Good morning ladies and gentleman.
Carrion Industries is looking to experiment with a new type of bluewater vessel for a highly specialised niche - this large naval support vehicle will be designed with the intention of being used to deploy jump troops directly onto a contested shoreline. The ship will of course need to be large enough to deploy mechs and jump infantry from the decks, beyond that we are open to all possibilities with consideration to size, protection, cost. We are interested in any suggestion that may provide useful in development of this doctrine whether directly in their role such as speed, protection and capacity or with suggestions to secondary roles (i.e. what the ship will be doing when not unloading troops). It would not be unreasonable for this ship to have another role as it's primary role and have jump platform considerations woven into it's design.
Our initial assumptions is that a fast, well armoured ship in the frigate/destroyer weight classes (maybe template C - to deploy a lance at a time) with artillary weapons for laying smoke and supporting a ground attack and multiple mech bays to be able to deploy a 2nd/3rd wave without returning for resupply would be a reasonable place to start.
It is absolutely reasonable to assume this vessel will be well supported by other assets e.g. resupply, air and surface defense, other amphibious assault elements such as hovertanks etc. and is not required to be able to operate independantly or on long supply lines unless that is a requirement applied by other roles assigned to this ship - e.g. patrol destroyer.
