Life Boat

Line Combatants (Primary - Capital)				Escort Combatants (Secondary - Subcapital)				Military Auxiliary (Tertiary)
B- Battleship	C- Cruiser	O- Ortillery	V- Carrier	D- Destroyer	E- Escort	F- Fighter	H- Defense/Security	I- Combat Transport	Q- Combat Support	S- Scout	U- Utility	X- Commo	Z- Special

Mercantile Commercial Ships (Trade & Profit)				Non-Mercantile Commercial Ships (Industry & Profit)					Non-Commercial Ships (Nonprofit)			System Craft (Intrastellar)
A- Tramp	M- Freighter	R- Liner	T- Transport	G- Industrial	J- Prospector	K- Expedition	P- Corsair	U- Utility	L- Science	N- Medical	Y- Private	WB- Barge	WA- Satellite	WO- Space Station

The Life Boat is an emergency device, a smallcraft, used to allow escape from danger, disaster, or calamity in space-going situations.

• The Supraclass designation is also known as Ship Mission, Ship Mission Code, Mission, or Ship Hull Designation.
• They come in both civilian and military variants. There is typically little difference between the two.
• It is a starship supraclass.

Description (Specifications)

Lifepods (or Escape Pods) will typically displace between 5.0 and 10.0 tons, whereas Lifeboats typically have displacements in the 10.0 to 20.0 ton range. Lifeboats are capable of 1.0 G acceleration and can carry up to three conscious passengers.

• In addition, they often contain five emergency low berths, each capable of holding four persons in cold sleep. Thus a standard life boat can often carry a total of 23 sophonts.
• Life boats are almost always unarmed.

Image Repository

This image repository contains a selection of life boat images:

Type UME Life Boat / Escape Pod:

1. A side view schematic of a Deliverance class Lifeboat.
   
2. A small, sleek Marrel Veckor class Lifeboat, popular with the Distant Fringe.
   

Strategy & Tactics (Doctrine)

Life Boats or Escape Pods are typically stationed on larger ships as an emergency precaution. Smaller ships typically do not carry them or use a smallcraft in this role.

• Most such craft are unarmed and defenseless and are easily destroyed by a military or paramilitary aggressor.

Supraclass Roles

Life Boats typically serve the following roles::
Smallcraft & Bigcraft:

UE-class Life Boat Supraclass Archetypes
Archetype	Type Code
Contingency Craft	(UME)
Emergency Craft	(UNE)
Escape Pod	(UME)
Launch	(UME)
Lifeboat	(UME)
Lighter	(UME)
Runabout	(UME)
Shuttle	(UME)
Utility Boat	(UME)

Supraclass Archtypes

UE-class Life Boat Supraclass Archetypes
Archetype	Type Code	Exemplar	Remarks
Escape Pod / Life Boat	UE	SK-3 class Lifeboat	It is one of the smallest spaceships in common use. They typically displace 20 tons or less. Although its primary function is to serve as a life craft in the event that evacuation is required, it can also be used to transport passengers. While many launches perform a utility role as well as life boat and/or escape pod duties, most Type-UE-class smallcraft are specialized to only perform escape pod and/or life boat duties. Any utility capabilities are an afterthought. U = Utility, Multipurpose, etc. E = Escape Pod, Life Boat, etc.
NOTES: There is semantic overlap between many of the classes and codes. Some codes organize by mission or capability, others by size and tonnage, and yet others by other characteristics.

History & Background (Dossier)

Since the earliest days of spaceflight, emergency precautions and craft have been operated. The modern lifeboat is inexpensive and capable of sustaining life for a limited period, or achieving planetfall in most models.

Most Common Standardized Smallcraft Types

1. Type-QPL Small Pod/Lifepod (5-ton)
   1. Type-QAL/QLS Lifepod (5-ton)
2. Type-QF Fighter (10-ton)
3. Type-QA Light Launch (10-ton)
   1. Lifeboat (10-ton)
   2. Cockboat (10-ton)
4. Type-QL Launch (20-ton)
   1. Type-QG Gig (20-ton)
5. Type-QB Boat (30-ton)
   1. Slow Boat (30-ton)
   2. Fastboat (30-ton) ( »» Shipsboat (30-ton))
6. Type-QN Pinnace (40-ton)
   1. Slow Pinnace (40-ton)
   2. Fuel Skimmer (40-ton)
7. Type-QC Cutter
   1. Modular Cutter (50-ton)
   2. Heavy Modular Cutter (Multicutter - 90 ton)
8. Type-QS Shuttle
   1. Passenger Shuttle (90-ton)
   2. Cargo Shuttle (95-ton)

Selected Variant Types & Classes

Civilian Ship - Smallcraft - Life Boat: Civilian Vessel - Smallcraft - Life Boat:

1. Type UE class Life Boat
   1. Deliverance class Lifeboat
   2. Interstellar Lifesaver class Lifeboat
   3. KSbA Model A-23 class Lifeboat
   4. Longevity class Lifeboat
   5. Marrel Veckor class Lifeboat
   6. Model 292 class Life Boat
   7. Reliant class Lifeboat
   8. Reprieve class Escape Pod
   9. SK-3 class Lifeboat

Ship Summary List

Some of the most commonly used vessels in this role or these roles include:

Representative Lifeboat / Escape Pod (UE) Classes

Library Data Referral Tree

Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information: (Click "Expand" to reveal)

Starship:

• Starship User Types
  • Civilian Ship
  • Military Ship
  • Non-Commercial Vessel
  • Paramilitary Ship

• Advanced Ship Classifications
  • Ship Mission Code / Supraclass
  • Ship Type Code / Superclass
  • Ship Class Code / Class
  • Model (TL)
  • Bloc (Lot)

• Basic Ship Classifications
  • Adventure Class Ship (Auxiliary Class Ship)
  • Battle Class Ship (Bulk / Subcapital Class Ship)
  • Capital Ship (Capital Class Ship)
  • Fleet Class Ship (Capital Class Ship)
  • Size-Role Classification
  • Subcapital Ship (Small & Large Battle Class Ships)
  • QSP
  • USP
  • World Class Ship

• Ships by Function
  • Bigcraft
  • Boat
  • Capital Ship
  • Largecraft
  • Non-starship
  • Smallcraft
  • Spaceplane
  • Spaceship
  • Starship
  • Subcapital Ship
  • Subcraft
  • System Craft
  • Warship

Speed of Travel

• NAFAL (STL) - (Not As Fast As Light) / (Slower Than Light)
• Light Speed (c)
• FTL - (Faster Than Light) - "Superluminal"

• Astronomical Unit (AU)

» Imperial Standard Astronomical Unit

• Light-second (ls)
• Light-minute (lm)
• Light-hour (lh)
• Light-day (ld)
• Light-week (lw)
• Light-year (ly)
• Parsec (pc)

» Solomani Parsec

» Vilani Parsec ("Deshi")

» Imperial Standard Parsec

---

References & Contributors (Sources)

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Marc Miller. Starships (Game Designers Workshop, 1977), TBD.
• Dave Sering. Starships and Spacecraft (Judges Guild, 1979), TBD.
• Marc Miller, Frank Chadwick, John Harshman. High Guard (Game Designers Workshop, 1980), TBD.
• Loren Wiseman. Marooned/Marooned Alone (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), TBD.
• Marc Miller. Imperial Encyclopedia (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), 78.
• Gary L. Thomas. The Travellers' Digest 16 (Digest Group Publications, 1989), TBD.
• S.R. Greene. SGS: Imperial Small Craft (Seeker Gaming Systems, 1992), TBD.
• S.R. Greene. SGS: Imperial Small Craft Vol. 2 (Seeker Gaming Systems, 1992), TBD.
• Dave Nilsen. Reformation Coalition Equipment Guide (Game Designers Workshop, 1994), TBD.
• Don Perrin. Starships (Imperium Games, 1996), 8.
• Martin Dougherty. Scout Ships (Avenger Enterprises, 2007), TBD.
• Marc Miller. T5 Core Rules (Far Future Enterprises, 2013), TBD.
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science