The Right Landing Bay
A great deal of speculation has been expressed as to how many Vipers a Battlestar might carry. The Pilot and Series provide vary little data as to the internal workings of the Landing Bays and the actual number of fighters and shuttles carried. From the basic dimensions of a landing bay and the few images of the internal workings of the landing bays some educated guesses can be made. The grafic displayed here is an attempt to show one possable configuration and to demonstrate the enormas potential the landing bays represent.
Basic dimentions:
Length: 3000ft
Width: 720ft
Height: 315ft
In the graphic there are 118 Vipers stored along the outside edge of the bay, enough for three squadrons. Along the inside edge are 70 shuttles and three service shops, each capable of servicing 3 fighters or two shuttles at one time. Storage space remains for additional shuttles or an additional Viper squadron.
With 70 shuttles in each bay a Battlestar could land a 2800 man light infantry brigade, escorted by 4 squadrons of vipers, 148 Vipers. Two Viper squadrons would remain with the Battlestar for her defense, 74 Vipers with 64 on alert. In total the Battlestar would be caring 236 Vipers and 70 shuttles. The infantry brigade can be easily housed in one of the decks above the main landing deck, in fact there is ample room for four such brigades to be housed there.
By off loading some of the shuttles an additional 2 squadrons of Vipers could be embarked for strike duties, into each bay. So for maximum strike duties a Battlestar could deploy 10 squadrons for the attack with 2 squadrons in reserve for her defense, for a total of 12 squadrons embarked. Total fighters in this configuration would be 370 for offensive strikes and 74 for defense, 444 Vipers in all.
The graphic displayed here shows a more balanced configuration where the Battlestar can perform more than one role.