Subcraft

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

A Subcraft is a smaller ship carried within a larger ship.

• Most subcraft are boats and smallcraft, although larger FTL-capable bigcraft are possible, but used much less often.

---

Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information:
Starship:

• Starship User Types
  • Civilian Ship
  • Military Ship
  • Non-Commercial Vessel
  • Paramilitary Ship

• Advanced Ship Classifications
  • Ship Mission Code / Supraclass
  • Ship Type Code / Superclass
  • Ship Class Code / Class
  • Model (TL)
  • Bloc (Lot)

• Basic Ship Classifications
  • Adventure Class Ship
  • Battle Class Ship
  • Capital Ship
  • Fleet Class Ship
  • Size-Role Classification
  • Subcapital Ship
  • QSP
  • USP
  • World Class Ship

• Ships by Function
  • Bigcraft
  • Boat
  • Capital Ship
  • Largecraft
  • Non-starship
  • Smallcraft
  • Spaceplane
  • Spaceship
  • Starship
  • Subcapital Ship
  • Subcraft
  • System Craft
  • Warship

Speed of Travel

• Astronomical Unit (AU)
• FTL
• Light Speed (c)
• Light-week (lw)
• Light-year (ly)
• NAFAL (STL)
• Parsec (pc)

---

• Jump Drive
  • Jump Drive Key Resources
    • Lanthanum
    • Zuchai Crystal
  • Jump Drive Lore
    • Droptanks
    • Jump Bridge
    • Jump Damper
    • Jump Dimming
    • Jump Drive History
    • Jump Projector
    • Jump Space
    • Misjump

---

Description (Specifications)

The terms subcraft and smallcraft have semantic overlap in meaning. Subcraft can come in any size. Smallcraft cannot. Smallcraft always weight less then one hundred tons.

And there are similar issues with subcraft carriers.

• Militarized subcraft carriers are known as Carriers or Tenders.
• Civilian subcraft carriers are typically known as Ship Transporters or Tenders.

Naval Ship Synopsis by Size-Role

These vary in tonnage and in their intended function or role.

Ship Classification by Size
#	Type	Tonnage	Examples	Remarks
1.	Smallcraft	0 to 99 tons	Shuttle Gig Fighter	Smallcraft are typically Subcraft, designed to be carried by carrier craft.
2.	Spacecraft	100 tons or larger	SDB Rider Monitor	Spacecraft are in-system vessels, lacking interstellar drives. Some Spacecraft are Subcraft, designed to be carried by carrier craft.
3.	Adventure Class Ships (ACS)	100 to 2,499 tons	Merchant Escort Mercenary Cruiser	Adventure Class ships are usually jump-capable. They serve many roles including customs, patrol, planetary defense, tramp freighters, etc.
4.	Battle Class Ships (BCS)	2,500 to about 1,000,000 tons	Cruiser Bulk Trader Battleship Sleeper Ship	Battle Class ships are warships. They are usually jump-capable. Such ships require major investment and only service major roles including megacorporate interstellar trade, warships, Capital Ships, and major endeavors.
5.	World Class Ships (WCS)	Larger than 1,000,000 tons	Loeskalth planetoid generation ship.	World Class ships are beyond expensive and represent suprapolity-level investment. They take many years to build. This class represents immense World-Ships, very large Super Dreadnoughts, Superweapons, etc. Operational staff are typically residents as much as crew. These ships are interacted with as worlds or events, rather than ships.

Ubiquitous Subcraft Usage

However, practically speaking, almost any craft can dock a subcraft to an airlock, docking point, or hangar. And when it comes to drones, they can be deployed from a standard missile rack or tube as well. In this sense, a vast variety of craft can deploy subcraft of varying sizes and types.

Impromptu Subcraft Carriers

Larger cargo vessels typically can transport entire ships, vehicles, subcraft, bigcraft, largecraft, and other forms of craft in vast numbers. Under the right conditions, many can launch and/or recover them as well. Almost any container ship can be converted into an impromptu subcraft carrier in times of need.

Dedicated Subcraft Carriers

The primary difference is that a dedicated carrier, tender, or ship transporter possesses dedicated facilities to launch, recover, track, coordinate operations, communicate, support pilots, support service personnel, and otherwise maintain subcraft operations over vast distances, time durations, and areas of influence.

There is a tremendous difference between a top of the line launch tube and a simple cargo airlock. A dedicated hangar space is vastly superior to an unpressurized cargo bay. A dedicated subcraft carrier will vastly outperform an impromptu subcraft carrier the vast majority of the time.

History & Background (Dossier)

No information yet available.

TL:4-6 Epoch Carriers

No information yet available.

TL:7-9 Epoch Carriers

No information yet available.

TL:10-12 Epoch Carriers

No information yet available.

TL:13-15 Epoch Carriers

No information yet available.

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 Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• T5 Core Rules
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science