Guide:Class B8
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| Class B8 / HSA(P/C)-25 / Type 25 / C37C "Rhino" | |
|---|---|
| Class Overview | |
| Category | heavy atmospheric / spatial shuttle |
| Operational | 2237 - 2279 |
| Constructed | 2,219 (built 2237 - 2270) |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 14.7 m |
| Beam | 11.6 m |
| Height | 3.8 m |
| Mass | 16.7 tons |
| Performance | |
| Cruise Speed | sublight |
| Max Speed | sublight |
| Endurance | 21 days |
| Complement | |
| Crew | 3 |
| Passengers | 10-36
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| Transporters |
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| Canonicity | |
| Design | STXI Star Trek |
| Name | own |
| History | own
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Background: Hobbyist's Guide
The Chiokis line of angular auxiliaries soon grew to include several models of medium warp shuttles, all of them too unwieldy to serve as general starship auxiliaries. Carriers and strike vessels embarked such craft on a regular basis, but it was difficult to find an operational role for them. Delivery of supplies was better handled by conventional barges or fast, non-embarkable couriers. On the other hand, insertion of troops or survey teams did not really call for the sort of mediocre warp drive that the Chiokis craft could carry. Hence, atmospheric barges persisted – but modern technology could at least allow them to discard their confining aerodynamic shells and concentrate on utilizable volume.
In 2237, Chiokis homed in on the ideal military barge, with straddling shots from the slightly too small C36A and the overtly clumsy C37. The 15 m long, 17-ton C37C 'Rhino' was aerodynamically semi-stable at supersonic entry, could fly more or less straight at the transonic and subsonic regimes on her two high-mounted fusion-heating engines and low-mounted wings, and would rely on gravitics to achieve proximity maneuvering and a soft landing. Commonalized flight controls kept the bulky barge controllable by two pilots, although one would suffice in an emergency and a third would be required for loadmaster on most missions. The control cabin could be separated from the cargo area by a variety of door and bulkhead configurations, one of which included a miniature airlock to allow the cargo section to be kept unpressurized throughout the mission.
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There were four access routes into the cargo area. Personnel ramps on both sides were the primary means of ingress and egress in normal operations. Bulky cargo could be brought onboard through a ventral hatch, although the minimal clearance offered by the four landing legs meant that such loading would usually have to take place in hover, or on special scaffolding. The hatch was more commonly used for gravidrop or paradrop delivery of troops or supplies, and was provided with a matching gravitic crane on the ceiling. Finally, there was an aft maintenance accessway that could double as an airlock, with supply lockers and sanitation spaces on both sides, plus a collection of emergency exit blowaway panels to ensure that even the maximum number of embarked personnel could leave the craft in a matter of seconds.
Up to 36 fully equipped combatants or 18 litter patients could be accommodated, although the flexibly configurable interior more typically left room for equipment and rapid egress. A dozen people could ride in great comfort and enjoy an outside view through six large and two smaller lateral portholes. The flight crew had large triangular side windows to help in maneuvering the craft in confined spaces, and a multi-segment forward viewport with armored shutters; situational awareness still largely hinged on display screens.
Adopted as a Class B8 auxiliary, the barge quickly achieved backbone status both as a support craft for medium and large starships, and as a liaison and transport vessel for outposts and installations. Despite falling below the shielding and armoring levels of a typical hopper, it also often ended up serving in battlefield transport roles. For four decades, the type remained a frontline troop transport asset, competing evenly with clumsier heavy assault barges. By the late seventies, though, miniaturization enabled warp-capable general purpose shuttlecraft to deliver comparable numbers of troops with much greater flexibility: two such craft could be shipped for the same deck footprint, and could move their loads with greater speed and agility while offering the output of a warp powerplant for support weapons and shielding. The Rhino, or Type 25, was finally retired in 2279 and relegated to reserves en masse.
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