Baron Class

A rugged and well-balanced design, the basic Baron planform has been in service since well before the Great Exodus. The latest iteration of the design, the Baron is employed much as her predecessors; as a long-range support ship to bombard an enemy with Hellbore rounds and weaken their shields. She was, however, fitted with a Fusion Beam Emitter just before The Return in order to give her some short-ranged firepower should enemy vessels close or if she should find herself alone. In addition to supporting smaller ships like the Regent Class Light Cruiser or Knight Class Destroyers, the Baron also has hangar bays, acting as a Light Carrier when required.

## Development

Much like long-lived Klingon "Wing and Boom" Heavy Cruisers beginning with the D3 LeTH (Sword) Class and continuing on through the latest refits of the D7C qItI'tinga' (Great Powerful Conqueror) Class and C7 Qo'noS (Kronos) Class, Hydran Heavy Cruiser design settled on basic planform in the 2170s and incrementally improved upon it ever since. Designed in the depths of the Great Exodus, the Baron Class was designed along the same principles as all previous Hydran Heavy Cruisers; to support the Royal Navy's Destroyer Flotillas with long-ranged Hellbore Cannon volleys.

Hydran Military Intelligence kept the Royal Navy informed as much as possible on the development of new warships in the Klingon Defence Force and the Imperial Lyran Navy, and at the time of her introduction, the Baron was more than a match for the latest refit of the standard Klingon Heavy Cruiser design then in service, the D6A Kl'ar (Leader) Class. However, as the years passed and new tactics introduced, refinements and improvements were suggested by various Shipyard Committees in order to keep the Baron up to date and competitive with the limited resources available to the Hydran Kingdoms at the time. Shortly before the planned Return, in 2283, the Baron was refit with two new weapons systems. The first was the addition of a Fusion Beam Emitter to her ventral structure. Although not normally in firing range, the rather rigid fleet tactics of the Royal Navy could not always be adhered to, and there would be times when enemy forces broke through the lines or Baron Class warships were forced to fight alone and close with the enemy to finish them off. The second was a further aid to lone operations; a Fightercraft Hangar, with stowage and resupply facilities for five Halberdier Fusion Beam Fighters. These Fightercraft lent the Baron her own strike wing, to close rapidly with enemy targets and to attack them with Fusion Beams.

## Operational History

The Baron first saw fleet combat during The Return and during the Organian Conflict that followed. Hydran fleet tactics worked well against their traditional foes, although as predicted the addition of the ventral Fusion Beam Emitter was a welcome one to many a Baron Captain. She also saw limited combat in the Hydran efforts against the Interstellar Concordium, her long ranged firepower proving quite effective against ISC Echelon formations, but the withering firepower of Interstellar Pacification Force vessels often proving too strong for a definitive coup de grace from her Fightercraft or accompanying Destroyers and Light Cruisers.

She saw no action during the General War of 2292.

## Apocrypha

One of the oldest designs still in regular service by the dawn of the 24th Century, the Baron Class was eventually superseded by her long-planned replacement, the Duke Class, the last examples leaving Royal Navy service in 2310. Before the end of Hydran Independence in 2323, several were granted as gifts to the Starfleet Museum by Monarch-King Jarathax VII. It is believed several were reactivated out of mothballs and used at the Battle of the Last Alliance in the Targreth System, despite their utter obsolescence by that time.

## Specifications

* **Class:** Heavy Cruiser
* **Hull Type Designation:** HCA
* **Length:** 303m
* **Crew:** 380
* **Warp Nacelles:** 2

* **Maximum Sublight Speed:** 3700 k/s (37 Mk/s)
* **Cruise** **Warp Factor Speed:** wf 7.1
* **Safe** **Maximum Warp Factor Speed:** wf 9.0
* **Hull Rating:** 340 HSF
* **Shield Rating:** 520 FSP

* **Sensor Rating:** 800 SRU

* **Armament and Equipment:**
	+ Primary
		- 4 × Hydran Type Gatling Phaser Emitter
	+ Secondary
		- None
	+ Heavy
		- 2 × Hellbore Cannon
		- 1 × Fusion Beam Emitter
	+ Advanced
		- None
	+ Equipment
		- Tractor Beam Emitter
		- Probes
		- 5 × Halberdier Fusion Beam Fighter

## Ships in Service (2292)

HMS Baron Hapis

HMS Earl

HMS Count

HMS Baroness

HMS Marquis

HMS Countess

HMS Hydrax

HMS Baron Tanthgar

HMS Peacekeeper

HMS Baron Samedar

HMS Barrister

HMS Officer

HMS Baron Homta

HMS Combatant

HMS Soldier

HMS Warrior

HMS Fighter

HMS Hysaalx

HMS Llixath

HMS Haxl'th

HMS Y'Shadrx

HMS Lxithald

HMS Baron Hakar

HMS Mandate

HMS Governess

HMS Eclipse

HMS Capitulation

HMS Insouciant

HMS Ineluctable

HMS Indeterable

HMS Forerunner