Lightning class Frontier Cruiser
| Lightning | |
|---|---|
| Type: CF Frontier Cruiser | |
| Size | 60,000 Tons |
| Hull Configuration | [[{{{hull}}}]] |
| Tech Level | TL– |
| Engineering | |
| Computer | |
| Jump | J-5 |
| Maneuver | 2 G |
| Armaments | |
| Hardpoints | 758 |
| Accommodations | |
| Staterooms | 0 |
| Personnel | |
| Crew | 635 |
| High/Mid Passengers | 0 |
| Payload | |
| Cargo | 400 Tons |
| Fuel tank | 0 Tons |
| Construction | |
| Origin | Third Imperium |
| Price | |
| Cost | MCr34,227 |
| Source | |
| Canon | Unpublished, fan design |
The Azhanti High Lightning class ship is built on a 60,000 ton hull assembled in orbit. As a military ship, the major purpose of the ship is as a weapons carrier. The ship is built around three tubes; a spinal mount weapons tube, and a twin small craft launch tubes, Distributed along the dorsal and ventral surfaces are twenty-four fifty-ton bays. Finally, the entire surface of the ship is covered with a variety of laster turrets, sandcasters, and repulsors. In addition, the ship carries internal nuclear dampers and a Meson Screen (plus a Black globe in the refurbished models).
The class was the result of an Imperial requirement for a new, heavily armed, highly mobile, fleet intruder. The class proved especially useful in the closing days of the Solomani Rim War (990-1002).
The class had an initial production order of 100, and the Azhanti High Lightning was first laid down in 991. By the conclusion of the Solomani Rim War 69 had been completed, and an additional 23 were finished in the immediate post-war period, and the remaining 8 were canceled.
Twenty one ships were lost in action during the war, while an additional five vessels in drydock awaiting extensive repairs at the time of the armistice were paid off and scrapped. In the 46 years following the war, three more Lightning class ships were lost in the course of routine duty. Four ships were turned over to allied powers, generally with reduced weaponry, and five examples were transferred to the IISS for use as exploratory cruisers or fast messengers. In 1048, all 54 surviving examples still in Imperial Naval service were retired from active duty, with 20 vessels place in ordinary, 16 converted to non-combat roles (primarily tanker duty and training), six sold to commercial concerns (one with weaponry intact), and the remaining 12 scrapped.
A fleet specification issued in 1077 calling for a ship platform for the newly developed Penbody MA-21 Meson gun resulted in a proposal from the design firm of Bowen and Masters for the conversion of the surviving Azhanti class hulls to meet the specification. twelve vessels still in service as fleet auxiliaries and sixteen of the twenty vessels in ordinary were deem suitable for the modernization, which proceeded from 1078 to 1090.
The upgraded ships were redesignated as Frontier Cruisers in recognition of their anticipated role as the local core of the first line of defense on the frontiers of the Imperium. Initially, all 28 ships were paired to form 14 cruiser divisions (CruDivs 117 to 128, inclusive), but CruDivs 118, 119, and 127 were soon broken up to provide individual ships for moderate threat regions.
Azhanti class CruDivs were assigned to three major area of potential trouble: the Solomani Rim, the Spinward Marches border with the Zhodani, and the Gateway to the turbulent client-states on the trailing frontier. Eleven ships have been lost since modernization was begun in 1070, and two ships have been paid off.
- Lightning Class Cruisers
- Supplement 9: Fighting Ships
- Arrival Vengeance