LONGSWORD CLASS FRIGATE

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Meghan Nicholson
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LONGSWORD CLASS FRIGATE The newest starship class of the Romulan Imperial Navy, the Longsword is also the only active The formation of the breakaway Imperial Romulan State in 2380 and the development

as Shrike and larger ones such as Norexan.

1 LONGSWORD CLASS FRIGATE The newest starship class of the Romulan Imperial Navy, the Longsword is also the only active The formation of the breakaway Imperial Romulan State in 2380 and the development of a frigate class in service a move designed to bridge the size/capability gap between parallel infrastructure by that short-lived government provided a much-needed element of smaller classes such as Shrike and larger ones such as Norexan. Prior to this, the last active stability after the two states re-unified in 2388 and directly contributed to the reformed Star frigate class in Navy service was Warblade which served from approximately 2296 to Empire s ability to design, construct and deploy two new ship classes by After suffering a gradual decline from its late 23rd century prominence, nearly crumbling during the Dominion War and then being torn apart by internal strife in the following decade, it would be easy for one to discount the Imperial Navy and completely write off the Empire s spacefaring arm as one that had once been great, but had since faded into obscurity. The Hobus Supernova however, as catastrophic and devastating as it was, served as a catalyst for a socio-political renaissance, similar what occurred within the Cardassian Union in the years following the Dominion War. The Empire, having been split in two following a disastrous coup and a period of internal political strife, was re-unified, a central government was reformed and plans were made not only for the repair and rebuilding of critical infrastructure, but the armed forces as well. Two starship classes, Norexan and Shrike were developed and in the process of being deployed following the end of the Dominion War, in the years leading up to the disaster and there was also talk of reactivating the V Melak class, which dated to the 2330 s, but the cumbersome nature of Romulan politics meant that comparatively little was accomplished before the Romulan Industrial Base was decimated. The first, Star Hawk was a 937m long leviathan designed to supplant D Deridex as the flagship of the Imperial Navy. The second, Longsword, was much smaller, continuing the Navy s trend of sizing down the fleet and placing a renewed emphasis on stealth, speed and maneuverability (which had begun with Norexan). In the aftermath of the Hobus supernova and Romulan reunification, Grand Admiral Taris a veteran fleet commander of the Dominion War adopted new policies designed to diversify the Navy and reduce it s dependence on large, heavily armed capital ships. The Norexan a newer battlecruiser class suffered heavy production cuts as yard space and resources were re-directed towards the diminutive Shrike class Destroyer and the gargantuan Star Hawk class Battleship. Frigates a ship type that had all but disappeared by the early 24 th century re-entered the lexicon of the Navy s High Command, who had a directive to design, construct and deploy at least one class of this type by 2400, with 2 additional classes specified to enter service no later than This new frigate was to build on the success of Norexan, but address its notable shortcomings mainly the fact that it was resource intensive to build and complex to maintain the low compliment/size ratio not helping matters.

2 It maintained the same basic avian inspired profile a slender, pointed beak (similar to the older V Melak) linked by a thin, tapered neck to an equally thin secondary hull that gracefully arched out and forward to port and starboard (giving the impression of a predatory bird swooping down over its prey). At 376 meters in length, it was 40% smaller than Norexan, but with a beam/wingspan of 450 meters, it was just about half as wide. These dimensions also brought its classification into question the earlier V Melak class (predecessor to D Deridex) had a much shorter beam (140m), but was nearly as long (346m) and classified as an Attack Cruiser. All questions regarding size and classification aside, this new ship codenamed Longsword was purpose built from the start to fill the role of a frigate (just as Starfleet s Luna class was built to fill the role of a heavy destroyer). It was rated for a compliment of 320 officers and crew (60 less than Norexan) and had the ability to transport up to an entire regiment of Imperial Legionnaires (ground troops). It was armed in kind as well mounting 4 Standard and 2 Heavy Disruptor Cannons along with 2 Torpedo Launchers (1 fore, 1 aft) making it capable of engaging enemy capital ships one on one or engaging entire formations of smaller craft (clippers/corvettes, fighters etc.) depending on the scenario. The class entered service in 2398, coming on to an astro-political stage that has so far been dominated by peace and tranquility and seen a renewed emphasis on scientific exploration even by the KDF. With this in mind, the Longsword looks to quickly become the Imperial Navy s primary workhorse vessel. So far, it has remained popular with fleet and local sector commanders in the anti-piracy role taking part in joint anti-piracy operations with the Federation Alliance in 2400 and 2405 as well as being stationed along the Breen and Nausicaan borders (the two powers having long been suspected of giving rise too and supporting/harboring a great number of pirates and cartels).

Class Classification Service Number Active Length Beam Height Decks Longsword Frigate 2398-

Disruptor Cannons 2 Heavy Disruptor Cannons 2 Torpedo Launchers Standard Deflector Shield

3 Class Classification Service Number Active Length Beam Height Decks Longsword Frigate Unknown 376m 450m 112m 14 Mass Compliment Unknown 320 Armament Defense Systems 4 Standard Disruptor Cannons 2 Heavy Disruptor Cannons 2 Torpedo Launchers Standard Deflector Shield System total capacity 1,640,000 TerraJoules Heavy Duranium/Trititanium Double Hull plus 2cm High Density Armor

4 Bibliography Logo Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator On-Line Database and Archive Schematic/Visual Star Trek: The Final Frontier

5 Editor s Annotations Frigates are something of a rarity in modern spacegoing navies, though not near as much as Destroyers. The Longsword therefore, is part of my effort to flesh out the Romulan Imperial Navy, post-hobus (2387). Back in the days when FASA & SFB s stars burned bright throughout the non-canon/fanon realms, the Romulans had a pretty substantial space fleet at least as far as the TOS/TMP eras were concerned with more active classes than the KDF and nearly as many as Starfleet. I ve already described the state of decay that befell their fleet beginning with the Lost Era and well into TNG/DS9/VOY, but I believe the Future looks bright. A new design direction, heralded in by Norexan (smaller, swifter, faster), plus the wide scale deployment of the Shrike (the modern day equivalent of the old V-8/Bird of Prey from TOS) and the introduction of the new Star Hawk flagship class proves without a doubt, all is not lost in the wake of the Hobus disaster. Also, with Longsword, size is even further removed from its relationship with ship classification. While it would be clearly absurd to build a 600m long Destroyer or 700m long Frigate, I believe as long as the dimensions are kept within a reasonable size, starships can be built to fill/fit any specific classification or role.

V MELAK CLASS WARBIRD

V MELAK CLASS WARBIRD The successor to the first warbird launched by the Imperial Navy the Imperial Hawk the V Melak class was created at the behest of the mad praetor Dralath after the Tal Shiar gained