Trident-Class Destroyer Transport
Length: 413 meters
Width: 272 meters
Height: 93 meters
Primary Armament:
2 Hann-Stetmann heavy laser cannons (one per turret)
Secondary Armament:
20 torpedo tubes
Tertiary Armament:
156 Hedgehog point defense autocannons
FTL:
Warp Drive (Gen-V)
Range: 165 lightyears every 6 hours.
Complement:
700-1000 crew
(300 minimum)
5000 passengers
Parasite Craft Complement:
12 Hercules-class dropships
24 Viking-class Armored Mechanical Hybrids
3 Terran Command Centers and accompanying buildings
History:
The largest problem facing Raynor's Raiders in the early days of their arrival and involvement in the wars of the Inner Sphere was not one of firepower. Even stripped of most of its arsenal, a single Behemoth Battlecruiser appearing over a world spelled doom for the opposition. However, with less than a dozen such warships and fully half of them down for badly needed repair, refit, resupply, and rearmament at any given time, the Terrans suffered from a lack of strategic flexibility. They simply could not be everywhere they needed to be at once, necessitating the construction of more warships. Battlecruisers were certainly potent tools of war, but against the technologically degraded Inner Sphere they were quite simply more than was required for any single target. This, combined with the sheer cost of such large hulls, meant that the newly established yards at Dumassas could not practically assemble a large enough fleet of battlecruisers to meet the needs of the Raiders.
The Trident-class was created to fill this need. Much smaller than the Behemoth class, the Trident could be built in the numbers the Behemoth could not. The ship's name comes from its distinctive shape, being reminiscent of a much smaller battlecruiser but without the characteristic hammerhead prow. Because of the near-total lack of spaceborne opposition, the decision was made that the Trident's anti-ship armaments would be rather minimal, mounting just two of the then-new and experimental Hann-Stetmann laser cannons in turrets located at the tips of the outrigger sections. The ship did mount an impressive battery of torpedo launchers for its size, primarily for use in orbital bombardment operations. However, the bulk of the ship's arsenal could be found in its point-defense systems, intended to secure absolute control of a battlefield's airspace.
Beyond the ship's own firepower, its primary purpose was to deliver Terran forces to battlefields across the Inner Sphere. A single Trident carried enough Hercules dropships, Viking fighter-mech hybrids, and base structures to sieze control of a small city by itself, or establish one or more fortified bases for more involved operations. While not the instant death sentence that was the arrival of a Behemoth, the warriors of the Inner Sphere seldom enjoyed the appearance of a Trident as it became the foremost herald of Raynor's Raiders in this new galaxy.
"There's nothing glamorous about riding in a Trident, the damn things started out life as support ships, and the guns were tacked on after with a mix of glue, spit, and bad ideas. Back home, these things would never fly, and not even the most glory-hungry jackass in the Dominion would want to be her captain. But here, she's the best we can build right now, and you know what? She does her job and she does it well. Can't ask for much more'n that."
-Chief Engineer Jan Tovus of the Halberd, the third Trident-class deployed