Liberty III class Independent Merchant
| Liberty III class Independent Merchant | |
|---|---|
| Type: A Trader | |
| Category | ACS |
| Size | 1,000 Tons |
| Hull Configuration | Cylinder Hull |
| Streamlining | Streamlined Hull |
| Tech Level | TL–15 |
| Engineering | |
| Computer | Model 2/bis |
| Jump | J-2 |
| Maneuver | 2 G |
| Armaments | |
| Hardpoints | 8 |
| Accommodations | |
| Staterooms | 21 |
| Low Berths | 18 |
| Personnel | |
| Crew | 14 |
| High/Mid Passengers | 28 |
| Low Passengers | 18 |
| Payload | |
| Cargo | 400 Tons |
| Fuel tank | 250 Tons |
| Carried craft | 2 20T launcher |
| Construction | |
| Construction Time | 33 Months |
| Origin | Third Imperium |
| Year Operational | -1790 |
| Price | |
| Cost | MCr469.33 |
| Architect fee | MCr4.693 |
| Statistics | |
| Quick Ship Profile | A-KS22 |
| Images | |
| Blueprint | Yes |
| Illustration | No |
| Source | |
| Canon | Unpublished, fan design |
| Designer | Michael Cessna |
| Design System | High Guard |
| Era | 1105 |
| Reference | Fan: Michael Cessna |
The Liberty III class Independent Merchant is a TL–15 Independent Merchant frequently used as a Combat Transport.
Description (Specifications)[edit]
Using a 1,000-dton hull, the Liberty-3 mounts Jump Drive H, Maneuver Drive H, and Power Plant E, giving Jump-2 and 2G performance. The hull is streamlined. Fuel processors and scoops allow for use of unrefined fuel. (The original fuel scoops were retained, however, making the ship slower to refuel than other designs of similar mass.) The ship comes with eight hardpoints fitted. Standard crew is pilot, navigator, engineer plus 3 assistants, medic, and eight gunners. Stewards are added as needed. There are nine low berth racks (with three capsules, each) and fourteen passenger staterooms fitted as standard, the latter capable of double occupancy. Cargo capacity is 400-dtons at maximum. There are docking collars for two 20-dton launches. Fuel capacity of 250-dtons supports the power plant and one Jump-2.
The design requirement from the Rule of Man called for maximum parts compatibility -- so, they simply doubled the deckplan. What isn't shown on the 2D art is that there is a "humpback" above the top engineering deck; I had to do that, in game terms, to allow for a larger engine space for a J-2 drive. The launches are docked forward of the hump.
Blisters along the exterior flanks of the ship hold 125-dtons of fuel each, in baffled tanks; no access from outside the ship.
General Description & Deck Plans[edit]
The ship is laid out in four sections. Top to bottom:
- Top (exterior hull): Docking collars for launches.
- Bridge Deck: 150-dton space. Contains the Bridge, Computer core, fourteen staterooms, Ship's Locker, Low berths, Sick Bay and Jump Engineering.
- Lido Deck: 150-dton space; can be fitted for cargo (90-dtons) or fourteen passenger staterooms. Contains Power Plant and Maneuver Drive Engineering, inaccessible from the rest of the deck. Includes primary personnel airlock.
- Steerage: 400-dton space. Two large cargo decks, each with a 200-dton capacity. Includes access to fuel scoops and processors, as well as maneuver drives. 100-ston capacity lift connects to the two cargo decks for cargo transfer. An additional lift connects the upper cargo hold to the lower engineering deck.
(On approximately 20% of stock Liberty III's (the L3/A-bis), the deck separating the upper and lower cargo bays can be lowered to almost-flush with the lower deck, forming the "Montebello Funny-Car" variant. This design allows the loading of oddly-sized cargo units, like completed buildings, or massive mining vehicles. The reason this design is not more popular is because the monthly maintenance cost is increased by 15%, and when lowered into place, overall cargo space is reduced to 370 dtons.)
Basic Ship Characteristics[edit]
Following the Imperial Navy and IISS Universal Ship Profile and data, additional information is presented in the format shown here. The small craft factor indicates the number of squadrons (...of ten subcraft) carried on the ship. Tonnage on the universal ship profile is shown in kilotons (...thousands of tons) where necessary. [1]
| Basic Ship Characteristics [2] | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | Category | Remarks |
| 1. | Tonnage / Hull | 1,000 tons. |
| 2. | Crew | x20 crew. |
| 3. | Performance / Engineering | Propulsion:
|
| 4. | Main Section / Electronics | Model/2 bis ship computer. |
| 5. | Hardpoints | x8 hardpoints. |
| 6. | Armament / Weaponry | The normal weapons fit-out for it is:
|
| 7. | Defenses | Defensive Equipment:
|
| 8. | Craft / Drones | x2 10dton Launches |
| 9. | Fuel Treatment | Yes |
| 10. | Cost | MCr469.33 (first ship, includes architect fees), 371.74 MCr (in quantity) |
| 11. | Construction Time | 30 months to build, 22 months in quantity. |
| 12. | Remarks | Other Equipment: |
History & Background (Dossier)[edit]
The Liberty III - Workhorse of the Imperium: The LST (Landing Ship, Terran)-class - colloquially known as the Liberty III - was first built as a combat transport near the end of the Second Empire (the "Rule of Man", or the "Ramshackle Empire", depending on a person's viewpoint). A general purpose design, the 1000 dton ship functions as a general purpose freighter/liner, carrying 400 dtons of cargo on two decks, while also carrying up to twenty High/Middle and twenty-seven Low passengers, all with a twenty-seven person crew. The ship is somewhat lightly armed for its size, having only eight mixed triple turrets, but this mix has been found to be the most widely-useful across the design's operating spectrum.
The Liberty II (the classic Type-R, or 'Fat Trader') was built in the hundreds of thousands during the Interstellar Wars period, to give the Terran Navy a cheap, easy-handling, easy to fix ship that hauled a useful amount of [[cargo]). The large numbers produced also helped mitigate battle losses to aggressive Ziru Sirka raiders ("Akkigish" is the Vilani word for "waddle", describing how it appeared to move on Vilani targeting sensors). So many were produced that, after the war ended, most were sold off to their crews as part of an economic stimulus package. Their wide prevalence guaranteed a continued stream of hulls and spare parts, and ensured the Liberty II's continued dominance on the non-bulk Main routes, even c.2000 years later.
About 100 years before the Long Night fell, Imperial Fleet Command released a specification to upgrade the Liberty 2 to the Liberty 3. This involved removing the lifting-body wings from the design (made possible by improvements in contra-grav technologies) and replacing them with a pair of fuel blisters, each of approximately 125-dtons. Next, the engineering section was enlarged by raising the overhead in Engineering to form a separate Jump-Drive deck - forming the distinctive 'humpback' shape of the -3 class - while moving the docking collar for the 10-dton launch forward, to in front of the humpback, and adding another collar forward of that. Another feature was that the Liberty 3 should have its parts be as compatible as possible with the Liberty 2.
Because of its rugged design and 2-parsec range, the Liberty III was built in the millions, surviving the demise of the Second Imperium and the Long Night. Because it is so common, the Liberty III remains the primary small freighter in c.80% of non-Zhodani Human-inhabited space, and remains a popular military design with mercenary and commando units, as well as the military forces of smaller, independent interstellar states and worlds, as well as the 'huscarl' personal forces of many Imperial Nobles.
Class Naming Practice/s & Peculiarities[edit]
Vessel Peculiarities: Over its long history, seven primary variants of the Liberty III have developed; all designs are included in the Imperial Standards Software Package, and are usually the first "starter" designs built in a shipyard [q.v.]:
- L3/A: The "stock" Liberty III, described above. This is the most common variant. It's primary defensive weakness is that it has a huge blind spot for its turret arcs to aft.
- L3/B: The "Essex". An actual 'warship', the Essex is classified - depending on the navy - as either a 'corvette', a 'frigate', or a 'destroyer escort'. It sacrifices 350 dtons of cargo to build in a 50dton bay forward, two military turrets (in an aft 'stinger' location, where the aft cargo ramp would normally be), installs a vastly more-capable maneuver drive (bringing it to M4), roughly 3 times the normal armor, and the fuel to make this all work. Finally, the ship has provision for a 40-person Marine platoon as Ships Troops, although it cannot carry much in the way of vehicles for them.
- L3/C: The "Inchon" - This is a stock Liberty III that has had its passenger deck and part of the upper cargo hold converted to troop berthing (total troop capacity: 160 - but life support can only handle this number for c.200 standard hours; 80 troops are normally carried), but is otherwise unchanged from the baseline model.
- L3/D: The "Makin" - Similar to the Inchon-class, but housing an 80-person Commando/Ranger unit, the lower cargo hold has been fitted out as a full-service garage (4 x 6dton bays), and parking for up to 20 "battle cars" (think HALO Warthogs, but a better design). The ship is designed to insert a raiding unit for extended operations dirtside, and act as a repair base for the vehicles. This is a popular design for pirates and mercenary units.
- L3/E: The "Monitor" - Essentially, this is a non-Jump-capable "Essex", intended for use as a battle-rider and planetary assault transport.
- L3/F: The "Consolation" - Rigged as a hospital ship, the "Consolation"-class is essentially a flying hospital, with a 100-dton emergency ward on the lower cargo deck (the remaining 100 dtons on this deck is used for medical cargo), and a 30-bed Intensive Care Unit (2 dtons per room) with a 4-theater Surgery section (4 dtons per room) on the upper cargo deck; there are also 20 Medical Low-berths (100 patient capacity, total) on this deck. Doctors and nurses are housed on the Lido Deck, all in double occupancy. Virtually all "Consolations" are painted in "high visibility" paint schemes and are covered in all manner of very large medical symbols. Military units bringing "Consolations" under fire are almost always massacred wholesale by enraged enemy troops -- and occasionally by their own side.
- L3/G: The "Block Island" - The most visually distinct variant of the type, the Block Island is a non-Jump "space tug/rescue ship" built out as a "Monitor"-class, but with massive external grapples (physical and magnetic) and tow cable-firing turrets. The "Block Island"-class has no real weapons to speak of.....Of note, is the fact that some minor states have used the "Block Island"-for combat boarding under fire, replacing half of the tow cable turrets with mixed triple turrets. While this design has proven useful under fire, the states employing the design are roundly and near-universally denounced for using an emergency rescue vessel as a combat ship.
Selected Variant Types & Classes[edit]
18 Representative Trader (A) Classes[edit]
References[edit]
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This ship was originally designed using one of the Classic Traveller ship design rules:
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- Author & Contributor: Michael Cessna
- ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 10.
- ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 10.