The Columbia is America's first battleship, although at 15,164 tons, it is small by French and German standards. Designed by the Loren Fryer Shipyards ( LFS), a subsidiary of Trilon, it shows many design similarities with the LFS designed Kennedy Fast Missile Cruiser. Powered by a 180 MW TerraFuse fusion generator, the ship uses the LFS XL-180 Drives, a more powerful verison of the LFS XL-150 Drives used by the Kennedy. The drives give the Columbia a warp efficiency of an incredible 4.00, which is even more incredible when you consider that unlike the slightly faster Kennedy, the Columbia is heavily armored.
The Columbia has an impressive array of armaments, which includes SIM-14 missiles, Big Clip submunitions dispensers, and twin-mount Hyde EA-1000 lasers. The Columbia has hanger space for 9 FS-17A fighters and their support equipment. This space can also be used by other small craft as well. It can also serve as an exploration ship with room for 5 scientists and their labs, and has cartographic, gravitational, and minimal life sensros.
The Columbia was proposed by LFS as a fast, long range warship which could operate in unexplored territory and fight an alien enemy, if needed to, and hold its own against the largest of Earth's warships ( the German Bismark and the French Richelieu battleships). It was approved by the American government in 2297, and its development was accelerated by the Kafer War. This acceleration led to cost overruns which were a major issue in the 2300 elections. the Columbia was launched from LFS's Mars Orbital Shipyards on March, 2302, some 6 months behind schedule. It was still being flight tested in June of 2302 when it was deployed at Beowolf with the Earth Defense Fleet.
At the Battle of Beowolf on July 12, 2302, the Columbia got its "baptism of fire" by engaging the Kafer flagship, a Delta battleship with Suzerain Triumphant Destiny in command, in a 2 hour long slug-fest. This engagement deprived the Kafer forces of a leader for most of the battle and provided the margin of victory for the human defenders in that critical battle. The Columbia has since been referred to as "the ship that saved humanity," and its skipper, Commander Pat Yokum, became America's first war hero in over two centuries. The Columbia was badly battered in the fight and returned to the core after the battle.
The Columbia should be leaving the shipyards again in March, 2303. Consctruction has begun on two other battleships, the Interpid and the Hornet which are due to be launched in late 2303 and 2304 respectively.
If you approach the Columbia by a fighter or a ship's boat, your first impressions on seeing it alone often will be mistaking it for a Kennedy-class cruiser. That illusion disappears when you see the hanger deck, which is sized to handle up to nine small craft.
Within the immensity of the hanger deck ( its volume is in excess of 18,000 cubic meters), you will usually find a number of small tents covering some of the craft in the hanger, and clear plastic tubes running from the tents to the hatches connecting to the main hull hatches. These are used to protect pilots and maintenance workers from the normal vacuum that is maintained in the hanger bay to conserve the air supples aboard Columbia. The tents can be "sprung up" automatically from the deck, either from the craft or the engine room, and be fully pressurized in 20 seconds. The "tunnels" are connected by pressure-suited technicians in the bay itself. The tents and tunnels allow pilots and technicians "shirt-sleeve" access to the fighters and other small craft, while allowing the rest of the hanger to remain in vacuum.
One of the novel features about the Columbia is the ship's laboratories. SPace has been provided for five scientists to engage in full-time research aboard the ship in areas like geology, astronomy, astrophysics, and some life sciences. To support these studies, the Columbia has been equipped with ship cartographic and life sensors, and deployable x-ray and optical telescopes. On exploration missions, the Columbia's HD-5 Scout drones would be replaced by scientific probes. While the equipment may not be up to the standards of an AR-I vessel like the Bayern, the Columbia's labs are among the finest available. It is anticipated that one or more of the Columbia-class will be involved in opening up the Beta Aquilae Sector once the Kafer War is finished.
The Columbia's crew, when not on duty, spend their off hours in the two spin capsules. Because of the cost and complexity of the spin machinery on ship design, it is rarely found outside of military vessels. Since their initial development, spin capsules have had a positive effect on crew health by keeping crew members in a 1g field for at least 10 hours per day. This removes the need for carefully monitored, zero-g re-adaptation excercise programs which is often required for free-fall crewmen to maintain cardiovascular conditioning.
To maintain a 1g field at the furthest extent of the capsules, a spin with an 8.5 second period is maintained. It is stopped for approximately 15 minutes once every 6 hours for shift changes, during which time the capsules' momentum is stored on gyroscopes, which are then used to spin the capsules up again. Transfers while the capsules are spinning are possible, but are neither easy nor pleasant, using a "Coriolis Elevator" to go from supporting supporting capsule spokes to the main hull and back again. The elevator is often used to "christen" new enlisted men ( and some officers) to the Columbia. The ride is intentionally rougher, and the needed motion distress bags are removed from the main elevator ahead of time! ASF Academy Graduates in full dress uniform are often subjected to this christening, to the torrents of laughter from the ship's Petty Officers! In combat situations, the capsules are locked in a stationary, vertical postion.
The capsules hold all of the bunking facilities, kitchens and mess halls, and recreation facilities aboard the Columbia. Although the room arrangement has a definite "up-down" bias because of the ship's pseudo gravity, the rooms are also designed to handle the frequent zero-g situations with plenty of storage space, velcro placed on the walls, and tether supports liberally placed throughout the capsule.
The Columbia was first mentioned in GDW's Invasion sourcebook. While the battleship is useful for a big-scale combat game, it is also capable of performing limited exploratory missions. Venturing alone into hostile space is very possible mission. Players may take part in contact, survey or recon team, much like a Star Trek-type adventure. Interface transport would possibly be by FS-17A fighter, but more likely by a lander ( possibly CIT-IIIA or LC-20).
General Information: Warp Efficiency: 3.16 combat, 4.00 travel Power Plant: 180MW Fusion Fuel: NA Range: 7.7 Mass: 15,164 tons ( unloaded) Cargo Capacity: 3877m^3 Comfort: 0 Emergency Power: Battery, 200 hours Total life support: 200 Expense: Lv 325,766,000
Ship Status Sheet Information: Movement: 6 hexes combat, 8 hexes travel Armor: 3 Screens: 6 Passive Signature: 4 Reflected Signature: Radial: 6 Lateral 7 Target Profile: Radial: +1 Lateral: +2 Passive Sensors: 10 Backup: 6 Active Sensors: 16 Hull Hit Capacity: 145/47/93 Power Plant Hit capacity: 120/24 Crew Compliment: 132 not including troops Damage Control: 15 parties ( 43 engineers) Weapons: 12 double mount Hyde Dynamics EA 1000 lasers in jack turrets ( UTES equipped), x2 +1 dbl; 24 SIM-14 missiles in two bays of 12 missiles each; 2 "Big Clip" submunition dispensors; 2 HD-5 "Scout" sensor drones mounted externally; Targetting Computer: +2 Remote Stations: 4 Small Craft: up to 9 FS-17A fighters or similar sized craft can be launched at a rate of one per minute ( 1 turn).
Turret Firing Arcs: 4 Jack Turrets: x2 +1 dbl Port, Forward Port, Forward 4 Jack Turrets: x2 +1 dbl Starboard, Forward Starboard, Forward 2 Jack Turrets: x2 +1 dbl Port, Port Aft, Aft 2 Jack Turrets: x2 +1 dbl Starboard, Starboard Aft, Aft