Provision class Medium Tanker

Provision class Medium Tanker
Distant Fringe vessel.
Type: TF Medium Tanker
Agility	X
Also see	Tanker
Architect	Ade Stewart
Blueprint	Yes.
Canon	No. Unpublished, non-canon fan design.
Cargo	0.0 Tons Tankage: 4,200.0 Tons
Cost	MCr4521.430 (base) MCr3617.144 (qty)
Crew	61
Enlisted	45
Officers	16
EOS	Still in active service.
Era	1105
Hardpoints	80
Hull	[[Cone Hull]]
Illustration	Yes
IOC	TBD
Jump	J-2
Maneuver	2 G
Manufacturer	Various
Marines	0
Model	Model/4
Origin	Distant Fringe
Passengers	3 High/Med 0 Low
QSP	Not applicable.
Reference	Ade Stewart
Size	8,000 Tons
Size-cat	BCS
Streamlining	Streamlined Hull
Tech Level	TL–11
USP	TF–H222241–090000–80000-0
Starships are designed with the Classic Traveller format, using High Guard.

The Provision class Medium Tanker is a mercantile starship.

• It is a civilian ship and a Medium Tanker.
• The vessel is a TL-11 design.
• Vessels of this type are often employed as Gas Traders.
• Please also see: Ships of the Distant Fringe

Description (Specifications)

A generic class of civilian vessel, the Medium Tanker is a large commercial hydrogen fuel transporter commonly encountered throughout the Distant Fringe region. It is classified as a Tanker and is constructed as a conventional design, although in all respects it qualifies as a long-range vessel. Similar designs have been in use from the time the Distant Fringe was first settled.

Image Repository

1. A Provision class Medium Tanker.
   

General Description

The Provision class is a streamlined flattened cone with a mean diameter of 35 meters and a length of around 125 meters. In general the vessel is wider than it is tall and the midsection is bulkier, giving it a total enclosed volume of approximately 202,500 cubic meters. Three huge fuel tanks form the majority of the interior of the ship. The tanks are separated by service decks filled with ladders and gantries and are subdivided into smaller interlinked cells containing baffles, compressors, and pumping equipment. The engineering section is located aft, within the core of the vessel, while the bridge and accessible sections of the ship such as the crew quarters and the lifeboat hangar are located forward. The main corridor, which is offset at its center to reduce the risks associated with accidents or damage, links the various decks and sections together.

A basic deck plan of the vessel indicating the general layout and positioning of major elements.

Basic Ship Characteristics

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 craft) carried on the ship. Tonnage on the universal ship profile is shown in kilotons (thousands of tons) where necessary.

Basic Ship Characteristics
No.	Category	Remarks
1.	Tonnage	The Provision class is constructed using an 8,000 dTon hull built in a conical configuration. The hull is streamlined and has good atmospheric capability: its atmospheric handling characteristics are heavily reliant on its onboard gravitic systems. Individual sections of the ship are divided by bulkhead walls. There are multiple airlocks located around the vessel. The vessel has sturdy retractable landing legs, allowing surface landings.
2.	Crew	Total Crew Complement: 61 x9 Command, x14 Engineering, x11 Gunnery, and x24 Service, of which x1 serves as Flight crew for the lifeboat when required. In addition the vessel has x3 specialist purification engineers. Accommodations There are x40 Staterooms. x35 Staterooms are given over to crew quarters. The command crew have individual cabins: all other quarters are double occupancy. x5 Staterooms are available to passengers. The vessel has a 1-dTon secure locker. Accessible areas of the hull are fitted with grav plates and inertial compensators and have full life support and environmental systems. There are internal monitoring and security systems throughout the vessel. Sections of the ship can be isolated in the event of an emergency. There are multiple Emergency Lockers.
3.	Performance	The vessel mounts a DeVoss-type Jump-2 drive, a Maneuver-2 drive and a Power Plant-2, giving performance of Jump-2 and 2-G acceleration and producing 160 Energy Points. The ship has an agility rating of 0 and an emergency agility of 2. The dedicated internal fuel tankage gives the power plant 4 weeks duration. The engineering section has a main control room. Ladders, gantries and platforms give access to the machinery. The jump drive utilizes a hull grid. The jump drive is fitted with a jump governor.
4.	Electronics	Adjacent to the bridge is a Model/4 Computer: the vessel has a backup Model/4 Computer. There are multiple workstations and control points throughout the vessel. The vessel is fitted with communications equipment, a standard sensor array, and has an avionics suite. It is fitted with backup commo and sensor systems. It has a transponder unit that can be deactivated on command.
5.	Hardpoints	x80 hardpoints. The listed battery groupings are considered standard for the class. Alternative battery groupings may be designated for specific routes.
6.	Armament	The normal weapons fit-out for a Medium Tanker is: x30 triple Beam Laser turrets, forming three batteries each of 10 linked turrets
7.	Defenses	The hull is unarmored. x50 triple Sandcaster turrets, forming four batteries each of 10 linked turrets The vessel is not fitted with screens or other passive defensive systems.
8.	Craft	Flight Section x1 50-dTon Deliverance class Lifeboat. The subcraft is housed in a dedicated hangar located in the bows, close to the crew accommodations: the hangar can be sealed and has a total volume of 65 dTons.
9.	Fuel Treatment	The vessel has dedicated internal fuel tankage of 1,760 dTons. The vessel has commercial fuel tankage of 4,200 dTons. The hull is fitted with fuel scoops. The vessel is equipped with a large fuel purification plant.
10.	Cost	The basic cost of the vessel, complete with its complement of subcraft, is MCr4,521.430 Both craft are standard designs. Detailed architectural plans are widely available and no design fee is chargeable. If multiple examples of the design are ordered all of the ships in the production run qualify for a 20% discount, which reduces the price per unit to MCr3,617.144
11.	Construction Time	152 weeks (38 months) as standard. Build times can be reduced by mass production and the efficiencies such processes generate, by increased financing, and by allotting additional yard resources and facilities to the construction contract.
12.	Comments	The vessel does not have a cargo hold: it is standard practice to store supplies in unused staterooms.

History & Background (Dossier)

The design is representative and a large number of variants exist, particularly with regard to the allotted weapons systems, onboard electronics, and the fit out of internal spaces. Medium Tankers are designed to skim fuel from gas giant worlds and transport it back to a commercial market, using the onboard refining plant to process and purify the product en route.

Provision class ships are Gas Traders. They may work with orbital port facilities such as the Harbor class Station.

Distant Fringe Vessels

The Distant Fringe is said to be a far spinward-rimward area inhabited by colonists and refugees originating on Terra. The region is extremely isolated, separated from the rest of Charted Space by vast, almost uncrossable rifts that were once broached by a system of calibration Points and the use of tankers. Those few academics within Charted Space who have found references to the Distant Fringe regard it as little more than a tall tale. Likewise, many of the inhabitants of the Distant Fringe believe the existence of Charted Space to be mythical.

Vessels originating within the Distant Fringe are very rarely encountered outside of the region. However, misjumps do occur and anomalies with bizarre spacetime and Jumpspace effects exist: as such, craft of this type are not entirely unknown within Charted Space.

Class Naming Practice/s & Peculiarities

A number of companies manufacture ships equivalent to the Provision class. They vary in hull shape and internal layout but all share the same basic design and all have very similar capabilities and performance characteristics.

• Each variant class is named by the company that produces it: these organizations generally draw on traditional naming protocols. It is not uncommon for a historical class name to be reused.
• Individual vessels within a class are issued specific serial numbers and transponder codes but traditionally are named by their owners. This is considered a serious affair and a ship with a frivolous name is considered "unlucky".

Selected Variant Types & Classes

Bigcraft - Fuel Tanker:

• Type T class Tanker
  • Nimrod class Fuel Lighter

Merchant Vessel - Tanker:

• Type T class Tanker
  • Baleen class Heavy Tanker
  • Provision class Medium Tanker

References & Contributors (Sources)

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This article was copied or excerpted from the following copyrighted sources and used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author.

• Marc Miller, Frank Chadwick, John Harshman. High Guard (Game Designers Workshop, 1980), 20-37. (Design Sequence Used)
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis), Captain, and Lead Naval Architect Ronald B. Kline, Jr. of the Imperial Navy
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science