Honorverse ramblings and musings

I can't find any information on ammunition colliers. Are they simply ammo transports? Size? Armament? Can they at least be used for emergency LAC recovery?

Freighters with military screens and drives, plus specialized cargo handling gear. Possibly also light point defenses.

kzt wrote:Freighters with military screens and drives, plus specialized cargo handling gear. Possibly also light point defenses.

Could they possibly double as emergency LAC recovery? I simply hate the idea of stranded LACs.

cthia wrote:

kzt wrote:Freighters with military screens and drives, plus specialized cargo handling gear. Possibly also light point defenses.

Could they possibly double as emergency LAC recovery? I simply hate the idea of stranded LACs.

They might, but I'd think anything that could cause the carrier to bug out (or be destroyed) would *also* be cause for a collier to hightail it outta Dodge.

cthia wrote:

kzt wrote:Freighters with military screens and drives, plus specialized cargo handling gear. Possibly also light point defenses.

Could they possibly double as emergency LAC recovery? I simply hate the idea of stranded LACs.

If the CLAC didn't survive to pick up the LACs, it is unlikely that a much more fragile freighter would be around to Sub for it.

MaxxQ wrote:
They might, but I'd think anything that could cause the carrier to bug out (or be destroyed) would *also* be cause for a collier to hightail it outta Dodge.

Of course Maxx. My take on it as well. Except that the carrier does join the battle, albeit from far out of range. Evenso, theoretically the carrier could meet with a disaster. In the event the carriers are destroyed yet the system is held, there is nothing else. And you might need to withdraw from the system quickly. Would be nice if you could send for the colliers at the rendezvous.

Weird Harold wrote:
If the CLAC didn't survive to pick up the LACs, it is unlikely that a much more fragile freighter would be around to Sub for it.

Unlikely isn't the same as definitely. It could have been a one in a million event, as an enemy hypering in on top of your carriers that are held back. I just think it inefficient to not be able to utilize all that free space on a collier, in a pinch.

cthia wrote:

MaxxQ wrote:
They might, but I'd think anything that could cause the carrier to bug out (or be destroyed) would *also* be cause for a collier to hightail it outta Dodge.

Of course Maxx. My take on it as well. Except that the carrier does join the battle, albeit from far out of range. Evenso, theoretically the carrier could meet with a disaster. In the event the carriers are destroyed yet the system is held, there is nothing else. And you might need to withdraw from the system quickly. Would be nice if you could send for the colliers at the rendezvous.

I could see that, but I suspect that if the system is held, they'd have better LAC recovery options than an ammo collier.

cthia wrote:Unlikely isn't the same as definitely. It could have been a one in a million event, as an enemy hypering in on top of your carriers that are held back. I just think it inefficient to not be able to utilize all that free space on a collier, in a pinch.

IIRC, in one case of LACs requiring recovery by other than their CLAC, the crews bailed out to be picked up by friendly warships and set the self-destruct for the LAC itself.

If there is time and peace enough to load a LAC into a collier, there is time and peace enough to utilize any freighter -- which might be less complicated than using a collier optimized for fast transfer of missiles and pods. <shrugs>

Current doctrine appears to be for the CLAC to launch its wings and hyper out to a predesignated rendezvous point away from the battle zone. That doctrine would make the need for alternative transport for a LAC unnecessary.

Weird Harold wrote:

cthia wrote:Unlikely isn't the same as definitely. It could have been a one in a million event, as an enemy hypering in on top of your carriers that are held back. I just think it inefficient to not be able to utilize all that free space on a collier, in a pinch.

IIRC, in one case of LACs requiring recovery by other than their CLAC, the crews bailed out to be picked up by friendly warships and set the self-destruct for the LAC itself.

If there is time and peace enough to load a LAC into a collier, there is time and peace enough to utilize any freighter -- which might be less complicated than using a collier optimized for fast transfer of missiles and pods. <shrugs>

Current doctrine appears to be for the CLAC to launch its wings and hyper out to a predesignated rendezvous point away from the battle zone. That doctrine would make the need for alternative transport for a LAC unnecessary.

I suppose you're right. I guess I was thinking about the CLACS fighting in the Battle of Manticore. But certainly that was a special case. Better to save your home system than a CLAC.

Anyway, it is that tendency to abandon and destroy them that I tried to suggest a solution. Seems wasteful. What about captured Solly junk? Too much trouble to convert the SDs into transports?