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Mammoth

Mammoth TRO3057r.png
Mammoth
Production information
Manufacturer Deller-Bingham-Fouts[1]

Federated-Boeing Interstellar[2]


Kathil Shipworks[3]


Krester's Ship Construction[4]


New Syrtis Shipyards[1][5]


Tengo Aerospace[1]

Production Year 2658 (2808 for "standard" version)[6]
Use Cargo Carrier
Type Civilian Spheroid
Tech Base Inner Sphere
Technical specifications
Mass 52,000 tons
Structural Integrity 20
Length 277 meters
Width 277 meters
Height 170.6 meters
Drive System Bally Tech Super X40
Safe Thrust 1.5 g
Max Thrust 2.5 g
Fuel (tons) 420 tons
Fuel (days) 50.2 days
Armament
Armor 30 tons standard
Fore: 8
Sides: 6
Aft: 5
Crew 35[7]
  • 6 Officers
  • 27 Enlisted
  • 2 Gunners

(Crew Types)[8]

  • 3 Pilots
  • 6 Engineers
  • 26 Secondary Engineers

Bay Personnel: 20

Escape Pods/Life Boats 6/0
Heat Sinks 153
BV (1.0) 1,390[9]
BV (2.0) 1,061


Description[edit]

The largest DropShip capable of landing on a planet, the Mammoth-Class is the mainstay of bulk cargo transportation across the Inner Sphere. Originally designed by Krester's Ship Construction, the Mammoth design was sold to foreign customers, and its construction thus continued after the company's demise.[4]

The most unusual feature of the Mammoth is the use of four smaller separate drive units attached to the outside of the hull instead of a single internal drive system, each capable of being disconnected via explosive bolts and jettisoned or shut down during an emergency to protect the ship. This safety arrangement can help the vessel survive an overloaded or otherwise dangerous drive unit, but must be done in pairs or the thrust imbalance will send the ship into an uncontrolled spin and crush the crew against the vessel's inner bulkheads. Each drive pod can be independently operated from a small interior control room, though with no attitude control or navigation systems, usage as a separate vessel is not recommended. Landing when seperated is thus impossible and spaceflight difficult, and most control rooms are sealed and/or deactivated to avoid the costly rejoining procedure. This drive setup frees up even more space for cargo, even at the cost of ironically small and simple crew accommodations, including 30 double occupancy rooms for most of the crew, while eight single occupancy rooms are set aside for the senior officers.[7][10]

Five times the size of the Overlord, most Mammoths are in service only with the largest megacorporations and the Successor State militaries, some of which have modified the design as a hydrogen fuel tanker (not to be confused with the visually similar Aqueduct). The high costs of operating and maintaining a Mammoth restrict their use, so they are a fairly uncommon sight overall, though they are found plying all major trade routes.[7] Through the Succession Wars, as with most advanced technology, the lack of spare parts was the Mammoths greatest challenge, and vessels were often scavenged for parts to keep others in working order.[10]

Armament[edit]

Armed purely as a defensive measure, the high monetary value of the Mammoth and any cargo insulates the vessel from the need to call upon the single nose-mounted large laser, the large and medium laser on each lower angle, and the two small lasers mounted directly aft.

Cargo[edit]

The Mammoth has five massive cargo decks, each capable of holding a little more than 7,000 tons of cargo. If so inclined, seven battalions of 252 BattleMechs could be carried, though as cargo and subject to timeframes of loading and unloading that the lack of dedicated 'Mech berths requires.[10] Two 300-ton cargo lifts link all five decks, with the lowest deck containing massive doors for loading and unloading on the ground, and the second deck featuring four airlocks for transferring cargo while in space. Four Small Craft bays and a pair of zero-G rated Industrial Exoskeletons are located next to each lift to aid in cargo transfer in orbit.[7]

Named Vessels[edit]

See Category:Individual Mammoth-class DropShips

Notes[edit]

  • There are contradicting dates for the introduction of the Mammoth. The Master Unit List states that it was originally introduced in 2658. This is in line with the write-up for Krester's Ship Construction in The Star League (p. 165) which states that the first prototypes of the Behemoth and the Mammoth made their maiden flights as early as 2650, and goes on to narrate how Krester's had been promised by the Terran Hegemony that they would be able to sell both designs to other powers, only for both designs to be blacklisted nonetheless which supposedly led to the theft of two prototypes in 2650 [sic] and Krester's being subsequently allowed to sell the designs abroad after all because they would be reverse engineered; since this is before the first prototypes reportedly made their maiden flights (in 2658), either the 2650 or the 2658 date is presumably wrong.

Technical Readout: 3057 Revised meanwhile states an introduction date of 2808 for the Mammoth; the MUL echoes this by giving 2808 for the "standard" Mammoth as opposed to the 2658 version which therefore seems to be different from the later standard version in some undisclosed way (the same mass is stated for both designs).

  • In German products, the unit's proper name was translated to Mammut.

Gallery[edit]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 DropShips and JumpShips: ComStar Intelligence Summary, p. 15
  2. Handbook: House Davion, p. 181
  3. Handbook: House Davion, p. 182
  4. 4.0 4.1 The Star League, p. 165
  5. Handbook: House Davion, p. 183
  6. MUL online date for the Mammoth
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Technical Readout: 3057 Revised, p.64
  8. BattleSpace rulebook, p. 63
  9. AeroTech 2 Record Sheets, p. 262
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 DropShips and JumpShips: ComStar Intelligence Summary, p. 62

Bibliography[edit]