Royal Sovereign Class

The original Fleet Carrier, the Royal Sovereign and her Fighter complement caused chaos in the Klingon and Lyran occupying forces when deployed during the outbreak of the Organian Conflict. Armed with a Photon Cannon for long range support duties, and two Fusion Beam Emitters for close defence, the Royal Sovereign is a prickly target even without her Fightercraft, and she is never found unescorted.

## Development

The development and re-introduction of Fightercraft to the galaxy by the Hydran Royal Navy is perhaps their most defining and ground breaking contribution to galactic military tactics. Although Fightercraft had been deployed as early as the Earth-Romulan War as a way to overcome the limitations of range vs manoeuvrability during those early days of interstellar warfare, they had largely fallen out of favour by the early 2220s due to advances in technology, with a brief renaissance in the 2230s with the development of small scale M/AM reactors.

During their long exile in the Lost Colonies, Hydran tacticians sought a way to overcome the numerically superior Klingon and Lyran forces occupying their ancestral homes. Although their holdings inside the Great Cloud were considerable, manpower was low and resources insufficient to construct a large enough conventional fleet to overcome the occupiers. During the Great Exodus, some limited contact had been made with the forces of the Sha'Kurian Duchies, a xenophobic and generally hostile power but not entirely opposed to communications and diplomatic overtures. The Sha'Kurian manner of waging war was entirely different to anything else seen in the galaxy, with the Sha'Kurian Ducal Fleet preferring to use fast-moving Carriers and nimble Fightercraft rather than conventional warships. Whilst not being able to directly examine any Sha'Kurian vessels, Hydran tacticians believed these could provide the solution to their problem.

The Fightercraft themselves were simple enough, built around their weapons systems (reduced power versions of the Fusion Beam Emitter and the Hellbore Cannon). The biggest problem to overcome with their designs was heat dissipation. Their Carrier mothership would pose more of a problem. The largest hull in Royal Navy service, the Monarch Class, simply wasn't big enough to carry the number of planned Fightercraft and the needed ancillary systems. Eventually, an acceptable design was reached, with the hull planform changed radically. The core of the Monarch Class hull remained, but the flanks had been pared back at the rear, with the bows extended into two cavernous hangar decks. At the rear, a new drive arrangement of four Cruiser-class warp nacelles propelled the craft, with twin command bridges, one for starship command the other for Fighter operations. Armaments wise, she was designed around the new Photon Cannon, being intended to serve in the secondary role of a fire support ship, with a pair of Fusion Beam Emitters, one under each hangar deck, for close in defence should her defensive screen be penetrated. Finally, her Primary Weapons array was a rather modest complement of Gatling Phasers, but again these were intended for point defence purposes only.

With the extensions to her bow and stern, the new leviathan dwarfed even her Monarch Class progenitor, becoming one of the largest designs in existence (and remaining so for many years). In honour of this, she was named the Royal Sovereign Class. Only three such giant Fleet Carriers were intended to be built, with no shipyards large enough in the Lost Colonies to construct her, being built slowly in situ akin to Starbases.

## Operational History

The first of the new ships, the titular HMS Royal Sovereign, was finally ready for fleet trials in 2280, after 3 years under construction. Her two sister ships, HMS Bezelbeth and HMS Haraat entered service the following year. Two more incomplete hulls were started, with the intention that they could be towed out of the Great Cloud and completed once the homeworld had been secured.

The three warships and their Fighter wings proved an enormous shock to Lyran and Klingon forces during The Return in the subsequent Organian Conflict in 2285, although this shock effect perhaps overinflated the value and strength of Fightercraft in the eyes of the rest of the galaxy, leading to a craze for Fighters that lasted several years.

The two unfinished hulls were successfully completed upon the liberation of the homeworld, with the first being named the HMS Hydra in honour of the occasion, and the second becoming the HMS Arthon, after a character from Hydran mythology. The five Carriers gave the Hydran Royal Navy an enormous, if fragile, punch. The two new warships were put to good use during the War of Pacification, although their deployment did show the shortcomings of Fightercraft, proving somewhat vulnerable to Interstellar Pacification Force vessels.

The Royal Sovereign saw no action during the General War of 2292.

## Apocrypha

Hydran fleet tactics continued to be dominated by the use of Fightercraft well into the 24th Century, although no new designs entered service. Several new Royal Sovereigns were commissioned, albeit slowly due to the continuing lack of large shipyards in the Hydran Kingdoms. The last two of the planned ships were cancelled however with the death of Monarch-Queen Emoleth III in 2314 and a sharp change in policy following the coronation of her successor, Monarch-King Jarathax VII.

## Specifications

* **Class:** Fleet Carrier
* **Hull Type Designation:** HCVN
* **Length:** 774m
* **Crew:** 1200
* **Warp Nacelles:** 2

* **Maximum Sublight Speed:** 3075 k/s (30.75 Mk/s)
* **Cruise** **Warp Factor Speed:** wf 7.1
* **Safe** **Maximum Warp Factor Speed:** wf 8.8
* **Hull Rating:** 944 HSF
* **Shield Rating:** 1600 FSP

* **Sensor Rating:** 800 SRU

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

## Ships in Service (2292)

HMS Royal Sovereign

HMS Bezelbeth

HMS Haraat

HMS Hydra

HMS Arthon

HMS Johantar (Launched 2294)

HMS Calipar (Launched 2299)

HMS Terreneth (Proposed)

HMS Vicoteth (Proposed)

HMS Queen Astaleth (Proposed)