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Description
Overview
The original concepts for the CT-24-VII mobile shipyard came about during the development process of the original Kongo Class cruiser. It was realized then that the Commonwealth navy would need a mobile asset to repair its military vessels while they were on the move and potentially out of range of planetary docks. The original mobile dockyards used in this role were built out of converted long-haul freighter chassis and the occasional rare Opathe class carrier chassis. In both cases the conversions were an afterthought and the ability to keep up with an increasingly far-spanning fleet had become problematic. The Kongo chassis was chosen because unlike other variants, it was both big enough, reinforced, and could handle damage. Most of the upper hull remained the same, though a new conning tower was installed giving a better view range for when the ship’s observation decks were needed. Also the taller tower allowed the ship’s communications to go beyond the interference created by the ship’s over-sized engine array.

Unlike the original Kongo class, the mobile shipyard version could not be fitted with a standard drive-ring engine array because it was found that if the vessel was working on the largest commonwealth vessel (the Maasii class carrier) it would not have enough power to move itself, the vessel it was repairing and make any meaningful speed at sub-light or FTL speeds. No one on the project at the time believed that a fully laden Kongo class mobile shipyard could actually maintain an FTL field effect long enough to go any distance which presented a problem. In trials and simulations no matter what was tried, the ship would always power up for FTL lose its field effect stability and end up suffering such great spatial turbulence that it and whatever it was carrying came apart assuming it didn’t violently explode. The solution was found a few years later, with the innovation of the compact helical drive ring installed on the Carondelet class cruisers and carrier hybrids. In this case a drive ring was bent for lack of a better word so that it put twice the number of emissions apparatus in about half the space for the same amount of weight. The CHDR, effectively allowed a ship to generate a field effect equivalent in power to that of a larger vessel which allowed ships with variable tonnages to always make a stable field relative to whatever their current mass and inertia were. For the Kongo class mobile shipyard, it was determined that not only would the Kongo have to move itself, but also whatever it was repairing. Taking the CHDR further Commonwealth naval architects invented a Compact Triple helical Drive Ring system that had the power output to move both the shipyard and up to 700,000 tons of ships, materials and whatever else it might be transporting. This tonnage allowance also meant that the ship yards speed at sub-light which is impressive for a vessel in the cruiser scale, was unaffected just as long as it kept within a reasonable transit limit near the 700,000 ton limit. An odd quirk of the system is that the primary drives once activated at a planetary shipyard are never turned off. The triple helical system is designed to operate constantly for a set number of operating hours (usually about 175,200 hours). Once the drive ring system reaches the 80%-90% point of its total hours the systems output starts to fall off dramatically as wear and tear take their toll on the high powered system. It is normal for these vessels to move to a orbital shipyard for drive module replacement once the engines reach 60-70% expended status and the vessel is then put in damped-idle until the rings fail. Once they do the entire propulsion system is replaced and the working hours counter is reset. Because of this system, engine problems are rare however, the drive rings and a set area of space around them is a no-fly zone vessels, small craft and fighters like because of the sub-space distortion field and the fact that the constant output of the engines also creates gravitational shear that can crush, shred or toss corvettes as though they had no mass. Larger capitols can be ripped apart by the effect specially if the vessel is charging for an FTL jump and the vessels get to close.

As an operational asset, the Kongo Class mobile shipyard is well-liked by its crews because of its durability and lack of design flaws. The vessel has a complement 2,190 crew, of which 270 are part of the vessel’s flight crew who operate the 54 small craft permanently stationed aboard the vessel. As the vessel is a mobile shipyard beneath the main hull it has four rigid material and personnel lifts with extendable light docking collars, six automated repair arms and four articulated docking arms to help hold vessels under repair in place. The automation along with its high number of small craft allows the vessel to recover damaged vessels that are down to 20% structural integrity, it also allows the vessel to strip ruined vessels for materials and re-purpose them for repairs on others. For note a Commonwealth standard orbital shipyard can recover vessels down to a 5% structural integrity status although it takes a few years on average. As a final note the Kongo class mobile ship yard has most of its original cruiser configuration armor and internal frame work, as well as 130 defensive weapons emplacements. While the defense weapons are not anything to be terrified of, the number of them makes the vessel reasonably self-defending against small craft, fighters and small capitols. No naval commander would ever leave these shipyards unguarded so often the shipyards provide Anti-Air, Anti-Missile and Anti-Torpedo support fire for their more combat oriented escorts. Additionally, Due to the vessel's size (800 meters long) the vessels of this class due to their odd appearance and ability to resurrect ruined warships that normally would be written off some have taken to nicknaming the Kongo Class mobile ship yards as "The Reanimator" and certainly if seen at the wrong angle in silhouette, the vessel does resemble something Lovecraft might have conceived.

Deployment (as of 94 AE)

A number of converted Kongo Class mobile ship yards are attached to most fleets as part of their support infrastructure. It is typically the vessels of this class that carry out warship upgrades so they are often fairly close to the front.

[OOC note: Description updated, I hope you all like it.]

Description
Overview
The original concepts for the CT-24-VII mobile shipyard came about during the development process of the original Kongo Class cruiser. It was realized then that the Commonwealth navy would need a mobile asset to repair its military vessels while they were on the move and potentially out of range of planetary docks. The original mobile dockyards used in this role were built out of converted long-haul freighter chassis and the occasional rare Opathe class carrier chassis. In both cases the conversions were an afterthought and the ability to keep up with an increasingly far-spanning fleet had become problematic. The Kongo chassis was chosen because unlike other variants, it was both big enough, reinforced, and could handle damage. Most of the upper hull remained the same, though a new conning tower was installed giving a better view range for when the ship’s observation decks were needed. Also the taller tower allowed the ship’s communications to go beyond the interference created by the ship’s over-sized engine array.

Unlike the original Kongo class, the mobile shipyard version could not be fitted with a standard drive-ring engine array because it was found that if the vessel was working on the largest commonwealth vessel (the Maasii class carrier) it would not have enough power to move itself, the vessel it was repairing and make any meaningful speed at sub-light or FTL speeds. No one on the project at the time believed that a fully laden Kongo class mobile shipyard could actually maintain an FTL field effect long enough to go any distance which presented a problem. In trials and simulations no matter what was tried, the ship would always power up for FTL lose its field effect stability and end up suffering such great spatial turbulence that it and whatever it was carrying came apart assuming it didn’t violently explode. The solution was found a few years later, with the innovation of the compact helical drive ring installed on the Carondelet class cruisers and carrier hybrids. In this case a drive ring was bent for lack of a better word so that it put twice the number of emissions apparatus in about half the space for the same amount of weight. The CHDR, effectively allowed a ship to generate a field effect equivalent in power to that of a larger vessel which allowed ships with variable tonnages to always make a stable field relative to whatever their current mass and inertia were. For the Kongo class mobile shipyard, it was determined that not only would the Kongo have to move itself, but also whatever it was repairing. Taking the CHDR further Commonwealth naval architects invented a Compact Triple helical Drive Ring system that had the power output to move both the shipyard and up to 700,000 tons of ships, materials and whatever else it might be transporting. This tonnage allowance also meant that the ship yards speed at sub-light which is impressive for a vessel in the cruiser scale, was unaffected just as long as it kept within a reasonable transit limit near the 700,000 ton limit. An odd quirk of the system is that the primary drives once activated at a planetary shipyard are never turned off. The triple helical system is designed to operate constantly for a set number of operating hours (usually about 175,200 hours). Once the drive ring system reaches the 80%-90% point of its total hours the systems output starts to fall off dramatically as wear and tear take their toll on the high powered system. It is normal for these vessels to move to a orbital shipyard for drive module replacement once the engines reach 60-70% expended status and the vessel is then put in damped-idle until the rings fail. Once they do the entire propulsion system is replaced and the working hours counter is reset. Because of this system, engine problems are rare however, the drive rings and a set area of space around them is a no-fly zone vessels, small craft and fighters like because of the sub-space distortion field and the fact that the constant output of the engines also creates gravitational shear that can crush, shred or toss corvettes as though they had no mass. Larger capitols can be ripped apart by the effect specially if the vessel is charging for an FTL jump and the vessels get to close.

As an operational asset, the Kongo Class mobile shipyard is well-liked by its crews because of its durability and lack of design flaws. The vessel has a complement 2,190 crew, of which 270 are part of the vessel’s flight crew who operate the 54 small craft permanently stationed aboard the vessel. As the vessel is a mobile shipyard beneath the main hull it has four rigid material and personnel lifts with extendable light docking collars, six automated repair arms and four articulated docking arms to help hold vessels under repair in place. The automation along with its high number of small craft allows the vessel to recover damaged vessels that are down to 20% structural integrity, it also allows the vessel to strip ruined vessels for materials and re-purpose them for repairs on others. For note a Commonwealth standard orbital shipyard can recover vessels down to a 5% structural integrity status although it takes a few years on average. As a final note the Kongo class mobile ship yard has most of its original cruiser configuration armor and internal frame work, as well as 130 defensive weapons emplacements. While the defense weapons are not anything to be terrified of, the number of them makes the vessel reasonably self-defending against small craft, fighters and small capitols. No naval commander would ever leave these shipyards unguarded so often the shipyards provide Anti-Air, Anti-Missile and Anti-Torpedo support fire for their more combat oriented escorts. Additionally, Due to the vessel's size (800 meters long) the vessels of this class due to their odd appearance and ability to resurrect ruined warships that normally would be written off some have taken to nicknaming the Kongo Class mobile ship yards as "The Reanimator" and certainly if seen at the wrong angle in silhouette, the vessel does resemble something Lovecraft might have conceived.

Deployment (as of 94 AE)

A number of converted Kongo Class mobile ship yards are attached to most fleets as part of their support infrastructure. It is typically the vessels of this class that carry out warship upgrades so they are often fairly close to the front.

[OOC note: Description updated, I hope you all like it.]