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Type: Bounty Class Jumpship
In Service: 2578?
Number Currently in Service:  2

Mass: 220,000 tons
KF Integrity: 5
Sail Integrity: 4
Thrust: 0.1G (Station Keeping)
Fuel: 500 tons
SI: 1
Armor: 120 tons (12 + 1 per side)
Heatsinks: 117

Docking Collars: 3
Fighters:  0
Small Craft: 1
Crew:  25 (4 officers, 21 crew)
Lifeboats:  4
Escape Pods: 0 
Grav Deck:  1 (50m)
Cargo: 103 tons

Bays:
Bay 1: Small Craft (1) 2 doors
Bay 2: Cargo
Bay 3: Jump Infantry Platoon

Weapons:
Fore Left/Right:
2 White Shark Launchers

Ammo:
40 White Shark Missiles

Overview:
The Bounty class jumpship is unique in the annals of modern Navy history as the only standard core jumpship designed specifically for a combat role.  The Taurian Concordat developed the Bounty during the Reunification War as a raider capable of destroying enemy supply transports and merchant vessels.  The Bounty class was based on the Trader class jumpship, a design which was very common at the time. [Editor’s Note: The Trader was a predecessor of the Tramp Jumpship.  The ship was better armed and had a larger cargo hold then the more common Merchant class jumpship.  As a  result the Trader was very popular in the periphery and outlying areas of the Inner Sphere.]  By basing the Bounty on the Trader class,  it would disguise the true nature of the ship and allow it to operate freely behind enemy lines.  The Bounty would then be able to destroy enemy merchant transports, disrupting the shipment of food and other supplies in the Federated Suns.  It was hoped that this would eventually cause enough damage, both in material losses and public moral, to force the Federated Suns and the Star League to end the war.  It is uncertain when the Bounty entered service, although most records point to 2578.  It is believed that 10 of these ships were deployed during the war.

Capabilities:
The Bounty was a heavily modified Trader Class Jumpship. The Trader was a very popular design in the 2500s, it was one of the first jumpships built specifically to carry modern style dropships.  While the Merchant class was popular in the more heavily populated areas of space, the Trader, with it’s large cargo bay and fuel supply,  was far more popular in the periphery and many outlying areas, especially the Federated Sun’s Outback Region.  It was for this reason that the Taurian Concordat chose to base the design of the Bounty class jumpship on the Trader. 

Visually the Bounty is almost identical to the Trader.  The designers were very careful to conceal the changes they made so that the ship would not raise any suspicions if it were seen by other vessels.  Despite all the changes that were made, it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between a Trader and Bounty without a very up close and detailed inspection.

The biggest difference between the two ships is the weaponry. The Trader carried an array of 8 turreted Large Lasers for defense against meteors and pirate vessels. On the Bounty these were removed and replaced with dummy units, freeing up space for a much more power weapons array.  The Bounty carries 4 White Shark Missile launchers, which are hidden behind retractable doors on the fore sides of the ship.  While not the most powerful weapon available, the White Sharks were more than adequate for attacking lightly armed merchant transports. In addition to removing the lasers, the designers also  had to sacrifice most of the cargo bay space and remove one of the small craft cubicles to fit the missile launchers and their ammunition supply on the ship.  [Editor’s Note: It is interesting that despite removing one of the small craft bays, the designers kept the exterior door for the bay in order to keep the visual appearance of the Trader.] 

The Bounty carries 3 times the armor of the Trader.  While this is still very light compared to most warships, the armor allows the Bounty to survive against attacks from dropships and other jumpships. The armor plating was mounted so that the silhouette of the Bounty would match that of the Trader. 

Lastly provisions were made to carry a platoon of marines on board the ship. These troops could use the assault shuttle carried in the small craft bay to board other ships.  While this option was rarely used, it did provide the ship with added flexibility. 

Deployment:
The Traders were deployed behind the front lines to attack and destroy merchant transports.  Initially the ships were very successful in their mission. The ships would jump into the system and act like a typical merchant, unfurling their sail and recharging the jump core.  Once the KF core was recharged and the sail stowed, the Bounty would then begin it’s real mission.  If there were no warships in the area, the Bounty would open fire with it’s missiles and then jump out of the system, often for an uninhabited one.  If there was a warship in the area then the ship would jump to another habitable system and start the process over.  To increase the endurance of the ship, and provide them with a cover story, the ships would typically carry 2 or 3 civilian dropships, which would carry food, fuel and extra missiles for the Bounty. 

Initially the AFFS and SLDF navy were unable to do much to counter these attacks.  Most of their warships were needed on the front lines and few could be spared for rear area patrols, especially given the large volume of space occupied by the Federated Suns.  The Federated Suns also began ordering their customs personnel to board all Trader class ships that arrived in system to verify their identity.  However this would prove ineffective due to the large number of Traders in use and the willingness of the Taurian Space Masters to hot charge their KF core to avoid being boarded.

The Bounty’s were very effective against Federation shipping until 2584.  By 2854 the bulk of the Taurian Navy had been destroyed and the SLDF and AFFS Navy were  able to reassign additional warships from the front lines to rear area patrols. With fewer safe targets, and a desperate need to stop the advance of the SLDF and AFFS, the Taurian Space Masters began to take greater risks with their ships.   Several of the ships jumped into systems which contained military convoys and their escorts. These ships would then hot charged their KF core and attack the transports, jumping out of the system before the warships could return fire.  While this was very devastating to the SLDF and AFFS, with several regiments of troops lost to these tactics, it appears that a number of Bounty class ships were lost to misjumps due to the hot charging. 

Several Bountys were lost when they were attacked by warships, or more commonly by assault dropships and aerospace fighters that were hidden among the merchant ships being attacked by the Bounty.  Even when surrounded and unable to jump, the ships refused to surrender and were either destroyed by the attackers or blew themselves up to prevent their capture. The most famous was the TCS Treachery.  The ship was at the Zenith point of the Waxell system preparing to jump when the SLS Trenton, a Congress Class Frigate, executed a Crazy Jane Maneuver from the system’s Nadir Point. [Editor’s Note: The Crazy Jane Maneuver is named for Captain Jane Hargreaves, who while commanding the Aegis class heavy cruiser Spark during the battle of Kentares in 2431, developed the tactic of jumping within the system to the close proximity of another jumpship and then closing to within a few hundred meters, preventing the other ship from using it’s KF Drive to escape the system. ]  The Captain of the Trenton expected the lightly armed and armored Treachery to surrender.  Instead, the Taurian ship waited until the Trenton was within 200 meters and executed a jump, destroying both ships.

The SLDF believed all of the Bounty class ships were destroyed during the Reunification War.  This was later proved false, when at least 4 of the vessels were deployed against the SLDF during the Periphery Uprisings of 2765.  Only 2 of these vessels survived the uprisings and continue to serve in the Taurian Navy.

thanks irose , things are rounding out .