Lightning class Frontier Cruiser

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Lightning class Frontier Cruiser
Azhanti-SPINAL-MOUNT-CT-Fighting-Ships-Pg-31 04-Sept-2018a.jpg
Spinal mount weapon.
Type: CF Cruiser
Category [[BCS]]
Size 60,000 Tons
Hull Configuration [[Box Hull]]
Streamlining Unstreamlined Hull
Tech Level TL–14
Engineering
Computer Model/6 fib
Jump J-5
Maneuver 2 G
Armaments
Hardpoints 600
Accommodations
Staterooms 0
Personnel
Crew 625
    Officers 62
    Enlisted 333
    Marines 150
High/Mid Passengers 0
Payload
Cargo 400.0 Tons
Fuel tank 0 Tons
Construction
Origin Third Imperium
Year Operational 991 IC
Price
Cost MCr34,227
Architect fee MCrTimothy B. Brown
Statistics
Quick Ship Profile CF-6KU25
Images
Blueprint Yes
Illustration Yes
Source
Also see Frontier Cruiser
Canon Published, fan design
Era 1105
Reference Lightning Class Cruisers all.
Starships are designed with the Classic Traveller format, using High Guard.

The Azhanti High Lightning class Frontier Cruiser is one of the best known line warships within Imperial Space.

Description (Specifications)

Comments: The class was the result of an Imperial requirement for a new, heavily armed, highly mobile, fleet intruder. The class proved especially useful in the closing days of the Solomani Rim War (990 to 1002). The Azhanti High Lightning class ship is built on a 60,000 ton hull assembled in orbit.

As a military ship, the major purpose of the ship is as a weapons carrier. The ship is built around three tubes; a spinal mount weapons tube, and a twin small craft launch tubes, Distributed along the dorsal and ventral surfaces are twenty-four fifty-ton bays. Finally, the entire surface of the ship is covered with a variety of laser turrets, sandcasters, and repulsors. In addition, the ship carries internal nuclear dampers and a Meson Screen (...plus a Black globe in the refurbished models).

Image Repository

  1. Typical image of an AHL in action.
    Azhanti-FULL-IMAGE-CT-Fighting-Ships-Pg-31 04-Sept-2018a.jpg

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 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 60,000 tons standard or 60 ktons. 840,000 cubic meters. [3]
2. Crew 62 officers. 333 ratings. 150 Marines. 80 pilots. [4] Total: 625 crew.
3. Performance Jump-5. 2-G. Power plant-5. 3,000-EP. Agility-0. [5]
4. Electronics Model/6 fib computer. [6]
5. Hardpoints One spinal weapons mount. Twenty-four 50-ton bays. Three hundred-fifty hardpoints. [7]
6. Armament One particle accelerator spinal mount (Factor-N). Twenty-four 50-ton missile bays. One hundred-ninety triple laser turrets organized into 19 batteries. Forty dual fusion gun turrets organized into four batteries. [8]
7. Defenses One hundred-thirty triple sandcaster turrets organized into 13 batteries. Nuclear damper (Factor-5). Meson screen (Factor-6). Armored hull (Factor-5). [9]
8. Craft Eighty light fighters. Two launch tubes. Four 400-ton fuel shuttles. Miscellaneous small craft. [10]
9. Fuel Treatment Integral fuel scoops and on-board fuel purification plant. Design concepts make the ship depend on fuel shuttles rather than skim fuel directly. [11]
10. Cost MCr42,797.0532 standard. MCr34,237.643 in quantity. [12]
11. Construction Time 50 months singly; 34 months in quantity. [13]
12. Comments A fleet specification issued in 1077 calling for a ship platform for the newly developed Penbody MA-21 Meson gun resulted in a proposal from the design firm of Bowen and Masters for the conversion of the surviving Azhanti class hulls to meet the specification. twelve vessels still in service as fleet auxiliaries and sixteen of the twenty vessels in ordinary were deem suitable for the modernization, which proceeded from 1078 to 1090.

The upgraded ships were redesignated as Frontier Cruisers in recognition of their anticipated role as the local core of the first line of defense on the frontiers of the Imperium. Initially, all 28 ships were paired to form 14 cruiser divisions (CruDivs 117 to 128, inclusive), but CruDivs 118, 119, and 127 were soon broken up to provide individual ships for moderate threat regions.

History & Background (Dossier)

Comments: The Azhanti High Lightning is an obsolete multi-purpose cruiser capable of a variety of different functions. Most notable is the ship's high jump (Jump-5) capability, which gives it great reactive mobility. It is this quality that has kept the ship in service in spite of its inferior agility and weaponry. [14]

Several examples of the ship have been transferred to the Scout Service and to friendly client-states. Much of the remaining examples of the class were refurbished to the above specifications and now serve as Frontier Cruisers on the Imperial borders. [15]

Selected Class History

The class had an initial production order of 100, and the Azhanti High Lightning was first laid down in 991. By the conclusion of the Solomani Rim War 69 had been completed, and an additional 23 were finished in the immediate post-war period, and the remaining 8 were canceled.

Twenty one ships were lost in action during the war, while an additional five vessels in drydock awaiting extensive repairs at the time of the armistice were paid off and scrapped. In the 46 years following the war, three more Lightning class ships were lost in the course of routine duty. Four ships were turned over to allied powers, generally with reduced weaponry, and five examples were transferred to the IISS for use as exploratory cruisers or fast messengers. In 1048, all 54 surviving examples still in Imperial Naval service were retired from active duty, with 20 vessels place in ordinary (reserve/mothballed status), 16 converted to non-combat roles (primarily tanker duty and training), six sold to commercial concerns (one with weaponry intact), and the remaining 12 scrapped.

Azhanti class CruDivs were assigned to three major area of potential trouble: the Solomani Rim, the Spinward Marches border with the Zhodani, and the Gateway to the turbulent client-states on the trailing frontier. Eleven ships have been lost since modernization was begun in 1070, and two ships have been paid off.

Class Naming Practice/s & Peculiarities

No information yet available.

Selected Variant Types & Classes

Frontier Cruisers:

References & Contributors (Sources)

This article has metadata.
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.
  1. ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 10.
  2. ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 10.
  3. ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 31.
  4. ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 31.
  5. ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 31.
  6. ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 31.
  7. ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 31.
  8. ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 31.
  9. ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 31.
  10. ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 31.
  11. ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 31.
  12. ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 31.
  13. ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 31.
  14. ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 31.
  15. ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 31.
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