Carriers and Battlecruisers

Enterprise-class Heavy Carriers: 18 in service

The largest pure Terran carriers are designed to carry 216 fighters. She is equipped with a gravity drive, auxilliary ion drive, and some long range armament to give fire support to her fighters and the fleet.

Foch-class Light Carriers: 16 in service

This is a smaller, faster carrier designed to operate independently of the fleet. She carries only 144 Fighters (primarily Warhawks and Crusaders), but is equipped with an armament superior to any heavy cruiser. She is equipped with a first-generation gravity drive for hyperspace travel, and has a very powerful ion drive system for high-accelleration maneuvering in normal space.

Ark Royal-class Scout Carriers: 16 in service

This the smallest dedicated carrier in the fleet. It is designed for scouting operations, convoy escort, and providing fighter cover for small task forces. It carries the equivalent armament of a Long Beach-class heavy cruiser, and 96 fighters. It is equipped with a first-generation gravity drive for hyperspace travel independent of jump gates, but must use its standard ion drive for normal-space maneuvering.

K'Nes Tor Carriers

Although not part of Earth Fleet, this alien vessel is included in the Technology Data because Fleet ships often encountered them during convoy raids in the later stages of the 3rd Civil War.

K'Nes Contract-class Escort Carrier: 0 in service

The Contract-class was the smallest fighter carrier built by the K'Nes Tor Navy, intended primarily for guarding cargo convoys through hostile territory.  Designed to operate as a lone warship without support if necessarily, it is more heavily armed that a typical K'Nes fighter carrier.  It carries a larger number of short- and mid-range weapons in turret mounts, rather than focusing on large capital weapons in fixed mounts.  It carries 84 fighters (7 squadrons of 12), although it only has 80 fighter launch tubes, assuming that at any given time there will be a few fighters down for repairs, refueling, rearming, etc.  As the Contract class was designed to escort cargo convoys along established commercial and military hyperspace lanes using existing jumpgates, it was not equipped with a gravity drive.

After the Federation defeat of the K'Nes Tor in the Second Vulthra War, all other ships of this class were destroyed, scuttled, or confiscated and dismantled by the Earth Federation.

Revenge-class Battlecruiser: 24 in service

This is an experimental design equipped with a new improved gravity drive. Also she will carry the Grav Lance anti-shield weapon which uses the gravity drive to power a short range (1000 KM Range) beam weapon. This device can overload an enemy grav drive shield or cause a jump point to collapse, causing the enemy's grav drive to explode, destroying the target. The weapon can also be used to send powerful grav waves to cause severe structual damage to target ships that do not have a grav drive. One of the first ships to carry the improved gravity drive, she also has an auxilliary ion drive system for making slow but extremely stealthy approaches against enemy targets without using the gravity drive.

Arizona-class Battlecruisers: 7 in service

The oldest battlecruiser still in service with earth fleet, this class carries a heavy armament and a substantial fighter wing, but it lacks a gravity drive. Originally built as a class of 12.

Stalingrad-class Battlecruisers: 20 in service

The newest and probably last class of battlecruisers without a gravity drive. By leaving out the gravity drive, these ships are able to pack in a substantial amount of firepower and more fighters than all but the largest dedicated carriers, and at a lower cost than the Revenge class. However, the lessened strategic flexibility and defensive staying power are a handicap.