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The Mengsk-class fleet carrier was a fleet carrier classification of the Terran Dominion and its successor, the Terran Republic. It was a novel concept that instigated the series of Terran fleet carriers, and was hailed as a paradigm shift in Terran naval warfare technology and warfare doctrine.
Concept[]
The Mengsk-class fleet carrier was originally designed to fulfill a vital role in the Dominion Fleet; the ever-growing "carrier gap" in the naval arms race between the Terrans and the Zerg. While the Dominion continued to invest substantial resources into the construction of cruisers and destroyers to contest enemy capital capital ships, the Dominion Fleet was ill-prepared to combat Zerg fighters. Many naval engagements would boast tens of thousands of Zerg fighters that would overwhelm Terran ships that were armed to counter warships, not small interceptors and bombers.
Thus, the Mengsk-class was designed to boast an extensive starfighter compliment — one hundred and forty-four fighters (two full combat wings) — as well as an able surface component of infantry and combat vehicles. A single fleet carrier, with two whole fighter wings, was a force projection asset capable of projecting Dominion military superiority across an entire star system, and served to be an invaluable asset to counter increasing Dominion losses because of the lack of fighter screens.
Eventually, the fleet carrier concept would further evolve into a dedicated vessel that could serve as both command vessel and heavy carrier; thus, substantial investments were made to ensure that the Mengsk-class both could survive enemy fusillades as well as capably duel enemy warships. Geometric advancements in Terran military technology would forsee the enhancement of the fleet carrier's energy shields, and the carrier was armed with a Mark II Yamato Cannon as well as a battery of forty laser batteries to engage enemy capital warships.
However, the Mengsk-class fleet carrier's most glaring deficit was its manueverability and velocity; its substantial armaments, compliment, and shielding would leave little onboard energies for power of the motive thrust drives. This was not seen as a decapitating weakness, however; the fleet carrier was meant to be a well-guarded asset in any Terran battle group, screened by cruisers and destroyer escorts, and was designed to wage its war from afar, launching its fighter squadrons and firing its batteries at range, and relying on its escorts to neutralize enemy capital ships that came to destroy it.
History[]
The Mengsk-class fleet carriers would be extensively employed by the Terran Dominion during the Dominion's struggle to prevail against the Zerg onslaught after the cataclysmic Brood War. When the Dominion became assimilated into the Terran Republic, these fleet carriers would become integral in the Republic Navy, extensively participating in humanity's defense against the Zerg. One Mengsk-class fleet carrier, the Defiance, would become prominently known as the flagship of Jocelyn Perry, and would serve as one of the core vessels of the Terran Republic Fifth Fleet and would serve as the command vessel of Carrier Group Two.
Known Vessels[]
- Emperor (CV-001) - captured by Terran Confederacy
- Monarch (CV-002)
- Sovereign (CV-003)
- Hierarch (CV-004)
- Dominator (CV-005)
- Strikefast (CV-006) - operational, en route to Dylarian Shipyards
- Valiant (CV-007) - operational, en route to Dylarian Shipyards
- Defiance (CV-187)
| Starships by RelentlessRecusant | ||
| Terran | ||
| Interceptors | A-17a Wraith-class starfighter - A-17b Wraith-class starfighter - Gamma-class starfighter | |
| Bombers | Scythe-class fleet bomber | |
| Shuttles | R3-class shuttle | |
| Capital Ships | Mengsk-class fleet carrier - Hercules-class battlecruiser | |