Hiei Type: Battleship In class: 42 In service: 2608 Mass: 1,300,000 Sail Integrity: 4 Thrust: 3/5 Fuel: 4000 tons Structural Integrity: 80 Armor: 1500 tons of ferro carbide armor (200+8 each facing) Docking Collars: 6 Fighters: 36 Small Craft: 12 Crew: 800 Lifeboats: 30 Escape Pods: 40 Grav Decks: 2 90 meter Cargo: 158,774 Bay 1: Small Craft (12) 2 doors Bay 2: Cargo (158,774) 5 doors Bay 3: Fighters (36) 6 doors Other equipment none Weapons: Heatsinks: 8710 Forward 4 Naval Autocannon 35s Fore Left/Fore Right 6 Naval Autocannnon 35s 2 Killer Whale Launchers Left Broadside/Right Broadside 4 Naval Autocannon 35s 7 Medium Naval PPCs 2 Killer Whale Launchers Aft Left/Aft Right 14 Medium Naval PPCs Ammo: 800 rounds of Naval Autocannon ammunition 80 Killer Whale Overview: The end of the 26th century was supposed to be the dawn of a new golden age of mankind. The Star League stood dominant, the last resistors to its authority defeated. Peace reigned and what would be later known as the good years began. However, in a dramatic counterpoint, one of the first major events of the 27th Century was a new arms race to achieve superiority in battleships. Historians still debate as to who started it. Some place the blame on the Lyrans, with their monstrously huge Thor class battleships. Others lay the blame on the Davion built Iron Duke, which was built in rather large numbers after their civil war. Still others blame the Combine (everybody blames the Combine for something) and their Hiei. Capabilities: For its day, the Hiei was one of the largest ships in existance, massing 1.3 million tons. She was from the beginning built to outmatch the Hegemony's vaunted Farragut class battleship as well as the Davion Iron Duke, and she suceeded admirably in both regards. Both ships were simply outclassed in firepower by the Hiei, and the Iron Duke was further menaced by the Hiei's integral fighter complement, as fighters had always been the bane of the Iron Duke's existance. The ship's superior armor protection is something of a mystery. Though it is known that the Combine was able to acquire the secrets to Ferro Carbide armor through espionage some time in the 27th century, nobody was entirely certain when or how it happened. Though the battles of the First Succession War proved without a doubt that the Hiei was fitted with this advanced armor, nobody is certain if this was original equipment or a refit. Whatever the case, this advanced armor was an important edge for the Hiei. This gave the ship armor protection comperable to her Davion rival despite the Iron Duke's heavier but less advanced armor, and was a great surprise to the Davion fleet when barrages that should have left a Hiei burning only cratered armor. This is reportedly how the Edward Davion, flagship of the Davion fleet, was lost during the battle of Cholame. Expecting rather light armor protection, the Davion vessel closed in on the Hiei class Tendo and engaged her in a close range slugging match, ultimately falling to the superior firepower and fighter complement of the Tendo. [Editor's Note: It also helped that the Edward Davion's two escorting Furious class attack carriers were smashed by a trio of Combine battlecruisers. The Davions to this day maintain that the Edward Davion was destroyed not by the Tendo alone, but with the help of those three warships, while the Combine claims that the three battlecruisers stayed out of the fight between the Edward Davion and the Tendo.] Deployment: Kurita managed an impressive feat with the Hiei, constructing the ship in fairly large numbers fairly quickly. Forty-two of the class were in existance by 2650, however, given the restrictions placed on house military forces by that time required a rather intricate tap dance by Kurita in order to keep the entire fleet. Hieis were continuously rotated in and out of service, with as much as half of the class officially in mothballs or "decommisioned to serve as museums". The constant rotation of ships (all of the Hieis were listed as decomissioned and/or mothballed at one time or another because of this plan) served to confuse the issue so much that some SLDF admirals were freely and openly admitting that they just plain weren't sure how many ships the Combine had active. [Editor's Note: The correct answer, of course, is all of them. Though the Combine did the bare minimum necessary to look like it was complying with the military restrictions, the fact is that they could, and when the time came, did reactivate all of the ships mothballed and decomissioned by this program with frightening speed. Some naval historians claim that this sort of dirty dealing by the Member States is one of the things that inspired the Mckenna class battleship. Two years after the house military restrictions were put into place, the Terran Hegemony embarked on one of the most incredible naval production programs in history, turning out nearly three hundred of the most powerful warships the Star League had ever seen in a remarkably short time. This was the final act of the battleship race of the 27th century, leaving the SLDF the clear winner and ensuring that they would be able to counter any threat the house fleets posed.] When the First Succession War began, most Hieis were deployed along the Lyran border in order to counter the massively overgunned Lyran fleet. Battles along the Lyran front quickly became brutal ship killing affairs, and though the more mobile Kurita forces were frequently able to gain the advantage, the price was high. The handful of Hieis on the Federated Suns front were mostly used as flagships for groups of Igarashii class battlecruisers, and these craft proved to be a dangerous team against the Davions. However, like the Lyran front, the fighting was brutal. Much like her Davion rival, the Hiei would become a victim of the First Succession War, with no ships of the class surviving.