Re: FT-Fighters and launch bays

Roger Books wrote:

> On  5-Jun-01 at 14:25, Bif Smith (bif@bifsmith.fsnet.co.uk) wrote:
> > I was thinking of my post about deployed SMR pods, and I came up
with this
> > idea for fighters. The fighter bays can be considered as the launch
bays
> > (after all, a ship can launch all it`s fighters at once), we could
have the
> > fighters carried as cargo in cargo bays, with the fighter bays use
for just
> > launching/landing/rearming fighters, and the fighters transfered
from the
> > cargo bays to the launch bays when launching is required. After all,
I
> > don`t think a present carrier can launch all it`s fighters at once,
it
> > requires them to be transfered from the hangers to the catapults. If
we did
> > this, a CVL could replace 2 of it`s launch bays with cargo space for
3
> > fighter groups, increasing it`s fighters to 5 groups, but only be
able to
> > launch/land/rearm 2 fighter groups at once.
> >
> > Any comments?
>
> This one has bounced around the list before.	The end result of much
> discussion was fighters took up 1-1/2 X their mass just like anything
> else.  If you wanted to store them crated they would only take up
> their mass but would be unavailable in a scenario.  Otherwise you were
> getting fighters far to inexpensively.  A base fighter squadron
> costs 45 before drive costs.	A "crated" fighter squadron in mass 6
> cargo bays costs 18 before drive costs.  (My figures are from AO
> so may be a bit off.)

Cargo is free?	Actually, I assumed that the "cargo" space occupied by
fighters
would cost the same as a missile magazine of the same mass, due to the
requirement for fighter handling equipment.

Fighters in a cargo hold, as opposed to a magazine, would have to be
pushed into
space, and then brought into the recover lock, which severely limits the
allowed
maneuvering of the carrier (or the fighters drift off into space/smash
against
the hull).