Thresher class System Defense Boat

BARD PAPER: SARA0000

Thresher class System Defense Boat

design by Lewis Roberts

The Thresher class SDB is produced by Bourgund Shipyards on Oriflamme. Oriflamme possesses the largest shipyard in the RC, but it is, as yet, unable to manufacture jump drives. To utilize the excess capacity, the Technarchs have ordered large numbers of SDBs. This serves several purposes. First, it puts tens of thousands of workers to work. When the shipyard does start to manufacture jump drives, these workers will be highly trained, and will be able to produce large numbers of ships for the growing markets. A second purpose behind the expansion, is that Oriflamme needs a large navy, both to patrol the new merchant traffic and to protect against Vampire incursions.

The Technarchs also want to export SDBs to other planets, both inside and outside of the RC. Only Aurora and Aubaine are able to produce ships for their own defense. The Aubaine shipyards are busy producing jump capable ships, and have long waiting lists. Some might question the sanity of selling warships to planets in the Wilds. It is actually a very good idea, SDBs are not usable for offensive purposes, no one will be able to conquor their neighbor with a fleet of SDBs, they will be able to protect their planet against Vampires, pirates, and marauders. This will help promotethe development of these planets, and increase trade between the RC and the Wilds, eventually leading to the expansion of the RC.

The Thresher class is built primarily for Oriflamme use, it is fairly expensive, costing just over 1 Gigacredit. The difference in exchange rates between Oriflamme and Aurora/ Aubaine makes it a little more reasonably priced, (about 24%) but still expensive. The Hobnail class and the Cutlass class are more suitibly priced for export.

The Thresher class is capable of 3G acceleration, this is extremly high for a ship without gravitic compensation. The crew is protected by workstations and grav tanks. This allows 3Gs of acceleration to be ignored. All crewmembers also have neural jacks installed, which allow another diff mod to be ignored. So the ship can evade at 3Gs and the crew suffers no penalty. Crew members without workstations, notably the maintenance staff and ship's troops are restricted to quarters while the ship undergoes high g manuvers. This makes damage control rather difficult, but high G manuvers are performed infrequently, and only during combat situations.

The Thresher class is a sphere with two hamster wheels attached to the sides. These allow the crew to sleep and recreate in normal gravity. The Captain and XO have a single, while the other officers double up in small staterooms. The crew sleeps in two large barracks, but they do not have the standard bunks, but rather hammocks, which can also be used in zero g situtations when the hamster wheels are not not funcioning. The ship design is very cramped, and all crew members are carefully screened to eliminate those who have psychological problems problems with this. The Oriflamme navy maintains a very high morale, by offering signing bonuses, extra shore leave, and providing very high quality food. Also there is a mystique about the navy, which assures that there will always be qualified applicants.

The ship is streamlined, but the fusion rockets prevent it from landing on an inhabited planet. The radioactive wasted produced by the rockets would do irrereable harm to the biosphere. The Archangel is built in orbit and the only time it enters a planetary astmosphere is to refuel in a gas giant's atmosphere. None of Oriflamme's gas giants have an native life forms, so the radioactivity does little harm.

Thresher class System Defense Boat

General Data

Displacement: 400 tons	Hull Armor: 110
Length: 22.03 meters	Volume: 5,600 m³
Price: 1.37 GCr	Target Size: S
Configuration:Streamlined Spehre	Tech Level: 9
Mass (Loaded/Unloaded): 6,989.5 / 6,933.5

Engineering Data

Power Plant: 200 MW Fusion Power Plant, 1 year duration (30.0 m³ fuel)

Jump Performance: None

G-Rating: 3G Fusion Rocket (-140 MW/G), Auxiliary Standard CG (120 MW) #NUM!

Maint: 294

Electronics

Computer: 2xTL-9 Fibre-optic computer (0.5 MW)

Commo: 2xLaser (10 hex; 0.15 MW), 2xMaser (Unlimited; 0.6 MW), 2xRadio (10 hex; 10 MW)

Avionics: Imaging radar, Satellite positioning, 130 km/h NOE

Sensors: 2xRadar (2 hex; 150 MW), HRT Folding array (4 hex; 0.3 MW),

ECM/ECCM: None

Controls: Bridge with 19 bridge workstations, 3 normal workstations

Armament

Offensive:1 50-ton missile bay. 10 Launchers w/ 39 missiles in reload cradles. (1 crew)

Defensive: 4xSand Turret (1 MW; 1 crew)

Master Fire Directors: 10xTL-9 (2 Diff Mods; 2 hex; Msl 10 hex; 15.36 MW; 1 crew)

Accommodations

Life Support: Extended (0.17 MW), Gravitic Compensators (0 MW)

Grav Compensation: 0 G.

Crew: 42 (1xManeuver, 2xElectronics, 3xEngineer, 15xGunnery, 4xMaintenance, 10xShip's Troops, 1xSteward, 6xCommand)

Crew Accommodations: 4xSmall Stateroom (0.5 kW) 13 Bunks. The living quarters are in two hamster wheels, which allow the crew to live in an Oriflamme normal environment.

Other Facilities: Emergancy Low Berth (2 kW)

Cargo: 210 m3 (15 tons), 1 Large Hatches, 32 missiles in magazine

Small Craft and Launch Facilities: None

Air Locks: 4

Notes

Total Fuel Tankage: 50.4 m3 (3.6 tons).
Fuel scoops (5% of ship surface), fills tanks in 0.05 hours.
Fuel purification machinery (1.8MW), 1.51 hours to refine 50.4 m3.
Crew requirements are calculated by using 'Original FFS' crew model. 167.6 MW power surplus with the fusion rockets powered. When they are turned off, careful power managment must be done.