King Grendel Class

An extremely powerful new Battleship yet to see full service, the King Grendel is the pride of the Gorn Royal Navy, surpassing even her mighty progenitor. Whilst possessing the same armaments as her lighter stablemate, the King Grendel mounts this impressive array on a far more robust frame, with thicker armour and stronger shielding.

## Development

The development of practical Plasma weaponry by Gorn scientists in 2258 at last gave the Gorn Royal Navy a powerful Secondary Weapon. Gorn tacticians had differing views on how best to deploy the new weapon. Whilst early production efforts were focused on refitting existing designs to carry single Type G Plasma Torpedo Tubes in place of multiple obsolescent Particle Accelerator Cannons, long term planning focused on ways to mount multiple torpedo tubes on a single hull to maximise Alpha Strike firepower. One school of thought focused on the fire support ship concept, built on existing cruiser hulls, which eventually became the Reptillon Class Torpedo Cruiser. The second planned for an even grander warship, intended to serve as a new Command ship for Gorn fleets. These design sketches required entirely new hull designs, radical departures from traditional Gorn shipbuilding, as well as the associated powerplants, drives and support systems.

Rather than the usual simplistic blocky design previously employed by large Gorn warships, (such as the venerable Tyrannus Class Battleship) the proposed design was a large wedged beak, with two large warp nacelles tucked into the centre line, one on top of the other. Two pairs of Type G Plasma Torpedo Tubes flanked these nacelles, like glowing eyes, with a single impressively sized impulse deck to the rear. These were backed up with a large Primary Weapons array of six Gorn Type Phaser Emitters. As with all Gorn designs, manoeuvrability was sacrificed in favour of straight line speed, armour and firepower.

Before this paper project could ever be put into production, an entirely new warp core and nacelle design would need to be designed, as none then in service with the Gorn Royal Navy were capable of providing sufficient power for such a larger and energy-intensive design. Early efforts were miserable failures, proving overweight and underpowered, and the prototype hull languished for many years for lack of suitable power systems.

In 2267, the Gorn Confederacy encountered the United Federation of Planets in the Cestus System. Although initially hostile to the new arrivals, the two powers soon put the misunderstanding behind them, and by 2271 this peace treaty had grown into the Federation-Gorn Alliance. With this alliance came a technological exchange, and in return for their understanding of plasma and tractor beam based weaponry, Gorn scientists received badly needed data on the latest Federation warp cores and nacelles. The new Gorn Capital Ship finally had the powerplant and drives she needed.

Despite the breakthrough, issues remained with power relay systems, complications with surges when the multiple Torpedo Tubes were charging simultaneously, and numerous teething problems associated with such a large and untested design. The shakedown cruise for the prototype, GNS Grendel, did not commence until 2281, although by this time several production hulls were on the slipways in various states of completion. Final delivery of the GNS Grendel to the fleet took place just before the outbreak of the 4th Gorn-Romulan War‏‎ in 2282.

During her deployment to the frontlines, the GNS Grendel (along with two stablemates) suffered severe fluctuations in her reactor core. Although not immediately threatening to the ship, the issues required the primary warp core to be shut down, virtually stranding the new Battleships in a precarious position until the problem could be identified and repairs made. Although these were eventually made, with the Grendel and her detachment limping back to a nearby outpost, it was an enormously embarrassing situation for the Gorn Royal Navy and kept the trio out of combat until the last few engagements of the war.

The 5th Gorn-Romulan War‏‎ of 2284 saw the first true deployment of the Grendel Class, finally replacing the elderly Tyrannus Class Battleship. Occasional issues still arose, but her crews were considered to be some of the finest in the Gorn Royal Navy and soon came to appreciate the quirks of their new warships. The Grendel could stand against anything the Romulan Star Navy could throw at her.

This feeling of near invulnerability led to uncharacteristic brazenness on the part of her crews, and during the Organian Conflict that followed, new and even more formidable Romulan warships shattered this conceit when the GNS Grendel herself was ambushed and lost. This led to an uparming of the remaining Grendel Class warships, and their re-designation as Dreadnoughts as the war continued. Tentative plans were made for a replacement, although the wartime economy meant these plans were very long term.

A simplistic approach was taken to designing an eventual replacement for the Grendel Class. Her weapons systems were more than adequate, especially with the fitting of the Quantum Carrier-Wave Beam Projector in 2288, but her armour plating and shield strength (in particular) required improvement if she were to stand against the new generation of super-Battleships being launched by the Romulan Star Empire. More system redundancy was also required, a larger crew, including a larger complement of Marines to deal with the possibility of crew casualties or enemy boarding operations. A hybrid design gradually took shape, using the Grendel Class hull as a starting point with two large, conventionally Gorn-esque hulls projecting forwards, on which two of her four Type G Plasma Torpedo Tubes were now mounted, freeing up space in her main hull for a larger warp core. These additional hulls also mounted an extra warp nacelle each, bringing the new design's total to four, although in normal operation only the two centre line nacelles were in operation. This provided extra redundancy in case of damage, and in battle, extra power reserves and manoeuvrability at warp, if required. Her impulse deck was further enhanced, giving equal full impulse speed to her progenitor despite her significantly increased bulk.

The demands of the Organian Conflict and the War of Pacification saw considerable delays in putting the new design into production, and indeed many questioned whether a replacement was required for the Grendel Class at all. Costly battles against Interstellar Concordium Type DN-III Dreadnoughts finally swayed the Admiralty, and the prototype, GNS King Grendel, was completed and commissioned in 2291.

## Operational History

As the most powerful warship in the Gorn Royal Navy, the GNS King Grendel was chosen by General Thormasskk as his flagship for the Grand Fleet, seeing combat in the Arthisk System during the Battle of Arthisk, where Gorn forces finally vanquished the last ISC fleet in their territory.

By the General War of 2292, three King Grendel Class Battleships were in service, with three more under construction and several more proposed. The class saw heavy combat during the Gorn counter invasion of the Klingon Empire, with the GNS King Grendel once again serving as the flagship of the Grand Fleet.

## Apocrypha

With the cessation of hostilities at the end of 2292 and the signing of the Khitomer Accords in 2293, the Gorn Royal Navy scaled back their procurement of such large warships. The remaining five proposed King Grendels were cancelled before any work had been made on them, with the six operational Battleships serving until the end of the Gorn Royal Navy as an independent force in 2325, when the Gorn Confederacy joined the United Federation of Planets. The GNS King Grendel was kept as a museum ship however, commemorating her part in the General War of 2292.

## Specifications

* **Class:** Battleship
* **Hull Type Designation:** GBB
* **Length:** 619m
* **Crew:** 652
* **Warp Nacelles:** 4

* **Maximum Sublight Speed:** 3300 k/s (33 Mk/s)
* **Cruise** **Warp Factor Speed:** wf 6.9
* **Safe** **Maximum Warp Factor Speed:** wf 8.9
* **Hull Rating:** 1200 HSF
* **Shield Rating:** 800 FSP

* **Sensor Rating:** 800 SRU

* **Armament and Equipment:**
	+ Primary
		- 6 × Gorn Type Phaser Emitter
	+ Secondary
		- 4 × Type G Plasma Torpedo Tube
	+ Heavy
		- None
	+ Advanced
		- Quantum Carrier-Wave Beam Projector (QCB)
	+ Equipment
		- Tractor Beam Emitter
		- Probes

## Ships in Service (2292)

GNS King Grendel

GNS Glorstenke

GNS Astekrolek

GNS Bakrleokns (Under Construction)

GNS Garneotheks (Under Construction)

GNS Northeskrns (Under Construction)

GNS Garentehsk (Proposed)

GNS Wishketjar (Proposed)

GNS Ferskenk (Proposed)

GNS Lizakehth (Proposed)

GNS Garenkthok (Proposed)