MC80 Star Cruiser
| MC80_Cruiser.jpg MC80 Star Cruiser | |
| Production Information | |
|---|---|
| Class |
Cruiser |
| Model | |
| Manufacturer |
Mon Calamari Shipyards |
| Technical Specifications | |
| Length |
1,200 meters to 1,400+ meters |
| MGLT |
60 MGLT |
| Engine Units |
|
| Hyperdrive Rating |
|
| Shielding |
Serridge SEAL Shielding System |
| Armament |
|
| Complement |
|
| Crew |
|
| Minimum Crew |
1,230 |
| Passengers |
1,200 troops |
| Cargo Capacity |
200,000 metric tons |
| Usage | |
| Roles |
|
Contents
Characteristics[edit]
Dimensions[edit]
No two Mon Calamari ships were identical, each being individually designed and constructed, but they were gradually standardized by the extensive refitting and adjustments made to the hulls when the vessels were converted for combat duty.
Even the Home One and her sisters formed a uniform design type: cylindrical hulls, with a tapered bow, hangar-bays amidships, and bulbous stern mounting ten huge sublight thrusters: four M8.0-StarDrive main thrusters and six M4.5-StarDrive maneuvering engines.
Home One was originally designed for deep-space exploration, and was constructed with massive panoramic viewports, which had to be removed when she was rebuilt as a warship. This may have been true of her sister-ships as well.
The Home One was described as the largest Star Cruiser in the Rebel Alliance fleet as it gathered for the Battle of Endor, and may indicate a slight variation in size and tonnage between the sister-ships. Taken together, ships of this type were arguably the most prominent capital ships in the Rebellion, serving in the role of command ships as well as battleships, Like most warships, all MC80s were classified as cruisers in one standard system and capital ships in another.
Crew Complement[edit]
The full crew of Home One consisted of 5,156 personnel, plus 279 gunners, and 1,200 troops; this may have been common to all the ships of the group. A minimum operating crew of 1,230 was shared by Home One, and by her sister-ship Independence.
Hangar Complement[edit]
The number of starfighters carried appeared to vary: whereas Home One is said to have carried ten squadrons,[10] the Independence is not known to have carried more than three in Rebel service,[source?] and was limited to just two squadrons of X-wings in later years under the New Republic. It is unknown whether the hangar facilities were the same on different ships, although three of the known vessels had a large hangar on the starboard side of the hull. Internal design differences may also have affected cargo capacity, which was 20,000 metric tons aboard Home One.
Offensive and Defensive Systems[edit]
The combat capabilities of the class are unclear, other than being noted as having more armor and armaments than the Liberty-type, and being subsequently more rare.
Home One is known to have carried heavy hull armor and powerful shields, comparable to an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, but she is explicitly said to have carried the heaviest armor and weaponry of any ship at the Battle of Endor, which means that the other ships of the class must have been less-well protected. With regard to offensive weaponry, the sources are inconsistent.
Some references say that the ship's armament included twenty-nine heavy turbolaser emplacements and thirty-six ion cannons, although others give forty-eight turbolaser batteries and twenty ion cannon batteries, the same as a standard MC80 Star Cruiser. There is no contradiction to the statement that Home One mounted six tractor beam projectors, but this isn't known to be present on all ships of the class.
Likewise, more is known about the internal layout of the Independence than her sister-ships, but it is not known how much of this information can be applied to other ships.
Bridge Tower[edit]
Home One-type ships appeared to have multiple command pods scattered across each ship, protruding from both the dorsal and ventral areas of the hull. One of these served as the command center for the ship. Main bridge
The commanding officer could be situated in a chair attached to a swiveling robotic arm that overlooked both the bridge crew as well as a panoramic window out into space. The bridge contained a CS-Mark 12 holoprojector table situated in the middle of a briefing room section, which crew members used to monitor events during a battle.
The Home One, like almost all early Mon Cal cruisers, retained her original, species-specific bridge control systems, meaning that, while the bulk of the crew was drawn from the many species that made up the Rebellion, the command crew was made up entirely of Mon Calamari. There is some evidence, however, that one ship of the class was modified for a human command crew.
History[edit]
Only three Home One-type ships have been named: Home One herself, Independence, and Defiance. All began military service in the early period of the Galactic Civil War, some time prior to the Battle of Yavin.
As mentioned above, the Home One was originally designed for deep-space exploration, and was among the first ships selected for militarization when the Mon Calamari joined the Rebellion, being selected by Ackbar as his personal flagship. It is probable that her sister-ships had a similar pre-war role, and they seem to have been refitted for war at around the same time, and shared a similar prominence when they entered Rebel service.
While all the Mon Cal vessels provided valuable capital ship firepower for the under-resourced Rebel Alliance, it appears that the Home One class served specifically as high-level command ships, with at least two of the three known ships acting as a mobile headquarters for the Alliance High Command.
Independence served in this role before the Battle of Yavin, and Home One from the Battle of Hoth onwards. The third known ship of the class, Defiance, is less directly linked to the High Command, and seems to have served primarily as Admiral Nammo's flagship, but there are occasions where she may have been the fleet command ship in closest proximity to the Rebel leadership: in the evacuation of the High Command from Yavin 4, and in Anoat Sector immediately after the Battle of Hoth.
During the climactic Battle of Endor, most of the Alliance's naval resources were gathered into their offensive fleet, and the Home One-type ships added their firepower to the effort, being the largest Rebel capital ships used in the engagement. Independence served as communications ship, while Defiance was placed in the rearguard, and Ackbar used Home One as his fleet command ship. It appears that General Crix Madine also commanded a division of the fleet from one of the class, possibly Independence. At least one cruiser of the type was destroyed during the battle, however, as the second victim of the second Death Star's superlaser. This was possibly the Defiance, which is not recorded subsequently.
Source[edit]
- Credit to Wookieepedia for the above information
