Keltrayu-class heavy cruiser

Keltrayu-class heavy cruiser

The Keltrayu-class heavy cruiser was one of the most heavily armed warships unique to the Royal Navy of the Golden Empire. Though only fifty meters longer than the Samnis-class heavy cruiser, it represented a substantial increase in firepower at the expense of complement. The ship class was named in honor of Keltrayu, the apprentice of Queen Rin Sakaros who died at the Battle of Tizgo V.

Dimensions
At 920 meters in length, the Keltrayu-class was the largest ship in the Royal Navy which was not a destroyer. It was 370 meters wide at its widest point, and was given a sleek, tapered look.

Armament
"Less a ship than a mobile weapons platform."

- Admiral Salome Hrek

The Keltrayu-class heavy cruiser boasted a substantial armament for its size. It had fifteen quad batteries and an additional 30 double turbolaser batteries. It also featured fifteen launchers, each of which carried ten torpedoes.

For its own defense, the cruiser had twenty s. It could cripple rather than destroy enemy ships with its ten s, then drag one or two into its small hangar bay with its six s.  The ship had strong shields and a hull which was actually rated higher than that of the larger Resolute-class destroyer.

Complement
The Keltrayu-class ran at maximum strength with a crew of 5,100 officers and enlisted. Its heavy armament commanded an additional 500 gunners, the highest gunner requirement of any Royal ship that was not a Star Destroyer.

Due to the amount of space taken up by its numerous weapons and shield generators, the nearly kilometer-long ship still had room for only a single squadron of starfighters, a handful of supply and transport shuttles, and no ground assault craft. Most Keltrayu cruisers carried Hadrago-class heavy fighters or Chiss s, using their fighter complements for their own defense against other fighters rather than for attack.

Service
The concept of a ship class in honor of Keltrayu was floated within a year of his death, and Prime Legate Tariun Sakaros authorized military scientists to draw up plans. Design proposals varied greatly, from small patrol vehicles to massive war galleons. With the consent of his sister Rin, Tariun finally settled on the well-armed heavy cruiser design.

The size and armament of Keltrayu-class heavy cruisers made them expensive to build, but they occurred regularly in the Royal Navy nonetheless. Most major battle groups featured at least two Keltrayu cruisers, which were often to be found at the front of lines of battle. Operating in tandem, a pair of Keltrayu cruisers could demolish entire lines of smaller craft in enemy fleets. The Leik Legate Salome Hrek once famously described the ships as "mobile weapons platforms", and she and other Legates often used them to chew through the toughest enemy ships.

Their point-defense lasers protected Keltrayu cruisers from fighters to an extent, but when three or more were operating together, the combined 2,760 meters of ship would have only 36 starfighters among them. In these situations, the cruisers were usually supported by a Charon-class escort carrier and its additional 72 fighters, one or more Kesanion-class frigates, or both.

Given its limited hangar capacity, some Keltrayu cruiser captains used the ships' tractor beams not to capture ships, but to hold smaller capital ships relatively in position to open then up to sustained bombardment.