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Designation:
Ford-class Space Factory Vessel (SFV)
Names and Disposition:
(NNS = Newport News Shipyard)
SFV-01 |
|
UES Ford |
Commissioned NNS, 2051 |
In service. |
SFV-02 |
|
UES Morgan |
Commissioned NNS, 2052 |
In service. |
SFV-03 |
|
UES Carnegie |
Commissioned NNS, 2053 |
In service. |
SFV-04 |
|
UES Vanderbilt |
Commissioned NNS, 2054 |
In service. |
SFV-05 |
|
UES Rockefeller |
Commissioned NNS, 2055 |
Destroyed Varauta War, 2064 |
SFV-06 |
|
UES Guggenheim |
Commissioned NNS, 2056 |
In service. |
SFV-07 |
|
UES Ishikawa |
Commissioned NNS, 2057 |
In service. |
SFV-08 |
|
UES Harold |
Commissioned NNS, 2058 |
In service. |
SFV-09 |
|
UES Dupont |
Commissioned NNS, 2059 |
Destroyed 4th Robotech War, 2066 |
SFV-10 |
|
UES Rolfsen |
Commissioned NNS, 2060 |
In service. |
Ships' Complement:
- Ships' crew (5000 men)
- Space Naval air group (1600 men)
- Space Marine unit (20,000 men)
- Civilians (225,000 men)
- Life support limits are for a full combat complement and about 672,000
supernumeraries (700,000 men total).
Note: The given numbers are approximations; the
exact number of personnel varied somewhat due to operational realities and
different ships.
Dimensions:
- Length: 2000 meters excluding rear boom
7700 meters with rear boom.
7950 meters
overall with Raptor-class Destroyer
- Height: 600 meters overall
- Width: 2200 meters overall
- Fuel Mass: 180,000,000 metric tons
- Operational mass (typical): 3,000,000,000 metric tons without Raptor-class
Destroyer
3,000,160,000 metric tons without Raptor-class Destroyer
Propulsion Systems:
- Main power system: RRD Mk 9 anti-matter-fueled Reflex
furnace. The powerplant can deliver up to 20 Exawatts of power, and can
operate for ten hours minutes at maximum power before overheat initiates
autoshutdown.
- Maneuvering thrusters (24): Overtechnology MRT-05
fusion-plasma reaction thruster clusters with steerable nozzles mounted across the hull of the
ship.
- Reaction-mass thrusters (4): Rolls Royce MRE-12
Fusion-Plasma Reaction Thrusters with anti-matter energizer. These engines
are mounted in the engine blocks of the ship three per block.
- Secondary thrusters (20): Pratt&Whitney ARE-7
Fusion-Plasma Reaction Thrusters with anti-matter energizer mounted on top
and below the main engines, ten per block.
- Anti-gravity system: 40 Europa Drive Behemoth
anti-gravity pods.
- Sublight drive (5): Shizuma Drive GDD-9 local,
monopolar-induced gravitic space-time distortion drive.
- Space fold (1): RRD Mk19z
spacefold. This system is conformal to the vessels surface. The problem with
the vast majority of the previous generation of fold systems was that the
fold bubble weakened the state of the structure to the extent that they
needed a refit after only five years of service. As such the RDF mandated
the use of conformal systems similar to the old Zentraedi systems which also
allows for much higher speeds. The Mk19z was created by placing fifty
Mk19 drives in together.
- Planetary capabilities: The Ford-class has atmospheric
capabilities through its reaction thrusters and anti-gravity system.
However, the ship cannot land on solid ground due to the design of the hull
without serious damage. A water landing is possible however.
Endurance and Mobility Limits:
- The dry stores endurance is limited to only two months with a full crew
complement. The extensive recycling installations ensured that only
incidental biomass losses needed to be replenished. Water stores were
recycled almost completely. The ship however needs to be constantly supplied
foodstuffs and usually is by one of the many colony ships that accompany a
colony fleet such as the Sunflower-class.
- The mecha consumables supplies (mainly missiles) are theoretically
unlimited as the ship sits on the production point and as long as raw
material is supplied, it can continue to produce missiles for both fighters
and its own missile bays.
- At full power, the main propulsion systems can produce up to 80
Teranewtons of thrust at a minimal reaction mass efficiency profile, or as
little as 1.6 Teranewtons of thrust at a maximum efficiency setting. At
lower power levels, these thrusts are commensurately smaller.
- At full power, the Ford-class can achieve a maximum delta-v of 254 kps at
the cruising acceleration of 0.1G, a maximum delta-v of 50.8 kps at the
battle acceleration of 1.0G, and a delta-v of at most 15.9 kps at the
flank acceleration of 2.0G. At lower power levels, these ranges are
commensurately smaller.
- Sublight drive acceleration is 500 g, but the vessel's maneuverability is
reduced to such a degree that only minor course corrections are possible.
Typical cruising speed is .15 c.
- The fold systems are not navigationally guaranteed for any single jump
beyond 5 kiloparsecs. If longer voyages are required, the ships must conduct
multiple fold jumps.
- The maximum sustained atmospheric speed is limited to sub-sonic speeds. A
higher speed could be attained while accelerating to orbit, or in
emergencies, but this stressed the engines to above their sustainable heat
tolerances. The maximum hover time on the anti-gravity systems was limited
only by maintenance requirements.
Weapon Systems:
Circa 2063
- Bofors PL-7 point defense turrets (40): Mounted behind
movable panels in the main hull. These standard RDF weapons can fire 53 MJ of
particle energy four times per second at a range of up to 20 km.
- Lockheed SLBM launchers (8): The missiles are specialized
Lockheed SLBM-11
Archer (Space Launched Ballistic Missiles) with nuclear warheads in the
5 MT range. The delta-v capacity of the missiles is 351.6 kps, and the
magazine can store 12 missiles per launcher. These launchers are mounted on
the sides of the main body, four per side.
- Raytheon Mk 267 surface to air missile launchers (20): A
missile launcher mounted in a twelve tube pop-up turret, firing
anti-mecha/missile missiles, though the projectiles can guide on point-blank
enemy ships. When the missiles are released they are already on their
intercept vectors, or very close to them. The launcher is designed to
fire the SA-12
Arrow medium range surface-to-air missile. Each turret has a reload time
of 6 seconds and a magazine with a 1200 round capacity. These turrets are mounted
behind armor plating and pop up when firing and are mounted on the main hull.
Electronics Systems and Special Equipment:
- Hughes DSP-6 pinpoint barrier defense system(4): Uses
four movable disks of force field, conformal to the ship's surface, to repel
light torpedo attacks, or particle beam fire.
- Starship manufacturing facilities: The Ford-class serve as the
primary manufacturing centers for colony fleets whose missions can last up to
30 years. While not usually employed in the production of starships, the
Ford-class does have one starship bay for manufacturing smaller starships.
- Starship repair and refit facilities: The Ford-class contained
modest starship maintenance facilities. Most RDF Space Navy ships can be
repaired and refitted thanks to the long boom on the aft of the ship serving
as the drydock. The throughput of ships differed with their damage
or disrepair, but typically 1 to 2 ships could be refitted and repaired in one
month.
- Naval auxiliary production and maintenance facilities:
The Ford-class contained sufficient production lines for Auxiliaries to
equip and restock all starships under construction, repair or refit with
their allotted numbers of Auxiliaries. In one month, these production lines
could built 3 total.
- Mecha production lines: The Ford-class could produce
a fair amount of mecha to equip the new construction, restock the ships under
repair and refit, and replace attrition within the fleet. In one
week, the mecha production lines could produce 50 mecha of all types.
- Ammunition production lines: The Ford-class contained
modest ammunition production lines. For example, over 2,000 missiles
of all types could be produced in one week.
- The Ford-class can also make a wide variety of lesser military goods (body
armor, hand weapons, etc.) as well as a civilian goods for the colonists to
consume and enjoy.
Air group and mecha complement:
(circa 2055)
(Space Naval Air Group)
(Space Marine Unit)
(circa 2063)
(Space Naval Air Group)
(Space Marine Unit)
Note: The given numbers are approximations; the exact number and
type of mecha varied somewhat due to operational realities and different ships.
Additionally there are always a number of mecha in storage awaiting delivery to
various locations across the fleet. These mecha can be made combat ready
in a short period of time, though there is a lack of trained combat pilots
onboard the factory as most pilots are shuttle pilots or ferry pilots.
Design Notes:
Maintenance
and repair is a major problem facing all long range colony missions. Typical
colony missions are expected to last anywhere from 10 to 100 years, however the
expected endurance of colony ships without refits is only 20 to 30 years.
Carrying a large enough supply of spare parts for all mecha and starships in a
colony mission was unfeasible, so the Newport News Shipyards needed to come up
with a way for fleets to manufacture their own parts and supplies on a continual
basis while light years away from the nearest supply depot. The Ford-class Space
Factory Vessel is designed specifically to fulfill this role in colony
operations.
As the name implies the Ford-class facilities are floating factories in
space. The lower levels of the ship contain a complete refinery that can extract
all necessary metals and raw materials from space debris such as asteroids and
comets. These materials are then raised to the core of the starship, which
contains a complete manufacturing facility based on technology recovered from
the factory satellite captured by the RDF in October 2013. The automated factory
can manufacture almost any component, from miniaturized microchips to complete
mecha. The factory can even manufacture from scratch capital starships. However
this process can take months depending on the complexity of the starship (a Japan-class
battle section will take almost a year to build from scratch while utilizing
the complete resources of the platform during that time). The Ford-class
facility is of course capable of conducting routine repair and maintenance on
starships as well to prolong their active lifespan. A large beam is mounted from
the rear of the ship which serves as a drydock for starship repair, refit, and
construction.
The
Ford-class facilities are also capable of developing new products and weapons.
The crew complement of the ship includes a trained engineering staff of over
1,000 along with the most advanced CADAM (computer-aided design and
manufacturing) systems available to the RDF. In addition Ford-class maintain
constant contact with other colony missions as well as RDF headquarters via the
Galaxy Network communications net, allowing new designs to be quickly
disseminated across the RDF Space Navy fleet as they are developed. This permits
even the most distant colony missions to keep their equipment and mecha up to
date with the latest technology available.
The largest drawback to the Ford-class platforms is their lack of defensive
systems. Unlike other colony ships they can only mate with a single Raptor-class
Heavy Destroyer for protection. For this reason Ford-class are always
escorted by a small fleet of ships to protect them against attack.
History:
Ford-class have become a critical part of the colonization strategy, and
every colony mission for the past 25 years has included a manufacturing
platforms as part of their fleet.
Return the RDF
Space Navy
Vessel Index
Robotech (R) is the property of Harmony Gold. This document is in no way
intended to infringe upon their rights.
Layout adapted from Robotech
Reference Guide
Content by Jeffrey R. Spillner
Copyright © 1998-2002 Jeffrey R. Spillner
Page Last Updated on January 21, 2002 @ 14:00 GMT