AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
VALIDATED
Class/Model/Name: Ranger class Carrier
Tech: Inner Sphere / 2750
Vessel Type: WarShip
Rules: Level 2, Standard design
Rules Set: AeroTech2
Mass: 1,300,000 tons
K-F Drive System: (Unknown)
Length: 1,066 meters
Sail Diameter: 1,313 meters
Power Plant: Standard
Safe Thrust: 3
Maximum Thrust: 5
Armor Type: Improved Ferro-aluminum
Armament:
24 NL55
24 AR10 Launcher
60 NL35
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even after just the first two years of redesigns and changing requirements from the SLDF Admiralty, it had quickly become apparent that the new Enterprise class carrier was shaping up to be a boondoggle beyond compare, putting even the fiasco surrounding the Cameron to shame. Though the Enterprise had garnered all the inertia that politics and public perception could give it and was simply too politically big to kill, those in the Admiralty who believed the SLDF needed a large carrier to answer future potential threats were unwilling to let the inevitable failure of the Enterprise drag the entire program down. Though they couldn't convince the League to embark on a second parallel program to build another entirely new carrier from the keel up, they had enough pull to investigate modifying an existing design to meet these needs. Combing through the Star League's massive naval archives led them to the Imperator class Battleship, a design that had originally been developed in the competition to replace the Monsoon. Though it had ultimately lost out to the Texas, two Imperator class ships had still been constructed for further evaluation, and were found to be powerful, reliable ships with, most importantly, a roomy, extensive flight deck readily able to support expansion. Seeing the promise of the design, the SLDF Admiralty submitted a request to Mitchell Vehicles to modify their battleship for use as a dedicated carrier.
What they got back was certainly a more modest design than the Enterprise, capable of carrying and supporting a "mere" nine wings of aerospace fighters. Though only about thirty percent of the Enterprise's projected complement (as of the then most recent design change, the final design for the enterprise was planned to carry nearly a thousand aerofighters) it was considered more than enough to engage any potential threat the new carrier might face for the foreseeable future, and sufficient to provide fighter cover for an entire line squadron. More importantly, this complement was small enough for the ship's crew to easily handle, both from a traffic control standpoint and from a logistical standpoint, with the ship able to carry over two hundred thousand tons of fuel and cargo to support her aerospace complement, while the Enterprise would have to support far more fighters with only marginally more space to do so.
The ship's armament was likewise simpler and more straightforward than the Enterprise, built around a mixture of naval lasers and missile tubes geared for engaging fighters and small craft that might get through the ship's screening vessels. The complete removal of the Imperator's original complement of naval autocannons caused some legal trouble for Mitchell vehicles, when Imperator Automatic Weaponry (Mitchell Vehicles' original partners in the Imperator class Battleship over a century before) filed suit claimed that completely removing the Imperator-20 naval guns from the redesign constituted a breach of contract. A subtle threat from the SLDF Admiralty to switch from Imperator to Whirlwind guns on their next batch of Sovettski Soyuz class cruisers quickly silenced Imperator's complaints.
The new carrier, designated the Ranger class, was announced with little fanfare, and in official releases was described as an escort and support vessel for the Enterprise class, intended to handle those targets too small to justify employing an Enterprise's massive aerowing or the massive firepower of a McKenna. The first vessels were launched a year after the catastrophic launching of the Enterprise, and with that ship proving an absolute, unrecoverable catastrophe, were quietly redesignated as the SLDF's new standard fleet carrier. Some armchair admirals loudly decried this, claiming that the Ranger was a poor substitute for the Enterprise and insisting that the monies spent on the Ranger would be better served correcting the "minor bugs" that had crippled the Enterprise, some going so far as to claim a conspiracy from those opposed to the Star League was attempting to sabotage the fleet with an inferior carrier.
Despite these claims, the Ranger quickly proved an impressive asset to the SLDF fleet, operating singly or in pairs in line squadrons across the Star League (those line squadrons operating more than one Ranger were often called carrier squadrons, even though they remained primarily composed of non-carrier warships). Twenty two ships were completed before the Amaris Coup began. Two incomplete hulls were sabotaged at the Grahm IV yards to prevent their capture, and three additional ships operating in the Hegemony were lost in the early days of the Coup. One of these, SLS Hornet, fought one of the largest pure carrier engagements in the history of space travel, surprising and engaging three Samarkand class carriers captured by Amaris forces at a naval base in the outskirts of the Helen system. Having only just taken on pilots to man their captured fighters, the flight crews of the three Samarkands were badly disorganized and uncoordinated when the Hornet's aerowings descended on them, quickly crippling two of the ships. As the third Samarkand fled, the Hornet moved in to board both the base and the two crippled vessels, rescuing imprisoned personnel and stripping critical materials before destroying what remained with naval gunfire. Unexpectedly, the third Samarkand mounted its own fighter strike against the Hornet. Though badly outnumbered and still poorly coordinated, the Rim Worlders were able to utilize a small number of nuclear warheads to inflict moderate damage against the Hornet. While this was happening, however, three wings of aerofighters already launched from the Hornet descended on the unprotected Samarkand, quickly destroying it.
Though it had won the engagement, the Hornet had suffered crippling damage to its jump drive, making it unable to leave the system. Meeting up with other loyal vessels beyond the proximity limit, the captain of the Hornet had whatever personnel and equipment they could (including two thirds of the ship's remaining fighters) transfered to these other ships, and ordered them out of the system, planning to follow once they had completed repairs on the ship's jump drive. Unfortunately, two more Rimworlds vessels, a Monsoon class battleship and Avatar class cruiser jumped in soon after and moved to engage. Though the Hornet and her remaining fighters fought well, nearly destroying the Avatar and inflicting moderate damage to the Monsoon, they were unable to overcome their enemies, and the ship was destroyed after three hours of fierce fighting.
Of the nineteen remaining Ranger class Carriers in SLDF service, one was lost during the periphery uprising (destroyed by a tactical nuclear weapon smuggled aboard by periphery sympathizers), and an additional seventeen would be destroyed during the campaign to retake the Hegemony (several were destroyed inbound to Terra, due to their inability to rely on their fighter groups during the high speed burn insystem). The last of these, SLS Indomitable, accompanied the Exodus and was mothballed upon reaching the pentagon worlds. It was generally ignored both by the pentagon powers and the clans, due to its relatively light firepower and the lack of sufficient fighters to make such a large ship worthwhile. At last report, it still remains in one of the mothball fleets in and around the Pentagon.
Class/Model/Name: Ranger class Carrier
Mass: 1,300,000 tons
Equipment: Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control: 234,000.00
Thrust: Safe Thrust: 3
Maximum Thrust: 5
Kearny-Fuchida Hyperdrive: Compact (Integrity = 26) 588,250.00
Jump Sail (Detachable): (Integrity = 6) 95.00
Structural Integrity: 90 117,000.00
Total Heat Sinks: 2,200 Double 1,471.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 14,280.00
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters: 3,250.00
Fire Control Computers: .00
Hyperpulse Generator: 50.00
Armor Type: Improved Ferro-aluminum (1,396 total armor pts) 2,236.00
Capital Scale Armor Pts
Location: L / R
Fore: 259
Fore-Left/Right: 232/232
Aft-Left/Right: 232/232
Aft: 209
Cargo:
Bay 1: Fighters (162) with 8 doors 24,300.00
Small Craft (40) 8,000.00
Bay 2: Cargo (1) with 10 doors 197,301.00
DropShip Capacity: 2 Docking Hardpoints 2,000.00
Grav Decks #1 - 2: (150-meter diameter) 200.00
Crew and Passengers:
72 Officers (72 minimum) 720.00
233 Crew (233 minimum) 1,631.00
108 Gunners (108 minimum) 756.00
252 Marines 1,260.00
524 Bay Personnel .00
Weapons and Equipment Loc SRV MRV LRV ERV Heat Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 NL55 Nose 22 22 22 22 340 4,400.00
4 AR10 (40 KW, 40 WS, 40 B)Nose * * * * 80 5,800.00
10 NL35 Nose 35 35 35 -- 520 7,000.00
4 NL55 FL/R 22 22 22 22 680 8,800.00
4 AR10 (40 KW, 40 WS, 40 B)FL/R * * * * 160 11,600.00
10 NL35 FL/R 35 35 35 -- 1040 14,000.00
4 NL55 L/RBS 22 22 22 22 680 8,800.00
4 AR10 (40 KW, 40 WS, 40 B)L/RBS * * * * 160 11,600.00
10 NL35 L/RBS 35 35 35 -- 1040 14,000.00
4 NL55 Aft 22 22 22 22 340 4,400.00
4 AR10 (40 KW, 40 WS, 40 B)Aft * * * * 80 5,800.00
10 NL35 Aft 35 35 35 -- 520 7,000.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS: Heat: 5,640 1,300,000.00
Tons Left: .00
Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 6,040,110,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 108,885
Cost per BV: 55,472.38
Weapon Value: 89,312 (Ratio = .82)
Damage Factors: SRV = 3,132; MRV = 3,132; LRV = 2,468; ERV = 970
Maintenance: Maintenance Point Value (MPV) = 663,364
(159,909 Structure, 352,275 Life Support, 151,180 Weapons)
Support Points (SP) = 479,308 (72% of MPV)
BattleForce2: Not applicable