FACT FILE: Deployment
When assigning SFMC aerospace units to STARFLEET vessels, the
Federation has followed the following distribution pattern. All vessels
which are capable of carrying fighters are divided into four broad categories.
These categories are derived from a number of factors like the vessel's
primary mission, launch and recovery facilities, storage space and crew
capacity. These categories are known as True Carrier, Casual Carrier, Auxiliary
Carrier and Fixed Base.
True Carriers
True Carriers are vessels designed to carry and deploy large
numbers of small craft, either as fighters or transports. Good examples
of this type of vessel include the Frederickstad-class, the Flynt-class
and the Alaska-class. True Carriers are generally assigned from 1 to 3
Wings of aerospace craft.
Casual Carriers
Casual Carriers are vessels which have extensive cargo or shuttle
space, which may be easily converted into launch and recovery areas for
aerospace craft. Good examples of this type of vessel include the Galaxy,
Galaxy II, Entente, Qapla', and Olympus classes.
Casual carriers are generally assigned from 1 to 3 Squadrons of aerospace
craft.
Auxiliary Carriers
Auxiliary Carriers are vessels that are not primarily intended
to act as Carriers, which may have all or some of their complement of small
craft replaced with aerospace craft. These tend to be mission specific
replacements, although there are several vessels which have put their fighters
to good use and chose to retain them. Some examples of vessels which fall
into this class are the Nebula, Ambassador and Oscar classes. Auxiliary
Carriers are generally assigned 1 to 3 Flights of aerospace craft.
Fixed Bases
Starbases and stations have aerospace craft assigned to them
based upon their location, size and general mission. An Ournal class spacedock,
for example, is one of STARFLEET's largest stations and may have a dozen
Wings assigned to it, particularly if it is positioned in some place of
military or strategic value. Pioneer class spacedocks, which are two thirds
the size of the Ournal, will have a much smaller number of aerospace craft
assigned, perhaps as few as 2 Wings. This is primarily because the space
available for pilots to live aboard the spacedock is much less than other
station types.
The number of craft assigned to a planet will vary widely. The defensive needs of each planet, its population size, the number of facilities of strategic value and the overall STARFLEET presence will affect the deployment of units greatly. As a general rule, there will be at least one Squadron assigned to every planet, above and beyond any planetary defense forces that may be available. This unit often has the dual task of defending the planet against invaders and training local planetary defense pilots as well.
Material on this page ruthlessly plagerized from the SFMC's Aerospace Branch Manual by Matt Kelley and available from SFMC Academy.
WebPage designed & maintained by Kevin "MAC" Nulty
