set: AeroTech2
Mass: 750,000 tons
K-F Drive System: (Unknown)
Power Plant: Standard
Safe Thrust: 3
Maximum Thrust: 5
Armor Type: Ferro-carbide
Armament:
32 NL55
9 NAC/20
48 AR10 Launcher
60 Barracuda
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The fourth WarShip concieved as part of Comstar's naval construction program, the Ticonderoga class was designed around standoff attack and long range anti-fighter defense, acting as a complement to both the Yorktown class carriers and Romanova class escorts they would work beside. To fulfill its duties, the Ticonderoga was a dedicated missile cruiser, with a primary armament of over one hundred missile tubes. Forty eight of these tubes would be multipurpose AR10s equipped to carry the heavyweight white shark and killer whale missile systems. In a major fleet action, a Ticonderoga would launch these missiles in bearing only mode into the midst of the enemy fleet. With over twelve hundred missiles launched in this manner per cruiser, it was expected that this initial volley, followed closely by a massive fighter strike from accompanying Yorktown class carriers, would be sufficient to cripple even a large force of clan WarShips, allowing a third wave (composed of a mixture of Dante class frigates and assault dropships) to quickly finish off any survivors, idealy without clan forces even reaching the main body of the Comstar fleet.
In the event of hostile forces slipping through to engage the main body, the Ticonderoga carried batteries of naval lasers and an additional sixty missile tubes carrying the highly accurate Barracuda missile. These weapons would be allocated to engage major concentrations of aerofighters (deemed the most likely threat), either destroying them at range, or softening them up sufficiently to make them easy prey for the Romanova class escorts (and their own aerospace forces) responsible for close range defense. These batteries were expected to also handle assault dropships and small to medium capital ships (particularly the more lightly armored Star League era vessels favored by the clans), while earlier strikes were expected to concentrate on and cripple major warships before they became a threat. As something of a last ditch measure, the Ticonderoga did have heavy batteries of naval cannons mounted fore and aft, which combined with firepower from the rest of the fleet was expected to be adequate, however, Comstar strategists and the ship's designers believed it was unlikely they would be needed and only included these weapons arrays at the insistence of the Precentor Martial and several of his commanders.
In a way, this disagreement brings to light some of the challenges that might have faced the future commanders of this new fleet, had it come into being. Expectations for the Ticonderoga were very high, but serving officers had their doubts that any ship could live up to those expectations, especially one so heavily focused on one tactical doctrine (some of the commanders of the era, including such eventually famous names as Alain Beresick and Gregory Zwick were quick to poke holes in the designers claims and develop tactics around countering a massed bearing-only missile swarm). It also showed the rush Comstar was in to develop their "clan-busting" navy. The four design programs, the Suffren, Romanova, Ticonderoga, and Yorktown, were run simultaneously by different groups to speed the program, with little conversation between them. As a result, though this new fleet had a unified overall doctrine, there was no unity in the designs themselves, each going their own way without regards for commonality of design or components. It's even been suggested that had Comstar concentrated on a smaller number of base hulls (such as building the Ticonderoga and the Yorktown around the same hull and jump core), it may have shaved years off of development time, perhaps allowing Comstar to have more ships in play even with the fall of Terra.
As with the majority of this projected fleet, the fall of Terra to the Word of Blake ended the program before the first keel was laid. The Word of Blake is said to have examined the design in the mid 3070s as a potential nuclear weapons platform, but decided against pursuing the program.
We have the plans for the Ticonderoga, however there's a lot of reasons not to build her. The most important is that naval missiles are on the way out. Point defense is everywhere nowadays. Even the old relics that never got point defense have escorts that do. A Ticonderoga might be able to overwhelm a point defense screen through the shear number of munitions it can loft out there, but even that isn't enough of a guarantee to put the effort into building one. There's also the public relations angle. Ever since the Taurians and Regulans ran amok during the Jihad, any ship with a lot of missile tubes tends to be seen as a nuclear weapons platform. Even if we'd never actually do it, the fact that you could load a Ticonderoga with enough nukes to qualify as a planet killer is going to lead the "peace at any price" crowd to assume we would.Class/Model/Name: Ticonderoga class Missile Cruiser
Mass: 750,000 tons
Equipment: Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control: 135,000.00
Thrust: Safe Thrust: 3
Maximum Thrust: 5
Kearny-Fuchida Hyperdrive: Compact (Integrity = 16) 339,375.00
Lithium Fusion Battery 7,500.00
Jump Sail (Detachable): (Integrity = 4) 68.00
Structural Integrity: 75 56,250.00
Total Heat Sinks: 3,000 Double 2,436.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 5,100.00
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters: 1,875.00
Fire Control Computers: 4,380.00
Hyperpulse Generator: 50.00
Armor Type: Ferro-carbide (948 total armor pts) 1,124.50
Capital Scale Armor Pts
Location: L / R
Fore: 132
Fore-Left/Right: 171/171
Aft-Left/Right: 171/171
Aft: 132
Cargo:
Bay 1: Fighters (6) with 2 doors 900.00
Small Craft (4) with 2 doors 800.00
Bay 2: Cargo (1) with 2 doors 38,697.50
DropShip Capacity: 4 Docking Hardpoints 4,000.00
Grav Decks #1 - 2: (90-meter diameter) 100.00
Life Boats: 40 (7 tons each) 280.00
Escape Pods: 30 (7 tons each) 210.00
Crew and Passengers:
62 Officers (62 minimum) 620.00
133 Crew (133 minimum) 931.00
149 Gunners (149 minimum) 1,043.00
32 Bay Personnel .00
Weapons and Equipment Loc SRV MRV LRV ERV Heat Mass
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4 NL55 Nose 22 22 22 22 340 4,400.00
3 NAC/20(300 rounds) Nose 60 60 60 -- 180 7,620.00
3 NAC/20(300 rounds) Nose 60 60 60 -- 180 7,620.00
8 AR10 (90 KW, 120 WS) FL/R * * * * 320 22,600.00
10 Barracuda(100 msls) FL/R 20 20 20 20 200 7,800.00
4 NL55 FL/R 22 22 22 22 680 8,800.00
8 AR10 (90 KW, 120 WS) L/RBS * * * * 320 22,600.00
10 Barracuda(100 msls) L/RBS 20 20 20 20 200 7,800.00
4 NL55 L/RBS 22 22 22 22 680 8,800.00
8 AR10 (90 KW, 120 WS) AL/R * * * * 320 22,600.00
10 Barracuda(100 msls) AL/R 20 20 20 20 200 7,800.00
4 NL55 AL/R 22 22 22 22 680 8,800.00
4 NL55 Aft 22 22 22 22 340 4,400.00
3 NAC/20(300 rounds) Aft 60 60 60 -- 180 7,620.00
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TOTALS: Heat: 4,820 750,000.00
Tons Left: .00
Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 16,670,619,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 186,744
Cost per BV: 89,269.9
Weapon Value: 89,585 (Ratio = .48)
Damage Factors: SRV = 6,223; MRV = 6,223; LRV = 5,058; ERV = 2,226
Maintenance: Maintenance Point Value (MPV) = 528,574
(63,416 Structure, 187,738 Life Support, 277,420 Weapons)
Support Points (SP) = 766,350 (145% of MPV)
BattleForce2: Not applicable
