Alliance Class Assault Frigate

Alliance Class Assault Frigate"These new Assault Frigate we see before us gentle beings is the first real ship design of the Alliance Fleet. Meaning it wasn't stolen from the Empire, salvaged from battles long since fought, or bought from another source instead it is entirely an Alliance developed design. Therefore for this reason I name these ships the Alliance Class..."

- General Jan Dodonna, at the Commissioning Ceremony of the first six Assault Frigates

The Alliance Class Assault Frigate, also known by both Rebel and Imperial alike as the Rebel Assault Frigate or Alliance Assault Frigate, is one of the first Alliance developed designs for the Alliance Fleet. These new ships would along with the smaller Nebulon-B Escort Frigates be the main heavy combat ships for the Fleet. At least till the introduction of the Mon Calamari Cruisers under two years later.

Dimensions
The Alliance Class Assault Frigate was five hundred meters long, a hundred meters shorter then its base Dreadnaught Class hull, and a hundred meters wide. Mainly this smaller size was thanks to the removal of much of the exterior structure of the older Dreadnaught exposing some of the internal structure. This was done to make room for more powerful engines and thrusters for better speed and maneuverability.

Roles
While called a frigate the Alliance Class sports the size and firepower of a light to medium cruiser which gives the Alliance a quick attack cruiser. It is thanks to this that Alliance Class ships are usually lead ships in any fleet though thanks to sub-par command facilities on the ship a commander wouldn't command fleets from an Alliance Class. Therefore Alliance Fleets would often be commanded from the deck of a smaller Nebulon-B Frigate or the later more powerful Nebulon-B2 Heavy Frigate. Later with the introduction of the large Mon Calamari Cruisers saw a dedicated heavy combat ship which took over the role of fleet command ship.

Offensive and Defensive Systems
The Alliance Class sport a similar armament to the older Dreadnaught Class just bit more powerful and advanced in the form of fifteen GA-60s Twin Laser Cannons, twenty larger GX-7 quad laser cannons, and fifteen XV10 Turbolaser cannons. Combined these weapons give the new Assault Frigate slightly more firepower then the Dreadnaught Class. As for defensive options the Alliance Class sports a more powerful and modern shield generator along with a pair of backup generators mounted in blisters which made the ship a bit more sturdy then the older Heavy Cruiser. All combined the Alliance Class is a fast heavy hitter combat ship able to take the fight to mid-size enemy ships but had the speed to run when needed.

Compliment
Unlike the Dreadnaught Class the Alliance Class doesn't sport an interior hanger bay for fighters instead it can carry fighters similar to the Nebulon-B Class Escort Frigate via exterior docking arms. The Alliance Class sports twenty of these docking arms allowing the ship to carry twenty fighters if needed though typically the ship only really carries a single squadron of fighters for a few reasons. This squadron is only mainly to give the ship a fighter screen and not for any offensive purposes. Only during independent patrol missions does an Alliance Class carry its full load of twenty fighters. The ship also sports a separate larger docking bay that allows the ship to carry its own assault shuttle to carry its embarked Alliance Marines if needed.

History
About a year and an half before the Battle of Yavin the Alliance would manage to get their hands on several aging Dreadnaught Class Heavy Cruisers thanks to raiding a few boneyards at Clone War-era bases along the Outer Rim Territories. However the Alliance didn't have the manpower to fully crew these ships therefore former Republic starship engineer Walex Blissex would come with a new design that these older ships could be rebuilt into. This would become the Alliance Class Assault Frigate and a month later would see the New Hope Shipyards of Port Hope starting the project.

A few months after this would see the first few ships of the new Assault Frigates finished which was celebrated by many in the Alliance due to it being the first real Alliance design to be built. Granted it was a rebuilt of an older ship but about sixty percent of the ships where newly built stretching the capability of the New Hope Shipyards to the limit. At the commissioning ceremony General Jan Dodonna newly installed commander of Yavin IV Base would in a speech name the design the Alliance Class due to it being the first entirely Alliance-built design.

When they where finished the first Alliance Class Assault Frigates became the new heavy fist of the Alliance Fleet which at the time only sported CR90 Corvettes, DP20 Frigates, GR-75 Medium Transports, a handful of aging Clone Wars-era Charger Class Corvettes and one or two stolen Nebulon-B Escort Frigates.

During the following year the Alliance Fleet would use their new ships in a few small battles mostly raids against Imperial targets and convoys. One such raid would see the rescue of Gial Ackbar, slave to Moff Tarkin who then volunteered to go to his homeworld to convince its people to join the Alliance. The firepower of the Alliance Class allowing an Alliance force to easily overpower small Imperial Patrol Ships but having the speed to run when something heavier arrived.

After the Battle of the Yavin and the Mon Calamari officially joining the Alliance, its Fleet would swell with the addition of the MC30 Frigates and MC40a Light Cruisers produced by the large Mon Calamari Shipyards for the use of the Alliance Fleet. It also saw Gial Ackbar installed as Admiral and Supreme Commander of the Alliance Fleet. During this the Alliance Class Assault Frigate would become mainly an escort to the slightly larger Mon Calamari ships, but at the same time a few variants of the design would be introduced at the orders of Admiral Ackbar. As the years rolled by after the Battle of Yavin saw the Imperial Death Squadron searching for them which made Alliance Fleet retreating to their Outer Rim and Wild Space based Ports. The Alliance Class would again been used for quick hit and run raids alongside the equally speedy MC30 Series frigates. By the time of the Battle of Hoth the Alliance Fleet sported numerous Alliance Class Assault Frigates some rebuilt from old Dreadnaught Class hulls but a fair few would be built from the ground up. These ships would continued to be used for various hit and fade raids along with some independent patrol missions. Finally when the Battle of Endor arrived the majority of the Fleet's Alliance Class Assault Frigates acted as escorts for the larger MC80 series heavy cruisers and battleships of the Alliance Fleet during the battle. These larger ships survived a lot better then the smaller CR90 Corvettes and DP20 Frigates during the raging battle.

When the New Republic was formed the Alliance Class Assault Frigates contiuned to serve in the Fleet of the New Republic Defense Force both as a general escort and sub-capital ship. While the Mon Calamari Cruisers were said to have helped saved the Alliance and the Galaxy from the Empire it was the Alliance Class paved the way for them to do so.

Alliance Service

 * Alliance
 * Union
 * Concord 
 * Haven
 * Harmony 
 * Sympathy 
 * Fellowship

Privateer Service

 * Free Wheeler 
 * Harvest

Variants
While originally there was no plan for any variants of the design, unlike its base form, Admiral Ackbar would order the construction of a few variants. These where mainly to fill a niche that he saw needed to be plugged.

Alliance-A Class Variant
This variant replaced some of its turbolasers with Ion Cannons thanks to a need for such a fast quick ship with Ion Cannons. These ships would be used for convoy raids where a single Alliance-A Class Ship and a MC30c Frigate would jump in attack the convoy using the Ion Cannons on the Alliance-A to disable Imperial transports.

Alliance-B Class Variant
This variant basically sported thirty-six AG-2G quad laser cannons and six missile launchers.This variant came about as an anti-fighter escort ship for the larger Star Cruisers. While the Cruisers could take care of themselves against fighter strikes Admiral Ackbar wasn't going to chance it with his ships-of-line unlike the Imperial Fleet.

Alliance-C Class Variant
A variant design that had a large fighter hanger built along the bottom of the ship which sacrificed much of its speed. This hanger could carry three whole squadrons which gave the Alliance Fleet a needed escort carrier for its own convoys. However even then only a handful of this variant would be built thanks to the introduction of the larger Star Cruisers.

Alliance Class MP Variant
This variant isn't really a variant but really the ships that had been built from the ground up instead of being rebuilt from aging Dreadnaught Class hulks. Their one major difference in that they didn't sport the original Dreadnaught Class power core but a newer more powerful core. Beside that these ships where basically the same with the original version of the ship.

Behind the Scenes
Mainly this my own fanon version of the Rebel Assault Frigate, which I took some liberties with due to some issues I had with the BBY version of the Alliance Fleet. As you can see I threw in some of my own fan-created history of the Alliance Fleet into this profile thanks to this. Basically in own version of events the Alliance Fleet didn't really come together till about little over two years before the Battle of Yavin, a year after the official formation of the Alliance, which was mostly made up of CR90 Corvettes and DP20 Frigates with a couple captured Nebulon-B Class Frigates thrown in for some heavier firepower. The addition of the Alliance Class gave the Alliance Fleet a quick heavy-hitter to the fleet for the use in raids. It is only after the Battle of Yavin that saw Mon Calamari joining the Alliance bringing with them their ships. This outlook counter-dict's some of the "official" version of the events which has Ackbar and the Mon Calamari joining the Alliance before the Battle of Yavin, but since some of the "official" stuff doesn't really make any sense to me at all I decided to go with this instead.

That said I may come up with a combined history and overview file on the Alliance Fleet on this site but it may take a bit of work so it shall be a while. That said anyone can use this ship just give me credit for the name, and the history please that's all I ask.

Appearances
Currently this version of the ship doesn't appear in anything but it may down the road if I actually start writing up some of my ideas I started to get over the last few months.