Draco (Monsoon NTU)

Type: refitted Monsoon class battleship
Introduction: 2374, Refitted 2693
In Class: 1

Mass: 900,000
Sail Integrity: 5
Thrust: 4/6
Fuel: 1000 tons
Structural Integrity: 80
Armor: 1440 tons of lamellor ferro carbide (240+8 per facing)

Docking Collars: 4
Fighters: 18
Small Craft: 8
Crew: 720
Lifeboats: 35
Escape Pods: 20
Grav Decks: 3, each under 100 meters
Cargo: 66,518

Bay 1: Fighters (18) 4 doors
Bay 2: Cargo (66,518) 5 doors
Bay 3: Small Craft (8) 2 doors

Weapons:

Fore Left / Fore Right
9 NAC 30s
1 White Shark

Left Broadside / Right Broadside
12 NL 45s
2 White Shark

Aft Left / Aft Right
12 NL 45s
2 White Shark

Designer's notes:
Revised from the original. As with the standard Monsoon the Draco's guns have been upped to 30s



Overview

The Monsoon NTU (new threat upgrade) was a program initiated in the late 27th century to modify the exisiting Monsoon class battleships that for a time were the bulwark of the SLDF and bring them in line with more current technology.

Though the decision to retire the Monsoon in favor of the new Texas class battleships had already been made, the ships recieved a "stay of execution" as it were, and the decision was made to modify one ship, the Draco. After the refit was completed the ship would be assigned as part of the Summer Lightning wargames due to take place between the SLDF fleet and the AFFS fleet at the end of the year. There it would be decided if this new concept had value. 

The Bluenose Clipperships yards worked quickly to complete the upgrade, which involved the complete replacement of the ship's engines and armor, along with sundry minor changes to update subsystems.  Amazingly the refit was completed in two months time. The Draco joined the fleet of forty warships heading to June in the Federated Sun's outback for Summer Lightning.

Though the Wargame proved to be a bit of an embarrasment for the SLDF fleet, the Draco performed excellently. After the Moshe Dayan, the brand new Mckenna class battleship that was the flagship of the SLDF fleet was "destroyed" (along with three older Monsoon class ships and the texas class Triumphant) during a surprise strike by Davion fighters at the start of the wargame, Admiral Rodrigo chose the Draco as his new flagship. The ship served the admiral well, winning through in numerous "battles". Perhaps the most spectacular demonstration of the ship's performance was during the now infamous Hamlet scenario, where (allegedly on a whim) the judges observing the wargame had the Texas class battleship Vigilance "go rogue" and turn on their fellow star league ships during the final battle over June. The Draco was personally responsible for inflicting severe simulated damage on the Vigilance before the judges ruled the Draco dead from a random catastrophic systems failure. The Vigilance was none the less rendered a simulated cripple and was quickly finished off by the battlecruiser Yorktown. In the end the SLDF managed to salvage a draw from the wargame.

The Monsoon NTU program never went much further after that, despite the success of the Draco in summer lightning. Strong lobbying by Krester's ship construction, who considered the program a threat to their baby, the Texas class battleship, became a serious roadblock that was only overcome when it was suggested that refitted monsoons could be used to replace the failed Cameron and not as an alternative to the Texas and Mckenna (which it really wasn't anyway). Public outcry killed that thought and finally ended the idea of Monsoon NTU. After the boondogle of the Cameron, the public didn't just want a refit of a three century old class of ships that had already been declared obsolete when they could have the sleek, new Black Lions that had already begun to enter service. The Draco would be the only ship to be modified, and all of the other remaining Monsoons were mothballed or transfered to house fleets by 2750.

The Draco served on in the fleet, however, despite its age. It is believed the ship met its end in January of 2766, when it disapeared while chasing Taurian rebels in the Pirates Haven star cluster. Though it was believed to have been destroyed in an ambush by rebels, local legends persist even to this day that the ship is still out there waiting to be found by some enterprising young explorer.