Ortillery Ship

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

O-class Ortillery Ships bombard the surfaces of planets and moons.
S-class Sentinels and Siege Ships defend worlds from besiegement (SD-Class) and interdict worlds for besieging forces (SO-Class), respectively.

• The Supraclass designation is also known as Ship Mission, Ship Mission Code, Mission, or Ship Hull Designation.
• It is a starship supraclass.

Description (Specifications)

Planetary bombardment is a vital mission in assault fleets, and such fire often requires a different class of weapon than line combatants possess. Precision KEW and GUW weapons are preferred for many missions over DEW weaponry. While a spinal mount weapon can be effective in almost any mission, bombardment ships are often equipped with bays of weaponry that can be more effective at planetary bombardment. Many ships are equipped with makertech factories capable of creating bombardment munitions only limited by the local supply of a planetoid ring.

Image Repository

Type OB Bombardment Vessel:

1. A Huron class Bombardment Cruiser preparing to bombard a mainworld into submission.
   

Type OK Ortillery Strike Ship:

1. An image of an Ortillerist-class off an older workstation screen.
   

Strategy & Tactics (Doctrine)

Ortillery Ships have one primary mission: to bombard the enemy's non-naval assets into submission, and if they will not submit, obliterate them. Most often, this means destroying the enemies ground forces, armies, and more specifically COACC forces. This includes enemy facilities, resources, Artillery, MBTs, AFVs, and infantry among other targets. Sometimes, it enough to obliterate prestige targets such as an enemy's capital or other non-military high value targets. The use of Thunderballs should be avoided except under conditions of umlimited war, which itself should be avoided at all costs.

Sometimes, the obliteration mission will lead to a complete planetary scrubbing, utter destruction of a planet's life-supporting qualities, destruction of the biome down to the bedrock, and in some cases even worse, to break a planet apart into an asteroid belt. TL-15 technology faces large challenges in trying to break a planet apart into rubble, but it can be done. TL-15 technology is perfectly capable of scrubbing a planet of life down to the bedrock.

Supraclass Roles

Ortillery Ships typically serve the following roles:
Largecraft & Bigcraft:

O-class Ortillery Ship Supraclass Archetypes
Archetype	Type Code
Ortillery Ship	(O) (Namesake)
Sentinel / Siege Vessel	(S) (Namesake)
Bombardment Cruiser	(OBC)
Bombardment Ship	(OBV)
Orbital Bombardment Ship	(OVB)
Ortillery Cruiser	(OC)
Ortillery Vessel	(OV)
Strike Ortillery Ship	(OVK)
Siege Engine	(OS / SO)
Siege Ship	(SV)
Sentinel	(SD)
Torpedo Ship	(SVB)
Arsenal Ship	(OSV)

Size-Class Roles for Transport Vessels

1. Utility Craft (U) (1 to 99 tons)

ORBITAL/ORTILLERY VESSEL

1. Very Light Ortillery Ship (OVL) (1,000 to 2,499 tons)
2. Light Ortillery Ship (OBL) (2,500 to 9,999 tons)
3. Medium Ortillery Ship (OBV) (10,000 to 99,999 tons)
4. Heavy Ortillery Ship (OBH) (100,000 to 249,999 tons)
5. Superheavy Ortillery Ship (OBS) (250,000 to 499,999 tons)
6. Ultraheavy Ortillery Ship (OBU) (500,000 or more tons)

SENTINEL/SIEGE VESSEL

1. Very Light Sentinel (SVL) (100 to 999 tons)
2. Light Sentinel Vessel (LSV) (2,500 to 9,999 tons)
3. Medium Sentinel Vessel (SV) (10,000 to 99,999 tons)
4. Heavy Sentinel Vessel (SVH) (100,000 to 249,999 tons)
5. Superheavy Sentinel Vessel (SSV) (250,000 to 499,999 tons)
6. Ultraheavy Sentinel Vessel (SVU) (500,000 or more tons)

Military Subcraft

Military subcraft (...both smallcraft and bigcraft) are carried by some of these vessels:

1. Battle Rider (BR)
2. Combat Barge (WBG)
3. Combat Transport Smallcraft (UI)
4. Fighters (F)
5. Militarized Utility Craft (UQ)

Supraclass Archetypal Roles

These vessels typically serve the following archetypal roles:

O-class Ortillery Ship Supraclass Archetypes
Archetype	Type Code	Exemplar	Remarks
Sentinel Ship / Siege Ship (Namesake)	S-class		The general siege defender ship classification. S = Siege / Sentinel D = Defender O = Oribital
Ortillery Ship (Namesake)	O-class	Huron class Bombardment Cruiser	The general orty ship classification. O = Ortillery / Oribital B = Bombardment S = Siege / Sentinel
Strike Ortillery Ship	OK-class	Ortillerist class Torpedo Ship	A Strike Ortillery Ship is an Ortillery Ship optimized for hit-and-fade operations, unleashing a payload then fleeing (usually jumping) before retaliation can reach it. O = Ortillery / Oribital B = Bombardment K = Strike / Fast
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)

Early generation naval weaponry had difficulty penetrating atmospheres. Lasers and DEW energy weapons dissipated, many projectile weapons ablated under atmospheres and, in general, what worked against starships in the vacuum didn't work nearly so well in a planetary bombardment role. So, ortillery bombardment ships were created; vessels specialized to destroy infrastructure and planetside targets of opportunity. The first few generations were very limited, but the most contemporary technology is very capable.

A dedicated ortillery ship can still outperform the typical cruiser or battleship in their specialized role, making them a valued asset in almost any fleet.

Bombardment Ships

Planetary bombardment is one of those missions that no one likes to think about doing, but has to be done, and the bombardment cruiser is ideally suited to the mission. A bombardment cruiser is more than capable of reducing entire cities to rubble if the need arises.

While it is rare for true planetary bombardment to take place, it is relatively common for ground troops to need orbital fire support. Any AssaultRon that is tasked with invading enemy territory will have one, if not more, of these cruisers riding overhead. With adequate intelligence, the bombardment cruiser is able to take out enemy formations, destroy facilities and supply dumps, and even use its meson cannons to take out underground bunkers and fortifications. Any ground trooper is aware of the destruction that can be rained down from the skies.

Not the largest cruisers in the navy, the bombardment cruiser is generally in the 30,000 to 60,000 ton range. They do not generally employ spinal mounts as they are too difficult to train on a planet bound target, instead using rows or large weapons bays to create a very powerful secondary armament.

Weapons are usually meson guns, missile launchers and laser weaponry. A few bombardment cruisers also come with the facility to attach drives to any asteroids within a system and use them as area effect weapons upon the unsuspecting populace, though they are inaccurate and the environmental damage caused by such an attack makes this an option that is rarely exercised. Experiments have been conducted with mass-driver armed bombardment cruisers, capable of launching any suitable projectile (typically asteroidal matter but possibly the wrecks of the planetary defense fleet!) at ground or static orbital targets. Such weapons are of little use in ship-to-ship combat, so the Imperium prefers to mount weapons that can also be used in self-defense.

Selected Variant Types & Classes

Military Ship - Warship - Ortillery Ship:

1. Type OB class Bombardment Vessel
   1. Armageddon class Bombardment Cruiser
   2. Huron class Bombardment Cruiser
   3. Huy Braseal class Bombardment Cruiser
   4. Overlord class Bombardment Cruiser
   5. Righteous Might class Ortillery Cruiser

Military Ship - Warship - Ortillery Ship:

1. Type OS class Orbital Strike Ship
   1. Ortillerist class Torpedo Ship

Ship Summary List

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

0 Representative Ortillery Ship (O) Classes
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0 Representative Bombardment Vessel (OB) Classes
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0 Representative Ortillery Strike Ship (OS) Classes
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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
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  • Adventure Class Ship (Auxiliary Class Ship)
  • Battle Class Ship (Bulk / Subcapital Class Ship)
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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)
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» Solomani Parsec

» Vilani Parsec ("Deshi")

» Imperial Standard Parsec

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References & Contributors (Sources)

This article is missing content for one or more detailed sections. Additional details are required to complete the article. You can help the Traveller Wiki by expanding it.

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.

• Ben W. Bell, Martin Dougherty. Fighting Ships (QuikLink Interactive, 2003), TBD.
• Marc Miller. T5 Core Rules (Far Future Enterprises, 2013), TBD.
• Compilation: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science, Emeritus