Confederation CVE-01 Wake Island class Escort Carrier
(Wing Commander):
The Wake Island-class warships serve in the role of escort carrier in the Confederation Forces. Initially created as a stop gap solution to the loss of half the Confederation carrier fleet during 2666-2667, the first nine were built quickly from medium sized transport hulls. Sometimes nicknamed "jeep carriers" after the nickname of World War Two Escort Carriers, the escort carriers are both cheap and quick to built. Virtually a dozen of these light carriers could be constructed at the cost of one standard fleet carrier. The first nine ships of the class were named after famous amphibious engagements of the Second World War, but as more were commissioned, later vessels were named after more modern engagements but the naming escort carriers for "infantry battles" still remained.
Three roles were conceived when developing the class. One was escorting convoys which had been suffering huge losses from Kilrathi raiders. The second was supporting ground attack roles so that the larger fleet carriers could be assigned to other roles. The final mission was effectively a suicide attack on a position deep behind enemy line. The escort carrier TCS Tarawa was assigned to raid the Kilrathi home world known as Kilrah as a decoy raid. The escort carrier not only survived the famous "Raid to Kilrah" but destroyed multiple Kilrathi carriers under construction in the shipyards in the surprise raid. This raid silenced many of the critics of the class and the Confederation Navy decided to continue construction of the small escort carriers. The light vessels are often assigned to raiding missions although few are as high risk as that of the "Raid to Kilrah"
Because the Wake Island-class escort carriers were constructed from medium transport hulls, their naval design is far from perfect. The escort carriers have a single launch bay and do not have a dedicated hangar deck underneath the launch bay and the main bay serves as the hangar/ maintenance deck as well as the launch/recovery area. Both of these factors make the escort carriers more vulnerable to Kilrathi attacks against hanger decks. Another weakness is that carriers only have a single catapult to launch fighters. The hangar space on the Wake Island is limited and can only accommodate only the smaller fighters of the Confed Space Force; larger heavy fighters and dedicated torpedo bombers are simply too big. Due to this, the Broadsword bomber could not be carried and a new strike fighter-bomber was developed from the Sabre heavy fighter. Unlike larger carriers, the Wake Island class only has a single bridge as well. Defensive weaponry is relatively light and is mounted as add ons to the vessel instead of being designed into the ship’s hull. They are as nowhere as durable as the larger fleet carriers, a small number of torpedo hits can cripple an escort carrier easily.
Even though they are weakly armored and shielded compared to their larger brethren, the escort carriers are one of the fastest carriers in the fleet. The escort carriers mount the same engine which is carried on the Gilgamesh class destroyers. The small carriers can give even the fastest Kilrathi destroyers a race for their money and have enabled the ships to escape in circumstances which a larger fleet carriers would have been caught and destroyed. While completed initially with a variety of defensive weaponry, they were refitted with heavy laser weaponry and weapon systems were upgraded. The ships were completed with six torpedo tubes. These weapons were retained for ship-to-ship combat when the ships were refitted. Hanger deck space was reduced in order to construct larger and better protected magazine storage facilities and damage control systems. This has resulted in a slightly reduced fighter compliment. Original compliment was thirty-six fighters and was reduced to thirty fighters. Initial compliment was twelve Ferret patrol fighters, twelve Rapier medium fighters, and twelve Strike Sabre fighter/ bombers. The escort carriers still retain three squadrons of light fighters, medium fighters, and strike fighter/ bombers but are reduced to ten each. A total of ten assault shuttles can be carried for special missions but increases the crowding of the flight deck and reduces the carriers ability to operate properly.
With the replacement of the P-64 Ferret patrol fighter with the F-96B Arrow light starfighter and the F-44 Rapier with the F-86C Hellcat V in front line service after the Battle of Earth, the newer fighters were stationed on the escort carriers but the F/A-57 Strike Sabre was retained due to there being no suitable replacement.
Notes of game conversion:
Because of the nature of the Video Game / Novel series “Wing Commander” and the needs to put the starship into game mechanics, the starship has several modification compared to the Video Game and Novels. The most important change it to change top speed to acceleration. Like fighters in Star Wars and original Battlestar Galactica, the fighters appear to act as if they are in the atmosphere even when they operating in space. This is incorrect. The Television series Babylon 5 and the new Battlestar Galactic are good series to watch to get a clearer idea on how space vehicles would probably maneuver although still not a perfect perspective. The starship has been modified to uses my revised phase world starship rules and can hold their own against most C.A.F and Kreeghor starships. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World / Three Galaxies for more details.
Model Type: CVE-01
Vehicle Type: Escort Carrier
Crew: 450 (22 Officers, 30 Chief Petty Officers, and 398 Enlisted)
Troops / Passengers: 50 fighter pilots. Can embark up to 500
marines for assault missions although the carrier is extremely overcrowded.
Vehicles:
Fighter Compliment:
| 10 | Light Starfighters (Initially P-64 Ferret Patrol Fighter) | |
| 10 | Medium Starfighters (Initially F-44G Rapier II Medium Fighter | |
| 10 | Heavy Starfighters (Normally F/A-57D Strike Sabre Fighter / Bomber) |
| 10 | Assault Shuttles (Increased Crowding of Escort Carrier) |
M.D.C. By Location:
| Anti-Matter Guns (1): | 2,000 | |
| Heavy Laser Cannon Turrets (6): | 300 each | |
| Long Range Missile Launcher (1): | 500 | |
| Cruise Missile Launchers (6): | 500 each | |
| Hanger Bay (1): | 2,200 each | |
| [1] Bridge: | 2,500 | |
| [2] Engineering section: | 4,500 | |
| Main Engines (2): | 2,000 each | |
| [3] Main Body: | 9,600 | |
| [4] Variable Force Field: | 3,000 per side (18,000 Total) |
Notes:
[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon
to hit the bridge through the ship’s armor. This ship does not have an auxiliary
bridge. Even if the bridge is destroyed, the ship can still be piloted
from engineering but ship is -3 to dodge and all weapon systems will be
at local control. Weapon hits near the bridge that do not penetrate the
ships integrity can injure crew members on or near the bridge.
[2] Destroying the engineering section means that ship FTL propulsion
systems are destroyed and maximum sublight acceleration is reduced to ten
percent of normal (using navigational thrusters).
[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the carrier out of
commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support
and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating
wreck.
[4] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one
shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (900 M.D.C.) per melee.
Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship
to travel up to 60 percent of the speed of light. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate
at the rate of 0.447 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: The escort carrier cannot operate within
an atmosphere. If the ship enters an atmosphere, it will crash.
Stardrive: The escort carrier mounts a jump drive which is capable
of jumping instantly from a fixed point in a system to another fixed point
in a system. These points are weaknesses in the fabric of space and have
been mapped in most cases. Fuel is hydrogen which the escort carrier scoops
from space to fuel the jump engine.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system.
The carrier has about one year worth of supplies on board.
Statistical Data:
Length: 1,345.1 feet (410 meters)
Height: 351.7 feet (107.2 meters) for hull and 441.6 feet (134.6
meters) including antenna
Width: 459.3 feet (140 meter)
Weight: 18,739.3 Tons (17,000 metric tons) fully loaded
Power System: Fusion with a 20 year life span. The ship normally
only goes 5 years between refueling.
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows
for carrying up to 2,000 tons of cargo in addition to standard compliment
of supplies and ammunition. Each enlisted crew member has a small locker
for personal items and uniforms. Ships officers have more space for personal
items. Most of the ships spaces are take up by extra ammunition, armor,
troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.
Market Cost: Including both the original cost of the cargo ship
and modifications, the ship costs 3.2 billion credits not including fighter
compliment. Fighter compliment cost approximately 1.2 billion credits.
WEAPON SYSTEMS:
- One (1) Anti-Matter Cannon Mount: Weapon is mounted on the
front of the ship and is the main anti-ship weaponry of the carrier. Weapons
can angle up to forty degrees to the sides and above and bellow the ship.
The anti-matter cannons are extremely powerful and inflict heavy damage
to other capital ships. The weapon is not designed to target fighters and
has standard penalties against fighters and other small targets.
Maximum Effective Range: 8699.2 miles (14,000 km) in space and 43.5 miles (70 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega-Damage: 2D6x100 M.D.
Rate of Fire: Four per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited - Six (6) Heavy Point Defense Lasers in Dual Mounts: Six total
on top, bottom, port, and starboard side. All can fire forward and aft.
Each Turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. Individually more
powerful than the lasers mounted on fighters and have a longer range. Compared
to point defense weaponry carried on most starships within the Three Galaxies,
the weapon mounts have a longer range.
Maximum Effective Range: 4,971 miles (8,000 km) in space and 24.85 miles (40 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega-Damage: 4D6x10 M.D.
Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the Gunner (usually 4 or 5).
Payload: Effectively Unlimited - Six (6) Cruise Missile Launchers: Missile has a top speed
of Mach 25 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 10% of
light per turn (far faster than any starship). Since star ships will no
longer engage at rock throwing distances, whether weapons can be shot down
is calculated from the speed of target, launcher, and missile. When drive
goes dead, missile will continue to travel in a straight line unless set to self destruct but has
very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets
because target does not move and missile, when unpowered, is at -25% to be detected.)
Cruise missiles have penalties to hit small targets but are all considered
smart missiles.
Maximum Effective Range: Missile range is 8,000 miles (12,875 km) in an atmosphere and 4,000,000 miles (6,437,376 km/ 21.5 light seconds) in space.
Mega-Damage & Properties: See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details (Anti-Matter does 4D6x100 M.D.C.).
Rate of Fire: One per launcher per melee attack
Payload: 24 cruise missiles total (4 each launcher) - One (1) Long Range Missile Battery: Missile has a top speed
of Mach 20 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 8% of light
per turn (faster than any starship). Since star ships will no longer engage
at rock throwing distances, whether weapons can be shot down is calculated
from the speed of target, launcher, and missile. When drive goes dead,
missile will continue to travel in a straight line unless set to self destruct but has very low
odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because
target does not move and missile, when unpowered, is at -25% to be detected.) Long range
missiles do not have penalties to hit small targets unlike cruise missiles
and are all considered smart missiles. Battery can launch on multiple targets
each at the same time.
Maximum Effective Range: Missile range is 3400 miles (5470 km) in an atmosphere and 1,800,000 miles (2,897,000 km/9.7 light seconds) in space.
Mega-Damage & Properties: See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details (Fusion warheads inflict 2D4x100 M.D.C. each.)
Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2 or 4 per launcher, per melee attack.
Payload: 24 total, 24 long range missiles per battery.
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