BARD PAPER: SARA7002 | Home | Traveller | BARD | SARA |
Dawn-Class Clipper (Type I & Type II)
design by Lewis Roberts
BARD PAPER: SARA7002 | Home | Traveller | BARD | SARA |
design by Lewis Roberts
Transstar understood as early as 1200 that the new RC would produce huge amounts of trade in the future. Transstar's existing fleet of relic ships doesn't have the carrying capacity to serve these new markets. Transstar would like to purchase new ships, but the RC's shipyards are overtaxed with the burden of creating the Aurora family of ships; the original Aurora, the Maggart, the Lancer, the Fussiler the Leviathan, and the Belladonna classes. All of which share common design features and share many parts. The cost of opening up another production line is prohibitive, so Transstar designed another modification of the Aurora-Class. This one would be for peacful trade inside of the RC. Originally the designers kept the Dawn-Class as a 2G ship, but it was pointed out that the ship would be significantly cheaper if it was restricted to 1G. The savings would be from the smaller power plant and HePLaR chamber required. Plans for a 2G model were also created, in case the RCN wanted to purchase Dawns, for possible use as a non-front line ship such as fleet tanker, carrier, battle tender or supply ship.
The Dawns and the Aurora have the same hull, the only exterior difference is that the Dawn doesn't have laser turrets, and the muzzle of the Meson gun has been plated over. The interior is slightly different, the staterooms have been moved around a bit, and the cargo bay has been enlarged. The Manta was replaced by a 400 ton fuel module. The Dawn will be going from starport to starport where it can purchase fuel modules full of refined fuel. The designers removed the Aurora's weapon systems and in its place installed more cargo, more fuel and staterooms.
These changes allowed the Dawn to be cheaper, also it allows the Dawn to carry 1000 tons of cargo modules. These can easily be mounted and unmounted from the ship, Transstar can have the cargo modules preloaded before the ship arrives in system. An arriving ship will only have to stay insystem long enough, to unhook the existing cargo modules, install new modules to peform and any maintinence on the jump drives. Early estimates, suggest that this can all be down in 3 days, rather than the normal week. This will save time and in the shipping business time is money.
As the ships share many components with the Aurora family, the price of these parts will come down. Also Transstar will not have to train mechanics, engineers and pilots to operate the equipment. They will be able to hire ex-RCN personal, who were trained on the other members of the Aurora family. This will save considerable training expense.
Also in times of War the ships can be equipped with missle and laser modules, turning it into somewhat of a war ship. It can be equipped with 9 fighter modules allowing it to mount 36 Wildbat fighters, allowing to fill in as a light carrier. It could even be equipped with Manticore-Class Battle Riders, and be a light Battle Tender. It will never be a front line unit slugging it out with Heavy Cruisers, but can fulfill a useful military role.
On 254-1201 Transstar agreed to purchase the first 3 Dawn Clippers from Standard Astronics on Aubaine. One of the chief inducments to getting into the construction queue was that Transstar agreed to pay the purchase price up front. This will allow Standard Astronics to construct more slips and expand their construction sites. Part of the purchase price was a shipment of refined lanthanum that was stranded on Fija, from before the Collapse. To raise additional funds, Transstar offered bonds secured by its fleet of relic starships. This was an early test of the fledgling RC markets and the optimism of RC investors. It was also the largest private bond offering in the Old Expanses in 70 years. The enthusiasm of investors was furthered by the many public statements of Transstar board members that they intended to buy back the bonds over the course of their lifetime as funds became available. This reassured investors that the bonds would continue to be tradeable at a good price. The purchase of the Dawn-Class Clippers has strained Transstar's budget, reducing the amount of capital that is available for aquisition of other assets, but in the long run the Clippers should make a healthy profit.
Transstar's first Dawn clipper will be named for Kether Friedman, captain of the Hokka who died when it was temporarily lost during the collapse. Subsequent Dawn Clippers and other ships Transstar buys will be named for other people who gave their lives in the service of the Dawn League or the Coalition. The first Dawn Clipper should have its maiden voyage in mid 1203.
| Displacment: 600/1080/2080 | Hull Armor: 20 |
| Length: 144 meters | Volume: 8400/14,000/28,000 |
| Price: MCr519.524 | Target Size: M |
| Configuration: Open Frame USL | Tech Level: 12 |
| Mass (Loaded/Empty): 17542.27/11647.4 | |
| Displacment: 600/1080/2080 | Hull Armor: 20 |
| Length: 144 meters | Volume: 8400/14,000/28,000 |
| Price: MCr399.46 | Target Size: M |
| Configuration: Open Frame USL | Tech Level: 12 |
| Mass (Loaded/Empty): 16809.07/10022.7 | |