Earth Alliance Minsk Class Heavy Carrier EAS St. Petersberg pictured Minsk Class History The Minsk Class Heavy Carrier was developed as a heavier Avenger class. Earth Alliance needed a carrier that was larger and faster than the Avengers, which dated back to the late 2100's. The Minsk was designed to be an enlarged Avenger, capable of carrying six squadrons of starfuries, as opposed to the Avenger's four. Designed in the mid 2210's, the Minsk met with limited success. Meeting the criteria of carrying six squadrons, the Minsk failed to be faster than the Avenger. On top of that, it was harder to power and protect than the Avenger was. Of the nine built prior to the Dilgar War, only two were actually involved in the war. By the time production ended, only twenty-two were completed. All but five were destroyed during the Earth Minbari War. The remainig five were placed in mothballs, but later reactivated for the Civil War. Four served on Babylon 5's side, the other one was reactivated for Raider conrtol during the war, to allow other newer ships to engage Babylon 5. Two of Babylon 5's Minsks were destroyed, the rest were returned to mothballs following the war. The Minsk Delta was armed with medium Plasma Cannons, SPBs, eight Mk I interceptors, and two medium pulse cannons. It had three hanagrs per side, with a recovery bay located in the bow of the ship. There was an experimental variant of the Minsk class that operated the old EA Dauntless Super-Heavy fighter. There were two ships built to this specification in 2218 to test the feasibility of operating super-heavies in a more advanced and mobile (for EA) fleet. These two ships performed poorly in that in order to launch super-heavy fighters off their catapults, the ships had to basically come to a complete stop. This was fine in testing, but once the ships were engaged in battle, it became a liability. Both eta model ships were converted to the Gamma specification just before the EA got involved in the Dilgar War. Minsk Class (Beta Model) SCS Minsk Class (Delta Model) SCS