Union Fleet Carriers

For the class of ships that can carry a fleet see - Karmat Class Battleship and the article on the USS Dominator.



History
When the United Earth started developing it's space navy, it incorporated small, fast one person attack craft and a series of spacecraft to transport them interstellar distances. These later ships followed three basic designs and were termed Escort Carriers, Light Carriers and Fleet Carriers.

When first designed, they had the following missions
 * Escort Carriers had the primary mission of escorting supply convoys, and also providing additional facilities for fighters in situations when a rapid approach was not needed.  These were about half the size of the first generation fleet carriers and carried between half and two thirds the number of fighters.  While they had the same range, they were a lot slower than the Light Carriers and Fleet Carriers.
 * The Light carriers were designed to have the same type of range and speed as the Fleet Carriers but were about two thirds the size of the Fleet Carriers with only about half the number of fighters. The design combined some of the better parts of the other two types, but also had significant disadvantages as well.
 * Fleet Carriers were the largest units and could easily keep pace with the battleships purchased from the Saran Empire.

The Light and Escort Carriers could be built a lot faster and in smaller shipyards than the Fleet Carriers and so were used until sufficient numbers of Fleet Carriers had been built.

By the time the United Stars of the Galaxy was founded, most of the Light and Escort Carriers had been mothballed.

Current use
The advent of Super and Ultra Battle ships with room for several wings was seen by many as the end of the Carrier area, but Union fleet planners still attach 5 Carriers to each Battle group. The latest Carriers of the Wasp Class (shown) are 5,600 meters long and each carries 4000 Fighters, 500 Heavy Bombers and 500 Scout and Recon Crafts (as well as Several Bison and a number of Thor Gunboats (Marines). Carriers itself are well shielded but carry usually only point defense weaponry. The Wasp Class does have 4 TL Kilo Load Batteries and 6 Loki Torpedo. Carriers mostly rely on their fighters for protection while Battle ships provide the Firepower against other Battle ships and capital targets.