Thebes-Class Monitor (MN)

Thebes-Class Monitor [MN]  The Cresting Dawn-Class frigate its sister class the Azimuth were designed by TC-BuShips and the Demeter branch of the Theban Cluster Research Group. The Cresting Dawn was the first class to take advantage of new technology found in both Progenitor and Ancient Theban databases and was a test bed for the Hexagonal Hulls that have become standard throughout the galaxy.

The Cresting Dawn is the workhorse of the Theban Cluster Fleet.

The Cresting Dawn/Azimuth class is 250 meters in length with a beam and height of 50 meters, with a crew of 50 it is able to support a single squad of marine infantry and carries 22 auxiliary and shuttle craft.

The Ship is armed with eight missile pod ejectors with a magazine capacity of 5 pods each, six Type II point defense turrets, ten point defense missile tubes mounted in a housing just aft of the bridge.

The ship is mounts a single Type I Mass driver and is armed with two dual-barrel Type II PBP turrets beyond this the Cresting Dawn and Azimuth’s weapon systems diverge; the Cresting Dawn has eight Type II-1 and 3 Type II-3 projectors as well as sixteen sub-capitol missile launch tubes with a magazine of twenty-five missiles each; the Azimuth has four Type II-1 and 2 Type II-3 projectors as well as twenty-three sub-capitol missile launch tubes with a magazine of twenty-five missiles each.

A total 71,712 [1,200 of these are still in service] of these vessels have been built to date and act in numerous roles from pickets to escorts with 12,476 being used for gunnery practice at different times and destroyed, another approximately 6,300 have been scrapped by the Theban Cluster Fleet or were sold to a private scrap firm.

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Of the other 37,933 completed vessels 4,214 were stricken by 6200 C.E. and scrapped.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another 6,322 were destroyed at the battle of Aries Minor and numerous other actions during this time period these were all loyalist vessels.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another 4,215 were built and purchased by Theban Heavy Industries and later placed in reserve once they reached their hull lifetime endurance at either THI‘s Titan Yard or Thebes Dry Lake Bed Facility; although THI/Masters armaments still operates about 250 of these full time as part of their mercenary fleet.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">10,536 of the remaining vessels were stricken by 6200 C.E. and sold either to other less advanced military forces [Approx. 6,322] or to private concerns and stripped of weaponry [the other 4,214].

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">10,536 vessels defected to Abernathy’s forces in 4698 C.E. and were later destroyed at the Battle of Thebes in 4761 C.E. or in later mop-up operations.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Of the remaining vessels 4,215 have gone missing and presumed lost; the last 2,107 ships were retired before 6200 C.E. but still remain on ship rolls but are kept in mothballs at the Aries Minor storage yards in the Aries system.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Of the approximate other ten thousand vessels 5,000 were either sold fully equipped to Theban Cluster protectorates [Rahtahl, Gandrayda, Shadovar; etc.] or to the Silverfield Republic and its protectorates, and other approximate 5,000 frigates were built and sold with less powerful weapons to outside concerns [it is believed that all but 10% or so of these vessels are still in service]. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">