Design Request - Imagineer Light Support Cruiser

[maxcarrion]

Good Morning Gentlemen

As many of you know Carrion Combat Industries (CCI) are one of the galaxies leading supplier of light combat vehicles, however, several of our customers have been requesting a new product, a blue water capital vessel built to work in concert with other CCI products.  This will be CCI's first blue water capital vessel and so Carrion Combat Industries would like to invite independant experts to propose design concepts to be included into the Carrion Combat Industries - Imagineer Light Support Cruiser.

Minimum Requirements - All Minimum Requirements must be met for any design to be considered
-Disassembled ship should be transportable in no more than 3 mule dropships (25KT total maximum displacement) although 17KT would be better - there is no minimum weight as long as all other requirements are met
-At least 10% of the total displacement should be dedicated to cargo space for consumables (fuel, food, water, spare parts etc.) - not to include Cruisers primary fuel
-The vessel should have space to carry 12x50T surface craft - changable based on mission (hover, amphibious, hydrofoil, sub etc.), the vessel requires a minimum 2 vehicle bays for launch, recovery and maintenence, remaining craft may be kept in cargo space (but not the same cargo space as the above requirement)
- The vessel should have space to carry 12x30T VTOL craft as well as the capability to launch 2 in quick succession
- The vessel should have capability to attack orbital targets - CCI does not expect 1 imagineer to go toe to toe with a full warship but some orbital capacity to harrass/combine with other imagineers into a defense net and destroy satelittes.
- The vessel should have over the horizon attack capability to support ground operations e.g. artillery
- The vessel should have some defensive weapons to fend off attacks
- The vessel should have sufficient facilities for extended operations e.g. field kitchens
- The vessel should have a flexible infantry contingent, preferably including battle armour
- The vessel should be deep water capable and able to propel itself at a minimum of 50kph

The expectation is for the designers to pitch where to go beyond the minimum requirements.  The designers should consider the intended doctrine when making these additions
- The Imagineer should be a multi-purpose blue water warship capable of operating independantly or as part of a larger fleet
- The Imagineer should be low cost where possible, a fleet of 8 Good Ships would generally be preferable to a fleet of 4 Great Ships as they may have a lot of area to cover in a relatively low threat environment
- The Imagineer should be capable, if not ideal, of all missions that might be asked of a blue water navy - many of these can be carried out by the supported vehicles.  Including but not limited to
     - Anti Piracy
     - Customs/boarding
     - Search and Rescue
     - Amphibious Assault
     - Ground support
     - Orbital defense
     - Air, Surface and Sub Surface superiority
     - Air, Surface and Sub Surface search and destroy
     - Fleet Escort

A blue water fleet consisting of nothing but Imagineer Light Support cruisers and the vehicles they tender should be competant if not ideal - where other vessels are added, e.g. a larger ASF carrier, the Imagineer should be a capable escort

[maxcarrion]

Edited spec, VTOL weight should be 30T and "launch 2 VTOL at a time" changed to "launch 2 VTOL in quick succession" e.g. 1 helipad and 2 light vehicle bays would be acceptable

[maxcarrion]

Having looked at existing designs some CCI has reduced the minimum specification a little - 20% minimum cargo & fuel reduced to 10% cargo - the cruiser should have sufficient fuel for prolonged operations that is not part of this cargo space.

[maxcarrion]

No takers?  In order to move on the project in house designers have come up with their own specification.  Using state of the art (Tech F) technology they have managed to achieve all of the requirements and much more on an 8500T submersible chassis.  This places it at the same displacement and length as the Rapier Patrol Destroyer and opens up the possibility of transporting multiple fully assembled units in the same modified Mammoth dropships.

The fore section of the ship holds the small heavy vehicle bay used for carrying the supply vessels like the Nessie Cargo WIGE, topping that off with the ships "last resort" turret - packing 4 LB-2X for air targets and 2 LRT-20s for naval and submersibles the turret is the Imagineers last line of defence when enemies reach visual range.

As we approach the fore quarters we reach the massive vertical launch tubes or the Piranha Sub Capital Missiles, 40 missiles ready to reach out pluck enemies from the sky. next up the sizeable wet bay - a dozen vehicles run from port to starboard with an airlocked door on each side allowing the vehicles inside to swarm out 4 at a time

The midship holds the dry bay - another dozen vehicles sit ready to be hoisted up onto the helipads or down to the water for launch, tacked onto on at the fore the massive barracks squats, when fit for infantry it can hold 280 men on top of all the bay crews but it usually sits more than half empty giving up additional space for crew to spread out and get a little privacy or for the stowage of battlearmour for the marines.  Moving towards the aft the bay also houses a paid of mech gantries, often fitted with industrial mechs to help with the big jobs on ship these bays can just as easily carry a pair of battlemechs close to shore to spearhead an assault.

The aft sections of the ship are mostly consumed by the gaping maw of the main cargo hold running under the reinforcing gantries of the ships 2 helipads, space for half a dozen planes sit under the pads ready to be the long reach of the Imagineer.

Code: [Select]

Large Naval Support Location
Weight 8500 8500
Chassis Template C Tech F Submersible 1717
Engine 5/8 Fusion 1109.5
Armour 475 points of Bar 9 23
1 Turret Fore(1)
12 light vehicle bays 2 doors Mid(2) 600
12 light vehicle bays 2 doors Mid(3) 600
2 Mech Bay 1 Door Mid(3) 300
ASF 6 ASF 1 door Aft(4) 900
Heavy Vehicle Bay 4 Heavy Vehicle Bay 1 door Fore(1) 400
Infantry Bay 1 Door Mid(3) 50
Cargo Bay 942T 1 Door Aft(5) 942
2xPiranha Launchers 40 Ammo, adv fire control Mid(2) 438
Helipad x 2 Aft(4/5) 1000
4x LB2X in Turret 4 tons ammo, turret & advanced fire control T1 33
2x LRT20 in Turret 4 tons ammo + turret gear & advanced T1 28
Comms Equipment 10 tons Mid(2) 10
MASH unit + 4 Theatre Mid(3) 7.5
2x field kitchen Mid(3) 6
30x lifeboats 6 per location 30
Officers
Officers Quarters 10 Crew Quarters (2 free) 56
Steerage Quarters 50 Steerage Quarters 250
Crew 31 Enlisted, 17 Gunners, 10 Officers, 174 Bay Personnel, Space for lots of infantry or BA


[maxcarrion]

At 191 million a piece the Imagineer Light Support Cruiser (with loaded magazines but empty bays) is comparable in cost to an upgraded Leopard Dropship (227 million) or 6 Beserker Assault battlemechs (32 million each totals 192 million for 6)