Jumbo
Sarna News
| |
| Jumbo | |
| Production information | |
| Manufacturer | Various |
| Production Year | 2423 (see Notes)[1] |
| Use | Cargo Ship |
| Type | Civilian Spheroid |
| Tech Base | Inner Sphere |
| Technical specifications | |
| Mass | 14,800 tons |
| Structural Integrity | 11 |
| Length | 94 meters |
| Width | 82 meters |
| Height | 89 meters |
| Safe Thrust | 1.5 g |
| Max Thrust | 2.5 g |
| Fuel (tons) | 400 tons |
| Fuel (days) | 94.79 |
| Armament |
|
| Armor | 32.5 tons standard |
| Crew | 52
Bay Personnel: 10 |
| Passengers | Second Class: 8 Steerage: 10 |
| Escape Pods/Life Boats | 2/4 |
| Heat Sinks | 67 single |
| BV (2.0) | 1,857[1] |
Description[edit]
The first Jumbo, introduced by the Terran Hegemony in the early decades of the twenty-fifth century (specifically, 2423 is given as the production year), predates the introduction of the DropShip concept with K-F Booms and JumpShip hardpoints, and must thus have been a type of Dropshuttle which in turn means it cannot have been larger than 5,000 tons, as opposed to the 14,800 ton DropShip now associated with the name (see also Notes below).
However, as manufacturers in every interstellar nation took cues from the original Terran Hegemony design and began to build their own versions, "Jumbo" soon became a term for a general concept rather than the name of a specific ship class, describing a spheroid cargo vessel that sought to maximize carrying capacity combined with sturdy design that could withstand rough handling. It was born out of a combination of the rapid maturation of naval technologies and design philosophies that the colonization boom of the twenty-second and twenty-third centuries had seen along with the spiraling demand to move ever-increasing quantities of cargo to more and more worlds. Jumbos would answer the escalating shipping costs that a constantly expanding human sphere was generating.[2]
After the introduction of the DropShip concept which increased the maximum size of non-jump capable vessels from previously 5,000 tons to a theoretical 100,000 tons, the Jumbo concept migrated to DropShips. Considered the pinnacle of DropShip engineering for centuries, in the twenty-eighth century the Jumbo DropShips were eventually supplanted by the more modern (albeit somewhat smaller) Mule class DropShip which was apparently not counted among the "Jumbo" designs despite following the same general design philosophy. Still, Jumbo DropShips would remain in service until worn out, serving throughout the Succession Wars and well into the thirty-first century, with some reportedly still in operation as of 3085.[2]
Despite being designed for the civilian market, the Jumbo-class of DropShips would move more than their share of military cargo as well during the closing years of the Age of War and the Reunification War, as these hardy ships were capable of surviving limited combat operations and rough handling, and would appear at such events as the Malagrotta Incident and Case AMBER.[2][3][4]
Given the history of the Jumbo, its nature as a generic concept instead of a specific class, and the evolution of technology (particularly the fact that the Dictator, which debuted in 2600, was the first known DropShip type to reach a mass of 9,000 tons otherwise) it seems reasonable to assume that the stats associated with the Jumbo as described in this article refer its final evolution stage around the introduction of the Mule in 2737, and earlier iterations of the concept were probably considerably smaller than 14,800 tons and more in line with common DropShip sizes in their respective time even though it would typically have been a Jumbo design that pushed the envelope at any given time.
Armament & Capacities[edit]
The 14,800 ton version of the Jumbo mounts two medium lasers in every arc, with two AC/5s mounted in the nose and another AC/5 in each of the forward arcs. Four tons of ammunition keep the AC/5s supplied for brief engagements, and the ship's hull is protected by 32.5 tons of standard armor. The Jumbo carries four life boats and two escape pods. While the two small craft bays aboard the Jumbo were largely a holdover from previous DropShip designs that used small ships and cargo shuttles for unloading, these bays also give operators some flexibility when using a Jumbo-class vessel.[2]
Cargo[edit]
- Bay 1: Small Craft (2), 2 doors
- Bay 2: Cargo (1,331 tons), 4 doors
- Bay 3: Cargo (4,400 tons), 2 doors
- Bay 4: Cargo (4,400 tons), 2 doors
Notes[edit]
- The Jumbo class DropShip as described is an anachronism, as the purported introduction year of 2423 for a 14,800 ton DropShip predates the introduction of DropShips with K-F Booms by 39 years. Before that, DropShips did not exist as a class; their precursors were Dropshuttles which however were limited to a mass/size of no more than 5,000 tons as mandated by the maximum that the Dropshuttle Bays on the primitive proto-JumpShips that carried them could handle. The Jumbo is described to have almost three times the maximum mass for a Dropshuttle. In its original 2423 version, the Jumbo could therefore have been neither a Dropshuttle nor a DropShip in the technical sense. Given that it was considered a group of ship classes more than any one specific class, it seems reasonable to assume the term was always applied to the biggest spheroid cargo ships, though the largest known DropShip class did not exceed 9,000 tons until well into the 27th century.
Another possible explanation could be that Jumbos existed as in-system vessels that were incapable of traveling or being carried to other star systems, but would be retrofitted into a proper DropShip design at some point once the technology became available after 2460.