Venus-class battlecarrier

The ***Venus*-class battlecarriers**, known to many as **Alliance attack cruisers**, are the most prolific and recognizable flagships in the Terran Alliance fleet. Built upon the dependable spaceframe of the *Mars*-class battleships, they remain the most popular vessels for Terran Alliance fleet commanders due to their versatility.

## Design

 The *Venus*-class battlecarriers were an outgrowth of the *Mars*-class battleship design: the Alliance's shipyards were clamouring at the time for a basic spaceframe which could be adapted to multiple roles to improve parts standardization, ease logistical needs and speed up building times to achieve mass production. These requirements had also been sought after in the past by the Director of Naval Construction (DNC), but fleet opposition to the concept had killed off the project in the past: the new third-generation Alliance fleet would be different. War experience against the Ravasect had proven the need for a modular spaceframe to build on, as the Alliance could not keep up production of the myriad types of hulls employed for different warships throughout the conflict.

While the initial demand was for a full battleship and a full carrier with no hybridization, Alliance carriers could not be expected to stay out of the gunline: with Terran fighters unable to warp unless they sacrificed the majority of their armament, the carrier had to be in-system with the fighting. Long-range fire could wreak havoc on essentially unarmoured fighter-carrying warships like a dedicated carrier would be. Accordingly, only the lower half and midsection of the new type was to be converted to a carrier role and the ship was to retain significant armour. While some strike and landing capacity was sacrificed for this end, the gunpower of the ship was judged adequate enough to engage battlecruisers and smaller on equal terms. Additional firepower was provided by two new 'Ragnarök' armoured torpedoes, which promised unparalleled firepower should they connect.

### Armament

The main gun armament of the *Venus* class was eighteen 28cm laser cannons, just half the *Mars*-class's own armament: the number of 15cm secondary cannons was also cut down to half the number in order to fit the necessary hangars.

The 28cm laser cannons of the *Venus*class were identical to those carried aboard the *Mars*: placed in six triple turrets, they could elevate and fire independently of one another. As in all Terran designs, redundancy of the equipment to action damage was a priority: each gun was subdivided from the others by airtight splinter bulkheads, and were completely subdivided from the hull itself when the turret was 'closed up' for battle. Each turret had its own capacitor and backup battery, as well as limited life support systems: this was to prove useful in at least one instance, when the *Resolution* managed to retrieve the trapped crew of a turret that had been blown off.

The 15-cm laser cannon was the standard quick-firing anti-ship gun of Alliance warships: with a rapid rate of fire (12 bursts per minute) for the size and similar arrangements to the 28-cm guns as to subdivision, redoubtability and survivability, they could quickly saturate a given target in a hail of red lines. The *Venus* class carried just half the standard amount as the *Mars*: twenty-six guns, in twin turrets or single 'rapid response' mounts. Combined with the smaller batteries it made for a formidable defense against cruisers and destroyers that got too close.

The *Venus'*s 10.5-cm laser cannons were the standard dual-purpose artillery of the Alliance: studded throughout the hull in twin mounts and achieving an extraordinary rate of fire, they provided the outer sphere of defense against torpedo launches and destroyers alike that made it that far. Unique to the *Venus*, however, these weapons could switch between modes: the standard straight-line laser beam, which continued at *c* *ad infinitem*, and a slower laser blast which could "flak burst": this was achieved by imparting a tight helical coil, so that the lasers maintained *c* while appearing to move at subluminal velocity. When the coil failed, the laser would appear to "flak burst" when the rays went in all directions: the tightness of the helical coil could be set to adjust automatically for proximity to the target.

For close defense against starfighters, torpedoes and suicide ships, the *Venus* type was equipped with a hundred and two 20-mm laser autocannons in twin 'snapper ball' mounts: partially recessed into the hull and seated on magnetic tracks, the ball mounts got their nickname from the fact that they could snap a gunner out of their seat from the high G forces involved if their harness was not strapped correctly. A sustained burst mode of 10,000 shots per minute insured high hitting rates and made the 20-mm laser cannons one of the most well-regarded point defense systems in the galaxy: they were backed by the Aegis laser network of high-intensity 13.2-mm lasers across the hull for last-ditch efforts.

For close range broadside combat, the *Venus* class was equipped with a large number of 50-mm "blaster banks": these made up for their relatively slow firing rate for the small calibre with hitting power, able to burn through a metre of armour in seven seconds flat if given a continuous track.

#### Fighters

The *Venus*-class battlecarriers were, apart from the*Saturn*s and the *Alpha Centauri* class, the Alliance's largest carrier warships: they accordingly made the most of their status, bringing an impressive number of starfighters to the fight thanks to the Alliance's propensity to "jam as many fighters into the available space as possible." The direct strike ability of these warships was provided by a hefty forty-two *Broadsword* bombers: the Alliance's heaviest-hitting starfighter type, they could bring three torpedoes for anti-ship work or a large number of bombs for atmospheric targets into the fight and also had a large number of defensive guns. These were backed by seventy-four Rapier multirole strike fighters, the preeminent space superiority fighter of the Alliance and also capable of carrying a torpedo or a pair of hefty 1000-kg bombs for infantry support. The carrier's defensive screen was backed by twelve Poniard interceptors: the Alliance's fastest fighter and one of the most heavily armed, it was specifically designed to hunt other starfighters and proved to be one of the most capable Alliance craft. Flown by an ace, it could even give Razorbird fighters a run for their money - the Alliance's crack 203rd Pursuit Squadron exclusively flew the Poniard in the Crusades when it first appeared in late 2485, and was notable for downing several dozen Razorbird fighters without a single one of their own lost at Djangor.

#### The Ragnarök torpedo

The *Venus* battlecarrier's trump cards, however, were the torpedoes it carried: a massive launcher buried in the upper hull of the ship, with two giant armoured torpedoes inside laid end-to-end. These massive projectiles were guided warheads designed to be launched at a target from long range, bull through the point defenses with their considerable protection, and explode deep inside the target vessel after penetrating: in practice these proved extremely deadly against conventional opponents, but next to useless against the Razorbirds, which could oftentimes dodge the slow-accelerating projectile or shoot it down despite its armour.

### Protection

The *Venus*-class battlecarriers, due to their fleet action role, retained heavy armour protection: a 450-mm-thick armoured hull over their length made them highly resistant to damage, while their turrets peaked with faces at a metre thick and the bridge - buried deep inside the hull - had an additional two metres of armour around it to protect the command and control stations.

### *Venus II*-class

The ***Venus II*-class star carriers**, sometimes known as the ***Vesper* class** (after the Alliance starship *Vesper*, itself a different name for Venus) were a series of dedicated star carriers within the Alliance that formed about 40% of the total number of *Venus*-class battlecarriers: distinguishable by their lack of heavy gun armament (they retained the torpedoes) and even more cavernous hangars, they doubled the strike capacity of the original *Venus* class while retaining significant anti-starfighter armament.

## Famous Vessels

* *Venus*
* *Resolution*
* *Valorous*
* *Tranquility*
* *Aspirant*
* *Retribution*