Warlord Class Mech Transport 
Type: Military Spheroid 
Use: Mech Carrier 
Introduced: 2460 
Mass 12,000 tons 

Fuel: 250 tons 
Tons/Burn Day:1.84 
Safe Thrust: 3 
Maximum Thrust: 5 
Structural Integrity: 12 
Heatsinks: 130 

Armor: 
Fore: 18 
Sides: 16 
Aft: 14 

Crew: 60 
Passengers: 100 
Escape pods: 10 

Bays: 
Bay 1: Mechs (18) 3 doors 
Bay 2: Mechs (18) 3 doors 
Bay 2: Cargo 242 Tons 

Weapons 
Fore: 
2 LRM 20 
2 AC/5 
1 Large Laser 
2 Medium Lasers 

FL/FR: 
4 AC/5 
2 Medium Lasers 

AL/AR: 
2 Large Lasers 
2 Medium Lasers 

Aft: 
2 Medium Lasers 

Ammo: 
30 Tons AC/5 Ammo 
8 Tons LRM 20 Ammo 

Designer’s Notes: 
This represents one of the first mech transports. As such the mech cubes were calculated at 200 tons. 

Overview: 
After developing the Battlemech, the Terran Hegemony needed a method for transporting and deploying Mechs to contested planets. The first mech transport was the Manatee Class, which were simply converted transports. During the invasion of Kentares in 2449, several Manatees were destroyed by Federated Suns Aerospace fighters before they could deploy their mechs, as the ships needed to land in order to off load their cargo. The Hegemony looked into several new methods for deploying mechs, including the use of Armored shuttles, in an attempt to reduce the risk to the transports and Mech forces. However, none of these experiments proved feasible. Eventually the researchers discovered several research files on “drop pallets”, which were developed during the reign of Margaret Cameron. This was a bowl shaped heat shield in which a tank could be dropped from orbit to a planet. The experiments had never advanced past the prototype stage, as the Hegemony could not make the devices small enough and cheap enough for mass deployment. With advances in technology, the engineers were able to revive the concept and adapt it for deploying Battlemechs. The first ships to carry the new Drop Cocoons were several converted Manatees. Once the concept was proven on the Manatees, the Hegemony Armed Forces called for a new ship design that would be capable of deploying an entire battalion of Battlemechs. [Editor’s Note: The refitted Manatees would continue to serve as company transports until the last was retired in 2515.] Krester’s Ship Construction submitted the design that would become the Warlord. Production started at Krester’s facilities in 2460 and was license produced at at least 4 other dropship construction facilities. 

Capabilities: 
The Warlord was the first purpose built mech transport. The design of the Warlord would influence the design of mech carriers for many years to come. The Warlord carried a total of 36 Mech cubicles. The cubicles were arranged so that the ship was compartmentalized into two separate bays each holding 18 mechs. This allowed each bay to be sealed so that in the event of a breach in the hull, it would not expose the entire ship’s hold to vacuum. 

Unlike many later designs, the Warlord did not carry any aerospace fighters as there was no room for the launch bays. This required assigning fighter carriers to escort the Warlord. The lack of integral fighter support would prove fatal when carriers were unavailable to escort the ships. 

To ensure that the crews would be able to function at their peak performance the ships had very comfortable quarters for the crew, mechwarriors and techs. In fact when later designs were introduced the crews of the Warlord would refuse service on them because of their cramped crew quarters. 

The Warlord mounts 40 tons of armor for protection. This proved to be adequate protection for the ship and it’s cargo. The weapons array mounted on the Warlord was light when compared to later designs. The primary weapons are 10 Class 5 autocannons which were used to provide long range defense against enemy fighters. These are backed up by LRMs and a variety of laser systems. The aft quarter was particularly vulnerable as there were few weapons mounted there. 

Deployment: 
The Warlord class was deployed as the primary mech transport for the Hegemony throughout the Age of War and the Reunification War. These ships proved capable of punching through enemy defenses and deploying their cargo of mechs successfully. During the Reunification War, the Hegemony began to provide the Warlord to the other member states of the Star League. In 2585 the SLDF issued a request for a replacement for the Warlord which would result in the Dictator class dropship developed by Earthwerks in the Capellan Confederation. The Warlords continued to serve the SLDF and the House armies until the middle of the 27th Century when the Draconis Combine retired the last active Warlord. None are known to have survived to the present day.