Beowulf Class

Born out of a failed competitor to the Grendel Class, the Beowulf found her calling as a Command Cruiser in Gorn Heavy Cruiser Squadrons. Comparatively rare, she mounts quite formidable weaponry along with extensive Electronic Warfare Equipment.

## 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.

Even at these early stages, there were those that believed the new design was too radical, and sought a more evolutionary, rather than revolutionary design for a new Capital Ship. Bearing a passing similarity to the earlier Tyrannus Class Battleship, the proponents of the evolutionary design proposed a more modest design with only a pair of Type G Plasma Torpedo Tubes, although an equally impressive Primary Weapons array was planned. In order to keep power requirements reasonable, less shielding was planned, along with less emphasis on armour plating and sheer size. Four warp nacelles, Heavy Cruiser type, would be required.

The design was promising, and admit failures of the revolutionary design to produce a working prototype, support for this simpler, smaller Battleship grew. However, it soon became clear that even with these reduced requirements, performance would be sluggish, and a pair of Type G Plasma Torpedo Tubes barely made the design worth proceeding with. If a suitably powerful warp core and nacelles could be found, the smaller design would prove a fast and very powerful super-Heavy Cruiser, but, with that same theoretical warp core and nacelles, the larger design would prove a far more effective Battleship, which was the ultimate aim of the design programme to begin with. Both teams had reached the same deadlock; insufficient power. The larger of the two designs had been permitted to reach prototype status, although the hull languished without a reactor or nacelles. The smaller was a paper project only, with her designers struggling to find a way to increase firepower whilst decreasing weight and power consumption.

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.

Unfortunately for the team working on the smaller design, this all but ended any interest the Admiralty had in her. Whilst the new powerplant and drives conceived from Federation research equally applied to their design, the result was still inferior to the new Grendel Class as a pure Capital Ship and at the time the utility of such an interim design wasn't understood by the Admiralty. The design once against languished as a paper project.

During the Organian Conflict, the Gorn Royal Navy found themselves with a shortage of command ships. Grendel Class Battleships, whilst powerful, were too valuable and few in number to penny packet out to every fleet that required them, and yet adequate command and control was difficult to achieve with the smaller, Euromastyx Class Heavy Cruiser. Suddenly an interim design, especially on that could be constructed quicker and cheaper than a large, true Capital Ship was desirable, and fortunately for the Gorn Royal Navy, they had such a design waiting to be put into production. A few minor changes were made, such as a command section taken directly from the King Snake Class Frigate, along with an additional centre line warp nacelle, and the addition of Electronic Warfare Equipment. The finalised design, at last in production, was christened the Beowulf Class. (in reference to an old tale from Gorn mythology, featuring the characters of Beowulf and Grendel)

## Operational History

The class lead and prototype, GNS Beowulf, was delayed in production due to wartime repairs of other warships, and so the second of the class, the GNS Thormissk, became the first Beowulf Class in service with the Gorn Royal Navy. More powerful than a Heavy Cruiser, but less powerful than a Battleship, the Gorn Royal Navy initially classified her as a "Heavy Cruiser Leader", but after the debut of the Klingon D7M Suvwl' QeH (Warrior's Anger) Class in 2289 this was changed to match the new designation of Command Cruiser, seeing that the earlier Gorn design was intended for much the same purpose.

Although performing admirably in her role during the remainder of the Organian Conflict, experiences during the conflict, the War of Pacification and cooperation with other powers revealed further gaps in the Gorn battle line. Production of further Beowulf Class warships was curtailed in favour of a heavier derivative. (see "Basilisk Class")

The remaining Beowulfs continued in service during the General War of 2292.

## Apocrypha

Although relatively few in number, the Beowulf fulfilled a much needed command and control function in the Gorn Royal Navy. She was finally withdrawn, along with her heavier descendant (Basilisk Class) in 2325 when the Gorn Royal Navy was rolled into Starfleet after the Gorn Confederacy joined the United Federation of Planets.

## Specifications

* **Class:** Command Cruiser
* **Hull Type Designation:** GCC
* **Length:** 479m
* **Crew:** 334
* **Warp Nacelles:** 5

* **Maximum Sublight Speed:** 3625 k/s (36.25 Mk/s)
* **Cruise** **Warp Factor Speed:** wf 7.3
* **Safe** **Maximum Warp Factor Speed:** wf 8.8
* **Hull Rating:** 750 HSF
* **Shield Rating:** 480 FSP

* **Sensor Rating:** 800 SRU

* **Armament and Equipment:**
	+ Primary
		- 6 × Gorn Type Phaser Emitter
	+ Secondary
		- 2 × Type G Plasma Torpedo Tube
	+ Heavy
		- None
	+ Advanced
		- None
	+ Equipment
		- Tractor Beam Emitter
		- Probes
		- Electronic Warfare Equipment

## Ships in Service (2292)

GNS Thormissk

GNS Beowuulf

GNS Goraksk

GNS Betrask

GNS Hormsksk

GNS Skssskash

GNS Norghtas

GNS Gornixth

GNS Dragonicon

GNS Tyranicon

GNS Vipericon

GNS Chromaticon

GNS Rex

GNS Beasticon

GNS Groundfire

GNS Skyfire

GNS Cloudfire

GNS Crusher

GNS Vindicator

GNS Drakorra

GNS Centrosuarus

GNS Gagatrthas

GNS Hakastraoak

GNS Marathasok

GNS Atktenask