Regent Class

The Regent is an older design that was formerly used to lead Destroyer Flotillas before the introduction of the Paladin Class. Unable to keep up with the faster Knight Class, the Regent has since found a niche as an attack ship supported by larger, Hellbore-armed ships; essentially a heavier, slower Destroyer. Her shields and hull are not considerably more powerful than the Knight however, and so she relies heavily on her Hellbore-armed brethren to batter an enemy's shields prior to delivering her devastating Fusion Beam strike.

## Development

The traditional battle tactics of the Hydran Royal Navy were compared, by adversary and ally alike, to ancient cavalry charges (or, as the Captains of the Klingon Defence Force put it, "bringing a D'ktagh to a Disruptor Rifle fight, and winning). The Royal Navy focused on Destroyer-class warships, armed with the devastating Fusion Beam. This weapon, although powerful, was very short ranged, requiring warships armed with it to close to point-blank range. To this end, the Royal Navy deployed Gatling Phasers, weak but rapid firing Phasers, intended to suppress enemy defences as their warships closed to Fusion Beam range, and the Hellbore Cannon, a long ranged weapon particularly good at neutralising shields. The Heavy Cruisers of the Royal Navy were designed as specialised fire support ships, intended to fire volleys of Hellbore rounds to weaken the defences of enemy targets as the Destroyers advanced to deliver the killing, Fusion Beam blow.

Conceived to lead Destroyer Flotillas, the Regent Class was built as a hybrid; a Cruiser design but with Destroyer weaponry. With reinforced mounts under her warp nacelle struts, she could mount two Fusion Beam Emitters, along with a considerable Primary Weapons battery. She could also match the flank speed of Destroyers then in service with the Hydran Royal Navy, although this did strain her warp core and so was advisable only during the final stages of an attack run. The Regent entered service in 2245, and in the years leading up to The Return, the Hydran Royal Navy finely honed the tactics involving her deployment.

## Operational History

However, by the time she saw widespread combat, the new Knight Class Destroyer had entered service, which would considerably outpace the Regent even at maximum impulse. She remained in service as a Flotilla Leader, albeit in a limited fashion, pending replacement (which eventually came in 2287 in the form of the Paladin Class), but new tactics were formulated using the Regent as a dedicated attack ship in her own right, a sort of "Heavy Destroyer". She was not initially refit with Fightercraft, although a quartet of these were added in 2284 as part of her reassignment to these new duties. This reorganisation was largely complete by the outbreak of the War of Pacification.

She saw no service during the General War of 2292.

## Apocrypha

An older design by the dawn of the 24th Century, the Regent remained in service in her new attack role until the end of Hydran independence. Several Regent Class Light Cruisers were reportedly present at the Battle of the Last Alliance in the Targreth System in 2323.

## Specifications

* **Class:** Light Cruiser
* **Hull Type Designation:** HCL
* **Length:** 289m
* **Crew:** 335
* **Warp Nacelles:** 2

* **Maximum Sublight Speed:** 3875 k/s (38.75 Mk/s)
* **Cruise** **Warp Factor Speed:** wf 7.2
* **Safe** **Maximum Warp Factor Speed:** wf 9.2
* **Hull Rating:** 280 HSF
* **Shield Rating:** 415 FSP

* **Sensor Rating:** 800 SRU

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

## Ships in Service (2292)

HMS Regent

HMS Prince

HMS Consort

HMS Repulse

HMS Tiger

HMS Turquoise

HMS Amethyst

HMS Diamond

HMS Ruby

HMS Peridote

HMS Lightning

HMS Melee

HMS Frontiersmen

HMS Harbinger

HMS Ancestor

HMS Herald

HMS Omen

HMS Ultag

HMS Drandath

HMS Xethas

HMS Kantag

HMS Tathavx

HMS Ultag II

HMS Inpfeore

HMS Earl Horta

HMS Earl Hives

HMS Earl Hakikki

HMS Torment

HMS Agony

HMS Anguish

HMS Torture

HMS Terror

HMS Erebus

HMS Lord Soult

HMS Tanrak