Type: Dragon Class Battleship In Service: 2786 Number in Service: 2 Mass: 1,200,000 tons KF Integrity: 24 Sail Integrity: 6 Thrust: 4/6 Fuel: 3000 tons SI: 140 Armor: 3000 tons Lamellor Ferro-Carbide (Fore/Aft 450 +14 sides 525 + 14) Heatsinks: 7800 Docking Collars: 6 fighters: 54 Small Craft: 6 Crew: 972 Lifeboats: 70 Escape Pods: 100 Grav Deck: 0 Cargo: 13,807 tons Bays: Bay 1: Fighters 6 doors Bay 2: Small Craft 2 doors Bay 3: Cargo Weapons: Forward: 4 NAC/30 5 ER Large laser 10 LRM20 with Artemis 20 LB-10x Fore Left/Right: 3 NAC/30 5 ER Large laser 10 LRM20 with Artemis 20 LB-10x LBS/RBS 2 Heavy Naval Gauss 10 Medium Naval PPC 15 NL/45 Aft Left/Right: 5 ER Large laser 10 LRM20 with Artemis 20 LB-10x Aft: 2 NAC/30 5 ER Large laser 10 LRM20 with Artemis 20 LB-10x Ammo: 100 Round Naval Gauss Ammo 200 Tons LB-10x Ammo 200 Tons LRM ammo Overview: The Dragon Class Battleship was the last warship built by Delhi Warships. In 2780 after the dissolution of the Star League, Chancellor Barbara Liao requested that Delhi begin designing a new class of battleship to replace the older Sun Tzu class of battleships built during the Battleship race of the early 27th Century. The design team for the Dragon was the same team responsible for the design of the Star League's Defender class AA Cruisers, which was also produced by Delhi Warships. Using the technology and information learned from that project, they sought to build a battleship that would be both powerful and easy to produce. Chancellor Liao added a third requirement that the ship be a marvel of modern technology to demonstrate the ConfederationÕs technological and industrial strength to the other great houses. The design took almost 4 years to complete, as there were a number of revisions that were requested by the Confederation Naval command. Once the design was completed, production commenced at the Delhi Shipyards orbiting Capella. Due to the technological complexity of the design, and the fact that the Delhi shipyards relied on manual labor for assembly rather then the advanced manufacturing equipment used in many other nations, it took over 2 years to produce a single warship. Only 2 were completed by the time the shipyards were destroyed, a third ship was still under construction, and was a total loss due to the attack. Capabilities: The Dragon Class Battleship was intended to provide the Confederation fleet with a new, more capable battleship to put it's fleet on par with those of the FWL and the Federated Suns. As the Confederation had only limited resources and could only build a limited number of ships, the Dragons were exceptionally well armored to protect the ConfederationÕs investment. The structural framework of the ship rivals that of the McKenna Class battleship. Based on similarities between the two designs, it appears the designers may have had access to the McKenna plans and used them to help in the design of the Dragon. The strong framework allowed the mounting an incredible 3000 tons of Lamellor Ferro-Carbide Armor. As a result the Dragons were incredibly resilient in battle and would shrug off damage that would destroy lesser ships. The heavy armor mounted on the ship severely limited the weaponry that could be carried. As a result, the Dragon was lightly armed when compared to many contemporary designs. In addition, the designers chose to concentrate on mounting predominately long range weapons, so that the ship would be able to stay out of the range of enemy warships. The main weapons were four Heavy Naval Gauss Cannons. It is not know exactly how the Confederation acquired the designs for these weapons as they were they were only available to Terran Hegemony and the SLDF. The most likely source for the weapons was from the Crossbow class Cruiser, which was being designed by Delhi Warships for the SLDF during the Amaris Crisis. [Ed Note: After the Defender Class AA Cruiser was completed, the SLDF requested a new ship capable of engaging the SDS Casper Drones at extreme long ranges, so that the drones could be destroyed before the they reached the fleet. Chancellor Liao offered to help fund the design (Code named Crossbow), if the work was given to Delhi. The Crossbow never reached production, since the first ships would not have been available until after the invasion of Terra. From comparisons of the Dragon and the Crossbow it appears that the weapons configuration of the Crossbow heavily influenced the design of the Dragon. ] The secondary weaponry consisted of a battery of Naval PPCs and Naval Lasers. These weapons had the longest range of any warship weapons ever designed. It was intended that the Dragon would engage the enemy at extreme long ranges and use it's maneuverability to prevent the enemy from closing. In case enemy ships did close with, the Dragon mounted 12 Class 30 Naval Autocannons. The bulk of the weapons are located on the broadside firing arcs, with the Naval Autocannons concentrated mostly on the forward arcs. The rear of the ship is only lightly protected by 2 Naval Autocannons. The Dragon also carried an entire fighter wing. Unlike many contemporary designs, the wing was intended for offensive rather then defensive use. Borrowing from the Defender class AA Cruiser, the Dragon mounted an impressive anti-fighter array of ER Large Lasers, LRMs and LB-10X Autocannons. While not as heavy of the batteries on the Defender, the weapons proved effective against all but the heaviest fighter attacks. Deployment: Only 2 Dragons were built by the Confederation, the CCS Dragon and CCS Tiger. A third ship, the CCS Rat, was destroyed while still under construction when the Delhi Shipyards were destroyed in a Free Worlds League Attack. The CCS Dragon was the flagship of the Confederation fleet that attacked the FWL at the start of the Succession Wars. The Dragon served admirably until the battle of Calloway VI. During the battle the FWL Navy destroyed the cream of the Confederation Navy, including the Dragon. The Dragon was sacrificed in a delaying action to allow Chancellor Liao to escape from the battle. While the Chancellor escaped on a fast destroyer, the Aldebaran, the Dragon engaged 3 FWL battleships and numerous smaller ships to prevent them from chasing the Aldebaran. The Dragon was destroyed, but it destroyed several FWL warships and inflicted heavy damage on several others. The second Dragon, the CCS Tiger, was one of the few Confederation ships to see service on the Federated Suns Front. After the first years of the war, most of the Federated Suns ships were diverted to the Draconis front in a futile effort to delay the Combine's advance. As a result there were only a few cruisers and destroyers deployed along the Confederation border. The Tiger along with 2 Cruisers and 6 Destroyers were used to cover the advance of the Confederation forces into Federated Suns Territory. The initial battles went well for the Confederation, with only a few loses, until the Federated Suns offensive of 2808. In response to Chancellor Ilsa LiaoÕs peace proposal, Prince Paul Davion launched a major offensive against the confederation. One of the major goals was the destruction of the remaining Confederation warships. Federated Suns intelligence placed the Tiger and her escorts in the Mira system. Using 2 of the few remaining Rodney class Cruisers (FCS Sheffield and FCS Admiral Deladier), the Federated Suns launched an attack against the Tiger, supported by a large number of assault dropships and aerospace fighters. While the dropships and fighters concentrated on the smaller warships, the cruisers closed with the Tiger. The Tiger scored several hits against the cruisers, before they were able to close with the Tiger. The two ships maneuvering together were able to close with Tiger and scored several hits against the aft of the ship. This damaged the engines of the Tiger and reduced her maneuverability. The next several hits disabled several of the weapons on the port side, although the Tiger was able to destroy the Sheffield and appeared to have disabled the Admiral Deladier. The Tiger then turned to engage the rest of the Federated Suns attack fleet, which had wiped out most of the other Confederation ships. Once the Tiger headed for the other ships, the engines of the Admiral Deladier fired and the ship raced towards the Tiger, ramming into the rear of the ship and destroying both vessels.