Shilagash
Class: Cruiser
Operators: TOG Navy
Mass: 1,582,066 tons
Cost: 10,114,662,413 talents
Engines:
Right Engine Rating (30,000)
Center Engine Rating (40,000)
Left Engine Rating (30,000)
Thrust: 2
Weapons:
Type (Location)
B Spinal Mount (F)
50 37.5/30 (F)
50 37.5/15 (F)
50 30/30 (R)
25 30/30 (R)
50 30/30 (L)
25 30/30 (L)
50 30/30 (A)
Type B Missile System 1 Shot at 50 Points
Fighters: 54 at 300 tons (One short Group of two Flights and one Squadron)
Small Craft: 12 at 1,000 tons
Cargo: 5,000 tons
Crew: 1,560
Passengers: 100
Marines: 400
Overview[]
The Shilagash Class cruiser is typical of many in the TOG Imperial Navy, emphasizing multiple guns over maneuverability. Fighters and marine assault craft are also carried to broaden the vessel's operational adaptability.
Shilagash cruisers are normally attached to battleship squadrons or carrier groups. They also serve as destroyer leaders in major actions involving fleets of smaller vessels. On occasion, ships of the Shilagash Class perform extended operations, leaving the fleet for a specific mission. This does not occur as often as with other classes of ships because the Shilagash is not as versatile as many other designs.
During battleship actions, the main duty of the Shilagash is to protect ships such as carriers and transports from attack by the enemy's lighter vessels. They also spearhead attacks on similar ships in the enemy fleet. Despite its reputation for a limited mission profile, the Shilagash Class can carry out these types of escort and attack operations well.
Capabilities[]
The Shilagash Class was designed as a weapons platform for combined fleet operations. As such, the class carries a heavy laser battery armament relative to her power rating. The Shilagash was also one of the first ships in the TOG Empire to use extensive modular design for simplicity of construction and ease of repair.
The Shilagash has a Type B spinal mount as well as two forward 50-gun laser bays. This allows the ship maximum long-range attack capability ahead of the vessel, backed up by the short-range spinal mount. Broadside weaponry consists of two 50-gun 30/30 bays and two 25-gun 30/30 bays, allowing effective mid-range offensive capability. A single 50-gun 30/30 bay faces aft to deter pursuit.
The Shilagash Class also mounts a Type B missile system and standard cruiser turret systems all along the hull. Improved Omicron Dynamax shield generators protect the fully armored sheathing of the hull. This shield system has been strengthened in the fore and aft areas of the ship as a safety margin against raking shots.
A single sway-backed dorsal hangar deck houses the nine fighter squadrons and twelve small craft. This short group is composed of two four-squadron flights of close cover and space superiority fighters and one additional squadron, which is frequently composed of TOG Marine Corps or (rarely) TOG Army Air Corps ground support fighters
The Shilagash Class can carry up to 100 passengers in relative comfort, but these accommodations are usually used by transferring junior personnel or TOG citizens requiring military transport. Rarely do higher officers of the Imperial Navy or TOG government officials travel on vessels of this type.
Deployment[]
The Shilagash Class cruiser is one of the more numerous classes in the TOG Imperial Navy. These vessels serve in most battleship groups as well as in many reserve fleets. Commissioned in 6742, the Shilagash Class continued in production until 6820.
The Shilagash Class also has the dubious distinction of having the most ships accidentally blow up, either in combat or merely through some unexplained weakness or problem. Since the inception of the class, more than 200 vessels have been vaporized in such explosions. This problem is one of the reasons that the Shilagash Class has gone out of production.