"Nebulon B - Fighter Bay?" Topic

I have been trying to get information about the Nebulon B frigate, and have been confused by what I found.

The ship is supposed to be 300 meters in length, and that includes the spar that connects the front and the back. Then I read that there are supposed to be 2 squadrons of Tie fighters on board.

I don't see how the ship is big enough to hold that many. I would guess that the front section is around 80 meters in length, and probably under 50 meters in width. The back section is even smaller.

In the Empire Strikes back, the Millennium Falcon was docked on the bottom of one. Is it possible that the ship has hard points to hold the fighters?

If that is the case, then I would say that it couldn't hold 2 squadrons, but rater 1 at the most.

If memory serves in the computer games the squadrons are held internally and launched via the massive landing bay on the side.. the 'landing bay' being the the large window Luke & Leia stand by at the end of the Empire Strikes Back which wouldn't be big enough to launch a fighter out of..

If you want to stay true to the films I can see maybe half a dozen attaching to the bottom ala the Falcon but no more and nothing internally.

IIRC TIE Fighters required special mechanisms to launch and recover the craft (there is one in the background in Jedi during the Death Star hanger scenes, attached to a gantry of some sort), so the ship may be able to pack them in more efficiently than say Xwings…

Damon.

In my games I have them with a single squadron capacity as I find two squadrons (24 fighters!) too much to believe.

Didn't they mention it?
That have a "Hanger of Holding" amidships.
No. It should and cannot hold that many ships.

From the end of this site: link

However, the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, seemingly the source which first introduced the Nebulon-B's starfighter capability, makes no mention of internal hangars. The text simply says that: "The escort frigate has the capacity to carry up to two squadrons of starfighters into battle. In addition, the ship has docking fixtures to accommodate ships of up to medium freighter size" (p. 60). Since The Empire Strikes Back shows the "docking fixtures" to be external hardpoints on the spar between the prow superstructure and engines, it is possible that the fighters could also be carried on a rack along the spar, in the manner of Carrack-class cruisers, assault frigates, and FarStar.

Additionally, some fans have speculated that some Nebulon-Bs could have been equipped with an enclosed hangar bay fitted under the spar, filling the space between the forward keel and the engine block. Perhaps added as aftermarket additions, such hangars would enable them to carry fighters like X-wings more comfortably, and Kalla's Stanchion, a ship that could belong to this subtype of the class, has appeared in Rebel Alliance hands in an issue of Star Wars: Empire. Although scaling extrapolations when compared with snubfighters shown in the same panels would suggest a size significantly larger than the 300m-long Nebulon-B, the two designs corresponds closely in appearance, and the size discrepancy may simply be a result of artistic license in the comic-book art.

Force Unleashed 2 has what seems to be a much larger Nebulon-B.

YouTube link 3:56 onwards shows a Nebulon-B with hangar bay on the side and ends in the hangar bay.

YouTube link second cutscene starts in the hangar bay.

I assume its a Nebulon-B, althrough its short one engine exhaust at the back. It seems like its grown in size in the latest SW game.

It looks like the Nebulon B, but it is much too big. If the Millennium Falcon were docked with that, then the MF would have to be a capitol ship!

It will probably be officially identified as a Nebulon-B variant at some point…..or an amazingly similar design that pre-dates the Nebulon-B.

I remember a Tie fighter computer game mission with Corvettes carrying 6 tie bombers (I think) each externally on racks. A Nebulon-B should be able to carry quite a few tie fighters.

How much space would twelve tie fighter in a line take up?

How about six on top, six underslung, six to starboard and six to port.

I agree with the Fighters (X-wings, Y-wings, etc.) being externally attached via the retractable hard points along the center axis.

I dont' know about 24, but I think it could easily carry 12 fighters. Considering the size of the Millenium Falcon vs. a fighter and the Nebulon-B's 'V' shape, I think along the central spine, you could store 4 on top, 4 under to the port, and 4 under to the starboard. Keep in mind that the Nebulon-B is a simple Frigate (medical), not a carrier.

300 meters ≈ 900 feet, i.e most of the length of an Aircraft Carrier.

Tie Fighter are much smaller than Combat jet aircraft.

See the attached graphic from Wookiepedia….

link