EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate

EF76 Nebulon-B Escort Frigate"May I present gentlemen the EF76 Nebulon-B Frigate, no longer will you have to endure Pirate or Rebel starfighter attacks on your ships for with this Escort Frigate around these attacks will be a thing of the past..."

- KDY Official Introducing the Frigate to a panel of Imperial Navy Officers and Officials

The EF76 Nebulon-B Escort Frigate, known as Imperial Escort Frigates or Nebs, is a 300 Meter Long warship introduced into the Imperial Navy by Kuat Drive Yards as an Anti-starfighter escort ship. This is due to the high amount Rebel and Pirate attack on Imperial Ships damaged or destroying numerous ships. However it would also be used by the Alliance Fleet which ended up with several of these ships in their hands. It would serve as the basis for the larger EF78 Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate of the Alliance Fleet.

Imperial Standard
The standard Imperial Nebulon-B Escort Frigate sports twelve turbolasers, twelve laser cannons, and two tractor beam projectors. A simple Serridge SEAL-Series Deflector Shield Generator  gives the ship fair protection against enemy attack along with some light armor.

The Compliment of an Imperial Frigate is twenty four TIE Series Fighters and two to three shuttles mainly for the use of the Imperial Navy Trooper Platoon on-board. Like the Carrack Class Light Cruiser and Guardian Class Customs Cruiser the Nebulon-B Escort Frigate carries its fighters in dedicated exterior launching racks. While its shuttles are able to be carried via dedicated docking fixtures.

Alliance Standard
The Alliance Escort Frigates sport similar weapon compliment to its Imperial Counterpart but a few Alliance ships sported modifications to their weapons like the Alliance Fleet Flagship Salvation which sported a prototype Fusion Accelerator Cannon built into the ship. Other Alliance Frigates switched out some of its lasers or turbolasers for Ion Cannons. As for the shield generators of the ships the Alliance typically use the slightly stronger Delphus JC-671 Shield Generators. This is mainly due to the Alliance using their Frigate as front-line warships therefore need better shields.

The Compliment of a Alliance Frigate is a bit different as well in that it only carries a single fighter squadron due to larger fighters of the Alliance need bigger exterior racks which takes up more room along the spine of the ship. It should noted that some Alliance Frigates have a fighter hanger built along the forward part of the central spire just behind the forward hull. These frigates could carry the full twenty-four fighters plus a few docking into exterior racks if needed. The Salvation was one of this versions sporting a squadron each of Y-Wings and Z-95 Headhunters, plus a trio of R-22 Spearheads docked in exterior racks.

Privateer Standard
The Nebulon-B Escort Frigate has become quite a popular choice for many Privateers with examples like the Far Orbit and Free Lance. These frigates have replaced a few of their turbolasers for Ion Cannons and usually sport the more powerful JC-671 Shield Generators. The Free Lance is noted in that it sports heavier armor around the engines and later adds some armor around the central spire to reinforce it.

On a Privateer Frigate its Compliment varies on several factors due to the hodgepodge nature of their fighters therefore many of the Privateer owned Frigates sports the hanger attachment behind the forward hull like some of the Alliance Frigates. They also have more then a few shuttles and launches docked with docking arms along the spine of the ship for boarding actions.

Weaknesses
The EF76 Nebulon-B Escort Frigate sports a few noteworthy weaknesses in its design like the midsection connecting spar. It could be split open by concentrated heavy weapons fire, venting the frigate's atmosphere and killing most of the crew. Another weakness was the light armor for a ship of its size which was easily punched through with even starfighter scale blasters when its shields are down. It is thanks to these weaknesses that has Alliance Engineers introducing the EF78 Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate into their fleet.

Imperial Usage
The EF76 was introduced by KDY for anti-fighter duties and escorting convoys due to heavy starfighter attacks on them. The Escort Frigate largely phased out the aging Class-C Frigate and Clone Wars-era Arquitens Class Light Cruiser that had been used for Convoy Escort Dutie since the Formation of the Empire. This is due to the Imperial Navy leery of regulating its expensive Star Destroyers to escort duties, and the Assassin Class Corvettes where too weak and carried few, if any, TIE Fighters.

Soon after being introduced it start gaining a favorable reputation along the Imperial Navy. The frigate was known and respected for its efficiency against fighters and bombers,and its anti-fighter assignment in Imperial convoys had an immediate impact, causing the Rebels to reconsider their hyperspace raids after suffering irreplaceable losses in fighters and pilots.

Many Imperial Admirals often used Nebulon-B Escort Frigates as command ships in lieu of the standard Star Destroyer for small anti-piracy patrol fleets. It also be used as the main escort ship of Imperial Navy Fleet groups escorting the large Star Destroyers.

Alliance Usage
"Just once, I'd like to destroy a starship that we didn't pay for!"

- Imperial Admiral Hurkk due to several Escort Frigates falling into the hands of the Rebel Fleet

Many Nebulon-B Escort Frigates would fall into the hands of the Alliance Fleet thanks to early lax security on the ships allowing the Alliance to take a few ships during the early days of the Alliance Fleet. Later on it would be due to defection, capturing them in battle, or by outright theft. Unlike the Imperial Navy the Alliance Fleet would use their Escort Frigates as front-line warships due to it being one of the heaviest ships they managed to get their hands on. Therefore they where often seen commanding Alliance Fleets, and one the Salvation would be one of the first flagships of the Alliance Fleet.

However the Alliance seeing personally the weaknesses of the design would go on to create the EF78 Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate out of their Escort Frigates to fix these issues. The Alliance would turn almost all of their Escort Frigates into Heavy Frigates only the EF77 Nebulon-M Medical Frigates remained in their original form. Later a couple would be kept in their original form to serve as long-range scouts, search and rescue ships,or acting as a relay sending information back to the Alliance's command ship during a battle.

These small amount of original Escort Frigates would remain in service acting as scouts and convoy escorts all the way into the New Republic Defense Fleet.

Privateer Usage
The Rebel Privateers found that the Nebulon-B Frigates a great ship to use and became quite popular after the success of the Privateers Free Lance and Far Orbit. It could be said that many of the Escort Frigates entering the Alliance Fleet had been captured by Privateers and turned over to the Alliance. This is mainly due to the Imperial Frigates often the main escort of Imperial Convoys. While many Privateers know about the weaknesses of the Escort Frigate they often counter this by adding extra armor to the engines and central spar. Even then a few Privateers with Nebulon-B Frigates would have their ships rebuilt into Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigates.

Other
Several Frigates would fall into hands of third party groups and independents this is mainly thanks to some in KDY choosing to sell frigates through secret fronts so not to upset the Imperial Navy or the KDY higher ups. The Sale Price for a Escort Frigate is 19,400,000 Credits which is cited as twentieth of the cost of an Imperial Class Star Destroyer. Therefore its no surprise that a few Pirates, Criminals, and other fringe groups would have a Escort Frigate. However most of these third-party owned frigates would fall under the control of corporate security forces, smaller independent governments like the Sapan System Coalition, Corporate Sector Authority and other third party groups.

Imperial Service

 * Guardian 
 * Abolisher
 * Avenger
 * Darkness
 * Endeavor
 * Fang
 * Feral
 * Provocateur 
 * Rapier
 * Warspite 
 * Thunderchild
 * Stalwart

Alliance Service

 * Salvation
 * Liberation
 * Restoration 
 * Justification 
 * Shooting Star
 * Valiance 
 * Peacekeeper
 * Rebel Star 
 * Fugazi
 * Melisse 
 * Jericho
 * Archon 

Privateer

 * Free Lance
 * Far Orbit
 * Freelancer
 * Fortune Hunter
 * Venturer

Other

 * Red Claw
 * Deathdealer
 * Black Jack
 * Bloody Skull
 * Red Death
 * Protector 
 * Vanguard
 * Skirmisher 
 * Shemsher 
 * Manus Ferre
 * Dromon 

Variants
While the Imperial Navy never really came up variants for the design, the Alliance Fleet did due to several reasons most well known are the Medical Frigate and Heavy Frigate Variants. These variant would later start to be known as the Nebulon Frigate Line by many.

EF77 Nebulon-M Medical Frigate
Soon after the Alliance Fleet started to get Nebulon-B frigates they decided to modify a few into dedicated Medical Ships and came up with the EF77 Nebulon-M Medical Frigate. These modified Frigates would be needed during the coming battles against the Empire. The EF77 would sacrifice much of its weapons and superstructure to make room for treatment facilities, 15 bacta tanks, 745 beds, and other hospital suites. The crew would be modified to include eighty medical personal and over thirty medical droids. These ships didn't carry fighters though did have modular exterior docking collars for docking with ships transporting wounded personal to the ship which can also be used to carry fighters if needed. The weapons of the ship where reduced to six turbolasers (with computer-assisted targeting) and eight laser cannons but where only used for defensive purposes. Some of the medical frigates gave up weapons entirely like the Medical Frigate Benevolence which saw it being destroyed alongside the Flagship Salvation. Even then these Medical Frigates would be found in many of the Alliance Fleets and on the front lines of battles taking in wounded from damaged ships, escape pods, and ejected fighter pilots.

EF78 Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate
After the loss of the Salvation at the Battle of the Itani Nebula the surviving senior officers of the Alliance Fleet would see about fixing the weaknesses of the design that saw the destruction of their flagship and many other Escort Frigates. The answer to this would be the EF78 Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate which sported superior armor, shields, and weapons over the original Escort Frigate. Over time the majority of the Alliance Escort Frigates would be modified into Heavy Frigates.

EF79 Nebulon-C Strike Carrier
During the development and reconstruction of the Heavy Frigates at Port Hope the design team would go back to the drawing board to develop a dedicated carrier ship for the Alliance Fleet thanks in part to how easy the Escort Frigate Hull was to modify. The team would build four hangers along the bottom of the center spar allowing the ship to carry a full wing of 72 fighters plus several shuttles which helped reinforce the spar as well as giving the Alliance Fleet a dedicated carrier. Even then only a handful of ships would be modified into this variant the new Fleet Flagship the Rebel Hope and the Stanchion would along them.

EF80 Nebulon-S Support Frigate
After the end of the Blockade of Yavin and separation of the Fleet from the Alliance High Command saw a need for a dedicated support vessel for the Fleet due to it mainly hiding in deep space. The answer to this would be the new EF80 Nebulon-S Support Frigate a design that had dedicated cargo bays and other support facilities along the central spire both bellow it and above it. Combined with the Fleets GR75 Medium Transports and other transports allowed the Support Frigates to keep the Alliance Fleet in good condition. Later would see these ships along larger Alliance Fleets where they would be useful on the frontlines.

EF76/S Nebulon-B/S Escort Frigate
A variant of the main Nebulon B Escort Frigates introduced by the Alliance Fleet after the development of the Heavy Frigate. This variant unlike the other variants didn't change anything with the main design of the ship only adding further equipment to make the remaining original Escort Frigates into long-range scouts and patrol ships for the Alliance Fleet. Other then that they are the same ship as regular Escort Frigate.

Behind the Scenes
Now this page is my own version of the EF76 Nebulon-B Escort Frigate that has become a mainstay throughout the Star Wars Expanded Universe. While some it remains the same as the canon design I have added a few things like the different variants of the design, and a few other things. Mostly fixing some of the stupid stuff introduced over the years, at least in my opinion.

One of the more major changes to the design is that the Escort Frigate doesn't sport a dedicated Fighter Hanger unlike many sources claim instead I am having fighters carried and stored via exterior racks along the spine of the vessel. However this only the standard frigate some ships have a hanger built behind the forward hull for fighters mostly those in the Alliance.

Other change is the introduction of the Heavy Frigate which already has a page here, and the other variants. One of which the Support Frigate is something I threw in while writing this as I got the idea. Other issues is stuff like the Escort Frigate being introduced right after the Clone Wars when the Alliance or any rebel movement didn't get started till several years later. If I remember right the Escort Frigate was originally only introduced a few years before the Battle of Yavin for the purpose of covering convoys that got attacked by Rebel and Pirate fighters which I have reflected in this article.

Appearances
Like all of my pages this version of the Escort Frigate shall make an appearance in some of my ideas and ficlets down the road. To those writing their own stories feel free to use this page as reference if you need just give me some credit please.