Varyag Type: Carrier In class: 40 In service: 2651 Mass: 800,000 Sail Integrity: 4 Thrust: 3/5 Fuel: 10,000 tons Structural Integrity: 100 Armor: 1600 tons of standard armor (100+10 fore and aft, 110+10 elsewhere) Docking Collars: 2 Fighters: 108 Small Craft: 12 Crew: 400 Lifeboats: 100 Escape Pods: 0 Grav Decks: 2 250 meter Cargo: 140,010 Bay 1: Small Craft (12) 2 doors Bay 2: Cargo (140,010) 2 doors Bay 3: Fighters (108) 6 doors Other equipment none Weapons: Heatsinks: 582 Forward 6 LRM 20s Fore Left/Fore Right 1 Naval Autocannon 30 6 LRM 20s Left Broadside/Right Broadside 2 Naval Autocannon 30s Aft Left/Aft Right 2 Naval Autocannon 30s 6 LRM 20s Aft 6 LRM 20s Ammo: 750 rounds of Naval Autocannon ammunition 1080 volleys of LRM 20 ammunition Overview: The Varyag was a product of the restrictions placed on the house fleets by the Star League in 2650. At the time, the Free Worlds League was opperating on a building plan tagged the Frost Program, which ultimately called for an enourmous fleet of some one hundred Sian class battlecruisers alongside a nearly equal number of Atreus class battleships opperating as the main punch of the fleet. Backing these up would be an ambitious (if as yet unrealized) carrier design capable of carrying as many as eight regiments of fightercraft. Then the new restrictions hit, and the League was forced to make some difficult choices. With the limits imposed on the Marik fleet by the Star League, the Frost Program became simply impossible. However, unwilling to give up on the underlying principles of the project, the League instead embarked on a revised program (which some, with a sense of really bad humor, tagged as the Mildly Cold Dew Program). Under this program the twelve Sian class battlecruisers currently under construction would be completed as fighter carriers, though they would be much more humble than the originally planned design. Capabilities: The Varyag actually suffers a great deal as a result of military politics. Many naval officers (especially the so called "Battleship Admirals") saw carriers as a serious threat to the status quo. As a result, the Varyag (as well as the Themistocles class light carrier) was something of a compromise design. The main compromise was a rather light armament. Ten heavy naval cannons make up the sum total of the ship's naval weaponry, and this is further hampered by an insufficient cooling system. This armament is adequate to fend off some destroyers and most smaller ships, however against a larger opponent the Varyag can quickly find itself outmatched. This was justified on the theory (heavily espoused by the battleship admirals) that carriers were meant to serve as launch platforms for fighters, not as front line combatants. It is worth noting that the Varyag could actually accomodate another ten heavy guns easily without compromising its ability to conduct carrier operations one bit. It is clear, however, that such an armament would have been completely unacceptable to many in the FWL fleet. The principle weapon of the Varyag is without a doubt its fighter complement. Space for two full regiments of fighters was included in the design, giving the ship an exceptional strike capability. For defense against hostile fighters, a network of LRM 20 racks was added to the design. The Varyag has the same hull as the Sian, and as a consequence is similarly armored, though for unknown reasons the armor was redistributed somewhat. What the ship does have in abundance is space for supplies. Ten thousand tons of fuel not only amply supplies the ship's needs, but those of its fighter complement as well. Just over one hundred and forty thousand tons of cargo space likewise leaves plenty of room for stores, not only to meet the Varyag's needs, but those of her escorts. [Editor's note: that was one of the justifications for the limited cargo space of the Alexander class destroyer. Since the ship would be opperating alongside Varyag class carriers, a large cargo capacity was considered uneccessary] [On an unrelated note, nobody is really sure why the Varyag happens to carry so many lifeboats. One popular theory was that the Free Worlds League had perfected some kind of guided weapon system similar to the Star League's Adcap, which would be launched from a modified lifeboat bay. However there is no evidence of such a weapon ever being used by the League. Another theory espoused by Rear Admiral Phillip Montague of the SLDF was that should a good sized ship get past the Varyag's escorts, every man in the crew would almost certainly start looking for lifeboats, so the designers made sure to include as many as possible.] Deployment The first twelve Varyags were completed in fairly rapid succession starting in 2651. Ironically, the first combat action the class would see was against the SLDF. In 2664, a task force centered around the carrier Moskva in the Leyda system recieved a distress signal from the destroyer Alkyon, reporting that it was under attack by an unknown enemy warship. The task force quickly moved in to aid the Alkyon, but failed to arrive in time to prevent the crippling of the warship. The attacker, identified as an SLDF Naga class destroyer, did not respond to the hails of the approaching ships, instead executing a high G burn directly at the Moskva. The unidentifed Naga was able to deliver a punishing barrage of naval gauss and PPC fire and slip out of range before the Moskva could launch fighters, inflicting moderate damage to the carrier's port side. It was only after about another ten minutes of skirmishes between the Naga and one of the Moskva's escorting frigates that communications between the ships were established. The Naga identified herself as the SLS Amelia (Captain Phillip Montague commanding), and reported that the Alkyon had been covertly conducting acts of piracy against the Magistry of Canopus and Free Worlds League (a later investigation would reveal that the commander of the Alkyon was in the pocket of the Selaj family). With this information in hand, the Amelia had moved in to deal with the problem. When the Moskva and her escorts had moved in to help the Alkyon, the captain of the Amelia had assumed that they too were part of the conspiracy and acted accordingly. Ultimately, both the SLDF and Free Worlds League decided to quietly let the incident pass, though the colorful Phillip Montague was promoted right off of the Amelia and assigned to the planning and strategy division where he couldn't do any more imediate dammage. [Editor's note: The very fact that the SLDF didn't fire the infamous Captain Phil for that incident speaks volumes. Many believed that Phillip Montague had such a knack for combat tactics that he was simply too valuable for the SLDF to loose no matter what messes he tended to cause. Recently, however, reports filed about the incident and quietly shoved aside have indicated that he was probably right about the Moskva. There are indications that the Moskva's captain and most of her crew were in fact in league with the Selaj family. If Montague had known about this in advance, then it casts the whole incident in a completely different light. Did Captain Phil know? And more importantly, did the Free Worlds League? Nobody can really be sure. It is worth noting, however, that in 2695 the Captain General christened the newest Dido class frigate the Phillip Montague, "in honor of the man's twenty years of service in protecting the League from pirates and seperatist forces." An intersting decision considering he is best known in the League for shooting at one of their carriers.] Despite a rather poor showing against the Amelia, the League was pleased with its new carrier and continued production, ultimately producing forty vessels. These craft proved to be a dangerous advantage for the Captain General during the Free Worlds League civil war when the majority sided with her against Oliver Marik. It was during this conflict that a new concept, the Integrated Carrier Battlegroup, recieved its first trial by fire. This force, composed of four Varyag class carriers, a mixed fast task group composed of Dido class frigates and Alexander class destroyers, a close screening force of Krupny class AA ships and a mixed bag of older destroyers and frigates, proved to be a powerful and flexible force, scoring several impressive victories over more traditional battleships and battlecruisers. Later, during the First Succession War, the eight active ICBs would prove devastating against the ponderous fleets of House Steiner. However, the sheer ferocity of the Succession Wars would claim the Varyags just like they did so many other ships. None of the class would survive the First Succession War.