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Orca-class Space Transport (STR)

Class History:

• 40,663 Total built by Kawasaki Naval Yard (2050-2070)
• 26 Destroyed Transient War 2057
• 1 Destroyed Varauta War 2064
• 35,899 Destroyed 4^th Robotech War 2063-2068
• 122 Missing
• 40 Scrapped
• 4,575 In Service 2070

Ship's complement:

• Ships' crew (100 men)
• Space Naval air group (40 men)
• Life support limits are for a full combat complement and about 4,800 supernumeraries (5,000 men total).

Note: The given numbers are approximations; the exact number varied somewhat due to operational realities and different ships.

Dimensions:

• Length: 500 meters overall
• Height: 40 meters overall
• Width: 70 meters overall
• Fuel Mass: 40,000 metric tons
• Operational mass (typical): 2,200,000 metric tons

Propulsion systems:

• Main power system(1): RRD Mk11 anti-matter Reflex furnace. The powerplant of the Orca-class vessel can deliver up to 250 Terawatts of power, and can operate for two hours at maximum power before overheat initiates autoshutdown.
• Maneuvering thrusters (10): Overtechnology MRT-6 Fusion-Plasma Reaction Thrusters with steerable nozzles on the bow(2), stern (2), sides (2 per), top and bottom (2 per).
• Reaction-mass thrusters (2): Shizuma MRE-14 Fusion-Plasma Reaction Thrusters with anti-matter energizer in the rear of the engineering section of the ship in a straight horizontal bank.
• Anti-gravity system (1): 3 Shizuma Drive Behemoth anti-gravity pods.
• Sublight drive (2): Europa Drive GDD-7 local monopolar-induced gravitic space-time distortion drive.
• Space fold (1): RRD Mk16b 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 Mk16b was created by placing two Mk16 drives in tandem to increase the fold mass.
• Planetary capabilities: The Orca-class has atmospheric capabilities through its reaction thrusters and anti-gravity system. The ships' lower body has several retractable landing struts that have sufficient strength to let the ship land on them, although the landing ground should be as firm as possible (granite is recommended). The ship would float in an ocean, and this is the preferred method of landing.

Endurance and mobility limits:

• The dry stores endurance is two months maximum; after that, the Orca needs to restock. Water stores are recycled almost totally. Due to their frequent rendezvous with larger ships and planets, the Orcas are usually well-stocked with fresh foods.
• The mecha consumables supplies (mainly missiles) are extremely limited; the Orca is unable to sustain continuous combat operations for much more than a single day. 
• At full power, the main propulsion systems can produce up to 40 Giganewtons of thrust at a minimal reaction mass efficiency profile, or as little as 784 Meganewtons of thrust at a maximum efficiency setting. At lower power levels, these thrusts are commensurately smaller.
• At full power, the Orca-class can achieve a maximum delta-v of 214 kps at the cruising acceleration of 0.1 gees, a maximum delta-v of 42.8 kps at the battle acceleration of .81G, and a delta-v of at most 13.4 kps at the flank acceleration of 2.0G. At lower power levels, these ranges are commensurately smaller.
• Sublight drive acceleration is 800 g, but the vessel's maneuverability is reduced to such a degree that only minor course corrections are possible. Typical cruising speed is .15c.
• The Mk16b fold systems are not designed to be used for folds of distances greater than approximately 5 kiloparsecs, for safety reasons. If longer voyages are required, the ships must conduct multiple fold jumps.
• The maximum atmospheric speed is Mach 1. The maximum hover time on the anti-gravity systems is limited only by maintenance requirements.

Weapon systems:

• Europa RIC-12 reaper ion cannon turret(1): The reaper cannon delivers 4.5 GJ of energy with a range of around 75,000 km, but at a faster rate of fire of around once every three seconds. The cannon delivers charged atomic particles that impact a target and release radiation and large amounts of heat melting the armor. This cannon is also very effective against shields because the radiation interferes with the harmonics of the shield by delivering EM pulses with the radiation. A single dual barrel turret is mounted on top of the forward section of the ship.
• Bofors PL-7 point defense turrets (10): Mounted on the main hull behind movable panels. These standard RDF weapons can fire 53 MJ of particle energy four times per second at a range of up to 20 km. These turrets are placed on the forward section (3), middle section (4), and engineering (3).

Air group and mecha complement:

(Circa 2055)

• 15 VF-11 Thunderbolt Veritech fighter

(Circa 2063)

• 15 VF-19 Excalibur Veritech fighter

Note: The given numbers are approximations; the exact number and type of mecha varied somewhat due to operational realities and different ships.

Electronics Systems:

• Hughes DSP-6 pinpoint barrier defense system(1): Uses four movable disks of force field, conformal to the ship's surface, to repel light torpedo attacks, or particle beam fire.

Design notes:

History:

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