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Go Back to Ship Designs
| MASS:
98 NPV: 385 Classification: Fleet Frigate (F) Crew: 49; 8 Officers, 41 Enlisted Crew Factor: 5 Hull Integrity: 22 (6/6/5/5) Armor: 6 Main Drive Thrust: 4 (19.6 TW) Drive Auto-Detection Range: 5.905 AU ∆V (Combat): 44.974 km/sec ∆V (Cruise): 899.483 km/sec Thrust Points: 90 (1278 tons propellant) Propellant Tanks: 6 Thrust Points per Tank: 15 FTL: Yes (Short Jump – 3.3 parsec range) Auxiliary Systems: 0.6 G Spin Habitat for 49 Combat Systems: 2x Fire Control Weapons: 3x Point Defense Battery; 3x Class-1 Battery (All Arcs); 3x Class-2 Battery (All Arcs); 2x Pulse Torpedo Launcher (FP/F/FS) |
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| The
Konigsberg class fleet frigate serves in the Deutsches
Stern
Kreigsmarine (DSKM) component of the European Union Space Defense
Force. A German design stressing typically German military traits
of robustness and heavy armament, the Konigsberg
is a powerful frigate that outguns every other frigate in service in
any military. The Konigsberg
pays for this firepower with lower agility and less delta-vee than
competing frigates such as the Tunghu
and the Oberon.
It was the intention of the DKSM to have the Konigsbergs fight as
commerce raiders in any general armed conflict with a major power
(Russia, Manchuria, Aztlan, and even Brazil were considered potential
adversaries), but as the design matured it became clear that
while it was certainly sufficiently armed to outgun any expected
escorting warships, the frigate's lower than average delta-vee and lack
of extra cargo space for supplies meant that it could not mount an
extended raid on an adversary's shipping, and would itself be dependent
upon vulnerable replenishment ships - a lesson the Manchurians learned
in the mid 24th century with their missile armed warships as the
Western Alliance involved itself in their numerous wars of colonial
suppression as well as the centuries long Commerce War with Russia.
French political entanglements within the EU Parliament further impeded
the German intentions with the design, as the Ypres class
frigate was clearly better suited for commerce raiding, and no funding
from the EU budget would be forthcoming to pay for the ship's
development under such a mission Germany, still desiring its own frigate class, and eyeing potential Czech League and Guangzhou export sales to help defray development costs, pressed on with the Konigsberg, this time as a line of battle frigate. The concept of a line of battle frigate is a controversial one, as frigate class ships are clearly outmatched by cruisers and battleships. For smaller starfaring nations however, ones hard pressed to field ships bigger than light cruisers, a heavily armed frigate confers an ability to punch above one's weight in an armed conflict. The advantage of the Konigsberg in this regard was clearly obvious by its weapons loadout - six antiship lasers with all aspect firing capabilities, three point defense batteries to defend against missiles and fighters, and two pulse torpedo launchers firing guided kinetic warheads out to an effective range of 3000 kilometers. The heavy laser armament allows the ships a high level of persistant firepower, and the pulse torpedoes are relatively small and hundreds of rounds can be carried for the same mass and volume of a single antiship missile, all while providing the same hitting power as a missile but without the need to carry nuclear weapons. This last point was crucial for export sales, as smaller nations such as the Jovian Association and the Czech League could enjoy comparable firepower as a great nation while still avoiding the political and diplomatic reprecussions of nukes. The first Konigsberg went into service in 2348, and ten more frigates were produced for the DKSM. Export sales were better than expected when Guangzhou ordered ten Konigsbergs for themselves in the early 2350s as tensions with Manchuria and Aztlan were reaching new highs. In all, over thirty Konigsbergs are in service in the Orion Arm. Mercer Heavy Industries has the capability to produce the Konigsberg, as it constructed two frigates under license for Poland at its shipyard in the Fury System, but to date no decision has been made to build additional ships. The Oberon and the David Baker class frigates currently serve the SDC's needs, but as the debate continues as to the extent of the necessary militarization of Sagittarius, a lack of commitment to cruiser class vessels may result in the Konigsberg's introduction as a stop gap line of battle ship. |
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