One of the earliest examples of Mon Calamari ship design - predated only by the similar (and plainly named) Mon Calamari Light Freighter - is the DeepWater-class freighter. Mon Cal shipwrights developed the vessel as a commercial shipping craft, the backbone of a proposed planetary trading service. The Mon Calamari Commercial Expeditionary Service was eventually - and abruptly - dissolved by the Empire and the fleet of light freighters were sold at auction to private owners. Roughly 10,000 such vessels were produced.
Like most Mon Calamari designs, individual DeepWater freighters are slightly different, crafted as unique works of art rather than a mass-produced homogenous ships. However, most DeepWaters are roughly similar in size, shape and internal construction; the exterior differences are largely cosmetic.
The DeepWater is a fairly standard light freighter with a small crew complement, modest cargo space and durable engines. A single top mounted laser turret and better than average hull armor and shielding supply the craft's main defenses. A civilian-grade sensor package is housed in a deployment dome on the DeepWater's underside. In addition, the craft has different types of landing gear that can be deployed as needed: a landing claw ( to stabilize the ship when docking with another vessel or an asteroid), standard landing gear and inflatable puncture-proof pontoons for landing o water. |