EF78 Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate

EF78 Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate "The Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate, a design that shall hopefully start evening the odds against the Empire..."

- Captain Juno Eclipse, as she observes the construction of the first four ships of the class including her ship the Liberation

The EF78 Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate, sometimes known just as Rebel Heavy Frigate or Modified Frigate, was a design developed by the Alliance to Restore the Republic in an effort to fix the weaknesses of the regular EF76 Nebulon-B Escort Frigate. This comes about after the loss of the former Alliance Fleet Flagship the EF76 Nebulon-B Frigate Salvation at the Battle of the Itani Nebula and various reports of other notable losses of Escort Frigates in both Alliance and Imperial Fleet.

Dimensions
The design of the Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate looked similar to the older Escort Frigate design just a bit larger and far more powerful. It measured out as three hundred twenty five meters long, and a hundred forty five meters wide at the front. Most of this noted width was thanks to the inverted-v the forward hull split into which reinforced and secured the forward part of the ship. Also the center spar was reinforced and slightly heavier  rendering it less vulnerable to being split open by heavy fire which was one of the main weaknesses of the Escort Frigate design.

Roles
The Nebulon-B2 was designed to be the centerpiece of any Alliance Fleet, making it normally a command ship of smaller Alliance Fleets. It also served as the Fleet's heavy hitter alongside the older Alliance Class Assault Frigate though the Nebulon-B2 was a bit more powerful thanks to its extra weapons.

Offensive and Defensive System
The ship happened to be exceptionally well armed for its size sporting three medium duel-turbolaser turrets, sixteen light turbolasers, twenty laser cannons, and two concussion missile launchers. Combined this with the heavy JC-671 Type Shield Generator and its lighter backup unit made the Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate truly a robust and well armed ship.

Compliment
Unlike the original Nebulon-B Escort Frigate the newer Nebulon-B2 sported a dedicated starfighter hanger bellow the forward hull between the two plyons of the inverted-v section of the ship. This hanger allowed the ship to carry three full fighter squadrons plus supporting shuttles. It would be thanks to this compliment that really allowed the ship serve at the head of any Rebel Fleet.

History
After the disastrous Battle of the Itani Nebula and loss of the Alliance Fleet Flagship Salvation, a Nebulon-B Escort Frigate saw the start of a project to redesign the venerable Escort Frigate to fix some of the weaknesses of the design. Like the weakness of the center spar of the ship which is how the Salvation was destroyed during the battle. This project would be handed over to the now experienced hands of engineers at New Hope Shipyards who had been successful in the design of the Alliance Class Assault Frigates.

The team at New Hope would once bring in noted starship designed Walex Blissex along with newcomer Rory Swann a former engineer at Kuat Drive Yards who had led his entire team to defect to the Alliance. The two engineers would after a few days of heavy discussion come up with the new design: the EF78 Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate. The crews at New Hope would immediately get started on two Alliance Nebulon-B Escort Frigates docked with the shipyard, the Shooting Star and Valiance. However soon after they started a third Nebulon-B Escort Frigate arrived in the Kharak System. This ship the Avenger was formerly a ship of the Imperial Navy which had decided to go rouge and be a Rebel Privateer. The Avenger would then become the third ship to undergo the rebuild into a newer Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate after the Captain of the Avenger handed over various Imperial Intelligence and a few high-scale prisoners. A month or so later with the three ships reconstruction well underway saw the appearance of a forth Escort Frigate the Alliance Frigate Liberation who was seeking repair after the Battle of Bissillirus. As the Liberation started to dock with Port Hope for repairs it was decided that the ship would be the fourth of the new Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigates.

A few months later found the Shooting Star and Valiance finished where they would be recommissioned into the Alliance Fleet. A week later saw the newly commissioned Rebel Privateer Corsair, formerly the Avenger, was finished and started its first cruise. Another couple weeks later saw the Liberation finished as well a week ahead of schedule. Soon after this two more Alliance Escort Frigates went into the New Hope Shipyards for rebuilding into Heavy Frigates.

The new Heavy Frigates would surprise the Imperial Navy during the next few insuring battles. Like in the Third Battle of Kamino where the Liberation and its fleet would destroy the Victory-II Class Star Destroyer Scar before destroying the Stormtrooper Cloning Facilities at Timira City. Later the Corsair would raid the KDY Facility at Karavis where she captured two just finished EF76 Nebulon-B Escort Frigates and over three thousand tons of supplies. A third battle around a month before the Battle of Yavin saw the Shooting Star capturing an entire Imperial Convoy traveling towards the Core. These three battles showed the Imperial Navy the sheer lethality of the new design.

This would be reinforced during the months following the Battle of Yavin where six of the Alliance's Heavy Frigates combined with a fair-sized support fleet kept the Imperial Navy at bay during the Siege of Yavin. Finally they would retreat when the newly formed Death Squadron arrived in the System. Following this saw the introduction of brand-new MC30c Frigate and MC40a Light Cruisers of the Mon Calamari to the Alliance Fleet which combined with the Heavy Frigates and Alliance Class Assault Frigates made the Alliance Fleet more powerful. Finally when the MC80 Series Cruisers started to enter service saw the Alliance Fleet becoming a force for change in the Galaxy. The Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate would continue to serve in the Alliance Fleet through the Battle of Endor and afterwards when the Fleet reorganized into the New Republic Defense Fleet. From there these Frigates would take part in numerous battles becoming a vital part of the new fleet.

Alliance Service

 * Shooting Star
 * Valiance 
 * Liberation
 * Peacekeeper
 * Rebel Star 
 * Fugazi
 * Melisse 
 * Jericho
 * Archon 

Imperial Service

 * Furious 
 * Vicious 

Privateer Service

 * Corsair 
 * Huntress

Sepan Service

 * Manus Ferre
 * Dromon 

EF78 Nebulon-B2/I
This variant represented by the Rebel Privateer Ships Corsair and Huntress replaced its Missile Launchers with Ion Cannons for the use of capturing enemy ships. Besides the Ion Cannons nothing else is different with the design.

EF79 Nebulon-C Strike Carrier
A design developed by Swann and Blissex soon after the first four EF78 Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigates where finished which answered a lacking need in the Alliance Fleet a dedicated carrier vessel. This design while not officially a variant of the Nebulon-B2 still used some of the design and data from its design. The Strike Carrier basically added a series of large hangers along the bottom of the center spar reinforcing it while keeping the same weapon load-out of the regular Nebulon-B Escort Frigate.

Behind the Scenes
The EF78 Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate is basically the Nebulon-B2 Modified Frigate in the X-Wing Series of games that I figured would be a good early capital ship for the Alliance. Since it was described in game as "exceptionally well armed for its size" but only a handful of weapons less then those on the canon-version of the regular Escort Frigate. Hence the reason I took some liberties with the weapons on the Heavy Frigate. It sports a heavy weapon layout with many turbolasers and even a pair of missile launchers.

Some followers of the various pages I have made in the last two days may start getting an idea on what I am planning on for the early Rebel Fleet. Like mentioned in the Alliance Class page I am going to put together a page on the Alliance Fleet to get some of these thoughts together.

Appearances
This ship will appear in a few ficlets I am planning on mostly the Corsair and the Liberation but for now I haven't even started anything. Therefore anyone want to pickup one or two of the named ships and run a story with them are welcome to it just give me some credit please and send me a link to the story as well.