Aye and we're not gonna redo the 3057 IS designs. Yet...
But...in the mean time
A while ago I got to thinking about Yardships, mainly because of the III in the Newgrage's name. I was like 'where's the I and II?' and did she spring whole cloth fully formed as an idea or was there something in the past that inspired it or got the SLDF thinking that 'hey we don't have any mobile repair facilities and repairing ships out here really sucks!' during the Reunification war. Step forwards the Liparius class of Mobile repair yard. And if you did spot the name, congratulations, yes its named after the baddies tanker in James Bond's The Spy Who Loved Me that 'swallowed' submarines.
Liparius Class Mobile Repair Yard.
With a massive number of repair yards within Hegemony space, if a warship or jumpship needed to have repairs carried out then they could easily move a jump or two and would find themselves usually in a system with a fully established repair facility. This wealth of facilities made the nascent SLDF seem to forget that not everywhere else had the same level of resources and when the Reunification War came along the SLDF was in for a huge shock to the system.
If a ship was damaged in battle ‘in the wilds’ then it meant one of two things. Carrying out ad-hoc repairs with the crew doing most of the work, or risking a jump back to an established facility. The problem was that there were no major facilities, at least none captured intact. This could mean a journey of weeks or even months back to a yard for a ship, which came with its own dangers depending on how bad the damage was.
The other option was to simply wait whilst Logistics Command built a temporary yard. Even with their muscle and resources this could take months to build and bring on line, thus taking the damaged ships out of the line for anywhere from 2 – 6 months before repairs could even begin.
Recognising that this was simply unacceptable the SLDF put out an emergency tender for a mobile repair yard that could service, repair and maintain ships in the field without having to bring them home to a fixed (and thus vulnerable) position.
The designers of the Farragut class battleship the mainstay of the SLDF’s battle line accepted the challenge and began working with a design based on the Farragut’s hull.
Removing all but a few weapons for self-defence whilst also reducing the power to the four massive Hispano-Rawlings engines reduced the ships thrust somewhat but this was not needed for a support unit. Some of the weight saved was applied to the hull and the ships beam was increased whilst armour was also thinned out somewhat. This freed up a considerable amount of tonnage but more was needed. The forwards hull was extended by 550 meters (a total length of 1955 meters), this was then combined with the forwards hull to create a 650-meter-long pressurised repair bay accessed by a pair of huge doors in the bow. Whilst not long enough to fully accommodate a cruiser it was enough to allow work crews to work in an assisted environment even if it did look like a ship being serviced would have its bow or stern ‘hanging out’ of the front of the ship through the huge open doors of the repair bay.
To assist in repairs of larger vessels that could not fit in the forwards repair bay a massive extending gantry system was fitted to the starboard side. Capable of deploying in 45 minutes with a full array of cranes, jibs and retracting servo arms and cutting devices with access to the massive cargo holds inventory to allow the ship to help repair external hull plating as well as carrying out other major structural repairs.
The Farragut’s fearsome fighter compliment was utterly eliminated whilst another two dropship collars were added bringing the total to 4, these would be dedicated tugs and maintenance vessels. The small craft compliment was also increased to 14 up from 10.
The large central 150 meter grav-deck was retained whilst the smaller 45 meter one was enlarged to a 75-meter deck. Additional berths were fitted for other ships crews and the marine compliment was reduced a 50-man security detachment. With next to no weaponry save AMS systems fitted and a pair of NL-45’s in the front and stern quarters and with no aerospace fighters aboard the crew compliment went down, but these were replaced with engineers and yard personnel. The cargo bays carried anything from hull armour plating to miles of wiring, spare NAC barrels and laser focusing arrays, deck plating, banks of computers and tonnes of food and other supplies for when a ship just needed to replenish its stocks. The final piece of the puzzle was a very new, very expensive (and somewhat temperamental) Lithium Fusion battery that gave the huge ships considerable strategic mobility, letting them move to ships in need of repair quickly.
The first ship the SLS Liparius was rushed into completion and managed to take part in the closing 9 months of the Reunification War where she was able to provide support for the fleets advancing on Taurus, dramatically shortening the supply chain.
By no means a combat vessel the Liparius was always accompanied by at least two destroyers, often a full group of four would guard her and due to her important strategic nature she would often lurk in a systems Oort cloud, well off the beaten path. Despite her sluggishness in manoeuvring and the ship being all but defenceless she performed well enough in her role under the command of Commodore Karl Stromberg. This performance was enough to have the SLDF press for more orders for the class with another 9 being ordered. The ’10 Greeks’ as the class were known due to their naming convention being that of Greek/Classical deities and figures were assigned to major fleet elements and kept in constant service.
One ship the SLS Prometheus was lost due to an asteroid impact from a rogue rock which impacted on her bow, causing significant structural damage and starting several on-board fires that quickly got out of control. Abandoned and aflame the ship was scuttled by her escorting destroyers.
The SLS Hecate was crippled over the Titan Yards in the Sol System by forces loyal to Stefan Amaris but the ship’s captain refused to surrender and overloaded the main reactor, destroying the vessel and two Rim World Pinto class vessels in the blast.
The surviving vessels (four in total) at the end of the Amaris Civil War departed with General Kerensky. It is believed that along with a Newgrange class vessel that they helped form a major part of the Lum shipyards.
Is the original fluff I came up with and I asked Plog if he'd want to take a shot at something like it. He was awesome and said yes. And earlier he got back to me with this.
The liparius. I might have traveled a little further on this one, but hear me out. The engines are about what you'd expect given thrust not really being a goal. The midsection has a arrangement not that dissimilar from the standard pressurized repair yard, save for the pressurized shroud. Multiple movable and expandable sections allow the free space between the Liparius and the repaired vessel to be kept to a minimum and manageable level. The front is not the "large double bay doors" from your fluff text, i know.
The front more resembles a blue whale's expandable jowls. Allowing it to create a maximum volume of space. The lips also bear attention, with multiple movable finger plates they're able to conform to as many shapes as possible. At least getting close enough for the remaining small spaces to be filled in, likely with some form of Har-Jel esque temporary but tough sealant. Along the backbone at the top of the main bay, under the bridge and dropship ring structures, would be multiple cranes, gantries, and cargo lifts to service the main bay's guest.
So, after all that TLDR. Here's the draft sketch of the Liparius class Mobile Repair Yard.
http://i.imgur.com/PyU9LsX.jpgHe's also redoing a vehicle I love, but can't stand the look of, the Aithion. I'm sorry but the art for it just...looks like its something that was made by CAT or JCB and would belong on a digsite or strip mining facility or as part of an urban renewal project carrying a pipe for a new sewage system.
Instead Plog came up with an enlarged and angry looking Stug with a clamshell bay at the back for the infantry to get in and out of. We also broke the rear mounted quad pulse turret up into two smaller sub turrets mounted on the front so they actually have a field of fire. And the gun barrel is no longer 47 feet wide.
http://i.imgur.com/3sWZIRz.jpgThoughs and comments are always welcome.
