UPF Supply & Fast Combat Support Ships

 By Jason Combs

The development of the supply ship dates back to water navy warships. With the assistance of supply ships, navies could extend the range of their warships. These craft serve as support to the fleets and strike forces, not engaging directly in the battles but rather assisting damaged vessels in repairs, rearming depleted weapon systems, serving refueling missions and medical assistance to injured ship’s crews.

Part of the mission for supply ships is repair. 25% of each crew consists of engineers and technicians. The repair teams can directly access the combat ship via the airlock or launches.  Each ship also has a high number of work pods – 1 for each hull size. These may be used to repair armor or breaches in the hull. The engineers are able to bring a combat ship up to mission ready status in hours or days as opposed to days or weeks.

They have minor parts onboard, motherboards, wiring, etc but, they cannot replace an entire laser battery or astrogation system. The computer technicians are able to provide new programs but, not replace a destroyed computer.

These ships have adequate stores onboard to reload most combat ships. They can rearm any ship from a fighter to a heavy cruiser. They also can reload ICM launchers and water tanks for Masking Screens. For the later, the crew cross load piping conduit over to the combat ship and fills up the water tank.

end_of_the_road_by_5ofnovember-d5tctrt-500w.jpg [1] End of the Road [2] by Filip Dudex (5thofnovember [3])

Supply ships can cross-load fuel pellets to other combat ships low on fuel. They are equipped with multiple refueling gantries to refuel and resupply multiple ships at a time. The gantries are comparable to assembly lines. The fuel pellets are packed in lead containers and placed on the gantry which pulls it to the receiving ship. The crew unloads it and their engineers can then load the pellets into the engines.

They are also equipped with more extensive medical facilities than smaller ships can provide. The medical staff is able to receive wounded personnel or load into a launch and board the combat ship and treat the wounded there. Those that cannot be helped are placed into freeze fields. Finally, minor dental services can also be provided for those in need.

Furthermore, these ships are designed with hangars. They contain their Workpods, launches and lifeboat (supply ship only).

Because the supply ship is not a combat unit, but rather a support vessel, such ships are lightly armed, with self-defense systems – laser batteries. 

The fast combat support ship [4] is the second class of the Supply Ship series. It was developed by the UPF as a logistics support vessel for patrols & task forces. These vessels fulfill the same role as Supply Ships but, are half the size. They are capable of high speed and able keep up with Frigates and Assault Scouts.

Ship Statistics

UPF Protecteur class Supply Ship 

Protecteur.png [5]

Hull Size:  8

Hull Points:  40

Engines:  2 Atomic B

ADF:  3

MR:  3

DCR:  80

Weapons:  2 laser batteries

Defenses:  reflective hull, masking screen, 3 ICMs

Crew: 60 (including additional engineers)

Communication & Sensors: Subspace Radio, Intercom, Radar

Miscellaneous Equipment: 1 lifeboat, 8 escape pods, 8 workpods, 2 launches (10-Man), 2 launches (4-Man)

Reloads: 680 cubic meters* of ammunition

Typical Load: 8 torpedoes (20*), 14 rocket battery salvos (10*), 12 assault rockets (10*), 4 seeker missiles (40*), 10 ICMs (5*), MSx2 (25*)

Refueling Capacity: 24 pellets

Crew

UPF Supply class Fast Combat Support Ship 

FastCombatSupportShip.png [6]

Hull Size:  4

Hull Points:  20

Engines:  1 Atomic A

ADF:  4

MR:  4

DCR:  60

Weapons:  1 laser battery

Defenses:  reflective hull

Crew:  30 (including additional engineers)

Communication & Sensors:  Subspace Radio, Intercom, Radar

Miscellaneous Equipment:  4 escape pods, 4 workpods, 1 launch (10-Man), 1 launch (4-Man)

Reloads:  340 cubic meters* of ammunition

Typical Load:  4 torpedoes (20*), 8 rocket battery salvos (10*), 12 assault rockets (10*), 12 ICMs (5*)

Refueling Capacity:  24 pellets

Crew

Larger Jay's Freighter-532w.png [7]

Ship model [8] by Jay Thruman [9] . Image composition by Eric Winsor.