Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
IIRC, we see Arrows in the Wing Commander: Academy cartoon. T-Bolts are probably the newest fighters in that list, at least according to files extracted from WC3.
Arrows, Hellcats and Longbows all show up in 'cameos' on Wing Commander Academy. The age for the Thunderbolt is established, IIRC, by the Wing Commander III Authorized Combat Guide - which claims they've been around for six months (as of the start of WC3). That'd put their service entry in 2668.
The End Run novel specifically refers to the 4 carriers at Vukar Tag to all be part of the remaining 7(?) ships that Confed considers to be their fleet carrier force, with the Gettysburg being refered to as if she counted as a full fledged confleet carrier rather than a simple modified through-deck cruiser.
Could the 'burg have been more of a replacement model(Like the Austin in SM2) rather than intending to be a Waterloo?
I guess it's about time we deal with the Gettysburg issue.
My favored way of looking at it is that the Gettysburg is only listed in End Run's various narrations because its so important to Jason - and that there's a fourth, unnamed fleet carrier in the battlegroup. I'm fairly sure it's possible to the point of reasonable to look at the references to the ship in this manner.
The alternate comes from Captain Johnny's bible, which is the tried and true 'can be configured as a carrier' option. I have trouble with this for a few reasons: Special Operations 1 specifically classifies her as a cruiser, the later Kilrathi Saga manual goes though lengths to explain the 'large' fighter complement as being normal and we can find seven fleet carriers in service in 2667 without including Gettysburg.
On another note, are the Ranger-class carriers named for famous carriers of the past? Again, I don't have any of the books so I haven't the extra information to check any of my theories, but I'm guessing they are seeing as how the USS Ranger and HMS Victory were both WWII carriers.
While I don't doubt that there was an HMS Victory in World War II, I'd imagine that the TCS Victory is named after Admiral Nelson's flagship... (she's even got a Shuttle Horatio Nelson).
(Wing Commander has always played fairly fast and loose with its name origins... there'll be a couple that share an apparent pattern and then just as many that don't.)
Speaking of carriers, though, anyone care to conjecture a lifespan date for Ranger-class carriers? The ships database here says that the Victory was slated to be retired in the 2660s, and going by the only standard I have (the U.S. Navy), the lifespan of a carrier is somewhere around 50 years (basing this on projections that the USS John F. Kennedy will remain in service until around 2018). So, I'm guessing that the Ranger-classes were being first built in say...the 2610s? Any thoughts?
Focusing on transports was certainly new - but we see plenty of cross border raiding... like the Tiger's Claw during Operation Thor's Hammer (and its followup, SM1.5).
Speaking of carriers, though, anyone care to conjecture a lifespan date for Ranger-class carriers? The ships database here says that the Victory was slated to be retired in the 2660s, and going by the only standard I have (the U.S. Navy), the lifespan of a carrier is somewhere around 50 years (basing this on projections that the USS John F. Kennedy will remain in service until around 2018). So, I'm guessing that the Ranger-classes were being first built in say...the 2610s? Any thoughts?
According to... the WC3 novel, I believe... the Ranger-class was already fifty years old when the Victory herself was comissioned (in 2634) - so, ~2584 for the class, 2634 for the Victory.