Potemkin

Potemkin
Production information
Manufacturer	Riga Interstellar Shipyards
Introduced	2611
Production Year	2611
Use	Troop Cruiser
Tech Base	Inner Sphere
Cost	30,685,446,000 C-Bills
Technical specifications
Mass	1,510,000 tons
Length	1,508 meters
Sail Diameter	1,345 meters
Fuel	25,000 tons
Burn Rate	39.52
Safe Thrust	1 g
Top Thrust	1.5 g
Sail Integrity	6
KF Drive Integrity	29
LF Battery	No
Armament	16x NL45 8x Barracuda 24x Heavy NPPC
Armor	1,363.5 tons Grumman TR8 Ferro-Carbide
DropShip Capacity	25
Crew	395 68 Officers 279 Enlisted 48 Gunners (Crew Types) 135 Pilots / Engineers 90 Junior Officers / Other Crew (Non-Engineers) 31 Secondary Engineers Bay Personnel: 50
Grav Decks	1 x 95 meters diameter
Escape Pods/Life Boats	50/50
Heat Sinks	3,325 double
Structural Integrity	80
BV (1.0)	96,567

Description

The Potemkin-class troop cruiser, also called the "Corncob Cruiser" thanks to its DropShip hardpoint arrangement, was introduced in the early 2600s as a solution to the poorly protected transports of the day. Wanting a way to move a division of troops, Riga Interstellar originally submitted a 750,000-ton vessel that could transport a "mere" 10 Dropships. The SLDF Admirals were pleased but requested a number of modifications. Eight years and eleven redesigns later, the SLDF Quartermaster Command approved the Potemkin for production, with the first, the SLS Potemkin leaving Riga Shipyards in 2611.

Weighing in at one and a half million tons, the Potemkin is larger than many battleships, not only in mass but in sheer volume, with a length well over a kilometer, double that of the largest Succession Wars-era JumpShip, the Monolith. This massive size was built for one purpose: transport. Arranged in five rings around the Potemkin are twenty-five DropShip docking collars, the most of any vessel ever deployed. Thick armor and weaponry fit for a heavy cruiser enable the Potemkin to protect her DropShips with impunity and have helped the design survive the ravages of war and time.

Despite its impressive performance as a mass transport, the Potemkin does have its flaws. The use of a Potemkin, while certainly imposing, runs the risk of it becoming the primary target of opposing forces bent on stranding its attached DropShips. In addition, carrying so many DropShips requires a staggering amount of fuel, further requiring the use of tankers which themselves need protection. Finally, the facilities aboard the ship are geared mostly towards the ship's own crew, the most blatant example being the single 95-meter gravity deck. Extended stays can get uncomfortable for the DropShip crews, left to either mill about on their own vessels or go exploring the Potemkin's lengthy corridors.

Production of the Potemkin ceased in 2781 when improvements in escort tactics and craft made it difficult to justify the deployment of such a large ship. A total of 106 Potemkin were built, though most were decommissioned following the collapse of the Star League. Roughly 30 of the class survived the Amaris coup to depart with General Aleksandr Kerensky on the Exodus. These massive ships were virtual spaceborne cities carrying the civilian families of the SLDF and the home of the first generation of post-EXODUS births. These transports were upgraded with burgeoning Clan technology starting in 2875 and remained in use by the Hell's Horses and Snow Raven Clans in the thirty-second century.

At least one SLDF variant, the LCS Nightwind, remained in the Inner Sphere and served in the First Succession War, and another was in use by ComStar during the Clan Invasion though at least 3067. The Vision of Truth was destroyed in Case White.

Armament

Tasked with protecting up to twenty-five DropShips, the Potemkin is easily capable of fending off all but the largest of enemy craft thanks to its banks of Maxell-45 Naval Lasers and Fusigon-2a Heavy NPPCs. The fore and aft are protected by Barracuda Capital Missiles, a highly accurate and lethal deterrent for those that would attempt flanking or trailing maneuvers. Because at least some of the Potemkin's attached DropShips are usually dedicated assault craft she does not carry aerospace fighters, nor conventional weapons to protect against the same. Ten small craft bays can hold fighters in a pinch but are better used for the small transports they are meant to service.

Cargo

• Star League

  • Bay 1: Small Craft (5), 1 door
  • Bay 2: Small Craft (5), 1 door
  • Bay 3: Cargo (386,362.5 tons), 1 door

• Clan 

  • Bay 1: Small Craft (5), 1 door
  • Bay 2: Small Craft (5), 1 door
  • Bay 3: Cargo (371,414 tons), 1 door

Variants

• Clan Upgrade - As with much of the Star League Defense Force fleet that accompanied the Exodus, the Potemkins that left with General Kerensky still serve in the Clan fleets. Many Potemkin were converted to keep passengers long-term in their holds, which would severely limit their internal cargo space. Beginning in 2875, the Clans began performing upgrades on the class, the most drastic changes being HarJel hull sealing technology and the inclusion of a Lithium-Fusion Battery in exchange for a portion of the cargo space and dropping the armor equipped to 1,212 tons.

After the Jihad, many Potemkin-class ships were modified into mobile habitats known as ArcShips and CargoShips by Clan Sea Fox.

See Also

• List of named Potemkin-class WarShips.

Gallery

• 

  Original Potemkin from TRO:2750

• 

  Clan refit Potemkin from TRO:3057

Notes

• This starship probably was named after the pre-dreadnought battleship Potemkin of World War I.
• The Star League sourcebook states on page 24 that the last Potemkin, the Riga, was decommissioned in 2781 and that the ship had to be recommissioned in 2784 for use in Operation Exodus.

Bibliography

• AeroTech 2 Record Sheets
• BattleSpace
• Field Manual: ComStar
• Field Manual: Crusader Clans
• Field Manual: Updates
• Field Manual: Warden Clans
• First Succession War (sourcebook)
• Hunters of the Deep (Novel)
• Stars in the Time of Dreaming
• Technical Readout: 2750
• Technical Readout: 3057 Revised