Atlas Transport Support Submarine

The **Atlas Transport Support** is the neutral evolution of the Abyssal Class in supporting the underwater warfare of the Scions Hospitalier legion. While the Abyssal provides the underwater firepower to rival a titan the Atlas provides a platform to safely and quietly carry the armoured forces of an entire chapter and troops in it's belly before unleashing it on unsuspecting coastal or deep sea targets. Stripped of the Missile launch tubes it no longer has the ability to indirectly target land and air targets, but in it's place the entire mid-section is a dedicated troop bay. This major overhaul, while reducing the submarine's fighting capability drastically, increases it's operation flexibility giving the Scions one more tool in their naval arsenal.

***Please Note: All differences are detailed below, everything else is the same as the standard design.***

## Design

### Naval Weapons

With the increased need for crew space and life-support machinery to support 3 companies worth of marines, one of the compromises made was reducing the capacity to both store torpedoes and fire them. Moving down from 6 to 4 torpedo tubes and only being able to house 32 instead of the standard 48 an Abyssal can house.

### Amphibious Landing Weapons

Another space-saving measure was stripping out the turbolaser turrets on either flank of the submarine. The power distribution and cooling support systems needed to feed such a beast were deemed too bulky and replaced. In their place sits more twin-linked accelerator autocannons like those mounted on the nose of the vessel. Requiring far less space, energy and support systems they help in the suppression of enemy defences during amphibious landings.

### Defensive Systems

To make up for the particularly vulnerable state the Atlas is in whilst disgorging troops onto the battlefield once it's transport bay is open, several Tenya'ba storm bolters are mounted at the 4 corners of the troop bay doors, these are remotely operated by crew inside the ship and used to deter any would-be boarders from trying to get on the sub.

### Transportation

The most important element of the Atlas is, of course, the transportation bay. The bay itself consists of an elevator inside the belly of the vessel, with 3 levels allowing for troops and vehicles to be stored inside. When the transportation bay is deployed, the belly of the submarine will open up into two doors (If the submarine is underwater the compartment will be flooded before the doors open and units are released) Once these doors are open, the whole 3-level assembly lowers down onto the ground, allowing those on the lower level to disembark. The trick to moving so many troops in a confined space out is where the ingenuity of Techmarine Gallas' design comes into play. Once the bottom level is clear of troops, it splits in two, with each half moving vertically upwards  while the top two levels are lowered down in their position. As the middle floor now becomes the bottom floor, allowing more troops to disembark, the two halves travelling up the side meet at the top of the assembly, and come together to form the new top-level. This process continues until all levels of the transportation bay are emptied and the whole assembly is lifted back into the Atlas. This allows it to close up the doors and continue in a overwatch role of the battlefield or move on to the next objective as necessary.

## Notable Atlas Transport Support Submarine

* ***Leviathans Belly*** – Atlas Class Commanded by Perigraf Stoneskin of the Scions Hospitalier 55th Fleet.

* ***The Scimitar*** – Atlas Class Commanded by Zalak Helway of the Scions Hospitalier 37th Fleet.