Yorktown-Class Carriers

Aeronautico

Aeronautico

Rear Admiral
So, guys, what do we know about the Yorktown-Class Light Carriers? We know they are very similar to WC4's Concordia, and were at a time called Rangers, but that has since been proven wrong, and that they are a pre-war design with light armor and a medium starfighter complement.

But what else do we know? What other examples of this class are there besides the Victory? When were they officially retired, and what are the fates of the other known Yorktowns? Does anyone else know anything of this old class of warship?
 
The only thing we know about the armor is what the Victory was equipped with during the last year of the Kilrathi War: 1000 cm. equivalent of durasteel. Nothing has ever been stated otherwise.

Nothing has ever stated that the Yorktown and Concordia classes are similar. More to the point, there are major internal differences between the Victory and Lexington. Likening these two classes is akin to likening the World War II USS Yorktown (CV-5) to the USS Essex (CV-9)-- they're both carriers, both were similar in appearance when not looking at the fine details, but, in the end, were two totally different ships.

Presumably the surviving Yorktown-class Carriers were part of the 40-series carriers retired immediately after the war.
 
Design-wise, they are similar. Their external structure is very much alike, in appearance. Look at how similar the Victory and Lexington "looked". I never said that they were the same in any other terms, but in appearance, a definite yes.

I am aware that they are very different. The Lexington would totally own the Victory. That apparently was just a popular external design back in the day.
 
Presumably the surviving Yorktown-class Carriers were part of the 40-series carriers retired immediately after the war.
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Yes, that's almost certainly what that line was supposed to reference -- of course, Mr. Ohlander didn't know they'd chosen CV-44 and CV-48 for the Lexington and Princeton in the actual game...

That was really only among fans.
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It goes a little bit deeper, but not by much. I chose "Ranger" for the Ships List (created at the request of Captain Johnny during Secret Ops) based on a reference to a Ranger-class carrier in Action Stations; unfortunately I didn't check my math and there was nothing about it being a light carrier in the actual book. Unfortunately, it struck a chord with fans and it was used in fanfic and the like for some years. In short, never assume anything and don't listen to me.

So, guys, what do we know about the Yorktown-Class Light Carriers? We know they are very similar to WC4's Concordia, and were at a time called Rangers, but that has since been proven wrong, and that they are a pre-war design with light armor and a medium starfighter complement.
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Well, we know the exact armor statistic (and other specifications) from Victory Streak and that the 'medium' fighter complement is 40, from the Heart of the Tiger novelization.

Beyond that, though, not much (beyond the wealth of data we can learn from the Victory herself - deck plans, operations, etc.) - we need to remember that this sort of material is generally created in reverse... the "Yorktown-class" 'exists' only because the Victory was created as the player's home in Wing Commander III.
 
Well, we know the exact armor statistic (and other specifications) from Victory Streak and that the 'medium' fighter complement is 40, from the Heart of the Tiger novelization.
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Does this mean that there were 40 medium fighters (Hellcats) and an unknown amount of other fighters, or that the total fighter complement was 40 and called a medium wing?
 
Dragon1 said:
Does this mean that there were 40 medium fighters (Hellcats) and an unknown amount of other fighters, or that the total fighter complement was 40 and called a medium wing?
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4 squadrons (Hellcat, Arrow, Longbow, Thunderbolt) of 10 fighters each.

[See http://www.crius.net/zone/showthread.php?t=19931&highlight=victory+fighter+complement for some dispute on this. The book actually mentions an additional Arrow squadron in place of the Hellcat one, but there is an argument that this was a typo.]
 
Aeronautico said:
Design-wise, they are similar. Their external structure is very much alike, in appearance. Look at how similar the Victory and Lexington "looked". I never said that they were the same in any other terms, but in appearance, a definite yes.

I am aware that they are very different. The Lexington would totally own the Victory. That apparently was just a popular external design back in the day.
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I wouldn't say that the Lexington owning the Victory is necessarily true. Yes The Concordia class does carry more fighters and is a more modern design. However it's not like those two Carriers are going to go Broadside to Broadside with each other. Unless Paulson's commanding the Lexington that is :p. In the end it comes down to the experience of both Carriers fighter wings and the experience of Carriers Command crew. Which Hypothetically speaking in a mock combat situation I'd have to give the edge to Victory just because Tolwyn stacked the Deck with his best people. On the other side the crew of the Lexington were All Noobs with the Exception of the Victory Crew Members that were on there.
 
Star Rider said:
I wouldn't say that the Lexington owning the Victory is necessarily true. Yes The Concordia class does carry more fighters and is a more modern design. However it's not like those two Carriers are going to go Broadside to Broadside with each other. Unless Paulson's commanding the Lexington that is :p. In the end it comes down to the experience of both Carriers fighter wings and the experience of Carriers Command crew. Which Hypothetically speaking in a mock combat situation I'd have to give the edge to Victory just because Tolwyn stacked the Deck with his best people. On the other side the crew of the Lexington were All Noobs with the Exception of the Victory Crew Members that were on there.
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With all due respect, Admiral, carriers don't fly themselves.

Yes, it is the men, isn't it.
 
Why would 40 among four types be broken evenly? A real carrier wing and its WW2 incarnation certainly are not, and the same incentives/realities should apply.

Star Rider said:
I wouldn't say that the Lexington owning the Victory is necessarily true. Yes The Concordia class does carry more fighters and is a more modern design. However it's not like those two Carriers are going to go Broadside to Broadside with each other. Unless Paulson's commanding the Lexington that is :p. In the end it comes down to the experience of both Carriers fighter wings and the experience of Carriers Command crew. Which Hypothetically speaking in a mock combat situation I'd have to give the edge to Victory just because Tolwyn stacked the Deck with his best people. On the other side the crew of the Lexington were All Noobs with the Exception of the Victory Crew Members that were on there.
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Given the Navy/Space Force dumped people left and right after the war, why wouldn't the Lex have a abnormally above average crew compared to a war era vessel? Given the lack of work for Vets I didn't get the impression they're having to fight to preserve a solid NCO corp.

Making the unreasonable assumption of all ships up:
Concordia-class:
96

Yorktown:
40
w/ 8 Aces (max on Victory in WC3)

Assuming Avg Terran Pilots cancel out that leaves 64 Avg Terran Pilots vs 8 Aces or 8 to 1 odds with Avg Terran Pilot >>> Avg Kilrathi pilot in universe. Hence a straight up fight would be suicide, and Victory's success would be based on the Lex making a mistake and the Victory being crafty/lucky enough to exploit.
 
When 2-3 torpedoes could easily take out both vessels, I'm not sure comparing which one would win in a theoretical battle amounts to much. The contest would ultimately be decided by the skill/training of the crews and airwings of both.

As for the carriers themselves, the Yorktown-class, per WC3, has much greater protection then the TCS Lexington of WC4, but the Lexington has a greater combat speed. The armament is about the same, except we don't know if the Lexington has any missile/torpedo launchers.
 
Why would 40 among four types be broken evenly? A real carrier wing and its WW2 incarnation certainly are not, and the same incentives/realities should apply.
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I agree that this would make sense, but the Wing Commander III novelization has four ten-fighter squadrons on the Victory. It isn't the case everywhere, though -- the Midway and the Tiger's Claw certainly don't have complements that break down into exactly equal divisions of fighter types.
 
That's certainly true. On a ship that eventually takes on 2 bomber types, 2 Space Superiority types, Wasps, Piranhas, and Tigersharks if it was equally spread across 252 slots you'd have 36 each. Yet several missions in WCP imply at least 42 Panthers can be deployed at any given time. I always got the impression the overwhelming majority were Panthers given Wasps were special situation only, and the Piranhas/Tigersharks seemed to play a rather minor role overall in operations.
 
That's certainly true. On a ship that eventually takes on 2 bomber types, 2 Space Superiority types, Wasps, Piranhas, and Tigersharks if it was equally spread across 252 slots you'd have 36 each. Yet several missions in WCP imply at least 42 Panthers can be deployed at any given time. I always got the impression the overwhelming majority were Panthers given Wasps were special situation only, and the Piranhas/Tigersharks seemed to play a rather minor role overall in operations.
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Midway actually has some Thunderbolts, too - they show up in Secret Ops (she sends them to assist Cerberus in the last Sirius mission).
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Midway actually has some Thunderbolts, too - they show up in Secret Ops (she sends them to assist Cerberus in the last Sirius mission).
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hmmm... I always thought those were insys fighters from one of the starbases in the area. Are we sure those were from the Midway?
 
That may not have had them during Kilrah. They were probably transferred onboard after Midway's return (it was probably in drydocks in fact with all of its battledamage when the bugs started to show up).
 
My understanding is that the Midway only had the fighters available for the Diamondback and Black Widow squadrons, as per the ICIS manual and Blair's remark to the CAG, "we don't even have a full complement of ships".
 
Hmm. Which Arrow variant is carried by Victory in official canon? Point-defense or scouts? It's been ages since I read the book.
 
Probably point-defense as we rarely fly them for more than intercept (ie scramble). Although they probably aren't either, but actually interceptor arrows.
 
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