Iwo Jima-class Mobile Marine Base

The lead ship of the Iwo Jima-class was the first vessel owned by the Terran Alliance in the days after its founding.  The crew of titular Iwo Jima, a vessel belonging to the United States Space Command who’s crew mutinied on 17 February 2017 and waged a one-ship war against President Abraham’s space assets, declared themselves to be under Terran Alliance jurisdiction one day after the signing of the first draft of the Terran Alliance Charter. The vessel remained a curiosity for serveral years, staffed by the fledgling Terran Alliance Marine Corps until they proved their value during the Belt Rebellion.  Following the Rebellion, a full series of ships was comissioned based on the design of the Iwo Jima.

The Iwo Jima itself originally began life as the plans for the TerraTech I, an ore freighter designed by Boeing Space Systems for TerraTech Multinational’s attempt to set up a resourcing operation on land outside of the Vokov Colony they had purchased from the Russian Federation.  Russia was in need of funding for the Zeus I mission to Jupiter (it looked like the old United States was considering pulling out from the mission), so they sold TerraTech the land and a single SKK Drive for a sizable sum.  Boeing Space Systems was contracted by TerraTech to design and build a vehicle which could utilize the SKK Drive to haul resources and crew to and from Mars.  Launched a few years later in 2002, TerraTech I was the first corporate-held vessel to be powered by an SKK Drive…and it promptly went missing when it attempted to land on Mars (the crash site and relatively-intact vehicle was discovered in mid-2030 by a group of bounty hunters who now own the vessel).  TerraTech Multinational was financially devastated by this loss but eventually recovered, whereas Boeing Space Systems whethered the disaster with little impact and filed away the plans for TerraTech I deep in their archives.  Fast-forward to 2008 when United States Space Command opened competition for a vehicle designed to transport marines through a variety of environments including interplanetary travel.  Several designs were submitted but Boeing Space Systems won the contract since their novel approach of “scale up TerraTech I” meant they could severely undercut the other competitors on cost since there was less R&D to do.  The Iwo Jima itself launched from the Mare Crisium Integration Facility barely a year before the beginning of World War III and was quickly pressed into service.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

Functionally the Iwo Jima-class is comparable to a nautical amphibious assault ship, combining elements of troop transport, offensive carrier, and command ship.  While they can serve as the flagship of a combined-forces fleet, this has not happened since the Belt Rebellion when the Iwo Jima was used as the flagship of Brigadier Elsa Adlersflügel’s First Fleet.  Each base is the home and base of operations for a full Corps of Terran Alliance Marines, traditionally the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Corps.  The base is considered to be under the jurisdiction of the Marine Corps and under the command of the Brigadier of the Corps stationed upon it, but the vehicle itself is usually crewed by a mixture of Navy and Marine Corps personnel. 

Weapons loadout comprises 4 Turov-Barker Corporation Triangulum-type 64-megajoule railgun turrets, 30 Thales Nederland-General Dynamics Goalkeeper II-type 30mm AI-controlled CIWS emplacements, 80 Aerojet-Raytheon Mark 50 Vertical Launch System missile emplacements, 8 NPO Mashinostroyeniya 1-meter torpedo tubes, and 40 Pandyne Integration 1-megawatt pulse laser systems in flush emplacements.

Crew complement of the class is extremely high, owing to the fact that it contains both the vessel’s crew and a full Corps of marines.  Command crew comprise the usual complement plus the Corps Brigadier plus their two colonels bringing the total count of comand officers to 9.  Junior officers comprise 25 Navy personnel and 136 Marines.  Enlisted personnel include 353 Navy crewmen plus another 360 Marines.  Auxiliary craft is ‘command-standard’ at 4 flights of Striker-class Marine Assault Craft (for a total of 16), 4 Octopus-class Close-In Weapons System Vessels, 2 flights of Incursion-class Assault Craft (for a total of 8), and two wings of attack craft (for a total of 14).  Additionally, there is non-alert hanger space for 8 general purpose transport shuttles.  The Iwo Jima-class lacks the dedicated hangar space for a Hermes-class courier as it is not designed to operate in a solo capacity.  Embarked mail delivery is handled through whatever flagship or base the mobile marine base is assigned to.

The Iwo Jima was originally a single-ship class, however following the Belt Rebellion it was increased to 5 ships, with a 6th currently under construction.  It is unlikely that there will be more Iwo Jima-class ships built following the Pluto as its successor, the Antarctic-class, is currently beginning early stages of prototype construction.

Iwo Jima-class Mobile Marine Base
IJM00: Iwo Jima (MAR-001) – Corps 04, Brigadier Devorah Scheinberg
IJM01: Waterloo (MAR-188) – Corps 05, Brigadier Horemheb II
IJM02: Leningrad (MAR-189) – Corps 06, Brigadier Aleksandr “Sasha” Markovic
IJM03: Normandy (MAR-190) – Corps 07, Brigadier Connor Foley
IJM04: Vesta (MAR-283) – Corps 08, Brigadier Not Yet Announced (currently undergoing final outfitting, launch late Q3 2030)
IJM05: Pluto (originally Rome) (projected MAR-300) – Projected Launch Q2 2031

CREW COMPLEMENT

  • COMMAND CREW (9)
    • Brigadier of the assigned Corps
    • Marine Colonels (2) (the ones that serve under the Brigadier)
    • Commanding Officer of the vessel
    • Executive Officer of the vessel
    • Second Officer of the vessel (who traditionally also fills the role of Chief of Armaments)
    • Chief Engineer
    • Squad Leader, Embarked Combat Engineers
    • Supply Officer
  • SHIPBOARD JUNIOR/WARRANT OFFICERS (25)
    • Chief of Maneuvering
    • Lead Wirehead
    • Chief of Power
    • Chief of Drives
    • Chief of Torpedoes
    • Chief of Missiles
    • Chief of Railguns
    • Chief of Pulse Lasers
    • Fighter Wing Leaders (2)
    • SAC Flight Leaders (7)
    • Chief of Medical
    • Chief of Auxiliary Craft
    • Combat Engineers Corps Squad Members (6)
  • MARINE JUNIOR/WARRANT OFFICERS (136)
    • 4 Lieutenant Colonels
    • 16 Commandants
    • 32 Platoon Captains
    • 64 Squad Captains
    • 2 Covert Operations Squad Captains
    • 8 Covert Operations Squad Members
    • 2 Field Medicine Squad Captains
    • 4 Schmutzsturmkommando Squad Captains
    • 2 Recon Squad Captains
    • 1 Mage Squad Captain
    • 1 Psion Squad Captain
  • SHIPBOARD ENLISTED PERSONNEL (353)
    • 10 gatling crew
    • 24 railgun crew
    • 24 torpedo crew
    • 16 missile systems crew
    • 40 pulse laser crew
    • 32 engineers
    • 20 support staff
    • 92 Striker crew
    • 23 Octopus crew
    • 46 Incursion crew
    • 26 Lancer crew
  • MARINE ENLISTED PERSONNEL (360)
    • 320 Enlisted Personnel
    • 8 Field Medicine Squad Members
    • 16 Schmutzsturmkommando Squad Members
    • 8 Recon Squad Members
    • 4 Mage Squad Members
    • 4 Psion Squad Memebers

Epic Space Adventures Abound!