In actuality, the Gettysburg class was not developed from previous battleship designs and might more appropriately be considered a "Super Cruiser" due to having been developed from the basic cruiser design. As first commissioned, the Gettysburg class battlecruisers were large and imposing vessels. Their primary role was to act as flagships and command and control vessels. Often they were assigned to carrier battle fleets as the command ship for the escort group.
The Battlecruisers were constructed in the mid Twenty-Six Forties as a solution to the Confederation's need for a large ship to fill the role originally performed by battleships but able to keep up with the carrier battle groups which were becoming the mainstay of the Confederation forces. The Gettysburg class is just slightly slower than a Bengal class carrier. The ships were built with extremely heavy shielding similar to battleships but sacrificed armor to be able to keep up with the carriers they were designed to escort.
These fine ships were larger in length than the Bengal class carriers and in addition to the ship's own weaponry, the Gettysburg carries a pair of fighter squadrons. Normally these ships carried a squadron of Hornet light fighters and a light squadron of Scimitar class medium fighters. In the last years of service, some of the battlecruisers had their Scimitar class fighters replaced by the much more capable Rapier fighters. When carrying pure medium class fighters, the battlecruiser is limited to sixteen fighters. Raptor class heavy fighters were not carried on the battlecruisers due to size limitations. If carrying heavy fighters, the ship would be limited to a single squadron.
For the main weaponry, the Gettysburg class carries a battery of four triple-mounted heavy neutron cannons for twelve main guns total. The ship also carries eight heavy lasers and twenty point defense lasers. The ships were excellent in the role of a heavy defense escort for carriers. Finally, the battlecruiser mounts a cruise missile launcher and carries thirty anti-ship missiles.
In combat, these ships were greatly feared and many Kilrathi Fralthi cruisers and Ralari destroyers met their fate under the guns of these battleships. Famous ships of the class include the Vicksburg, the Austin, and the Houston. The TCS Austin, a Gettysburg-class ship, served as Vice Admiral Tolwyn's flagship during the defense of Firekka and the First Enigma Campaigns. It returned surviving pilots from the TCS Tiger's Claw home after the loss of that carrier.
Production of the battlecruiser class stopped in the late part of the Twenty-Six Fifties. The surviving members of the class were retired and put into mothball status. The official reason was that it would be too expensive to upgrade the class fully to modern standards but several senior fleet officers continue to push for the reactivation and upgrade of these battlecruisers. Upgrades would include replacing the neutron cannons with anti-matter cannons like was done with Waterloo class cruisers and the upgrading of the shields to modern standards. A possible upgrade is the replacement of the engines with more powerful engines. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that these upgrade will ever take place due to cost considerations.
Notes of game conversion:
Because of the nature of the Video Game / Novel series "Wing Commander" and the needs to put the starship into game mechanics, the starship has several modification compared to the Video Game and Novels. The most important change it to change top speed to acceleration. Like fighters in Star Wars and original Battlestar Galactica, the fighters appear to act as if they are in the atmosphere even when they operating in space. This is incorrect. The Television series Babylon 5 and the new Battlestar Galactic are good series to watch to get a clearer idea on how space vehicles would probably maneuver although still not a perfect perspective. The starship has been modified to uses my revised phase world starship rules and can hold their own against most C.A.F and Kreeghor starships. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.
Model Type: CB-22 Gettysburg class Battle Cruiser
Vehicle Type: Battlecruiser
Crew: 2350 (125 Officers, 165 Chief Petty Officers, and 2060
Enlisted)
Troops / Passengers: 40 fighter pilots. Has flag facilities
for up to 200 additional personnel
Vehicles:
Fighter Compliment (Can be replaced by 16 medium fighters):
| 12 | Light Starfighters (F-36 Hornet Light Fighters) | |
| 8 | Medium Starfighters (F-32 Scimitar Medium Fighters or F-44 Rapier Medium Fighters) |
| 2 | General Purpose Shuttles |
M.D.C. By Location:
| Triple Heavy Neutron Cannon Turrets (4): | 800 each | |
| Heavy Laser Cannon Turrets (8): | 250 each | |
| Light Point Defense Laser Cannon mounts (20): | 100 each | |
| Cruise Missile Launchers (1): | 400 | |
| Hanger Bay (1): | 1,200 each | |
| [1] Bridge: | 6,000 | |
| [1] Auxiliary Bridge: | 6,000 | |
| [2] Engineering section: | 8,500 | |
| Main Engines (2): | 4,200 each | |
| [3] Main Body: | 26,400 | |
| [4] Variable Force Field: | 4,000 per side (24,000 Total) |
Notes:
[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon
to hit the bridge through the ships armor. This ship also has an auxiliary
bridge. Even if both bridges are destroyed, the ship can still be piloted
from engineering but ship is -3 to dodge and all weapon systems will be
at local control. Weapon hits near the bridge that do not penetrate the
ships integrity can injure crew members on or near the bridge.
[2] Destroying the engineering section means that ship FTL propulsion
systems are destroyed and maximum sublight acceleration is reduced to ten
percent of normal (using navigational thrusters).
[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the Carrier out
of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support
and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating
wreck.
[4] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one
shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (1,200 M.D.C.) per melee.
Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship
to travel up to 60 percent of the speed of light. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate
at the rate of 0.32 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: The fleet carrier cannot operate within
an atmosphere. If the ship enters an atmosphere, it will crash.
Stardrive: The fleet carrier mounts a jump drive which is capable
of jumping instantly from a fixed point in a system to another fixed point
in a system. These points are weaknesses in the fabric of space and have
been mapped in most cases. Fuel is hydrogen which the battlecruiser scoops
from space to fuel the jump engine.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either Drive system.
The battlecruiser has about four years worth of supplies on board.
Statistical Data:
Length: 2,460.6 feet (750 meters)
Height: 656.8 feet (200.2 meters) for hull and 707.7 feet (215.7
meters) including antenna
Width: 1,049.9 feet (320 meters)
Weight: 68,340 Tons (62,000 metric tons) fully loaded
Power System: Fusion with a 20 year life span. The ship normally
only goes 5 years between refueling.
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows
for carrying up to 5,000 tons of Cargo in addition to standard compliment
of supplies and ammunition. Each enlisted crew member has a small locker
for personal items and uniforms. Ships officers have more space for personal
items. Most of the ships spaces are take up by extra ammunition, armor,
troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.
Market Cost: The Gettysburg class Battlecruiser costs around
45 billion credits to manufacture not including fighter compliment. Fighter
compliment cost approximately 380 million credits.
WEAPON SYSTEMS:
[ Phase World TM, Kreeghor TM, and CAF TM are trademarks owned by Kevin
Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]
[ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and
Palladium Books Inc.]
[ Wing Commander copyright © Origin Productions]
By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).
Rifts Conversion Copyright © 2005, Kitsune. All rights reserved.