Northampton-class Frigate

The Northampton-class Modular Frigate is a versatile and long serving hull in service with both the defunct Republic of Iserlohn Space Guard and the United Kingdom of Lunaria-Iserlohn Navy. With a noted 1,500 ships constructed over the numerous flights and three main variants, the average life of a Northampton spans at 25 years.

Endlessly modifiable and with the speed, endurance, armor, and firepower favoring everything from independent squadrons to fleet scouts, the Northampton-class Modular Frigate stands to be the only remaining hull of the 'old navy' as the Naval Readjustment and Rearmament Project (NaRePro) starts showing off the fruits of its labors.

Northampton - Standard Hullform Block IXa
The 'standard' Northampton consists of an arrowhead-shaped hullform with limited athmospheric capabilities due to it's anti-grav system and athmospheric thrusters. Created in time when stealth was a concern to naval planners, its standard outer coating consists of a 'skin' of armor meant to absorb and reflect radar and sensors.

The main engines are built around the center circumference of the rear hull and supply the 250-meter long frigate with excellent speed and maneuverability that compensates for a lack of heavy firepower. Originally meant to utilize it's hangar space for shuttles and traditional space superiority fighters, the internal bays of the Block IXa and Block IXa-Refit hulls are now capable of carrying the standard inter-service variable fighter.

In battle, the frigate's heavier weaponry are oriented to the bow of the vessel, necessitating the need for the whole vessel to be pointed towards the target. While seen as flaw by some critics of the design, the maneuverability afforded by the outsized engines on the frigate allow it to be able to handle more like a smaller corvette or gunship than an actual frigate, and so-called 'cavalry' slashes with escorting VFs have been done in simulated war games and skirmishes with the exiled Lunarian nobles with proven results.

The current hullform of the 'standard' Northampton is the upgraded Flight IX hulls. Built with new molycrycs, armor panelling, and an enchanced reactor design, the base model contains the standard loadout of two (2) 75cm Rapid Fire Particle Beam Cannons mounted on outrigger pods on the starboard and port sides of the main hull, as well as eight (8) 55cm Rapid Fire Electron Beam Cannons, six located on the main hull and a pair on the top of the engineering hull. Four (4) recessed launcher tubes are built to fire the standard anti-ship missile, while numerous other launchers recessed into the hull fire anti-fighter and countermissile munitions. At the least, thirty eight (38) 5cm Rapid Fire Pulsed Laser Arrays cover the ship, utilized in both CIWS roles and close combat situation.

The maximum effective range, allowing for beam dispersion and targetting systems, for the 75cm hull mounted PBCs are roughly 400,000 Kilometers (1.3 Ls) with the standard effective range of roughly 270,000 kilometers (.9 Ls). Any further and the originating craft would need targetting information from outside sources, as well as suffering an increased dispersion of the particles in the beam. The 55cm Electron Beam Cannons on the other hand, caps at 150,000,000 Kilometers (8.3Lm), though shorter again factoring in targetting systems and ECM and longer with outside targetting data.