Rubin Design Bureau
TK20 - "Severstal"
Ultra-heavy interstellar Cargo craft.
Formerly a Soviet Ballistic Missile Submarine, Severstal was laid up in the early 00's as funding for her operation began to dry up. Old and in need of modernisation, she was placed in mothballs. As the wave began to break across the world, and hearing rumours of a US Navy program to do similar, the Russian government quietly began studies towards converting three remaining Project-941 submarines to space-based cargo carriers, based on plans drawn up by the Rubin Design Bureau for an under-ice cargo carrier ten years previously.
Beginning in 2010, the program was originally planned to take 2 years, and involved the removal and disposal of Severstal's missile systems and their replacement with multi-purpose pressurised cargo decks. These decks can be outfitted to carry passengers, or up to fifteen thousand tons of cargo. This makes Severstal one of the largest cargo carrier's by capacity. The unique multi-pressure-hull design of the Project-941 Submarines makes them emininently suitable for conversion to cargo operations. The design is inherently fail-safe against total depressurisation. Large internal spaces help the crew maintain psychological health, while two nuclear reactors provide failsafe power capability and almost unlimeted range.
Severstal his multiple docking rings - compatible with Soyuz spacecraft, or similar collars. Two modified items are used as shuttlecraft. The entire control centre can also be ejected and used as an emergency lifeboat if necessary.
Severstal was designed - in a secondary role - to carry enough food for crew for up to six years if necessary, with the reactors capable of an up-to ten year endurance on a fresh fuel load.
Cost overruns and technical hitches led to Severstal remaining in dry dock until 2016, with the maiden voyage not coming until 2017. Severstal remains the largest spacecraft to take off from Earth's surface - not including unreal estate.
Severstal is operated jointly by Roskosmos and the Russian Navy. She spent five years in further prototype testing, undergoing a number of final upgrades and repairs along the way, before finally entering full revenue service in 2022 as Roskosmos Heavy Interstellar Carrier 20 Severstal. Severstal is booked out for cargo-lifting until mid-2025. Severstal has proved popular with a number of mundane corporations looking to rapidly expand their operations in space, being capable of carrying the contents of an entire colony - and its inhabitants - to the asteroid belt within 5 days.
Plans to retrofit Submarine TK-17 Arkhangelsk were abandoned when she was found to have degraded too much while in mothballs. She was subsequenctly scrapped. TK-208 Dmitry Donskoy will be rebuilt when he is withdrawn from service. It is still intended that there be three 941 spacecraft - though with the scrapping of Arkhangelsk, the only way this will be achieved will be if a 7th Type-941 is conscructed from scratch. Demand for Severstal's service is currently high enough to make this economical. There is no current alternative in the 15 thousand ton range. Rubin have received a number of approaches from private entities to convert existing decommissioned submarines to cargo carriers, and has been aggressively purchasing those mothballed submarines which still remain in useable condition.
Severstal's current Commander is Yuri Senyavin. Officially, he is employed by Roskosmos, and trained as a Soyuz Cosmonaut before the program ended.
==Mundane Attributes==
"Big son of a bitch" Largest (by mass) cargo carrier capable of taking off and landing from the surface of planet Earth. She can carry up to fifteen thousand tons of cargo and passengers.
"Tough." Built to tolerate torpedo hits even before being introduced to handwavium.. Penetrating the waved hull with anything short of a relativistic railcannon is an excersize in futility.
===Quirks ==
"The Peoples Music." Requires the Soviet National Anthem to be played in the engine room on takeoff. [Ref] Any similarity to USS Stingray is a coincidence [/ref]
"Cold-- and Hard" A thin layer of Ice forms on the hull when her drives are active. Even in the dry depths of space. It dissipates naturally,
"The say it's a healthy glow." Items in the reactor compartment glows blue - the intensity of the glow being directly related to how much radiation the component eits. The glow is energised by the interaction of handwavium with ionising radiation. Actual ionising radiation emitted by glowing components is minimal - the wave appears to eat the radiation to fuel the glow.
"Young Pioneers of Space." The ship's computer, Vanya, wears the uniform of a Young Pioneer. He loves having children aboard. He sulks if he has no-one to play with, to the detriment of ship's efficiency.
----------------
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
TK20 - "Severstal"
Ultra-heavy interstellar Cargo craft.
Formerly a Soviet Ballistic Missile Submarine, Severstal was laid up in the early 00's as funding for her operation began to dry up. Old and in need of modernisation, she was placed in mothballs. As the wave began to break across the world, and hearing rumours of a US Navy program to do similar, the Russian government quietly began studies towards converting three remaining Project-941 submarines to space-based cargo carriers, based on plans drawn up by the Rubin Design Bureau for an under-ice cargo carrier ten years previously.
Beginning in 2010, the program was originally planned to take 2 years, and involved the removal and disposal of Severstal's missile systems and their replacement with multi-purpose pressurised cargo decks. These decks can be outfitted to carry passengers, or up to fifteen thousand tons of cargo. This makes Severstal one of the largest cargo carrier's by capacity. The unique multi-pressure-hull design of the Project-941 Submarines makes them emininently suitable for conversion to cargo operations. The design is inherently fail-safe against total depressurisation. Large internal spaces help the crew maintain psychological health, while two nuclear reactors provide failsafe power capability and almost unlimeted range.
Severstal his multiple docking rings - compatible with Soyuz spacecraft, or similar collars. Two modified items are used as shuttlecraft. The entire control centre can also be ejected and used as an emergency lifeboat if necessary.
Severstal was designed - in a secondary role - to carry enough food for crew for up to six years if necessary, with the reactors capable of an up-to ten year endurance on a fresh fuel load.
Cost overruns and technical hitches led to Severstal remaining in dry dock until 2016, with the maiden voyage not coming until 2017. Severstal remains the largest spacecraft to take off from Earth's surface - not including unreal estate.
Severstal is operated jointly by Roskosmos and the Russian Navy. She spent five years in further prototype testing, undergoing a number of final upgrades and repairs along the way, before finally entering full revenue service in 2022 as Roskosmos Heavy Interstellar Carrier 20 Severstal. Severstal is booked out for cargo-lifting until mid-2025. Severstal has proved popular with a number of mundane corporations looking to rapidly expand their operations in space, being capable of carrying the contents of an entire colony - and its inhabitants - to the asteroid belt within 5 days.
Plans to retrofit Submarine TK-17 Arkhangelsk were abandoned when she was found to have degraded too much while in mothballs. She was subsequenctly scrapped. TK-208 Dmitry Donskoy will be rebuilt when he is withdrawn from service. It is still intended that there be three 941 spacecraft - though with the scrapping of Arkhangelsk, the only way this will be achieved will be if a 7th Type-941 is conscructed from scratch. Demand for Severstal's service is currently high enough to make this economical. There is no current alternative in the 15 thousand ton range. Rubin have received a number of approaches from private entities to convert existing decommissioned submarines to cargo carriers, and has been aggressively purchasing those mothballed submarines which still remain in useable condition.
Severstal's current Commander is Yuri Senyavin. Officially, he is employed by Roskosmos, and trained as a Soyuz Cosmonaut before the program ended.
==Mundane Attributes==
"Big son of a bitch" Largest (by mass) cargo carrier capable of taking off and landing from the surface of planet Earth. She can carry up to fifteen thousand tons of cargo and passengers.
"Tough." Built to tolerate torpedo hits even before being introduced to handwavium.. Penetrating the waved hull with anything short of a relativistic railcannon is an excersize in futility.
===Quirks ==
"The Peoples Music." Requires the Soviet National Anthem to be played in the engine room on takeoff. [Ref] Any similarity to USS Stingray is a coincidence [/ref]
"Cold-- and Hard" A thin layer of Ice forms on the hull when her drives are active. Even in the dry depths of space. It dissipates naturally,
"The say it's a healthy glow." Items in the reactor compartment glows blue - the intensity of the glow being directly related to how much radiation the component eits. The glow is energised by the interaction of handwavium with ionising radiation. Actual ionising radiation emitted by glowing components is minimal - the wave appears to eat the radiation to fuel the glow.
"Young Pioneers of Space." The ship's computer, Vanya, wears the uniform of a Young Pioneer. He loves having children aboard. He sulks if he has no-one to play with, to the detriment of ship's efficiency.
----------------
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
