Bathysphere class Prospector's Cutter

Bathysphere class Prospector's Cutter
Homegrown industrial smallcraft serving as a utility craft.
Type: R Freighter
Category	Smallcraft
Size	60 Tons
Hull Configuration	Sphere Hull
Streamlining	Streamlined Hull
Tech Level	TL–14
Engineering
Computer	Model 1/fib
Jump	J-0
Maneuver	1 G
Fuel Treatment	Scoops
Armaments
Hardpoints	1
Offensive	Pulse Laser
Accommodations
Staterooms	2
Personnel
Crew	3
High/Mid Passengers	0
Payload
Cargo	35.4 Tons
Fuel tank	7.5 Tons
Construction
Origin	Third Imperium
Year Operational	1046
Price
Cost	MCr22.5562
Statistics
Quick Ship Profile	R-6S10
Images
Blueprint	No
Illustration	Yes
Source
Canon	Unpublished, fan design
Designer	James Kundert
Design System	Megatraveller
Era	1105
Reference	Fan: James Kundert

The Bathysphere class Prospector's Cutter is a TL–14 noncombatant mining smallcraft. It functions as part of the Inar SysDefCom.

Description

The Bathysphere is a tail-sitter, with its internal decking perpendicular to the direction of thrust. The hull is a 12-meter diameter sphere with the crew area in one deck just below the equator. The upper half is all one cargo hold with the single turret at the top (...connected to the crew deck by an access tube). The entire top half of the hull splits into four hatches hinged at the equator. With all four open the cutter resembles a large flower, but can (...with skilled rope work) almost double its cargo capacity. The bottom half of the sphere contains the drives, fuel, and several smaller cargo compartments.

Image Repository

1. Two Bathysphere class Prospector's Cutters making planetfall.
   

History & Background

The Duchy of Inar based out of Inar (Deneb 1213). has a vibrant TL–14 ship building industry, known for innovative designs and clever Naval Architecture. They are best known for their unstreamlined cylinder hull tail-sitter ship designs and sphere hulled smallcraft specialized for star system defense. They also build some of the finest fusion guns and ECM systems in Imperial Space.

It was designed for Sternmetal Horizons in 1046, and entered the general market in 1052. It serves as an alternative to the well-used Seeker-class for belt prospecting. The Bathysphere has all of the cargo capacity of the Seeker (though it lacks a prospector's buggy), without the added expense (and volume) of a Jump Drive.

This design is meant to operate from a central base, which resupplies the cutter and clears its cargo hold for another run. Sternmetal normally operates the so-called "Company Store" Prospector Tender in this roll. This ship can serve 12 cutters, though it usually carries 10 and fills the last two spots with a pair of Bubble class Fuel Cutters (the tender is unstreamlined).

Bathyspheres (...and their tenders) are fairly common within about 12 parsecs of Inar, but are not seen at Inar itself unless being built or serviced, as Inar has no Planetoid Belts.

Selected Variant Types & Classes

55 Representative Freighter (R) Classes

§ == ( Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information: ) == §

Type R Freighter

A

• Aspirant class Provincial Carrier
• Average Cargo Ship class Cargo Ship

C

• Carrack class Tramp Liner
• Carrus class Shuttle
• Conveyor class Heavy Freighter
• Crawm class Shuttle

D

• Dakaar class Freighter

E

• Empress class Bulk Carrier

F

• Fornorb class Heavy Merchant
• Fortune class Merchant

G

• Garrett Durant class Cargo Hauler

H

• Haddox class Merchant Cruiser
• Hercules class Cargo Transport
• Hummingbird class Courier
• Hummock class Replenishment Ship

J

• Jack Driscoll class Bulk Freighter
• Jade Serpent class Fleet Support Vessel
• Jembyra class Recovery Boat

K

• KU1a Fetch class Launch

• Kyan Maru class Freighter

L

• Last Armada class Heavy Transport
• Leo class Ship's Boat
• Leviathan class Merchant Cruiser
• Liz Zhorka class Light Trader
• Logos Minos class Fleet Scout

M

• Magnadon class Provincial Merchant
• Mariner class Frame Carrier
• Maru class Merchant
• Mountain class Replenishment Ship

O

• Orowani Deep Space class Commercial Tender

P

• Panam Ajax class Logistics Transport
• Panther class Repair Vessel
• Pegasus class Bulk Cargo Carrier
• Pinnace
• Prosperity class Freighter

R

• Runabout class Small Transport

S

• Shuttle
• Siyuihwye class Armored Trader

• Slow Pinnace
• Slow Pinnace
• Solostar class Far Trader
• Suluru class Mercantile Carrier
• Susa class Cargo Carrier
• Swift Dreams class Colonial Transport

T

• Triad class Merchant
• Type AT class Freighter
• Type RAX class Protected Merchant
• Type TC(S) class Free Trader
• Type TI class Merchant
• Type TJ class Merchant

V

• Valiant Conveyor class Liberty Ship

W

• World class Transport

Y

• Yesta class Fleet Logistics Ship

Z

• Zip class Courier Drone
• Zoe Barrett class Trader

1. Type UG class Industrial Smallcraft
   1. Bathysphere class Prospector's Cutter
   2. Prospector class Remote Fuel Scavenger
   3. Tomar class Industrial Mining Launch

References

This article has metadata.

This ship was originally designed using MegaTraveller ship design rules. Marc Miller. Referee's Manual (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), .

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.

• Author: James Kundert - GypsyComet's Shipyard