Pegasus Class Assault Carriers

The Pegasus-Class Assault Landing Craft was the first ship of the Earth Federation to be designed around a capacity to carry Battle Mechs. These Assault Carriers are functionally equivalent to an aircraft carrier, as their primary function is to launch and recover battle mechs.

Since Pegasus-class ships carry their own Mechs with them at all times they are somewhat less dependent on their main guns and anti-aircraft guns for protection and they enjoy more freedom on the battlefield, as they do not have operate in close consort with other ships for mutual protection against enemy battle mechs. All Pegasus-class ships are also equipped with a Minovsky Hermes System which enable ships in this class to enter and exit the earth's atmosphere; additionally, the Hermes system allows for these Assault Carriers to float by Negating their susceptibility to gravity.

Unlike the other Federation ship classes of the time, the Pegasus-class is not so much a single class as a concept; rapidly advancing technology swiftly changed both the internal arrangement and external appearance of the Pegasus-class ships. Only the first two units (Pegasus SCV-69 and War Hammer SCV-70) were completed to the original plans. After the War Hammer, technology was advancing so quickly that each subsequent Pegasus-class cruiser looked significantly different, though each had the same general arrangement of a central hull with two large aft thruster blocks, two wings, and two forward mobile suit launching "legs." The overall design looked like a sphinx or a winged horse, giving the class its name.

After the One Year War, every ship was re-designated as Mech Support Carrier (MSC) whether it had survived the war or not.

To a practiced eye, no two ships of the Pegasus class are alike. The advancing technology of the war resulted in drastic changes that severely affected the external appearance of the ships. However, four distinct flights appeared:

Flight I: The base Pegasus design, repeated on War Hammer.,

Flight II: A modified Flight I design, seen on Thoroughbred, mostly similar but flatter in shape,

Flight III: New external design, included two additional catapults, a new laser propulsion system and generally improved armament.

Flight IV: Actually completed before Flight III, an improved Flight II design.

List of ships of the Pegasus-class

SCV-69 Pegasus
SCV-70 (LMSD-71) War Hammer
SCVA-72 Thoroughbred
SCVA-73 Trojan Horse
LMSD-76 Gray Phantom
MSC-07 (LMSD-78) Albion

At the outbreak of the One Year War, the Dreadnought-oriented Earth Federation Space Force was caught completely by surprise when the Principality of NEO deployed the agile Battle Mechs against their fleets. The Federation military quickly realized that they would also need battle mechs if they were to have any chance of victory, and instituted the famed Project V in order to develop a mass-production battle mech design. The EFSF also realized that their existing line of warships lacked mech transport and support capacity, and thus desperately in need of designs capable of mobile warfare. A new revolutionary warship class exclusively designed for Mecha combat and support was born — the Pegasus class.

Ship Characteristics

Displacement: Standard: 32,000 tons

Fully Loaded: 68,000 tons

Length: 262 meters

Beam: 202.5 meters

Draft: 93 meters

Wingspan: 185 meters

Armament: Dual Barrel 880mm Gun x2

Dual Barrel Mega Particle Cannon x2

Front Missile Discharge Device x24

Rear Missile Discharge Device x6

(CIWS system)

Dual Barrel Anti-Aircraft Gun x35

BattleMech Capacity 6

BattleMech Contingent:

RX-78-2 Nalfeshnee x1

RX-77-2 Artillery Mech x2

RX-75-4 Command tank x1