Long Island-class

"The Yorktown Class Light Carrier, while called a Light Carrier, is really a Fleet Carrier due to how many Mobile Armors it is able to carry. The only reason its called a light carrier is due to it being smaller then the larger Agamemnon Class Command Carrier."

- Taken from Jane's Space Ships and Warships, CE72 Edition



General and Technical Data

 * Class: Long Island Class
 * Ships of the line: Long Island, Makin Island, Coral Sea, Mission Bay, Manila Bay, Didrickson Bay, Wake Island, White Plains, Kalinin Bay, Kasaan Bay, Fanshaw Bay, Kitkun Bay, Gambier Bay, Nehenta Bay, Hoggatt Bay, Kadashan Bay, Marcus Island, Savo Island, Ommaney Bay, Petrof Bay, Rudyerd Bay, Saginaw Bay, Sargent Bay, Shipley Bay, Sitkoh Bay, Steamer Bay, Cape Esperance, Takanis Bay, Thetis Bay, Makassar Strait, Windham Bay, Lunga Point, Admiralty Islands, Commencement Bay, Block Island, Gilbert Islands, Kula Gulf, Salerno Bay, Vella Gulf, Puget Sound, Badoeng Strait, Point Cruz, Saint George, Saint Simon, Saint Andrews, Walker, Mahan, Archer, Bowmen, Skirmisher, Battler, Attacker, Defender, Richard, Hunter, Biter, Challenger, Dasher, Tracker, Barnes, Bogue, Breton, Copahee, Croatan, Hamlin, Stalker, Nassau, Pursuer, Altamaha, Striker, Searcher, Ravager, Sangamon, Suwannee, Chaser, Charger, Chenango, Santee, Charger, Chatham, Glacier, Pybus, Baffins, Bolinas, Bastian, Carnegie, Cordova, Delgada, Edisto, Estero, Jamaica, Keweenaw, Prince, Niantic, Perdido, Sunset, Queen, Ruler, Arbiter, Smiter, Willapa, Casablanca, Anzio, Corregidor, Guadalcanal, Tripoli, Solomons, Tulagi, Salamaua, Hollandia, Kwajalein, Bougainville, Matanikau, Attu, Roi, Munda, Siboney, Rendova, Bairoko, Saidor, Sicily, Mindoro, Rabaul, Palau, Tinian, Bastogne, Eniwetok, Lingayen, Okinawa, Gloucester, Fencer, Slinger, Atheling, Emperor, Ameer, Begum, Trumpeter, Empress, Khedive, Speaker, Nabob, Premier, Shah, Patroller, Rajah, Ranee, Trouncer, Thane, Puncher, Reaper, Activity, Shamrock, Nairana, Doorman, Vindex, Campania, Audacity, Midway (Long Island Main Class) Yorktown, Essex, Hornet, Franklin, Intrepid, Lexington, Kearsarge, Princeton, Leyte, Boxer, Wasp, Oriskany, Cabot, Hancock, Ticonderoga, Bennington, Reprisal, Randolph, Antietam, Shangri-La (Yorktown Sub-Class)
 * Unit type: Light Carrier
 * Classification: CVL
 * Manufacturer: Earth Alliance – Apollo Fleet Shipyards & Vulcan Yards
 * Operator(s): Earth Alliance (Atlantic Federation, Eurasian Federation, Republic of East Asia); Various Others (Pirates, Mercenaries, etc)
 * First deployment: March 15, CE70
 * Dimensions: 200 meters long (225 Meters for the Long Island Long-Hull Sub-Class)
 * Wingspan: 115 meters wide
 * Weight: 18,185 tons (fully loaded 22,225 tons)
 * Propulsion: Two Banks of Five Propulsion Engines
 * Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown; 3 x Multipurpose Launchers, able to fire flares or anti-beam depth charges; Hanger Gate, is able to be lowered or risen entirely or just in front of catapults; Hull Storage Racks, allows ship to carry extra machines, or cargo; Rear Recovery Deck, sits between both engine blocks and allows the ship to both launch and recover machines
 * Fixed armaments: 8 x Type V 55mm CIWS Cannons; 2 x Type VII 95cm Light Beam Cannons; 1 x Type IIX 125cm Duel-Barrel Beam Cannon
 * Mobile weapons: 10 (15 using hull storage racks)
 * Launch catapults: 2

Technical and Historical Notes
When the First Bloody Valentine War started, the Alliance was caught flat-footed by the Mobile Suits deployed by ZAFT. The Alliance Mobile Armors only had numbers on their side when facing against the enemy. However, the Alliance had one small problem they only had one full carrier class and it doubled as a fleet command ship, though it did sport an entirely carrier driven sub-class even then these ships where quite expensive. While their other ships could carry Mobile Armors of their own it was not in sufficient numbers to overwhelm the enemy. So the higher ups gave the order for the Lunar Shipyards of Vulcan Yards to design and produce a fully fledged carrier ship to carry Mobile Armors into battle.

The Long Island Class Light Carrier was their answer to that order, while officially being called a light carrier it could carry ten mobile armors, fifteen if it uses its hull storage racks, which was five less then the larger Agamemnon Class ships. The one problem with the design was the ships defensive armament of the ship was very light when compared to the other ships of the fleet. Even then the Vulcan Yards and later the larger Apollo Shipyards, started to mass producing this ships and by wars end they managed together to build over one hundred fifty of these small carriers yet dependable carriers.

While the new Long Island Class carrier is a great design, it still had many faults and weaknesses thanks in part to it being easy and cheap to produce. One main fault, is that the hanger of the ship takes munch of the mass of the ship and only a small amount is dedicated to crew quarters or crew amenities, not to mention ammo and weapon storage. This made the ship cramped to be in, and hard to move around from one side of the ship to the other. Another fault or rather weakness is the coverage of its CIWS weapons does not defend the ship entirely and has many blind spots thanks to this. Also thanks to the Long Islands ability to carry extra mobile armors with its hull storage racks, and its rather cramped crew quarters these extra pilots would have to rely on hot bunking or like some pilots during the war set up sleep areas either in the hanger or the main transit hull which connects the hanger to the secondary hull. Finally the main hull, or rather the “Bracket” Hull as it is called, is fairly structurally weak compared to any other ship in the Alliance Fleet. A favorite tactic of ZAFT pilots would be something called breaking its back, basically tearing apart the main hull till the ship is destroyed. However these carriers would quickly become well-loved by their crews even with these weaknesses, this thanks to the design’s sheer ruggedness and its ability to stay in the fight even when heavily damaged or its command tower destroyed.

Later on during the later courses of the war, many of these ships where converted into new Kitty Hawk Class Light Carriers, which is a conversion so these ship would be able to carry Strike Dagger Mobile Suits into battle. These carriers dropped their complement from ten to eight to be able to properly support mobile suits, also these refits would still sport storage racks allowing it carry a few extra mobiles if needed. While not as good of a carrier as a dedicated mobile carrier like the larger, and expensive Archangel Class, they would still perform brilliantly during the later course of the war carrying their mobile suits to battle. However many Long Island Class, those that remained in their original configuration for whatever purposes, and several damaged Kitty Hawk Class refits would be retired after the war. A few would find themselves falling into the hands of various third party forces, pirates, and terrorists.

After the end of the war the new Flight II Kitty Hawk Class Light Carriers, or better known as the Lexington Class, would be introduced which where built from scratch unlike the older Flight I Kitty Hawk Class ships. These new ships would remove the option of the hull storage racks due to the hanger being extended vastly, as well as the older hanger gate being replaced by dedicated linear catapults. The new Lexington Class would be the only two ships in the post-war Alliance Fleet to sport interior linear catapults.

Even than these carriers did managed to serve their main purpose and while many where destroyed by dedicated mobile suit attacks. They served their main purpose very well, and thanks to these small carrier. Alliance fleets could bring a lot more Mobile Armors to battle than normally they could.

Miscellaneous Information

 * Variants/Subclasses: 3/1
 * 1.Yorktown Sub-Class, a version of the class that extends the hull an extra twenty-five meters to allow more mass to be dedicated to other uses. Thanks to this extension it is often called the long-hulled type and thanks to this these ships are named after old Essex Class Aircraft Carriers from the twentieth century AD.
 * 2. Kitty Hawk Variant/Refit, a refit to make the class into a mobile suit carrier. Adds the ability to carry mobile suits, and drops its complement to eight machines.
 * 3. Kitty Hawk Flight II/Lexington Class, an after-war new-build variant of the class which corrects some of the problems of the main Long Island Class and the ability to carry and support Strike Pack able Mobile Suits.
 * 4. Aril Class, a variant of the Long Island built after the war by the Vulcan Yards for the civilian market and possesses the hanger of the main class but a large cargo bay underneath the main hull. Is able to carry eight mobile suits or mobile armors along with numerous work pods while not sacrificing cargo space. Emerges as a popular ship of choice for the Junk Guild post-war, and many other civilian third-parties buy these ships.
 * Design Note: Basically the Quasar Fire Class Bulk Carrier (aka the Rebel Escort Carrier) from Star Wars with an Agamemnon styled command tower and a single double-barrel cannon on top of the ship.