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Thetis (Bonaventure) class Escort Carrier

Overview:
Following the success of the Revenant project Kresters in particular was looking for more rebuild work. In the early war the desperate TRN had thrown any serviceable ship available into the fight, but not even the TRN was desperate enough to send the old, and almost useless, Bonaventure class corvettes into frontline combat. Most Bonaventures served as escorts, patrol ships in quiet sectors and some, later in the war, served as armed tankers for forward deployed gunboat squadrons. Six Bonaventures were hastily converted into this tanker role in an effort to compensate for the shortage of real tankers able to jump into hostile space and service gunboat squadrons operating there. While the Bonaventures were somewhat successful in the tanker mission they unfortunately attracted too much attention and during the first three years of Operation Phoenix all the tankers were lost in action while most of the rest of the Bonaventure class went back into mothballs.
As a result of the early withdrawal from active service of the Bonaventure class over twenty ships survived in the reserve fleet, and unlike many other ships that were retired from active duty due to combat damage or other technical problems, the Bonaventures were in generally good repair having been retired mainly because they were useless even in second line duty. Kresters surveyors found four ships with intact working KF-drives and four more that only had tank and structural damage, all suitable for recovery and rebuilding.
Kresters enthusiasm for the project wasn't shared by the Terran Republic Navy that had serious doubt about the advantage of a light warship carrier over a regular dropship carrier. After massive political pressure by Kresters supporters the Terran Republic agreed to proceed with two conversions and an option for two more, as much to keep the yards operating as for the military value of the ships. Kresters however charged ahead and started work on all eight ships fully expecting the Navy to see the light once the first pair of ships entered service.
Unfortunately the navy's opinion did not improve once the first pair of ships was delivered and it was even doubtful that the option for the almost completed ships in the second batch would be used. Kresters found itself with six half completed ships that the Terran Navy didn't want and despite intense lobbying Kresters wasn't able to sell the excellence of the remaining ships to either the Navy or the Republic.
It was at this moment that Kresters was approached by the Lyran Commonwealth which was interested in picking up the contract. Armed with the Lyran offer Kresters made a final pitch to sell the ships to the Republic but was met by complete disinterest from all concerned. In a rather stunning about face Kresters, that before the war had refused to sell ships to anyone other than the Republic, then signed a deal with the Lyrans for two ships with an option for two more in order to recover some of costs that the project had run up.
Now suddenly the Republic took notice of what was going on and at first vetoed the deal, a decision later rescinded after intense and threatening diplomacy from Tharkad. Some in the Republican government even accused Kresters of treason, a gross insult to a company that was almost completely destroyed because of it's steadfast loyalty to the Republic; and a charge that caused outrage both in Kresters boardrooms and on the factory floor. To delay the issue the TRN immediately exercised it's option for two more ships and even attempted to snap up the other four as well. But the Lyrans had anticipated this and the contract with Kresters specified that the last four ships would go to the Lyrans if the TRN used it's option to acquire the third and fourth ships. The Lyran lawyers were backed to the hilt by their diplomats that pointed out that Republican interference in the sale of a few ships the TRN didn't want would be considered an unfriendly, perhaps even hostile, act.
Reluctantly the Republic backed down from the confrontation, considering it not worth the troubles over a few ships it's own navy didn't want anyway. In 2813, over a year before the delivery of the first ship, the Lyran Commonwealth announced that it would use it's option for two more ships. This deal have caused some serious diplomatic problems for the Republic since both the Capellan Confederation and the Federated Suns have demanded equal rights, under the Republic's own stated neutrality policy, to buy Republic made naval hardware.

Capabilities:
The main effort during the Thetis rebuild was the tenfold expansion of the old hull's fighter decks to full regimental capacity. The Thetis carries a full aerospace regiment as well as a command squadron of aerospace fighters as her main firepower and she have extensive cargo and fuel capacity to service her aerospace wings.
In addition to her fighters the old Bonaventure hulls were significantly upgraded with greatly strengthened anti-aerospace and new anti-missile defenses. The under gunned old Corvettes were also given some additional heavy weapons from old pre-war surplus stocks. The single mounted heavy lasers were expanded to quadruple mounts and eight White Shark tubes were added to the ship's sides to improve both ranged fighter defense as well as boost anti-shipping capabilities. Rounding out the expanded heavy weapons layout are two NAC/10 stern chasers to make pursuers keep their distance.
The cooling system was hugely expanded to support all the added weaponry but the old hull needed more drastic improvements than just adding heatsinks. To support the massively expanded firepower and huge fighterbays the internal structure of the ship had to be reinforced and in order to further to enhance it's survival chances in battle the armor protection was boosted by almost 25%.

Deployment:
TRS Thetis(2810) have been serving with Fourth Fleet as a mobile base for the remnants of odd sized naval fighter wings based on other ships as well as a carrier ops training ship.
TRS Termagent(2811) have been serving mostly as a fighter ferry with the Terran Republic's Transport command, transporting fighter wings and regiments between various postings. In between those jobs she occasionally serve as a convoy escort, if enough fighters can be spared to arm her since she is still considered to weak to take on any serious raiders without her fighter wing.
TRS Sibylle(2813) is also serving with Transport command as an escort but unlike her sister she does have a permanent wing attached, mostly old light fighter rather than frontline material.
TRS Najad(2813) is serving with First Fleet as a training ship for Aerospace pilots and deck crews intended to serve on other carriers as well as for gunnery crews. She is usually not available, even for defensive deployment, due to the extreme greenness of her crew.
In contrast to the second, or even third, line service of the TRN Thetis class the Lyran ships, LCS Zebebelgenubi(2814) and LCS Hesperus(2816), have been in action from day one of their delivery. They were thrown into battle as a counter to the still numerous light carriers serving with Free World Leagues Navy. The Lyran ships have fought numerous actions while serving as escorts for the few remaining heavy cruisers and battleships of the Lyran Commonwealth Navy and so far they have preformed their task well. Two additional Thetis class ships, in the LCN known as the Zebebelgenubi class (renamed after systems along the Republic border), are currently undergoing pre-delivery trials before being delivered to the Lyran authorities.


Thetis (Bonaventure) class Escort Carrier
Tech:          Inner Sphere
Introduced:            2810

Mass:               240,000 tons
Length:                 486 meters
Sail Diameter:          940 meters
Fuel:                10,000 tons (50,000)
Tons/Burn Day:           39.52
Safe Thrust:              4
Maximum Thrust:           6
Sail Integrity:           3
KF Drive Integrity:       6
Heat Sinks:             772
Structural Integrity:    40 (max 192 tons armor)

Armor: tons 192 (standard 139 pts)
   Fore:                 27
   Fore-Sides:           23
   Aft-Sides:            23
   Aft:                  20

Cargo:
   Bay 1: Small Craft (2) & Cargo (27,271 tons) 1 Door
   Bay 2: Fighters (30)                         6 Doors
   Bay 3: Fighters (30)                         6 Doors

Dropship Capacity:        0
Grav Decks:               1 (65-meter diameter)
Escape Pods:             25
Lifeboats:               25
Crew:                   275 minimum (40 Off, 80 Enl, 25 gun, 130 bay)

Weaponry:
Nose (Heat: 32)                    Short  Medium Long   Xtreme
   2 LRM15 (40 rnds ea)             2(18)  2(18)  2(18)  -
   2 Large Laser                    2(16)  2(16)  -      -
   6 small Laser                    2(18)* -      -      -   
FL/FR (Heat: 520)
   4 NL/35                         14     14     14      -
   2 White Shark (10 Missiles ea)   8      8      8      8
   2 Large Laser                    2(16)  2(16)  -      -
   6 small Laser                    2(18)* -      -      -     
LBS/RBS (Heat: 24)
   2 AC10 (40 rnds ea)              2(20)  2(20)  -      -
   6 small Laser                    2(18)* -      -      -     
AL/AR (Heat: 104)
   2 White Shark (10 Missiles ea)   8      8      8      8
   2 Large Laser                    2(16)  2(16)  -      -
   6 small Laser                    2(18)* -      -      -     
Aft (Heat: 92)
   2 NAC/10                        20     20     20      -
   2 LRM15 (40 rnds ea)             2(18)  2(18)  2(18)  -
   2 Large Laser                    2(16)  2(16)  -      -
   6 small Laser                    2(18)* -      -      -     

Ammunition:
  100 rounds of Naval Autocannon 10 ammunition (20 tons)
   80 White Shark Missiles (3200 tons)
  160 rounds of Autocannon 10 ammunition (16 tons)
  160 rounds of LRM 15 ammunition (20 tons) 

Original Bonaventure class Corvette
Tech:               Inner Sphere
Introduced:         2317

Mass:               240,000 tons
Length:                 486 meters
Sail Diameter:          940 meters
Fuel:                 6,500 tons (32,500)
Tons/Burn Day:           39.52
Safe Thrust:              4
Maximum Thrust:           6
Sail Integrity:           3
KF Drive Integrity:       6
Heat Sinks:             384
Structural Integrity:    36

Armor: tons             156 (standard)
   Fore:                     21
   Fore-Sides:               20
   Aft-Sides:                20
   Aft:                      17

Cargo:
   Bay 1: Cargo (53,926 tons)      1 Door
   Bay 2: Fighters (6)             2 Doors
   Bay 3: Small Craft (2)          1 Door

Dropship Capacity:        0
Grav Decks:               1 (65-meter diameter)
Escape Pods:             17
Lifeboats:               10
Crew:                   121 minimum (16 Off, 77 Enl, 6 gun, 22 bay)

Weaponry:
Nose (Heat: 10)                    Short  Medium Long   Xtreme
   2 LRM15 (28 rnds ea)              2(18)  2(18)  2(18)  -
FL/FR (Heat: 120)
   1 NL/35                           4      4      4      -
   1 Large Laser                     1(8)   1(8)   -      -
LBS/RBS (Heat: 12)
   2 AC10 (40 rnds ea)               2(20)  2(20)  -      -
AL/AR (Heat: 16)
   1 Large Laser                     1(8)   1(8)   -      -
Aft (Heat: 10)
   2 LRM15 (28 rnds ea)              2(18)  2(18)  2(18)  -

Ammunition:
  160 rounds of Autocannon 10 ammunition (16 tons)
  112 rounds of LRM 15 ammunition (14 tons)