King Snake-S Class

A Scout Frigate variant of the King Snake Class, the King Snake-S lacks the firepower of her stablemate but carries powerful sensors and Electronic Warfare Equipment instead. She is the eyes and ears of the Gorn Royal Navy.

## Development

In 2258 Gorn scientists perfected the first field practical version of the Type G Plasma Torpedo. Almost immediately, plans were made to replace the increasingly obsolescent Particle Accelerator Cannons then used as the Secondary Weapons system of choice by the Gorn Royal Navy with this new and far more powerful weapon. For Heavy Cruisers and above, this was not generally an issue, but for the smaller craft in the Gorn Royal Navy, power issues and their lighter spaceframes were unsuited to the new weapon. The Anaconda Class Destroyer, for example, could not be fitted with a Type G Plasma Torpedo Tube successfully, although eventually an alternative weapons system was found to replace her Particle Accelerator Cannon and she remained a competitive design.

Frigate-class warships had never been a part of the Gorn battle line, being considered too short ranged to serve with offensive fleets. They had served previously only as system patrol craft, police cutters and the like. However, with advances in warp core technology, and the new Plasma torpedo, some Gorn designers rather than thinking big, decided to think small. They believed they could build a "Fleet Frigate", capable of serving as a picket for the heavier warships of the Gorn Royal Navy as well as the traditional patrol duties of Frigates in the Gorn Confederacy.

Using a small, warp-streamlined hull (opposed to the brick-like planform of larger Gorn ships), the new small warship could be propelled with only a single nacelle, slung underneath the hull, tucked close to render it a difficult target. Manoeuvrability was impressive, for a Gorn ship, and her warp core was highly uprated, reducing the operating life span but giving great surges of power when required. She would also require regular maintenance, although considering she would operate closely with Gorn fleets or scheduled border patrols, this wasn't considered a problem.

Firepower for a ship of her size was enormous, mounting a Type G Plasma Torpedo Tube on her centre line flanked by four Gorn Type Phaser Emitters, rivalling that of a Euromastyx Class Heavy Cruiser, although without the capabilities to stand and face her foe. Her power reserves, shields and armour were too low for sustained assaults, rather she would use her blinding speed to make rapid, slashing attacks before withdrawing.

Before the design had even entered service, a variant was proposed. Rather than mounting the Type G Plasma Torpedo, which was after all part of the entire reason the new class had been conceived, this variant was to forego Secondary Weapons entirely, also sacrificing one of her Gorn Type Phaser Emitters, in order to carry a wide array of Electronic Warfare Equipment and powerful sensor arrays. In this form, she would service as a scout and electronic warfare ship.

## Operational History

Entering service in 2267 alongside her conventionally armed stablemate, the King Snake-S saw widespread action along the volatile Romulan border, and was vital in reporting Romulan fleet movements during the 4th and 5th Gorn-Romulan Wars. Naturally for a scout ship, she saw little actual combat, but without her powerful sensors and the information she gathered, the results of this conflicts could have been very different.

The King Snake-S once again performed her scouting duties admirably during the Organian Conflict and the subsequent War of Pacification. During the General War of 2292, some were rumoured to have been fitted with captured Klingon-Type Cloaking Devices for scouting deep into Klingon territory, but this has never been confirmed.

## Apocrypha

Although invaluable to the Gorn Royal Navy throughout her service years in the late 23rd Century, the King Snake-S was rapidly outpaced by technological advances made in the early 24th Century. Never the less, she remained in service, mostly as a patrol craft, with the Gorn Royal Navy until the Gorn Confederacy joined the United Federation of Planets in 2325. The King Snake-S, like her better armed progenitor, did see service in planetary defence fleets inside Gorn space after the union, her sensors now finding use in scanning for contraband or keeping watch for oppotunistic bands of Orion Pirates.

## Specifications

* **Class:** Scout Frigate
* **Hull Type Designation:** GFS
* **Length:** 122m
* **Crew:** 49
* **Warp Nacelles:** 1

* **Maximum Sublight Speed:** 4650 k/s (46.50 Mk/s)
* **Cruise** **Warp Factor Speed:** wf 7.3
* **Safe** **Maximum Warp Factor Speed:** wf 9.3
* **Hull Rating:** 260 HSF
* **Shield Rating:** 150 FSP

* **Sensor Rating:** 1000 SRU

* **Armament and Equipment:**
	+ Primary
		- 3 × Gorn Type Phaser Emitter
	+ Secondary
		- None
	+ Heavy
		- None
	+ Advanced
		- None
	+ Equipment
		- Tractor Beam Emitter
		- Probes
		- Electronic Warfare Equipment

## Ships in Service (2292)

GNS Kakskksnt

GNS Kinskgnth

GNS Jotlthskn

GNS Gatashtsk

GNS Tattsgsgsk

GNS Krkkskthan

GNS Grroths

GNS Sweskathn

GNS Hahhshth

GNS Gaaarntsk

GNS Korrksthn

GNS Normasktnh

GNS Thosnthm

GNS Lorsktnen

GNS Meskthren

GNS Povisketh

GNS Laruysnk

GNS Grnesken

GNS Moskalsk

GNS Daksrenth

GNS Dothrasknin

GNS Khaskeens

GNS Adasketn

GNS Barasketnh

GNS Haoethsk

GNS Growslekn

GNS Ananathosk

GNS Teorskth

GNS Borksestn