Ton

A Ton is both a measure of volume and a measure of mass or weight.

• It is a standard Imperial metric.

Description (Specifications)

Ton has two meanings:

Volume

A Ton as a unit of volume is equal to 13.5 cubic meters. It is derived from the volume of a ton (mass) of liquid hydrogen, the fuel used by starships.

• DTon or dTon = Dimensional or Displacement Ton.
• The standard Imperial abbreviation is dTon or dT.

Weight

A Ton (or tonne) is a unit of mass equal to one thousand kilograms.

• The standard Imperial abbreviation is T.

The foundation of the starship is the hull, into or onto which all other components are placed. Hulls are identified by their mass displacement (...expressed in tons; one ton equals 14 cubic meters) and by their configuration.

Ships may be very large and for convenience have their masses measured in kilotons Kton, a unit equal to 1,000.0 tons.

History & Background (Dossier)

The creation of starship deck plans is based on the assumption that one ton of mass displacement equals fourteen cubic meters. The standard displacement ton used for these calculations is derived from the volume of liquid hydrogen, the fuel source for most standard star faring vessels.

The square grid scale used on most deck plans is 1.5 meters on a side. Clearance between decks is normally 3 meters. This means that two floor squares, extended floor to ceiling, equals four 1.5 meter cubes or nearly 14 cubic meters (1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 x 4 = 13.5 cubic meters), or one ton. A 100 dTon starship would thus contain approximately two hundred grid squares within.

Allowances of approximately + or - 10% were made in most areas to allow for better representation of specific parts of the ship and to cover various anomalies. For example, crew quarters call for four tons per sophont: the actual tonnage allocated on many plans is often less than that, but additional area is devoted to communal areas such as galley, mess, wardroom, and recreation areas.

Also, a limited volume of passages has been added to some starships. Passages and access ways which have no other use may be safely added to a ship without affecting volume or displacement for construction purposes. These additional passages should amount to no more than an additional 10% of the ship's total volume.

References & Contributors (Sources)

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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, Frank Chadwick, John Harshman. High Guard (Game Designers Workshop, 1980), 21-22.
• Marc Miller. Traders and Gunboats (Game Designers Workshop, 1980), TBD.
• Jordan Weisman. "Book 2." Adventure Class Ships Volume 1 (1982): 3-4.
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science