Dido

Type: Frigate
In Service: 2689
In Class: 112 at its height

Mass: 760,000
Sail Integrity: 4
Thrust: 4/6
Fuel: 5000
Structural Integrity: 50
Armor: 760 tons of Ferro Carbide armor: fwd 123+5, fl/fr 110+5, others 85+5

Docking Collars: 4
Fighters: 18
Small Craft: 6
Crew: 220
Lifeboats: 20
Escape Pods: 10
Grav Decks: 2 90 meter
Cargo: 65,706

Bay 1: 6 Small Craft 2 doors
Bay 2: 18 fighters 3 doors
Bay 3: Cargo (65,706), 5 doors


Weapons
Heatsinks: 4900

Fwd:
4 Naval Autocannon 30s
2 Heavy Naval PPCs
4 Barracuda Launchers
5 Large Lasers
	
FR/FL:
4 Naval Autocannon 30s
4 Barracuda Launchers
5 Large Lasers

LBS/RBS:
4 Naval Autocannon 30s
4 Barracuda Launchers
5 Large Lasers

AR/AL:
2 Heavy Naval PPCs
5 Large Lasers

Aft:
4 Heavy Naval PPCs
5 Large Lasers

Ammo:
2500 rounds of NAC 30 ammo
200 Barracuda


Overview:

The Dido (not to be confused with the Jade Falcon light cruiser of the same name) was concieved as a replacement for the older Stewart and Oriente class frigates that had been in service since the early 25th century. Though most of the Oriente class was less than a hundred years old at the time of the Dido's development and was still a match for its most likely opponents, like the Lyran commonwealth's Valkyrie class destroyer and Victory class frigate, Captain General Gerald Marik wanted a larger, more heavily armed ship that in addition to handling general patrol duty could also act as a fast screening vessel to the Varyag class carrier. Drawing some inspiration from the Star League's Kimagure class pursuit cruiser, designers unveiled the Dido.

Capabilities:

The Dido is an agile frigate, capable of three gs of acceleration at maximum thrust. Though on its face this is only a marginal improvement over the Oriente, in practice it provides a significant advantage, giving the ship a significantly tighter turning radius at high velocity. 

The influence of the Kimagure is clearly visible in the ship's weapons. Though not taken to the extremes of the Kimagure, the Dido's armament is largely oriented towards the front. The aft quarters are especially undergunned, providing a rather narrow but still present gap where the ship can be attacked with a minimum of return fire.

Unlike the Kimagure, however, the Dido is well protected against fighters. twenty advanced barracuda tubes were included in the design, backed up by forty large lasers. Supporting this are a full wing of aerospace fighters. In addition, four docking collars were added to the design, and it wasn't uncommon for a Dido to carry assault droships to supplement its firepower.

Between all of the weapons mounted on the Dido and its large propulsion system, designers were forced to skimp a fair amount on the ship's structure and armor. The hull is lightly constructed for a frigate (its structural strength is actually only about half that of the Oriente), and only seven hundred and sixty tons of armor cover that. However, in order to counter this problem, designers included expensive Ferro Carbide armor, which greatly enhanced the protection of the ship.

Deployment:

Members of Parliament were skeptical of the Dido from the begining, if for no other reason than the ship cost more to build than a Sian class battlecruiser. This high cost meant that the Dido would never trully replace the Oriente. Though the much older Stewart class frigates were phased out, most Orientes were retained in service right up to the Succession Wars. However Gerald Marik succeeded in pushing through the funding needed to build one hundred and twelve Didos. Construction of the class lasted nearly thirty years, ending twelve years before the start of the Free Worlds League Civil War, which succeeded in claiming eighteen of the class.

About half of the Didos in service were assigned to Integrated Carrier Battlegroups (ICBs) alongside Varyag class carriers, Alexander class destroyers, and Krupny class AA ships. In that role they were used as the manuever element of the task force, screening the carriers and transports from attack and acting as a mobile hammer to back up the carrier's fighters. Though the tactic proved very successful against the Lyrans during the First Succession War, it was extremely hard on the frigates, and the first brutal battles of the war claimed most of them quickly. On the Liao front, Didos were used as part of hunter killer battlegroups tasked with searching out and destroying elusive Liao warships. As these ships weren't subjected to the same sort of punishing ship killing action that the Didos on the Steiner front faced, they tended to last much longer, however, as the war dragged on it became increasingly difficult to repair the complex ships or their advanced ferro carbide armor. By 2812, those few surviving Didos in service had each been rearmored with a patchwork of conventional armor. Of the entire class, only one, the Philip Montague, survived the First War.

The Philip Montague was finally lost during the last year of the so called Comstar War when, along with the Aegis class cruiser Olympic, she was crippled by a Kurita battle group in the Tania Borealis system.

[Editor's note: Though that could be said to be the end of it, the recent reapearance of the Olympic in the FWL fleet raises an interesting question. So far there is some indication that the Philip Montague might also still be intact enough to salvage, but we cannot confirm that.]