Incident Report
Date of Incident: 27 September 3084
Time of Incident: 14:26
Location of Incident: Sicario Jump Point (Zenith)
Reported By: Madina Sharrow, Sicario Auxiliary Fleet Manager
Description of Incident: CRNS Halden, Nautilus-class Tug, engaged all thrusters in direct contradiction with safe operational procedures. Pilot suffered G-LOC during tight maneuver and lost control of CRNS Halden. Tug collided in rear of CRNS Monarca, Whittle-class Jumpship. CRNS Monarca's K-F drive destroyed beyond repair. CRNS Halden's tug system destroyed and nose section heavily damaged. 30 injured, 4 severely, no fatalities.
CRNS Halden maneuvers up to incident consistent with known banned hazing ritual tug captains do when onboarding new hires.
Corrective Action Taken at Time of Incident: Crews of CRNS Monarca and CRNS Halden recovered and relieved from duty, Captain Pfeiffer and Deck Officer McGregor relieved permanently. Injured currently receiving care at Sicario Zenith Point Hospital.
Actions Taken to Avoid Similar Incidents: Pfeiffer & McGregor will be indicted on criminal and civil charges related to the incident. More crewmen & charges may be added to indictment pending investigation results. Sicario Auxiliary Fleet personnel will retake mandatory safety training course & evaluations. Manufacturer of Nautilus-class Tugs contacted to explore the feasibility of installing safety features to prevent activation of docking thrusters while not linked to target vessel.
Corrective Action Approved By: Dmitri Melnik, Sicario Jump Hub Manager
The Republic of Crossroad operates three native dropship-based tugs, which it uses in service of its sprawling Whittle Jump Circuit networks and some of its Warship battlefleets. The tugs are used to move damaged Jumpships and Dropships out of hazardous areas and into repair facilities. Though these small boats are rarely thought about by most travelers, they're vital in keeping the Circuits jumping on time.
Crossroadian tugs are focused exclusively on their competency of moving assets around: more than half their empty weight is made up purely of a large number of engines. Each is designed with a main "transit" thruster along the centerline with equally sized or smaller secondary thrusters mounted in a circular pattern around that transit thruster. The primary thruster is used to move while unattached from one location to the other or to make fine adjustments while docked with the client ship; the secondary thrusters activate when brute force is required to move the client ship quickly to a new location when granularity is not necessary. With most of their weight dedicated to engines, little is left over for amenities related to SAR and salvage operations, as Crossroads prefers to specialize a second Dropship to fulfill that role. The designs are rather unconventional outside of the Vela Corridor and thus highly recognizable by casual Spheroid observers whenever foreign purchased tugs work for their new masters.
Cuttlefish Light Tug (3080)
Type: Military Spheriod
Mass: 1,100 tons
Technology Base: Mixed (Advanced)
Introduced: 3080
Mass: 1,100
Battle Value: 2,880
Tech Rating/Availability: F/X-X-E-D
Cost: 110,381,600 C-bills
Fuel: 30 tons (1,800)
Safe Thrust: 10
Maximum Thrust: 15
Heat Sinks: 67 (134)
Structural Integrity: 15
Armor
Nose: 339
Sides: 285/285
Aft: 231
Cargo
Bay 1: Cargo (47.0 tons) 1 Door
Escape Pods: 0
Life Boats: 1
Crew: 1 officer, 4 enlisted/non-rated
Ammunition: None
Notes: Mounts 54 tons of standard aerospace armor.
None
Weapons: Capital Attack Values (Standard)
Arc (Heat) Heat SRV MRV LRV ERV ClassThe Type 97 "Cuttlefish" is the first and smallest Crossroadian tug available. Weighing in at just over 1000 tons, the Cuttlefish has a primary thruster encircled by four equally-sized secondary thrusters, each able to produce about 1G of acceleration while the Cuttlefish is unloaded. Both inexpensive to produce and maintain, the Cuttlefish is capable of cost-effectively moving most Inner Sphere dropships at the lower end of the weight scale, making it an instant success among Inner Sphere buyers when it hit their markets in 3056.
While technically predating the Type 97 "Octopus" by about two centuries, the Cuttlefish never reached Inner Sphere markets until half a decade after the Octopus's debut. In the Inner Sphere, the Cuttlefish is rebranded as the Type 99 to avoid confusion when Crossroadian dropship manufacturers seek to sell their wares.
Squid Standard Tug (3080)
Type: Military Spheriod
Mass: 19,900 tons
Technology Base: Mixed (Advanced)
Introduced: 3080
Mass: 19,900
Battle Value: 11,033
Tech Rating/Availability: F/X-X-E-D
Cost: 808,948,000 C-bills
Fuel: 500 tons (15,000)
Safe Thrust: 12
Maximum Thrust: 18
Heat Sinks: 314 (628)
Structural Integrity: 25
Armor
Nose: 485
Sides: 407/407
Aft: 331
Cargo
Bay 1: Cargo (1225.0 tons) 1 Door
Escape Pods: 0
Life Boats: 3
Crew: 3 officers, 6 enlisted/non-rated, 6 gunners, 3 BA marines
Ammunition: None
Notes: Mounts 90 tons of standard aerospace armor.
Weapons: Capital Attack Values (Standard)
Arc (Heat) Heat SRV MRV LRV ERV Class
Nose (60 Heat)
6 Laser AMS 30 2(18) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) AMS
6 ER Medium Laser 30 4(42) 4(42) 0(0) 0(0) Laser
RS/LS Fwd (60 Heat)
6 Laser AMS 30 2(18) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) AMS
6 ER Medium Laser 30 4(42) 4(42) 0(0) 0(0) Laser
RS/LS Aft (60 Heat)
6 Laser AMS 30 2(18) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) AMS
6 ER Medium Laser 30 4(42) 4(42) 0(0) 0(0) Laser
Aft (60 Heat)
6 Laser AMS 30 2(18) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) AMS
6 ER Medium Laser 30 4(42) 4(42) 0(0) 0(0) LaserThe Type 98 "Squid" is the medium-sized workhorse of the Crossroadian tug fleet. Equipped with one 1G main thruster and flanked with 10 secondary 0.5G thrusters, the Squid is well equipped to handle any size of Dropship and can adequately smaller Crossroadian Jumpships and even corvette-sized Warships.
Roughly comparable to the original Type 96 "Elephant" and the newer Nimakachi-based Type 97 "Octopus", the Squid outperforms both in the tug role, but lacks the spare space necessary to shine in any secondary roles. As such, while some Squids are purchased by Inner Sphere powers, they did not become a mainstay like the Cuttlefish.
Nautilus Heavy Tug (3080)
Type: Military Spheriod
Mass: 100,000 tons
Technology Base: Mixed (Advanced)
Introduced: 3080
Mass: 100,000
Battle Value: 9,489
Tech Rating/Availability: F/X-X-E-D
Cost: 2,870,672,000 C-bills
Fuel: 1,000 tons (10,000)
Safe Thrust: 13
Maximum Thrust: 20
Heat Sinks: 734 (1468)
Structural Integrity: 25
Armor
Nose: 215
Sides: 182/182
Aft: 151
Cargo
Bay 1: Cargo (3230.0 tons) 1 Door
Escape Pods: 0
Life Boats: 6
Crew: 6 officers, 18 enlisted/non-rated, 6 gunners, 6 BA marines
Ammunition: None
Notes: Mounts 90 tons of standard aerospace armor.
Weapons: Capital Attack Values (Standard)
Arc (Heat) Heat SRV MRV LRV ERV Class
Nose (54 Heat)
6 Laser AMS 30 2(18) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) AMS
6 Medium Pulse Laser 24 4(42) 4(42) 0(0) 0(0) Pulse Laser
RS/LS Fwd (54 Heat)
6 Laser AMS 30 2(18) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) AMS
6 Medium Pulse Laser 24 4(42) 4(42) 0(0) 0(0) Pulse Laser
RS/LS Aft (54 Heat)
6 Laser AMS 30 2(18) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) AMS
6 Medium Pulse Laser 24 4(42) 4(42) 0(0) 0(0) Pulse Laser
Aft (54 Heat)
6 Laser AMS 30 2(18) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) AMS
6 Medium Pulse Laser 24 4(42) 4(42) 0(0) 0(0) Pulse LaserCrossroad's largest Dropship-based tug, the gigantic Type 100 "Nautilus" has thirteen thrusters: One primary transit thruster along the centerline, and twelve secondary thrusters of the same size in a circular pattern around it. With the ability to hit 10Gs of acceleration while afterburning, the Nautilus is theoretically the fastest accelerating Dropship in existence (though it's not intended to use the secondary thrusters when not docked to another vessel). The type is intended to service the largest Crossroadian Jumpships and Warships only and is not subject to sale to Inner Sphere parties.
The immense power of the Nautilus is not lost on their crew, who have gained a reputation for using the Nautilus for unsanctioned purposes. Upon onboarding new hires, experienced crew frequently "forget" to disable the secondary thrusters and activate the afterburners, creating a brief 10G acceleration that knocks the newcomers (and anything not strapped down) onto their rear; this form of hazing is known as "Jetting". Despite administrative and punitive measures taken against Dropship crews that practice this maneuver, new crews seemed to always figure out how to perform it, and worse: the practice began to spread to other Tug vessels as well.
The practice of Jetting came to a swift end at 3084, when a Nautilus crew engaged in this maneuver suffered from G-LOC during the extreme accelerations and crashed into the rear of a Whittle-class Jumpship after losing control. The incident was captured on video and became headline news in the entire Vela Corridor for an entire month. The flashy event was also widely reported on by Inner Sphere media, giving the Republic of Crossroad the dubious distinction of featuring to a much wider audience than anticipated. Updated software and hardware was quickly pushed onto all new and existing Crossroadian civilian tugs later that year to limit their acceleration while undocked to a maximum of 1.5G, officially ending the practice of Jetting.
