Ajax Class Assault Landing Ship

(Version 1.00 - Last Modified: 02/17/2006)
Background information inspired by the Unofficial Robotech Reference Guide.
Ajax Class Assault Landing Ship

The troop landing capacity of the early REF depended on three classes of ships: the large Tokugawa troop transports, which could land a complete Army corps and supporting Air Force, the Predator drop ships, which served as orbital transports and as temporary bases, and the Ajax class of landing ships, which were intended to land troops and supplies in larger bulk than the Predators could support, but into landing zones that were considered too hot to risk an entire corps and an irreplaceable Tokugawa transport, or that were for too small a scale to justify using an entire corps and transporting ship. The Ajax class then filled the gap between the Predator and the Tokugawa, being fold capable unlike the Predators and capable of delivering a reinforced brigade to the combat theater.

The Ajax class is a development of the Tristar Class Light Cruiser. The Ajax has an identical engine section, differing visually from the Tristar only in the shape of the forward hull and the armament. As the Ajax is designed as a landing ship, many armaments of the Tristar have been removed in order to free up internal space for the troops, their mecha and their supplies. The fighter complement has been reduced to 60, the particle guns have been deleted along with the heavy missiles and two of the other missile launchers, and the magazines for the remaining launchers have been decreased in capacity. The freed space is used to carry a reinforced brigade and two Destroid battalions, together with enough combat supplies to last them two weeks.

The cannon armament is concentrated on the forward dorsal deck. The two heavy rail guns are mounted forward, in front of the command tower. Laser turrets cover all other firing arcs. However, the weak point of the design was the point defense capability, which meant that Invid attacks had to be countered decisively at a distance, as the Ajax could not defeat a concentrated and sustained attack. The Destroids occupy mecha bays in the bottom of the vessel, while the defensive fighters operate from the sponson bays. The Ajax class, like the Tristar, is equipped with a fold drive. As with the Tristar vessels, the fold system was unreliable and replaced in the surviving members of this class by a more reliable version from 2028 onwards.

The Ajax class folded in its entirety with the SDF-3 Pioneer for Tirol in 2022. Through careful planning and cautious operational use, none were destroyed in the Sentinels' War. The first losses for the class occurred in 2030, when all but two vessels of the class folded with the REF relief expedition to Earth and were drafted into the Southern Cross attack waves. Predictably, using troop ships in fleet actions was not a healthy job for the ships, and the Tirolian forces destroyed the America, Akagi, and Ark Royal. The other ships were all damaged to some extent, but the REF flotillas, trained to protect the Ajax class ships as a matter of course, took much of the other damage and the seven managed to escape to the Moon for repairs. After the war, the ships were used in the repatriation of the Tirolian clones to Tirol, and once there, again drafted into the REF. Meanwhile, one of the two Ajax class vessels that remained with the REF, the Asmodeus, had been lost in the REF Civil War, when she attempted to land Loyalist troops on Tirol. In 2035 two ships of this class, the Achates and the Audace, were assigned to the Thunderbolt Task Force, and folded for Earth with a battle group of the 7th REF Marine Division, consisting of 6000 men and 2000 Veritech Fighters, with the hopes of establishing an advance base on Earth, at a location in South America designated "Point K". Contact was lost with the Thunderbolt Task Force after a garbled message concerning an Invid presence on Earth. After the Battle at Reflex Point, the wrecks of the two Ajax class vessels were located at Point K, surrounded by the remains of the 7th Marine Division's gear and personnel.

The other six ships of the class returned to Earth with the main fleet, and were among the ships that brought the REF ground assault force to the planet, landing the force near Reflex Point. After the battle, in which the ships did not participate, the REF command being more pragmatic than their SC predecessors, the remaining ships, the Ajax, Antietam, Anzio, Ayanami, Aurora, and Albion, were mothballed in the Sea of Tranquility depot, as no amphibious assaults were expected in the foreseeable future.

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Weapon Systems:

  1. RG-60 Electromagnetic Rail Gun Turrets (2)
  2. LT-5 Point Defense lsaer Turrets (14)
  3. SMS-10 Vertical Missile Launchers (2)

Special Systems:

  1. Electronic Warfare System

Standard Systems:

  1. Life Support System
  2. Communication Systems
  3. Sensor Systems
  4. Targeting Computer System

Combat Summary: