Mender Class Mobile Refit Station

The Mender-Class Mobile Refit Station is a class of Black-Water, Mobile Refit Station designed to repair, refuel, and rearm the various ships of the Atreus Aerospace Command and construct orbital stations and surface installations if required. The Mender-Class is operated by the Confederacy of Atreus, and the Pan-Veiidic Commonwealth.

Mender-Class Mender-Class Mobile Refit Station
Mobile Refit Station
AASC Mender (ARD-01) On Sea Trials around Kerbin. c.2203
National Origin		Confederacy of Atreus
Production History
Designed
2197 - 2201
Produced
2202 - 2203
Designer		Odyssey Aerospace Aeronautical Design Office
Unit Cost		335898(√)
Number Built		2
Service History
In Service
2203 - N/A
Used By		Confederacy of Atreus Pan-Veiidic Commonwealth
Spacecraft Characteristics
Launch Mass		1,227,700 kg
Dry Mass		555,700 kg
Length		76.6 m
Width		20.2 m
Height		8.5 m
Propulsion		6 RE-M3 "Mainsail" Chemical Rockets
Maximum Thrust		9000 kN
Specific Impulse		310 seconds (2410 m/s)
Complement		65-76 (15 Officers, 50 Enlisted Personnel, 11 Royal Dragoons)
Armament		16 Self-Defense Interceptors
Spacecraft Carried		7 Repair Berths

Design and Development

As Atreus Aerospace Command (AASC) doctrine continued to develop and inevitable casualties and loses became obvious to the Admiralty, the AASC understood a requirement for a dedicated logistics platform to ensure if the ships of the AASC remained combat capable even in the event that they were crippled in battle.

With the contract requirements issued out to corporations in 2197, the Odyssey proposal quickly pulled ahead of Northwind and Starline's proposals for its 6 side-mounted refit berths, as well as its smaller repair workshop mounted ventrally amidships. Additionally to its repair capacity, the soon to be Mender-Class had expansive damage control lockers, part warehouses, and fuel bunkers providing even more logistical capability than the other proposals.

The Mender-Class also serves as a command center for logistical operations at the fleet level, with a flag-bridge to accommodate a flag officer to manage even system-wide logistics and includes a suite to fit both smart and dumb Artificial Intelligences.

Alongside her 7 repair and service berths, the Mender includes 9 landing pads for small spacecraft including the MV-T-63 Chariot, F/A-70 Space Supremacy Fighter, and multiple variants of skiff or small courier craft. Each pad provides access to an airlock found under each docking ring which allows cargo and crew to be transported throughout the ship among the two primary walkways that run the length of the ship. The docking clamps also provide the capability for Ship-to-Shore connecters to provide mined resources to convert into fuel using two carried COT-125 In-Situ Resource Utilization modules to refuel both her, and supported vessels on long-term deployments.

Repair Facilities

The Mender-Class' primary role is in the repair and recovery of Atreus Aerospace Command vessels in the event they are damaged or destroyed in combat. To achieve this, she carries 4 internal warehouses supporting each extra Engineering Division (numbered E1-E4) in addition to her own Damage Control (DC) lockers serviced by the primary Engineering Division, referred to as the "E" Division.

Alongside her extensive warehouses and lockers, each of the Mender's repair berths are supported by two, tracked M751 Welding Arrays that are mounted on rails that slide the length of the berth for a total of 12 for the side-mounted berths. Alongside the side-mounted berths, the centrally mounted work area contains 6 total M751 arrays, 2 per each segment of the area, allowing the area to be used in servicing one, larger ship or in support of different craft in each of the areas.

Additionally, the Mender contains internal workshops that allow the repairing of components from a damaged ship, such as damaged external panels, being able to be repaired and reused to supplement her internal stores.

Crew Facilities

As the Mender-Class has a abnormally large crew compliment, it requires much of its space dedicated to supporting its crew compliment. This includes stasis compartments to support the crew, large food storages, and berthing's for upwards of 86 crew members, as the ships being repaired or serviced may not have their facilities to safely house their crew members while undergoing repairs. Furthermore, the Mender contains her own Virtual Reality (VR) training facilities to hone the skills of both her Royal Dragoon complement and Damage Control crewmen.

Besides her berthing's and training facilities, the Mender contains two separate gyms to maintain the physical strength of the crew over long deployments, housed in the stern superstructure alongside much of the berthing's, accommodations, and other facilities, with much of the hull being used to house engineering compartments.

Self-Defense Systems

Under the assumption that any menders in combat zones will be under constant escort, the Mender-Class lacks any offensive armament, and only has 16 self defense missiles in the form of the SGM-101 or GM-02F Fury. Defense of the vessel is handled by the ship's Space Defense Officer (SDO) ranking either Lieutenant Junior Grade (O-2) or Lieutenant (O-3) in the AASC. The SDO is assisted in their duties by the AN/SLX-16 "Harpy" Automatic Missile Identification and Interception System (AMIIS) and uses the M4435 Narrow-Band Scanner for target detection and acquisition.

Medical Facilities

Due to its nature of supporting damaged and destroyed ships, the Mender-Class carries a medical bay capable of doing surgery and trauma care. The bay is crewed by 5 medical personnel, including a medical officer.

Service History

Launched in January of 2203, both Mender-Class Refit Stations, AASC Mender (ARD-01) and AASC Helping Hand (ARD-02) joined the Atreus Aerospace Command's 3rd Fleet, with AASC Mender becoming the flagship of the 3rd Fleet.

Ships of the Line

Block A (ARD-01 - ARD-02)

Name	Laid Down	Launched	Commissioned	Status	Operator	Hull Code
AASC Mender	January 3rd, 2202	January 19th, 2203	January 28th, 2203	Active	Atreus Aerospace Command	ARD-01
AASC Helping Hand	January 5th, 2203	January 21st, 2203	January 30th, 2203	Active	Atreus Aerospace Command	ARD-02