Designer: Robert C. Dunehew E-mail [email protected]

"Albatross" cruiser intelligence report.
Star Fleet Intelligence (SFI) has given this report a 71% reliability rating.

General Specifications:

Length: 161m (Estimated)
Width: 78.5m (Estimated)
Height: 57.5m (Estimated)
Max Warp: 7.8 (Estimated)
Cruise: 5.8 (Estimated)
Max. Impulse: 0.75 lightspeed (Estimated)
Crew: 140-210 (Estimated)

Armaments: Six targeting lasers (2fwd, 2 port, 2 stbd).

Type: Aggressor Cruiser

About Ship: In 2266, the Romulan Star Empire (RSE) sent a lone ship through the Neutral Zone into Federation space, to test the Federation's defenses. Although the cloaked vessel was easily able to destroy two starbases before discovery, it was located, tracked, and ultimately destroyed by a single Federation starship. The RSE realized that in the hundred years since their last conflict with the Federation, all their efforts to modernize their fleet had simply not resulted in any significant advantage over their Federation adversaries. Although their vessel was forced to self-destruct, its mission was not a total loss. All data collected during that mission was transmitted back to the Empire in a high-speed burst in the instant before detonation.

Of particular interest was the Federation heavy battlecruiser. It was particularly advanced compared to the Daedalus cruisers the Empire had faced just prior to the end of the war. Romulan engineers were given the assignment to create a vessel capable of simulating the advanced Federation cruiser's performance to a high degree. Romulan vessels would then practive attacking and defending against this vessel in simulated combat. The Albatross (also called "Gooneybird") was that vessel.

The Albatross was a compromise design. The Romulans did not want to allocate critical resources to a vessel that would only be used for training, and yet it had to be of relatively high performance. Certain shortcuts were implemented to reduce the time required to produce this vessel without consuming excess amounts of critical resources. The "Saucer section" is a slightly modified version of the "Barn Owl" light cruiser with its nacelles removed. The secondary hull is a modified space station module, and contains an early Romulan-designed matter/antimatter warp core. The nacelles were constructed with components removed from Klingon vessels the Romulans had acquired and equipped with new nacelles. These nacelles are located well away fromthe hull on long pylons, as their Klingon shielding does not meet Romulan safety standards.

The Albatross is a relatively high-performance vessel, despite its unusual construction. It closely matches the performance of the Constitution class heavy cruisers it was designed to emulate. Differences do exist, however, and these are crucial. The Albatross is significantly smaller and less rugged than the Constitution class cruisers of the mid-23d century. Its Romulan designers compensated for this by strengthening structural integrity field and allowing for more frequent maintenance intervals.

The Albatross' armaments are exceptionally weak, but this is no defect. Its mission is only to provide an adversary during simulated combat. Six targeting lasers simulate phasers, and two transmitters send simulated tracking data to opposing vessels, so they can react to non-existent photon torpedoes. A typical mission would pit from one to four Albatross cruisers against an equal or greater number of Romulan combat vessels. Weapons were de-rated to non-damaging levels and results were scored by referees aboard the vessels.

The Albatross was intended only as a training aid to assist the Empire in preparing for an invasion of (or by) the Federation. It is no longer in service, and it is suspected that they were scrapped at the end of their service life. SFI only learned of the Albatross in recent years. Its existence was a closely-guarded secret until shortly after the Romulans entered the Dominion war on the side of the Allies.


Return to the Romulan Intelligence Report.

Return to the Starship Catalogue.



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