Can a Roland carry Marines?

kzt wrote:I still like my explanation:

RMMC regulations absolutely prohibit the quartering of marines in anything but spaces that have been personally sanctified by the SMMC and have never been sullied by the presence of any Navy pukes after that. Which is why the Roland cannot ever carry marines.

Frankly, the answer is that there really is no room. They might carry a few of them but that would be the limit. And in certain situations, a Roland might carry more but probably for a brief time.

ldwechsler wrote:

kzt wrote:I still like my explanation:

RMMC regulations absolutely prohibit the quartering of marines in anything but spaces that have been personally sanctified by the SMMC and have never been sullied by the presence of any Navy pukes after that. Which is why the Roland cannot ever carry marines.

Frankly, the answer is that there really is no room. They might carry a few of them but that would be the limit. And in certain situations, a Roland might carry more but probably for a brief time.

A Rolland is 50% bigger than CL Fearless and I kind of expect you could fit more than a squad in the captains cabin of CL fearless. Heck, you could fit a squad in the dining space using 4 high berthing. And I suspect the squadron COs cabin is nicer than the captain of an old CL.

Can a Roland carry Marines? Sure. Practically any ship can carry some marines if really pushed. It just can't carry very many and it can't keep them operationally ready for any extended time period.

(Oh, and I'm pretty sure it won't have room to berth and service an assault shuttle for the platoon some of you want to station aboard.)

The problem is imo less the space for the crew than the space for the pinasses with special Marine equipment. It was in "A long way home", the short story covering the avalanche at Gryphon, I think ... Susan Hibson was still a pupil but had already lost her heart to the marines and explained something about the pinasses she and her brother saw during their own approach to Gryphon. If memory serves, that were special pinasses, built for the RMMC - but I don't know if there was something said about the dimensions of these pinasses compared to navy standard ones. Wouldn't be surprised, if Navy pinasses were smaller than Marine ones.
And because the Roland needs so much internal space for the handling of the Mk 16s ... maybe the reason that not even a squad of marines is part of their crews is the lack of space in her boat bay rather than a lack of space in her crew area.

Randomiser wrote:Can a Roland carry Marines? Sure. Practically any ship can carry some marines if really pushed. It just can't carry very many and it can't keep them operationally ready for any extended time period.

(Oh, and I'm pretty sure it won't have room to berth and service an assault shuttle for the platoon some of you want to station aboard.)

Above Bold mine - The is probably the crux of the matter. While there are berths for the marines, life support, and storage for their hardware, the space to train the marines is probably another matter. In reality, they would require a proper morgue for their battle armor, a shooting gallery, a large gym, and a large open space to train an run. something tells me the gym on a Roland is a set of freeweights, a pair of ellipticals, a pair of treadmills, a couple of mats and a smallish pool. just enough for 3 rotations of 20 or so throughout a shift. Definitely not enough for people who are supposed to be working out and training all day long.

We saw at Saltash that Rolands carry 2 pinnances and probably have cutters as well - no specialized assault shuttles required.

Theemile wrote:
Above Bold mine - The is probably the crux of the matter. While there are berths for the marines, life support, and storage for their hardware, the space to train the marines is probably another matter. In reality, they would require a proper morgue for their battle armor, a shooting gallery, a large gym, and a large open space to train an run. something tells me the gym on a Roland is a set of freeweights, a pair of ellipticals, a pair of treadmills, a couple of mats and a smallish pool. just enough for 3 rotations of 20 or so throughout a shift. Definitely not enough for people who are supposed to be working out and training all day long.

We saw at Saltash that Rolands carry 2 pinnances and probably have cutters as well - no specialized assault shuttles required.

Talk to some members of Uncle Sams Misguided Children who spent a float on the wonderful accommodations of an old LSD. Somehow they were still capable of being effective.

Eagleeye wrote:The problem is imo less the space for the crew than the space for the pinasses with special Marine equipment. It was in "A long way home", the short story covering the avalanche at Gryphon, I think ... Susan Hibson was still a pupil but had already lost her heart to the marines and explained something about the pinasses she and her brother saw during their own approach to Gryphon. If memory serves, that were special pinasses, built for the RMMC - but I don't know if there was something said about the dimensions of these pinasses compared to navy standard ones. Wouldn't be surprised, if Navy pinasses were smaller than Marine ones.
And because the Roland needs so much internal space for the handling of the Mk 16s ... maybe the reason that not even a squad of marines is part of their crews is the lack of space in her boat bay rather than a lack of space in her crew area.

The Broadsword and company carried a specialized Pinnance (Skyhawk) that was somewhere between a normal pinnance and assault shuttle in size and optimized for Marine use. The oversized pinnances was to allow the complete oversized battalion to drop at once, so was specially made for the Broadswords. However all RMN Pinnances are designed with Marine drops in mind.

kzt wrote:

Theemile wrote:
Above Bold mine - The is probably the crux of the matter. While there are berths for the marines, life support, and storage for their hardware, the space to train the marines is probably another matter. In reality, they would require a proper morgue for their battle armor, a shooting gallery, a large gym, and a large open space to train an run. something tells me the gym on a Roland is a set of freeweights, a pair of ellipticals, a pair of treadmills, a couple of mats and a smallish pool. just enough for 3 rotations of 20 or so throughout a shift. Definitely not enough for people who are supposed to be working out and training all day long.

We saw at Saltash that Rolands carry 2 pinnances and probably have cutters as well - no specialized assault shuttles required.

Talk to some members of Uncle Sams Misguided Children who spent a float on the wonderful accommodations of an old LSD. Somehow they were still capable of being effective.

If it isn't readiness, than what is the limiting factor? 7 out of 8 Rolands have empty flag berths. All Rolands carry Pinnances. What reason is there not to haul a squad?

Marines may have been useful to Zavala in retrieving the captive merchant crewman, that's why I was wondering if it could be done on an "ad hoc" basis for special operations. Even a platoon spread through a destroyer division would be very useful in those circumstances. I'm not advocating a permanent basing of Marines on board Rolands ...

Theemile wrote:

kzt wrote:Talk to some members of Uncle Sams Misguided Children who spent a float on the wonderful accommodations of an old LSD. Somehow they were still capable of being effective.

If it isn't readiness, than what is the limiting factor? 7 out of 8 Rolands have empty flag berths. All Rolands carry Pinnances. What reason is there not to haul a squad?

Its plot all the way down. David wanted the characters to do boarding action and the characters were not marines. So no marines for you.