Quixote

Quixote
Production information
Manufacturer	Terran Hegemony
Introduced	2350
Production Year	2350
Use	Missile Frigate
Tech Base	Inner Sphere
Cost	6,721,052,000 C-Bills
Technical specifications
Mass	780,000 tons
Length	715 meters
Sail Diameter	1,200 meters
Fuel	1,900 tons
Burn Rate	39.52
Safe Thrust	1 g
Top Thrust	1.5 g
Sail Integrity	4
KF Drive Integrity	16
LF Battery	No
Armament	18x Killer Whale 24x White Shark 24x Barracuda 4x NAC/30 6x NL55
Armor	1,169.5 tons Improved Ferro-aluminum
DropShip Capacity	6
Crew	277 56 Officers 145 Enlisted 76 Gunners Bay Personnel: 54 Marines: 150
Grav Decks	3 (1 x 120 meters and 2 x 145 meters diameter)
Escape Pods/Life Boats	40/44
Heat Sinks	1,177 single
Structural Integrity	75
BV (1.0)	70,690

Description

The Quixote-class frigate was originally designed as a battlecruiser but was downgraded to a frigate partway through the design process. Cost-saving attempts reduced the Quixote's size and resulted in the ship receiving engines too small for it; fitted were those originally found on the Lola destroyer, a lighter design by 100 thousand tons. Political machinations and (seemingly purposeful) circumventing of the Admiralty by a Procurement Department bureaucrat led to the purchase of 250 of these dubious vessels. In an attempt to make the best of a bad situation, the Terran Admiralty (see Note below) reclassed the design into a missile frigate and thus created a slow but heavily armed vessel, tasked with convoy defense against craft too small to be targeted by naval-grade direct-fire weapons.

The Quixote was surprisingly successful for a flawed design, and served as the undisputed escort frigate of the Terran Hegemony for nearly 200 years with its large DropShip, fighter, and versatile missile complement. A valuable addition to convoys led by the Farragut and later Monsoon battleships, the Quixote was ultimately phased out after the introduction of the well-rounded Congress-class frigate, though both Congresses and Quixotes served together during the Star League. Following the introduction of the Congress, the class was slowly put into mothballs, a move that paid dividends 150 years after the commissioning of the first Congress when Eaton AeroSpace used these mothballed hulls to construct the new Volga-class transport.

At least one Quixote joined the EXODUS Fleet and participated in the Battle of the Pentagon Run in the Clan Homeworlds. Another was gifted to the Taurian Concordat, likely by the Word of Blake, and added to the chaos surrounding the early Jihad. It became the only extant thirty-second century WarShip fielded by a non-Clan Periphery power.

Armament

The Quixote's main armament consists of eighteen Killer Whale missiles. Supplementing these missiles are twenty-four White Shark and twenty-four Barracuda missile launchers. The ship also mounts six Type 55 Naval Lasers, to assist in the design's long-range attack abilities.

The Quixote also has four Type 30 Naval Autocannons providing midrange and close-range kill power.

Cargo

• Bay 1: Aerospace Fighters (12), 4 doors
• Bay 2: Small Craft (6), 4 doors
• Bay 3: Cargo (176,118.5 tons), 1 door

Named Vessels

(See List of named Quixote-class WarShips)

Related WarShips

• Volga - requiring an escort and transportation vessel in 2709, Eaton AeroSpace used mothballed Quixote-class frigate hulls as the template for the new, successful Volga-transport.

Gallery

• 

  Original Quixote from TRO:3057 Revised

Notes

Technical Readout: 3057 Revised attributes the reclassification of the ship to the Star League Admiralty. The introduction of the Quixote predates the signing of the Star League Accords by about two centuries. Likely, this can instead be laid at the feet of the Terran Navy.

Bibliography

• Dominions Divided
• Historical: Operation Klondike
• Technical Readout: 3057 Revised