Colonial Janus Class Escortstar

Name: Janus
Craft: Colonial Military Janus Class Escortstar
Type: Escort
Scale: Capital
Length: 463.3 x 117 x 76.5 meters
Skill: Capital Ship Pilot
Crew: 760; skeleton: 76/+10
Passengers: 2,000
Cargo Capacity: 4,053 metric tons
Consumables: 16 months
Jump Drive: x410
Nav Computer: yes
Maneuverability: 1D+1
Space: 5
Hull: 3D+1
Sensors

• Passive: 40 / 0D+2
• Scan: 80 / 1D+1
• Search: 160 / 2D+1
• Focus: 4 / 3D

Weapons

• Light Point-Defense System

Fire Arc: turrets
Crew: 0; Automated
Scale: starfighter
Skill: starship gunnery
Fire Control: Automated: 2D
Space Range: 1-2/3/6
Damage: 2D

• 2 Medium Assault Railguns

Fire Arc: turrets
Crew: 2
Scale: capital
Skill: capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-12/23/45
Damage: 5D

Complement:

• Viper MK II Fighter: 36
• Raptor Class Multipurpose Ship: 12
• Assorted Craft: 6

Description: The Colonial Escort Carrier was designed and built in the early days of the First Cylon War. The type was a stop-gap measure intended to fill the critical need for additional carrier hulls until the Battlestars then building were completed. Eighty-five escort carriers were completed, and fully half that number died in the various battles leading to the Armistice and the Cimtar Accords.

As additional Battlestars were completed, the escort carriers were relegated to training and aircraft transport duties. Following the war, nearly all were retired- usually demilitarized and sold to private shipping concerns where their huge cargo capacity and ample deck space were well appreciated. The remainders were scrapped.

Quirks/Special Characteristics: The escort carrier itself is essentially a modified Battlestar-style flight pod set atop a chunky and ungainly collection of prefabricated habitat modules, FTL and sublight drive systems, and bunkerage and support systems necessary for survival in space. Most of the ships equipment was designed and built to civilian, rather than military, specifications and no efforts were made to keep the design aesthetically pleasing. The Colonial CVE (Carrier Vessel, Escort) is the bare bones meaning of pragmatism. Even the command and control systems and armaments were fitted almost as an afterthought. Crew habitability, comfort, and system redundancy were all sacrificed in the name of reduced construction times.

Most of these shortcomings were corrected (usually by the ship's company while underway), and armor was eventually fitted, but the haphazard nature of the design and construction were factors that could never be completely overcome. Nonetheless, those who served aboard the CVE's developed a back-handed affection for their cantankerous, demanding charges, though a number of wags derided their type designation as meaning, “Combustible, Vulnerable, Expendable”.

Most Battlestar flight pods have launch tubes only on one side, but the CVE's are fitted with tubes to port and to starboard (the usual arrangement was the port tubes far forward and the starboard amidships). Pair of large railguns was mounted atop the flight deck, cited to give the best coverage possible.

Source:

• Battlestar Galactica Thin Blue Line Corebook (pages 108-109)
• thedemonapostle