Description
UCSS “Rodger Young” Ship’s Store
UCSS Rodger Young (SST-176) is a Corvette class light transport starship of the Terran UFC fleet. She is named after a 20th century North American Infantry soldier, Sergeant Rodger Wilton Young of the former United States Army. Sergeant Young was killed in action while bravely helping his unit escape an enemy ambush, for which we was posthumously awarded the Medal Of Honor. His heroics were further celebrated by a wartime folksong, The Ballad of Rodger Young written by Frank Loesser and performed by a variety of musicians during the war, to include the West Point Cadet Glee Club. (Special Note: “West Point” was a prestigious North American military academy that educated aristocratic officers from the 19th century until its destruction mid-21st century. A “Glee Club” was a social club reserved only for cadet officers that would be later selected for duty as Generals.) It is from this song that the ship’s motto is derived; “Shines The Name”, which also serves to alert crew for departure recall when in port and for tactical hailing such as is used with IFF beacons and signals.
“Oh, they’ve got no time for glory in the Infantry.
Oh, they’ve got no use for praises loudly sung,
But in every soldier’s heart in all the Infantry
Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young.
Shines the name — Rodger Young,
Fought and died for the men he marched among.
To the everlasting glory of the Infantry
Lives the story of Private Rodger Young.”
Originally designed to be used as an escort and tender starship in support of scientific research vessels for deep-space survey missions, Corvette class ships now serve as Planetary Assault Ships, with the principle role of Drop Ship Landing Platform (DSLP). The Rodger Young serves her primary role as a DSLP, although designated as a transport. New next-generation Stiletto class DSLP ships are being christed each day in the shipyards of Luna, Nairobi, and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and are expected to phase out the Corvette class in this role. However, the fast, nimble and battle proven Corvette class still holds favor with the Mobile Infantry.
With only a 550 meter long hull, ships of the Corvette class are extremely fast, but surprisingly small. They are capable of carrying her crew complement of 56 personnel, and one 40 soldier platoon of Mobile Infantry. This remains as the smallest field-deployed unit of the M.I. commanded by an officer in the entire service. While aboard, the Troopers berth in their own section of the ship and maintain their own stores of weapons and mission essential equipment. The mission of all vessels serving as Planetary Assault Ships is to transport and launch small attack craft, vehicles, crews and embarked combat personnel in a spaceborne assault. The Rodger Young does not have the ability to land or dock on planets that have an equal or greater gravity to Terra. However, she can render docking and limited repair service to all of her own small craft carried aboard, as well as to a variety of other starships of comparable class. With her upgraded signals suite, the Rodger Young can fulfill the role of Primary Control Ship (PCS) during spaceborne assaults involving multiple starships and units deployed onto the planet. The Rodger Young shines at quickly inserting (or “dropping” in MI slang), armor-suited Troopers through her multiple launch tube capsule suite. The Rodger Young is homeported at UFCJEB Luna, and is currently assigned to Interstellar Squadron Four.
Ship’s coat of arms:
The colors of the fields blue, white, and black, stand for Mankind’s destiny to leave the blue of Terra to explore the darkness of space. The design celebrates the bravery of North American soldier Rodger Young and the history of his sacrifice to save his fellow Troopers. The pair of Soldiers depicted denotes courage and comradery: Their commitment to never leave a man behind. The Wings represent the “Wet Navy”, of which all Federation Starships honor as their heritage. They pay tribute to the humble aviation origins which grew over the centuries to become our modern day “Space Navy”. The downward Trident symbolizes the mission of support to assault operations, delivering “Death from above!” as the MI troopers carried by the Rodger Young proudly declare. The Stars above the blue horizon represent worlds and challenges still unknown. The border denotes the unity of all humans, on or off Terra. The gold and blue throughout is traditionally associated with the service. The battle stars of the first Rodger Young (SST-98) are commemorated by the arc of battle stars, five white for her service during the early days of the war. The arms are emblazoned with the top inscription “UCSS Rodger Young” in gold and its unique registry identification number “176” at the bottom in white.
The Full Kit: This kit includes (1) Next Level T-shirt, (1) Vinyl sticker, (1) Velcro-backed patch, and (1) Custom engraved chrome Zippo lighter. The Zippo is exclusive to this kit, and is factory engraved at the Zippo factory in Bradford, Pa.
T-Shirt only: This includes (1) Shirt of selected color and size. These are printed on super-soft, long wearing 60/40 blend Next Level T-shirts. Choose between Dark Navy Blue with the full color emblem, or a light Heather Grey with Black emblem.
Sticker only: (1) This is one high resolution UV-resistant vinyl sticker decal. AKA, “a sticker.”
Patch and Sticker only: This includes one high resolution UV-resistant vinyl sticker decal. It also includes one high detail embroidered ship’s patch, made by a vendor who almost exclusively makes patches for ships and aviation squadrons. It is backed with hook velcro to attach to your uniform of choice.
Note: Due to the limited availability of these products, all sales are final. We will only consider returns on a case by case basis. “I bought the wrong size/color, etc.” are not valid reasons for a return or exchange, so please review your order carefully. We expect these to sell out quick!
