<I>Admiral</I> Class Battle Rider

BARD PAPER: SARA0035

Admiral Battle Rider

The Admiral is essentially a Light Cruiser without a jump drive. Optimised for combat and carried into battle by specialist tenders, the Admirals pack a lot of combat power into a 25,000 ton chassis. We are not given much information on the history or background of the class in Battle Rider, but from the TL and the fact that they are carried by Cleon-class Battle Tenders, I assume they are the work of the early Third Imperium. The ship has a notable double-spinal armament, combining a 40-GJ Spinal PAW capable of dealing 1000 damage at 80 hexes with a 30-GJ Meson Gun capable of shredding practically any sized ship up close. These are backed up by a heavy missile bay, a number of heavy laser barbettes and a plethora of light defensive turrets. Additional defence is provided by a handful of nuclear dampers, an obscene number of sandcasters and a very large meson screen (toned down to make it actually fit in the ship).

I have had to guess quite a lot of the detail, as anyone who has converted BR-TNE will understand. In order to allow the vessel to operate away from a tender for extended periods as a Heavy SDB, I have included reasonable support facilities, relatively luxurious crew quarters and a moderate cargo bay. The 100-ton hangar may also be used to carry two Modular Cutters, one Cutter with space for easy repair, one Shuttle or one Sulemain-Class Scout/Courier for use as a courier when on SDB/picket duty.

Sensors and comms are heavily backed up for redundancy, with the exception of the Meson Comm and the Densitomoter, both felt to be luxuries that the ship can afford to be without in a pinch. The (seemingly huge) number of MFDs was calculated from BR guidelines, where one MFD is allocated for each spinal weapon, plus one per two laser mounts, plus the number of missile directors stated on the BR counter.

Finally, I was quite pleasantly surprised that there was enough space left over to include Emergency Low Berths; a feature I'm sure the crew will appreciate. I did consider lifeboats, but they require a phenomenal amount of space.

Operates in squadrons of six Admiral-Class Battle Riders plus one Cleon-Class Battle Tender (300,000 dt)

This design was converted from the data given in Battle Rider. The only variation from the given data is the reduction of the Meson Screen from 2000 to 1000, since the limits of surface area make it impossible to fit a larger screen onto the hull. All other aspects of the design have been adhered to.

Admiral-Class Battle Rider

General Data

Displacement: 25,000 tons	Hull Armor: ??
Length: 219.8 meters	Volume: 350,000 m³
Price: 18.58 GCr	Target Size: L
Configuration: SL Wedge	Tech Level: 14
Mass (Loaded/Unloaded): ??

Engineering Data

Power Plant: 125 GW Fusion plant with 1 year's fuel

Jump Performance: None

Jump Fuel: 0 m³

G-Rating: 5G HEPlaR torches, High-Efficiency CG

G-Turns: 50

Maint: 8968

Electronics

Computer: 6xTL-14 Fibre-Optic computers

Commo: 4xLaser (1000AU), 8xMaser (1000AU), Meson (1000AU), 2xRadio (1000AU)

Avionics: Imaging EMS, IGS

Sensors: Active EMS Primary Array (16 hex), 2xActive EMS Backup Arrays (10-hex)
Passive EMS Primary Array (8 hex folding), Passive EMS Backup Array (5 hex fixed)
20xLadar Trackers(10 hex), Densitometer

ECM/ECCM: Radio Jammer (1000 AU), 2xEMS Jammers (16 hex), EM Masking

Controls: Bridge with 142 workstations, 309 normal workstations, including Aux Bridge and FireControl Bridge

Armament

Offensive 40-GJ Spinal PAW
TL-14 30-GJ Spinal Meson Gun
30xTL-14 360-MJ Laser Barbettes
90xTL-14 150-MJ Laser Turrets
TL-14 100-tonne Missile Bay (100 ready missiles feeding 20 autoloading launchers - time to empty = 12 minutes, cyclic rate of fire = 1 missile per 9 seconds)

Defensive: 90xTL-14 Sandcasters, 15xTL-14 1-hex Nuclear Dampers
TL-14 Meson Screen (PV-1000)

Master Fire Directors: 62xTL-14 Beam MFDs, 4xTL-14 Beam/Missile MFDs

Name	Short	Medium	Long	Extreme
40-GJ Spinal PAW	10:1000	20:1000	40:1000	80:1000
30-GJ Spinal Meson Gun	8:866	16:433	32:217	64:108
360-MJ Laser Barbettes	10: 1/5-47	20: 1/5-47	40: 1/8-25	80: 1/4-13
150-MJ Laser Turrets	2: 1/10-31	4: 1/10-31	8: 1/10-31	16: 1/7-21

Accommodations

Life Support: Extended Life Support serving whole ship except fuel tanks

Grav Compensation: 5G Grav Compensation serving whole ship except fuel tanks

Crew: 968 (calculated by the modified FFS method) (1xManeuver 14xElectronics 299xEngineer 325xGunnery (of which 150 serve the Meson Gun - ouch!) 96xMaintenance 60xShip's Troops 15xFlight Crew 19xSteward 8xMedic 127xCommand)

Crew Accommodations: 560xSmall Staterooms (Single rooms for officers, double rooms for crew)

Passenger Accomadation: None

Other Facilities: 1x100 ton bay, normally devoted to cargo; could be converted to weapons or hangars. 25xEmergency Low Berths (capacity for 10% of normal crew complement) 12xElectronics Shops 8xMachine Shops 2xLaboratories 8xSickbays

Cargo: 2800 m³ 8 Large Cargo Hatches.80 missiles in magazine (560 m3)

Small Craft and Launch Facilities: 1x100-ton minimal hangar for Shuttle or Scout/Courier
4x50-ton minimal hangars for Modular Cutters
10x2-ton docking rings for travel pods
6x1-ton docking rings for recon drones

Air Locks: 250

Notes

Fuel Scoops cover 4% of surface - 2.5 hours to fill tanks 1715 MW Power Surplus