4.6 Liberty Class Cruiser

LIBERTY CLASS CRUISER SERVICE ENTRY DATE (OLD CALENDAR): 2058

The Liberty class cruiser represented the closest that humanity had yet come to building a true warp drive starship. It was the first to utilize spiked antimatter to power its CDP generator. This resulted in warp speed bursts approaching warp factor 2 for as long as the reaction could be maintained. Limited fuel reserves and the lack of proper celestial navigation gear hampered what was otherwise an excellent design. The basic engine design of the Liberty class, with suitable modifications, was the direct ancestor of the design used in both the Cochrane and Verne class starships. The Liberty class would prove the easiest of all pre-warp Terran ships to convert to true warp drive due to its engine similarities with its immediate descendants. Their sidekicks would be the later Orion class scouts, with a similar design and profile but a smaller crew.

The unique spiked antimatter CDP technology of the Liberty and Orion classes could be and was often used as a devastating weapon. More than once careless Kzinti vessels found themselves incinerated by the kilometers-long plume caused by a UESF captain’s carefully calculated ignition of the CDP generator of his “Liberty ship.”

SPECIFICATIONS:

Length: …………………………………….. 145 m Diameter: …..…………….………………… 75.4 m Mass: ……………………………..….. 26,300 DWT Crew …………………………………………… 45 Range: ……...……………….……… 5 years at L.Y.V. Cruising speed: …………….………………... Warp 2 Maximum safe speed: ……………………… Warp 2.5 Armament: ………………….……… 4 forward lasers fusion missiles 20 300 kinetic-kill rockets Innovations: • First CDP-equipped starship to use spiked antimatter

SCHEMATIC:

LIBERTY CLASS CONCEPT BY RICK STERNBACH AS REDRAWN BY LAWRENCE MILLER COCHRANE CLASS CRUISER SERVICE ENTRY DATE (OLD CALENDAR): 2060

These were the first dedicated interstellar exploration vessels built since the onset of the Earth-Kzin Wars. Wartime priorities were not forgotten, however. The lead ship Bonaventure was a conversion of the unbuilt prototype cruiser Seneca, which had been partially destroyed in drydock during the Second Earth-Kzin War. Once completed it became the first fully operational warp drive starship in the United Earth Star Fleet. Her first voyage was to ship Cochrane and the Centaurean government-in-exile back to their newly liberated homeworld. As soon as that was ne she joined the Combined Forces as a fleet scout and saw do the Fourth Earth-Kzin War. After returning limited action during ng and systems upgrades, she was sent out ome for refurbishi h on h rt er “first” major interstellar voyage and played her pa char sh. ting new systems in the postwar Second Great Space Ru The p Bonaventure was subsequently retired as a museum shi afte r r being damaged by a Kzinti raide while returning from he seco nd voyage. However, it would not be her last.

The n “lines” of the Cochrane class would be followed in the ow developm n ent path of Terran-designed starships all the way dow to th e Caracal class cruisers at the end of the 21st century.

SPECIFIC ATIONS:

……………………………….. 206 m Length: …… Beam: …..…………….……………………. 63.4 m Draft: …..…………….……………………. 66.7 m Mass: ……………………………..….. 19,400 DWT Crew …………………………………………… 45 ng L.Y.V. Ra e: ……...……………….……… 6 years at Cruising speed: …………….………………... Warp 2 afe speed: ……………………… Warp 2.5 Maximum s Armament: ………………….……… 2 forward lasers

Innovations: • First Terran starship with true warp drive • First starship with a separable command section. • First starship to use a celestial (non-Terran oriented) navigation and guidance system.

SCHEMATIC:

C OCHRANE CLASS BY RICK STERNBACH

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