Spinward Flow
SOC-14 1K
Built using a custom 200 ton streamlined hull, the Spinward Yacht is a noble's plaything used to entertain friends, impress adversaries and undertake political, commercial and sometimes even small scale military support and relief missions in the frontier provinces of Imperial charted space.
The first ship of the class, the Noblesse Oblige, was completed and delivered by Ling Standard Products at the Strouden/Lunion/Spinward Marches shipyard in 1056 for a landed baron and immediately created a notable (and noteworthy) splash among the lucky few who were able to view the ship up close and in person. It did not take long for word to get around among the various subsector nobles, at which point orders for duplicates of the new yacht design were placed and deliveries began almost 2 years later. Since the 1060s, the shipyard at Strouden has never had less than 2 concurrent orders under construction for duplicates of the design, with 4-6 per year tending to be the average over time since then, keeping the class in continuous mass production up through the present day.
As of 1105 more than 200 ships of the class have been produced by the Strouden shipyard for various imperial nobles of the Spinward Marches sector (and some in the neighboring Deneb sector). Recent orders have included new replacements for ships purchased up to 40 years ago, so some of the first run of ships from the 1060s are beginning to show up in surplus markets. This trend is expected to continue as the first run of ships of the class age out and need to be replaced, allowing the shipyard to keep the design in mass production at Strouden for the foreseeable future. Starting the 1090s, Ling Standard Products began offering copies of the ship design at their other shipyards in other sectors, starting with the Deneb sector, as demand for the ship class has grown beyond the nobility of the Spinward Marches.
The ship mounts custom drives which give it a performance of jump-1 and 1G acceleration. Fuel tankage is 42 tons with an on-board fuel purification plant capable of supporting the power plant for 4 weeks while allowing two successive jump-1 before needing to refuel. Adjacent to the bridge is a model/2 computer. Two triple turrets are installed on hardpoints, mounting a triple missile rack and a triple sandcaster. A 40 ton custom Pinnace docks with the ship.
Accommodations aboard the yacht total 13 staterooms and 4 half stateroom cabins with no low berths or additional cargo space. Four staterooms are occupied by the ship's crew of 4: the pilot/navigator, engineer, steward and medic. An additional stateroom can be occupied by a military attaché officer who may be assigned to travel with the noble. The remaining 8 staterooms can be occupied by the noble's friends and guests as high passengers. The yacht also features an auditorium space for the passenger guests, which is often appointed as an extravagant dining room, complete with ventral and dorsal retractable metal bulkheads to expose the synthetic sapphire glass floor and/or ceiling to space (or a planetary environment) for what has been called an almost incomparable experience, especially with lighting and gravity control localized to the room. Needless to say, these retractable metal bulkheads need to be closed when entering planetary atmospheres.
There are 4 cabins which are half sized staterooms given to the fire team of marines assigned to the ship who provide security in addition to manning turrets and providing drivers and gunners for the GCarrier embarked in a hull compartment of the yacht. The GCarrier can be used for planetary excursions outside the ship involving the noble, the noble's butler steward, the ship steward, all 8 of the noble's guests and 3 marines assigned as driver, gunner and security detail for the excursion party (for a total of 14 aboard the GCarrier). The two turrets on the yacht are manned by gunners drawn from the marines aboard during a call to general quarters for ship to ship combat. A strongroom for mail to hold secure commercial, diplomatic and/or military communications is also fitted, which the marines can provide security for, if necessary, when there are passengers aboard the yacht.
The ship's Pinnace also mounts custom drives which give it a performance of 6G acceleration. Fuel tankage is 2.4 tons capable of supporting the power plant for 4 weeks before needing to refuel. There is no bridge, but a model/1 computer is installed. A dual turret is fitted, mounting a single missile rack and a single sandcaster. While the Pinnace is docked with the Yacht, the Pinnace's maneuver drive is powerful enough to augment the in-system performance of the Yacht, increasing overall output to slightly over 2G acceleration. Since the hull configuration of the Yacht and the Pinnace duplicate the contour lines of the venerable Scout/Courier, the maneuver performance profile of the Yacht with the Pinnace docked is conspicuously similar to that of a Scout/Courier. Depending on the calibration and sophistication of a scanning ship's sensors, as well as the skill of the crew monitoring them, it is possible for the Yacht with a docked Pinnace to be misidentified by sensor returns as a Scout/Courier. However, the ship's transponder will correctly identify the ship as a yacht, although pirates with hostile intent in the habit of spoofing their own signals may second guess themselves when confronted with the ambiguity of sensor returns and possibly choose not to attack.
The Pinnace has acceleration couches for a crew of 2: ship's boat pilot and gunner. Two marines will be drawn from the Yacht's complement to crew the Pinnace. A cabin for one appointed up to starship standards is provided to allow the crew of marines to rest and refresh themselves on interplanetary trips lasting longer than 12 hours. This cabin can also be used to station a marine as a permanent bodyguard for the noble aboard, even while the Yacht is in jump space. Depending on the nature of an interplanetary mission, the military attaché officer may often times be called upon to accompany the noble, in which case they will have to make do with the cabin accommodations during the journey. An additional 2 acceleration couches and cabin appointed up to starship standards is provided to allow passengers to be shuttled by the Pinnace (usually up to 2 at a time, although up to 4 passengers are possible for trips of 24 hours or less). A double starship stateroom suite is provided for the noble owning the Yacht with an adjoining adjacent starship stateroom occupied by the noble's butler steward retainer, who is dedicated to the noble's service exclusively. The Pinnace carries a Speeder in a hull compartment for which either the noble's butler steward or the military attaché officer can be the chauffeur driver depending on the needs of the occasion (and who needs to be impressed upon arrival at the destination).
The first ship of the class, the Noblesse Oblige, was completed and delivered by Ling Standard Products at the Strouden/Lunion/Spinward Marches shipyard in 1056 for a landed baron and immediately created a notable (and noteworthy) splash among the lucky few who were able to view the ship up close and in person. It did not take long for word to get around among the various subsector nobles, at which point orders for duplicates of the new yacht design were placed and deliveries began almost 2 years later. Since the 1060s, the shipyard at Strouden has never had less than 2 concurrent orders under construction for duplicates of the design, with 4-6 per year tending to be the average over time since then, keeping the class in continuous mass production up through the present day.
As of 1105 more than 200 ships of the class have been produced by the Strouden shipyard for various imperial nobles of the Spinward Marches sector (and some in the neighboring Deneb sector). Recent orders have included new replacements for ships purchased up to 40 years ago, so some of the first run of ships from the 1060s are beginning to show up in surplus markets. This trend is expected to continue as the first run of ships of the class age out and need to be replaced, allowing the shipyard to keep the design in mass production at Strouden for the foreseeable future. Starting the 1090s, Ling Standard Products began offering copies of the ship design at their other shipyards in other sectors, starting with the Deneb sector, as demand for the ship class has grown beyond the nobility of the Spinward Marches.
The ship mounts custom drives which give it a performance of jump-1 and 1G acceleration. Fuel tankage is 42 tons with an on-board fuel purification plant capable of supporting the power plant for 4 weeks while allowing two successive jump-1 before needing to refuel. Adjacent to the bridge is a model/2 computer. Two triple turrets are installed on hardpoints, mounting a triple missile rack and a triple sandcaster. A 40 ton custom Pinnace docks with the ship.
Accommodations aboard the yacht total 13 staterooms and 4 half stateroom cabins with no low berths or additional cargo space. Four staterooms are occupied by the ship's crew of 4: the pilot/navigator, engineer, steward and medic. An additional stateroom can be occupied by a military attaché officer who may be assigned to travel with the noble. The remaining 8 staterooms can be occupied by the noble's friends and guests as high passengers. The yacht also features an auditorium space for the passenger guests, which is often appointed as an extravagant dining room, complete with ventral and dorsal retractable metal bulkheads to expose the synthetic sapphire glass floor and/or ceiling to space (or a planetary environment) for what has been called an almost incomparable experience, especially with lighting and gravity control localized to the room. Needless to say, these retractable metal bulkheads need to be closed when entering planetary atmospheres.
There are 4 cabins which are half sized staterooms given to the fire team of marines assigned to the ship who provide security in addition to manning turrets and providing drivers and gunners for the GCarrier embarked in a hull compartment of the yacht. The GCarrier can be used for planetary excursions outside the ship involving the noble, the noble's butler steward, the ship steward, all 8 of the noble's guests and 3 marines assigned as driver, gunner and security detail for the excursion party (for a total of 14 aboard the GCarrier). The two turrets on the yacht are manned by gunners drawn from the marines aboard during a call to general quarters for ship to ship combat. A strongroom for mail to hold secure commercial, diplomatic and/or military communications is also fitted, which the marines can provide security for, if necessary, when there are passengers aboard the yacht.
The ship's Pinnace also mounts custom drives which give it a performance of 6G acceleration. Fuel tankage is 2.4 tons capable of supporting the power plant for 4 weeks before needing to refuel. There is no bridge, but a model/1 computer is installed. A dual turret is fitted, mounting a single missile rack and a single sandcaster. While the Pinnace is docked with the Yacht, the Pinnace's maneuver drive is powerful enough to augment the in-system performance of the Yacht, increasing overall output to slightly over 2G acceleration. Since the hull configuration of the Yacht and the Pinnace duplicate the contour lines of the venerable Scout/Courier, the maneuver performance profile of the Yacht with the Pinnace docked is conspicuously similar to that of a Scout/Courier. Depending on the calibration and sophistication of a scanning ship's sensors, as well as the skill of the crew monitoring them, it is possible for the Yacht with a docked Pinnace to be misidentified by sensor returns as a Scout/Courier. However, the ship's transponder will correctly identify the ship as a yacht, although pirates with hostile intent in the habit of spoofing their own signals may second guess themselves when confronted with the ambiguity of sensor returns and possibly choose not to attack.
The Pinnace has acceleration couches for a crew of 2: ship's boat pilot and gunner. Two marines will be drawn from the Yacht's complement to crew the Pinnace. A cabin for one appointed up to starship standards is provided to allow the crew of marines to rest and refresh themselves on interplanetary trips lasting longer than 12 hours. This cabin can also be used to station a marine as a permanent bodyguard for the noble aboard, even while the Yacht is in jump space. Depending on the nature of an interplanetary mission, the military attaché officer may often times be called upon to accompany the noble, in which case they will have to make do with the cabin accommodations during the journey. An additional 2 acceleration couches and cabin appointed up to starship standards is provided to allow passengers to be shuttled by the Pinnace (usually up to 2 at a time, although up to 4 passengers are possible for trips of 24 hours or less). A double starship stateroom suite is provided for the noble owning the Yacht with an adjoining adjacent starship stateroom occupied by the noble's butler steward retainer, who is dedicated to the noble's service exclusively. The Pinnace carries a Speeder in a hull compartment for which either the noble's butler steward or the military attaché officer can be the chauffeur driver depending on the needs of the occasion (and who needs to be impressed upon arrival at the destination).
