ROBOTECH Technical Files
by Pieter Thomassen, with Peter Walker
Image by Rob Morgenstern

Designation:

Tou Salaam class Border Fleet long duration picket cruiser

Robotech Masters
Tou Salaam by Rob Morgenstern
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Air group and mecha complement (typical for Border Fleet, 1995):

Tirolian forces:
Zentraedi forces:

Design notes:

The Tou Salaam has a general layout based on the Thuverl Salan heavy cruiser. The hull has the same triangular shape when viewed from above, with an elongated nose flaring into two reaction engine clusters and a superstructure on the aft hull. The general look and feel of the hull structure is completely different though, with angular surface structures rather than the carapace-like armor plates of the older design. Seen by a Terran from the outside, the Tou Salaam is a slightly thinner Thuverl Salan with a distinct 'Macross' look to its outer surfaces.

The armament is mounted mostly forward, but in a departure from general Zentraedi and Border Fleet design practices the main battery is capable of spherical coverage, although the forward arcs retain the heaviest concentration of firepower. Four heavy anti-ship and bombardment cannons are mounted directly behind the prow, firing from recessed and covered mounts. Four more cannons are mounted on top of and underneath the main engine exhaust nozzles, and two are mounted in both the forward superstructure and the ventral hull. The medium cannon battery is mounted in the standard Zentraedi manner, with most of the firepower forward and token batteries covering the other arcs. The torpedo batteries are, as in the Thuverl Salan, mounted in the flanks of the nose, while the defensive missile installation gives complete spherical coverage.

Internally, there are two distinctly different sections. The superstructure is sized for micronian operation only, and houses the Tirolian part of the crew. The Zentraedi quarters are located in the hull proper, which is equipped to handle them in their full sizes. The lowermost decks contain the Zentraedi mecha storage hangars and the Gnerl air group launch bays. Tirolian mecha are launched from a medium-height half deck located between superstructure and the main hull. In all, the superstructure counts 20 decks, the main hull 5. There is an additional half deck between the two.

A large command citadel sits atop the superstructure, and it is from here that the Tirolian officers command their forces. Numerous stake-like sensor antennae jut from the hull in all directions. Especially the nose, superstructure, citadel and aft engine pods are densely packed with the sensors.

History:

The Tou Salaam is one of the most modern vessels developed by the Tirolian Mercantile Empire. As a ship built for the semiautonomous Border Fleets, the Tou Salaam carried a mixed crew of Tirolians and Zentraedi. In the Border Fleets, the Tou Salaam fulfilled the role of a picket ship, exploration support vessel and quartermaster vessel.

The Tou Salaam is designed to operate independantly for very extended periods, though not as far beyond the Imperial borders as the other vessels of the Border Fleets. Rather than securing space superiority, the Tou Salaam class was designed to picket systems in strategic locations and of unusual interest for the Tirolians. Typically, these were systems with natural resources in accessible locations and systems filling a hole in the hyperspace sensornets.

In the first case, the Zentraedi and Tirolian troops were deployed with an automated factory to a position in range of the required minerals. Then, while the Zentraedi provided the first ore to the factory and the Tirolian forces secured the area, the factory would begin making a larger version of itself, with automated ore collection systems. After the first phase, the factory complex would expand itself, roaming farther and farther for the minerals, while both the Tirolian and Zentraedi troops provided protection for the mining efforts and possible other exploration parties. After about six months, the planet would sport a defensive fortress and a production center capable of providing most of the Border Fleet consumables. Most of the Border Fleet resupply points were made up of such installations.

In the second case, the Tou Salaam would remain in orbit around the star, possibly deploying its troops should this be possible and advantageous, using its hyperspace sensor system to its fullest and scanning for enemies such as the Invid and Disciples of Zor, who had made their own bases outside the Empire or entered it on raids. Should any be detected, the contact would than be followed and a battlegroup of the Border Fleets would investigate and, if possible, backtrack the enemy vessel or fleet. In this manner, numerous Invid and DoZ bases were discovered and destroyed. The extremely well stocked supply holds of these ships made multi-year operations of this type possible, and often the troops and factory equipment was used in the meantime to create a permanent listening post in the system, freeing the cruiser to refit, restock and travel to another system to plant a monitoring station.

Wrecked Tou Salaam

As the Tirolian power supplies began to wane, so did the Border Fleets. Those vessels not destroyed by their power loss or direct enemy action gradually lost the ability to fold and then to power their life support systems. A rough estimate assumes that over 12,000 of these vessels are now lifeless hulks scattered on or near the former Imperial border.

See additional design notes.

Return to Tirolian naval index.


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Content by Pieter Thomassen, with Peter Walker
Main Image Reconstruction by Rob Morgenstern taken from Macross:Perfect Memory wreck
HTML by Robert Morgenstern (rmorgens@ieee.org)
Copyright © 1999 Robert Morgenstern, Pieter Thomassen, Peter Walker