Dwarven Leatherback

The Leatherback ship design follows suit with most of the other dwarven ship motifs and is based on the giant Leatherback sea turtle. The dwarves admire its toughness, resiliency, and ability to thrive in an environment that most of them fear.
This dwarven vessel is their largest style of transport ship and is capable of traveling vast distances with an enormous amount of cargo. Due to these dwarven ships being much wider than most other vessels on the sea, they are quite stable in the water even with their massive loads, but do come with a reduced maneuverability cost. It is not the greatest when traveling in the open ocean, but its hydrodynamic shape and unique propulsion makes the Leatherback steady, unrelenting, and dry in calm offshore waters.

Power Generation

As is typical with most dwarven ships, the power used to move this large vessel comes from the muscle and strength of the dwarves that operate the “Rowers Wheels” inside. The dwarves sit in comfortable positions at the "Propulsion Stations" and grasp the large wooden rod in front of them and then pull the rod back, down, forward, and up again in a circular motion. This turns a large wheel that is attached similarly with the other stations. All of the wheels are connected to the giant outside flippers through a complex system of gears, pulleys, tracks, and chains. The enormous flippers move and propel the ship trough the waters.

Propulsion

The ship is propelled through the waters by its two forward flippers. The "Propulsion Stations" inside of the ship cause the giant flippers to raise up out of the water from their start position, pull slowly forward, and then suddenly release. As they are released the flippers cut into the water and rebound back into their rest positions. In completing this action, the large ship is pulled forward through the surface of the water.

Weapons & Armament

This massive cargo ship has virtually no weapons on board with the exception of four rear mounted heavy ballista. It relies on several more maneuverable and better equipped support ships for its protection.

Armor and defense

This dwarven ship has very little in the way of defensive armor other than the hardened wood that the ship is constructed from. Its main defense comes from the support ships that accompany the Leatherback on its voyages. While the huge hold and top deck of the ship are open to the weather, huge sheets of waterproof and fireproof leather will be draped across the top of the cargo both securing it and protecting it. This is very useful in bad storms or in large waves as the arched covering allow the water to roll off and not pour onto the deck. This also eases the dwarves fears of being swamped and sinking beneath the water and drowning.

Communication Tools & Systems

Communication on board the ship is most often done through a chain of loud verbal commands passed on from one officer to the next down the length of the ship.  When conditions are difficult to hear or speak in, then a system of drum signals are pounded out for all to hear.

Hangars & docked vessels

These vessels always carry eight dwarven Slider skiffs for all voyages. Four are held at both the port and starboard sides, with two being placed at the fore and aft sections of those sides near the neck and tail of the ship.

Price

Standard models cost about 75,000 gold pieces.

Rarity

There are very few of these large cargo ships that are still being used by the seafaring dwarves today. Despite their rarity however, every major dwarven sea trading organization has at least one in use.

Beam

Total beam at rest is 210 feet wide from outer flipper tip to outer flipper tip. The main ship’s hull beam is 100 feet across. The flippers are about 15 feet wide and rest at an angle that brings them 55 feet from the edge of the hull.

Length

Total length is 220 feet. 200 feet long tipped with a 20 foot long prow and carved turtlehead.

Speed

With minimum propulsion the standard speed is 2 mph with accelerate to 3 mph for about an hour or 4 mph for 15 minutes. With maximum propulsion the standard speed is 3 mph with accelerate to 4 mph for about an hour or 5 mph for 15 minutes.

Complement / Crew

The minimum crew is 40 at propulsion and 17 additional crew stations. The maximum extends to 80 at propulsion and 25 additional crew stations.

Cargo & Passenger Capacity

There is a maximum capacity of 600 tons or 700 additional passengers, however these ships usually operate with smaller volumes.