During the war, the Colonial Navy saw a need for a vessel to be able to carry a commando strike team deep in the heart of Cylon held territory, insert this team with whatever fighter and heavy weapon support was needed for the success of the mission, and then once extraction was complete, jump out of the system. Hopefully long before Cylon reinforcements could show up.

The ships requirements included the need to work alone from other vessels, it should mount enough weaponry to delay attacking Cylon forces, and cover enough fighter cover for the ship and its commando team. Whilst it was envisaged that the ship would in all probability end up going toe to toe with Cylon warships, this would not be the function of the ship. Any slugfests with enemy warships would probably mean that the mission was a failure and thus should be aborted. Finally, the ship would mount the best hyperspeed engines possible for the quickest transit time, surprise being a vital factor in the success of any missions.

Three prototypes ships were constructed - the Posieden, the Acropolis and in an unusual turn of events, the last was christened the Pack of Daggits. Over the next five yahrens, these ships were used in their roles as well as in normal duties and their abilities assessed as to whether or not the class had a future.

These ships utilised some changes to standard Colonial Policy at the time. For a start, their fight decks were of the through design, so that the shuttles actually launched from the forward position instead of out the back. Secondly, the ships main weaponry was mounted in fairly static positions just above the forward shuttle bay. The theory was that this would provide a much greater field of fire for the weapons should their use be needed. In actuality this position actually decreased their fire arcs, and in the new Tritons their positioning would be placed back to the more conventional forward hull position.

As it turned out, the class had, but with various modifications and alterations. it is interesting to note that out of the two surviving prototypes (the Pack of Daggits having been destroyed on its second mission when faulty intelligence led to it jumping into the middle of a Cylon warfleet), neither of them were modified to accept the new modifications and thus ended their days in the original configurations. The Posieden surviving right up to near the end of the war, while the Acropolis disappeared on the eve of 7,000 on the onset of a new mission. The ship has never been found.

The new class of Triton was altered in the following ways. Its main weaponry was re-sited to the forward hull of the ship. The old firing positions being considered too static with very limited firing arcs. The fighter complement was increased, as was the amount of shuttles carried. The Asp contingent was also expanded by 100% as it was thought that more EW capability was needed for the shuttles and fighters. Finally various internal changes were made, including ripping out the majority of the laboratory facilities, decreasing the internal power plants by increasing engine power.

Unusually, the first ship to actually hold the name of 'Triton' was actually the second production model ship. Apparently whilst the class name was known almost from the start, due to an oversight in naming, a ship bearing the class name was actually forgotten about until production on the ships proper had been started. Considering it bad luck to rename an already christened ship, the Triton itself had to wait until the second production model, or the fifth ship of the class had been commissioned.

The Triton Class Strike Carrier was jointly designed by Tony Charlesworth and myself, the art was drawn by Darren Greenaway and the SSD was designed by me and drawn by Sean Driscoll.

[On an aside, a ship called Triton is named in the background of "Saga of a Star World" - was this the Triton? Did one infact still exist up until the ambush at Cimtar?]

The Tritons have two large shuttle bays but may not conduct transfers via (J1.593). Each bay has a launch tube ([J1.54] which will propel a fighter flight to speed 12 and will launch in direction 5 [Alpha bay] or 2 [Beta bay]) and a standard shuttle hatch (launching and landing from directions 1 or 4 for both bays).
The shuttle bays are large enough to accept yachts.
The Triton has a hyperspeed multiplier of x0.75.

Colonial Triton class boarding diagram:

Master Ship Chart Extract:

Annex #7B: Ships able to land on planets

The Triton may not land on a planet.

Annex #7G: Carrier information & Annex #7N: Missile reloads