NAME: Daedelus-class Submersible Assault Ship (SLV)

Warning:
This Opt was produced ONLY for the use with X-Wing Alliance  
This file will only work for X-Wing Alliance Version 2.02 ONLY!

Author of the OPT's:		James "Macross" Bailey
Author of the DXF:		James "Macross" Bailey
Textures by:			James "Macross" Bailey
E-mail:				XWAMacross@xoommail.com
Date produced:			February 3, 2002
Produced by:			Gregory "VeritechCEO" Bess

Files included:
Daedelus.opt
readme.txt
daedelus.shp

Installation:  Use MXvTED to install the Daedelus shp file.  Place the 
Daedelus opt in the xwa/flighmodels folder.

Design notes (taken from unofficial Robotech guide.  See links page 
for url.)

The Daedalus class was shaped much like the Wasp- and Tarawa-class 
landing ships as built for the pre-unification US Navy. The vessels had
a rectangular upper deck and hull on top of a standard ship hull. This 
enabled the Daedalus-class to have a more efficient pressure hull than 
the Prometheus-class, which was based on the US supercarriers. As a 
result, the Daedalus-class had superior underwater performance in 
comparison with the Prometheus-class.

The ship was topped by a full length flat deck, with only two very 
small conning towers sticking out from it. At the bow this deck angles 
into a 60 degree descent towards the waterline. This sloping deck can 
be opened upwards, enabling the mecha landing ramp to be extended to 
the beach and mecha to be marched from the insides of the ship to their
objectives. The hull also features two retractable side ports amidships.
Mecha can use these ports to egress the ship underwater, but since they 
were not equipped with landing ramps, the ports were useless in a beach 
landing operation. To aid the vessel in its carrier configuration, the 
upper deck also has three large aircraft/mecha elevators.

The internals of the vessel were much like any other naval vessel, with 
one exception. The upper 36 meters of the forward two-thirds of the 
vessel formed a giant mecha hangar. This hangar was divided by 
bulkheads and decks into a two level mecha garage, but in terms of its 
pressure hull, was a single compartment. This gigantic hangar housed 
the mecha and aircraft of the vessel. The bay opened directly on the 
forward mecha landing ramp and the side ports. A removable ramp can 
connected the upper part of the bay with the lower part, enabling 
mecha to navigate the hangar under their own power.

Below these were man-sized decks housing crew, armories, magazines, 
workshops and all the rest needed to keep over 2,000 men in fighting 
shape for a deployment length of up to 12 months. They also included 
the engineering spaces. Fission reactors were used rather than Reflex 
furnaces, because at the time of design, these latter were only limited
available. The entire side protection system against torpedo hits 
doubled as a ballast tank, and additionally, what appeared to be the 
lowest deck level was in fact also a ballast tank. All this tankage was 
needed to overcome the enormous flotation ability inherent in so large 
a vessel.

Due to extensive automation these giant vessels needed less crew than 
their smaller predecessors. With a crew of 2150, these vessels had 
almost half the complement of their ancestors.

The armament installed on these vessels was less capable than that 
onboard the Prometheus carriers, and ships' losses were higher as a 
result.

As submarines these ships were hampered by their assault design, and 
their speed was a fraction of what nuclear submarines could make. In 
addition, there was no way these ships could run silently, and 
therefore no silencing measures were seriously considered. Hence, in a 
conflict with Earth navies the class would be one large target for the 
opponents' submarines, or would need an entire flotilla of attack 
submarines as escort. It was thought however, that space borne invaders 
would not have the necessary sonar expertise to track these noisy 
vessels. This assumption proved to be correct.

History (also taken from guide.):

The Daedalus-class was developed in parallel with the Prometheus-class 
of submersible aircraft carriers, but unlike that class, the Daedalus 
was intended to fight Earth forces. This contingency was deemed 
necessary by a number of high-ranking politicians in the New United 
Earth Government, to keep formerly sovereign nations in line. When the 
first proposals for the Prometheus were drafted, the political 
department of the Navy wondered how it would enforce order on the Earth 
after a possible alien attack. For this, they would need surviving 
forces, and the best way for armed forces to survive would be to be 
invisible from orbit: hence, the submersible nature of the Daedalus.

The Daedalus-class was an object of antipathy for line officers, who 
found a large vulnerable landing ship to be more of a hindrance than a 
blessing if they had to fight aliens on the planet. If there were ever 
an invasion, the Prometheus would be far more useful than a ship which 
could only deploy a small number of troops on a coast line. To quell 
their protests, the designers of the Daedalus suggested a 'carrier' 
configuration for the Daedalus, using VTOL capable aircraft, thus 
converting the ships into auxiliary carriers. While this was not the 
solution the Admirality wanted, it was forced to accept it, and in 
later years the surviving vessels were configured for this role, which 
meant a shipyard stay as the conning towers had to be replaced.

After the Zentraedi holocaust the surviving ships were proven less 
effective than the Prometheus carriers, and there were no additional 
units built.

One vessel, the Daedalus, was present at Macross Island and attending 
the launch festivities on that day. The Daedalus was included in the 
SDF-1 spacefold and gave excellent service after that, but no longer as
a seagoing vessel. The eight other ships survived the Holocaust, and 
were used by the RDF as auxiliary carriers. Their lesser armament and 
mecha operations led to less charmed lives than the Prometheus class, 
though. The Agamemnon was attacked by Fighter pods off the Brazilian 
coast just when a Seraum Awhaug (MPA-5 Moloch) missile salvo occupied 
the defenses. The Veritechs managed to destroy enough malcontent 
Fighter Pods to keep the ship from sinking, but the damage was so heavy 
that the hull was scrapped at Oslo two years later. Ajax and Ulysses 
succumbed to a Quel Quallie squadron off the Peruvian coast and a 
Regult/Glaug force on the Jamaican beach during a rare amphibian 
landing operation, respectively. After the Ulysses debacle, no more 
Daedalus-class ships were used as amphibious assault ships. The other 
vessels, now numbering only five, survived the uprisings. During the 
Second Robotech War the ships were once again pressed into service. 
Orion was sunk by a Mothership with orbital fire in the South Atlantic 
and Iphigenia was gutted by Assault Carriers and Bioroids while 
defending Tokyo from attack. The Jason was sunk during the Invid 
invasion, while on guard duty off the Scandinavian coast. Perseus 
evaded the Invid for 19 months by staying deep and raiding successive 
supply depots, but was finally sighted and destroyed by Invid forces 
when it tried to restock its exhausted supplies from an Antarctic 
depot. The Achilles disappeared in the Pacific at the time of the Invid
Invasion, together with the Prometheus-class carrier Phoebe. Nothing 
has been heard from them since, though rumor had it she engaged in 
guerrilla warfare against the Invid throughout the occupation. However, 
it is unlikely the ships could have survived for any appreciable amount
of time without spares and ammunition supplies, and their fate is 
unknown at this time, with even the remaining Invid claiming ignorance 
regarding their fate.
