British Royal Navy Perseus class Amphibious Transport Dock:


The British Royal Navy, in common with the United States Navy, had a need for new amphibious vessels in the beginning of the second half of the Twenty-First Century. Earlier vessels, such as the Albion class transport docks, were simply becoming too old to operate. They were also converted with advanced composites and alloys while in service, making them far more fragile than newly built vessels might be.


A portion of the British amphibious fleet had previously been civilian crewed but there were concerns with bringing civilian crews into a military firefight. As a result, it was decided that the new class of amphibious transports that was under development would be manned by naval personnel. Still, the plan was to use civilian vessels to supplement them if necessary.


During development, is was decided that these transports would have a reasonably comprehensive weapon and electronics suite. The purpose was two fold. In some cases, amphibious transport may not be assigned many escorts and having the ability to defend themselves can be potentially extremely useful. Additionally, these vessels may be operated alongside civilian vessels with no means of self defense and having the amphibious vessels be able to defend them could also be very important.


Initially it was planned to built eight of these new amphibious vessels that later became the Perseus class amphibious transport dock. Construction occurred in two batches of four vessels each. In general, there is not much difference in design between the two batches. Just prior to the Third Falklands War, the Royal Navy was requesting funding for two more of these vessels.


With regard to their basic appearance, the Perseus class is relatively similar to the United States Cape Lobos class amphibious transport docks. From the beginning, the design of the new Royal Navy amphibious vessel was designed to be both affordable to construct and to operate. Because of this, the vessel was built for the most part under civilian standards. Even so, the vessel was designed with a reduce radar cross signature but nowhere near as effective as that of the Audacious class frigates.


In order to further reduce building costs, the engines were identical to those carried on the Yarmouth Castle class supply ship. While less powerful than the engines carried on the Africa class amphibious assault ship, they could still reach a speed of twenty-six knots on its two fusion reactors driving twin propellers. The engine rooms were designed to be very compact in order to all for more space devoted to cargo and troops. In order to reduce crew requirements, the design of the Perseus class had extensive automation.


Weapon was primarily designed around relatively close defense, not long range defense and had little in the way of offensive ability. To this end, the Perseus class mounted a pair of sixteen cell tactical length Mk 41 vertical launch systems. While the systems were relatively old, dating to the Twentieth Century, the missile systems were still highly capable. Normally, the launchers were all loaded with medium range missiles. In this manner, a total of one hundred and twenty-eight medium range missiles could be carried.


As originally designed, it was planned for these vessel to mount two SeaRAM missile launchers and two Goalkeeper point defense gun mounts. These were replaced during construction by four American Mk 44 “Sea Sabre” combination point defense mounts with a rail gun and short range missile launchers. Even though considered of limited use, the Perseus class mounted four 30 mm auto cannon mounts for protection against small boats. It is unknown why they were not upgraded to rail guns at least.


With regard to electronics, these amphibious vessels were fitted with the Mini-Sampson as well as a long range infrared camera system and a sophisticated electronic warfare suite. No sonar system are fitted to the Perseus class because it was seen as extraneous. As the Africa class were expected to perform command and control over amphibious landings, the Perseus class only had rudimentary facilities for that role.


The Perseus class were mainly designed to transport cargo and vehicles with the transport of troops as a lesser part of these vessels purpose. Vehicles often transported included tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and support vehicles. When transporting cargo in the place of vehicles, the amount of cargo able to be carried approximately doubled. Even though transporting troops was not the primary roll of the Perseus class, the vessels still could transport around seven hundred troops including the ability to carry around one hundred power armors.


In the rear of the vessel is a dry deck with the ability to carry a pair of air cushion landing craft. With the introduction of air cushion landing craft, there was no long a need for an actual well deck that could be flooded. The British Navy did not consider it cost effect to develop their own landing craft but instead adopted the American LCAC-854 “Crab” air cushion landing craft design.


Also in the aft section of the amphibious transport dock is a large flight deck with a small hanger forward of the flight deck. The hanger has the ability to embark two helicopters or other VTOL aircraft. While the Merlin helicopter was the main helicopter operated by the Royal Navy, other aircraft from other navies might be cross decked on occasion.


Even thought troop transport was not the primary purpose of the Perseus class, these vessel were equipped with a small medical center that was surprisingly capable. Often injured troops would get transported to the nearest available vessel. Included in this medical facility was a pair of orating rooms and twenty-five patient beds. Finally, the vessel also had one hundred overflow beds.


When the situation between Argentina and Great Britain heated up, a pair of Perseus class amphibious transport docks were assigned to the amphibious element of the Ark Royal task force sent down to the Falklands in late 2072. A second amphibious task force was being formed at the time and would have included an additional pair of Perseus class vessels. These two vessels were still in the process of being loaded and not yet set sail when the infamous incident occurred.


As far as the pair deployed with H.M.S. Ark Royal, they were H.M.S. Theseus (L205) and H.M.S. Centaur (L207.) In common with all of the other vessel assigned to the battle group, the amphibious transport docks were believed lost when the Ark Royal task force was attacked by Argentinian stealth bombers using nuclear weapons. British vengeance was swift although this was of cold comfort to the families of the thousands of sailors and marines aboard the vessels.


What the families would have thought if they knew what actually occurred in hard to say. After all, less than three decades hence, the world was wrecked in a magical cataclysm. The populations of the world were devastated and the crews of these vessels would have likely been killed along with them. As it was, all of the nuclear missiles were shot down but a few missiles detonated away from the battle group, either through being programmed wrong or through premature detonation. The mystical energies of the South American Sea Triangle were triggered and the fleet was transported to a time several hundred years in the future.


Author Note: With respect to time line, these designs may or may not reflect our modern time line. The time line of these writeups diverged from our time line starting around 1999. Consider the universe that these designs are created for to be an alternate universe not bound by ours.


Model Type: L-201 Perseus class Amphibious Transport Dock Ship.

Vehicle Type: Ocean, Amphibious Transport Vessel.

Crew: 195 (12 officers, 15 chief petty officers, 168 enlisted [Has a high degree of automation.])

Troops: 140 pilots for Gypsy Moth power armors, 160 vehicle crew members, and 500 soldiers.


Robots, Power Armors, and Vehicles (Standard):

Power Armor Compliment:

 

120

BA-V FPA-05D Gypsy Moth Power Armors (with Flight Packs.)

Fighter/Aircraft Compliment:

 

2

Westland Merlin HM 1 helicopters (Transport Versions.)

Landing Craft Compliment:

 

2

LCAC-854 “Crab” Air Cushion Landing Craft.

Tanks & Other Vehicles:

 

20

GKN / Vickers Valiant Infantry Fighting Vehicles.

 

10

Vickers AS100 Braveheart II Self Propelled Howitzers.

 

4

Vickers “Conqueror” Heavy Battle Tanks.

 

8

Vickers Firefly Mk II Expeditionary Tanks.

 

50

Support Vehicles (Various).

M.D.C. by Location:

 

Mk 44 “Sea Sabre” Combination Anti-Missile Defense System (4, superstructure):

200 each.

 

Mk 41 Tactical Length 16 Cell Vertical Launch System (2, sides of superstructure):

160 each.

 

30mm Mark 44 Bushmaster II Auto Cannon Mounts (4, sides):

50 each.

 

[1] Type 1055 “Mini Sampson” Active Phased Array Radar System:

225.

 

[2] Signaal Sirius Infrared Cameras (2, superstructure):

10 each.

 

[2] Sea Gnat Chaff / Decoy Launchers (4, superstructure):

10 each.

 

[3] Rear Flight Deck:

750.

 

Hanger:

550.

 

Rear Vehicle / Dry Deck Doors:

400.

 

[4] Main Bridge / Superstructure:

750.

 

Outer Hull (per 40 foot / 12.2 meter area):

85.

 

[5] Main Body:

5,000.

Notes:

[1] Destroying the Type 1055 “Mini Sampson” rotating active phased array radar panel will destroy the ship’s main fire control systems but the vessel has backup systems with a shorter range (Equal to robot vehicle sensors.)

[2] These are small and difficult targets to strike, requiring the attacker to make a “called shot,” but even then the attacker is -4 to strike.

[3] If the flight deck is destroyed, no aircraft can be launched or land.

[4] If bridge / superstructure is destroyed, the ship can still be piloted from engineering but with a -15% to piloting rolls. Communication and sensor equipment are not concentrated on the bridge to reduce the effectiveness of bridge hits.

[5] Destroying the main body causes the ship to lose structural integrity, causing the ship to sink. There are enough life preservers and inflatable life boats to accommodate everyone on the ship.


Speed:

Surface: 29.9 mph (26 knots/ 48.1 kph)

Range: Unlimited due to fusion engines (needs to refuel every 20 years and requires maintenance as well). Ship carries six months of supplies on board.


Statistical Data:

Draft:    24.3 feet (7.4 meters).

Length:  586.4 feet (178.7 meters) waterline and 608.6 (185.5 meters) overall.

Width:   100.1 feet (30.5 meters).

Displacement: 16,800 standard and 23,500 tons fully loaded.

Cargo: Can carry 6,000 tons (5,443 metric tons) of nonessential equipment and supplies [Increase to 12,000 tons (10,886 metric tons) without vehicles.] Each enlisted crew member has a small locker for personal items and uniforms. Ship’s officers have more space for personal items. Most of the ship’s spaces are taken up by extra ammo, armor, troops, weapons, and engines.

Power System: Two nuclear fusion reactors, average life span is 20 years. Usually only goes 10 years between refueling.

Black Market Cost: Not for sale but costs around 350 million credits to construct. If found and sold on the black market would probably cost one to two billion credits. Cost does not include embarked craft and power armors.


WEAPON SYSTEMS:

  1. Four (4) 30mm Mk 44 Bushmaster II Auto Cannon Mounts: Four 30 mm cannons were mounted on the sides of the superstructure. These weapons had a good range and rate of fire, but lacked the punch to do damage to large targets. Since they were manually aimed, they were little good against missiles, and the crew often joked that they were only good for “Shooting life boats and survivors in the water.” Primarily however, they are for defense against small boats and similar threats. Each gun can rotate 270 degrees and has a 90 degree arc of fire.

    Maximum Effective Range: 10,000 feet (3,048 meters).

    Mega-Damage: 2D6 per round, and 1D6x10 for a burst of 30 rounds.

    Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).

    Payload: 600 rounds (20 bursts) each. Ship carries an additional 14,000 rounds of ammunition in magazines. Auto cannons requires 3 minutes (12 melees) to reload by properly trained personnel (Double for untrained crews.)

  2. Four (4) Mk 44 “Sea Sabre” Combination Anti-Missile Defense Systems: Two are mounted on the sides of the bridge while the other two are located on the sides of the ships rear hanger. Bought from the United States as a replacement for aging defense system. Mounted on the sides of the superstructure. This anti-missile defense system combines both a rapid fire rail gun and a short range missile launcher. While mounted in one system, both defense systems have separate tracking and fire control systems. The short range missile launchers can target up four targets and can fire a volley up to twice per melee. Quite powerful, the rail gun is capable of destroying any missile or inflicting serious damage on aircraft. The rail gun can fire on automatic at up to six targets per melee (Has +3 to strike missiles and +2 to strike aircraft). In its design, the rail gun is very similar to those carried on the Sea King cruiser and it is likely that the Sea King’s rail guns came from a prototype of this system. The system also can be used against other ships and ground targets. The system has a 360 degree rotation and can elevate up to 90 degrees to fire at targets directly overhead.

    Maximum Effective Range: Rail Guns: 11,000 feet (2 miles / 3.2 km). Short Range Missiles: As per short range missile type (See revised bomb and missile tables for details.)

    Mega-Damage: Rail Guns: 3D4x10 M.D. per burst of 40 rounds (Can only fire bursts). Short Range Missiles: As per short range missile type (See revised bomb and missile tables for details.)

    Rate of Fire: Rail Guns: Six (6) attacks per melee round. Short Range Missiles: Two (2) attacks per melee round, can fire short range missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2) or four (4) short range missiles.

    Payload: Rail Guns: 8,000 rounds (200 burst) each. Short Range Missiles: Sixteen (16) short range missiles each.

  3. Two (2) Mk 41 Tactical Length 16 Cell Vertical Launch Systems: Mounted on the sides of the superstructure. An American design which was much more flexible than the French Sylver A-50 launcher, the slightly larger cells allowed for two long range missiles or four medium range missiles to be loaded into one cell. It also provided a better rate of fire. The tactical length version could not carry cruise missiles and used almost exclusively to house surface to air missiles. From the beginning, the launchers have been found to be very flexible and adaptable and the launcher can carry two long range missiles or four medium range missiles per cell. Anti-Submarine rocket launched torpedoes also can be fired from the launcher (See revised Rifts torpedoes for details) although never carried in service.

    Maximum Effective Range: As per long or medium range missile type (See revised bomb and missile tables for details.)

    Mega-Damage: As per long or medium range missile type (See revised bomb and missile tables for details.)

    Rate of Fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volley of two (2), four (4), or eight (8) missiles for both launchers per melee round and can be fired at multiple targets at the same time.

    Payload: Sixteen (16) missiles cells in each VLS launcher (possible total of 32 long range missiles each.) Two (2) long range missiles or four (4) medium range missiles may be carried per missile cell. Usual complement was sixty-four (64) medium range missiles each launcher for one hundred and twenty-eight (128) medium range missiles total.

  4. Four (4) Sea Gnat Chaff / Decoy Launcher: Located on the superstructure of the ship, they are designed to confuse incoming missiles. All four launchers must be operated or effects will be reduced. Rifts Earth decoys systems are assumed to not be effective against Phase World / Three Galaxies missiles due to technological difference. Reduce effects by 20% against smart missiles (Add +20% to rolls for smart missiles) and reduce effects of launchers by 10% per launcher not used (Add +10% to rolls per launcher not used.) Only useful against missiles, not useful against torpedoes underwater.

    Range: Around Ship.

    Mega Damage: None.

    Effects:

    01-35

    Enemy missile or missile volley detonates in chaff cloud - Missiles are all destroyed.

     

    36-60

    Enemy missile or missile volley loses track of real target and veers away in wrong direction (May lock onto another target.)

     

    61-00

    No effect, enemy missile or missile volley is still on target.

    Payload: Six (6) each for a total of twenty-four (24) canisters. One-Hundred and Forty-Four (144) reload canisters are carried, reloading takes two melee rounds.

  5. Four (4) Graseby Type 188 Towed Decoys: A special decoy which is towed behind the ship. The Coalition has not seen a need for this system so has not equipped their ships with it. It generates a sound like the ships propellers in order to confuse incoming torpedoes. Only effective at speeds 28.8 mph (25 knots / 46.3 kph) and below. Otherwise, the noise of the ship’s systems and propellers is too powerful to mask. Rifts Earth decoys systems are assumed to not be effective against Phase World / Three Galaxies guidance and targeting systems due to technological differences.

    M.D.C.: 5 each.

    Range: Not Applicable although decoy is deployed approximately 1,000 feet (304.8 meters) from the vessel.

    Effects: The decoy has a 65% chance of fooling ordinary non military sonars and non smart guided torpedoes, the decoy has a 35% chance of fooling military level sonars (like those of the Coalition) and non “smart” torpedoes, and the decoy has a 10% chance of fooling advanced military sonars (Like those of the New Navy and Triax) and “smart” torpedoes.

    Payload: One ready to use, with three more ready to deploy. It takes approximately three minutes (twelve melee rounds) to reel out another decoy.

Special Systems:

The ship has all systems standard on a robot vehicle plus the following special features:


[ Altarain TM, Bandito Arms TM, Brodkil TM, Chipwell Armaments TM, Coalition States TM, Cyber-Knight TM, Federation of Magic TM, Free Quebec TM, Golden Age Weaponsmiths TM, Horune TM, Iron Heart Armaments TM, Kankoran TM, Kittani TM, Kydian TM, Larsen’s Brigade TM, M.D.C. TM, Mechanoids TM, Mega-Damage TM, Megaversal Legion TM, Millennium Tree TM, Mutants in Orbit TM, Naruni Enterprises TM, Naut’Yll, New Navy TM, New Sovietskiy TM, NGR TM, Nog Heng TM, Northern Gun TM, Phase World TM, Psyscape TM, Rifter TM, SAMAS TM, S.D.C. TM, Shemarrian TM, Splugorth TM, Stormspire TM, Sunaj TM, Tolkeen TM, Triax TM, Wellington Industries TM, Wilk’s Laser Technologies TM, Xiticix TM, and Zaayr TM are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]

[ Beyond the Supernatural®, Heroes Unlimited®, Nightbane®, Ninjas & Superspies®, Palladium Fantasy®, and Rifts® are registered trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]


Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).


Copyright © 2002 & 2018, Kitsune. All rights reserved.


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