** James Fighting Starships - USD 437 **

| Courage IV|

|Class: Heavy Cruiser|

|First Production Year: USC 436|

|Categorization: Military|

|Sub-Cat: Fleet Defense / Heavy Escort|

|Inner Hull Length: 232m|

|Inner Hull Beam: 72m|

|Outer Hull Length (Bow to Stern): 466m|

|Outer Hull Beam: 143m|

|EST Effective Operation Duration 12 months|

||Armament||

|32x Single 22mm Point Defense Cannons, AP rounds |

|Range: 29,979km / 0.1ls |

||Configuration: Dorsal: 5| Ventral: 5 | Amidship: 12| Bow: 5| Aft: 5||

|32x Triple 12cm Point Defense Laser Turrets |

|Range: 299,792km / 1ls |

||Configuration: Dorsal: 5 | Ventral: 5 | Amidship: 12 | Bow: 5 | Aft: 5||

|8x Quad HV 204mm Rail Turrets, 2kg projectile|

||Range: 89,937km LRP 0.3ls ||

||Configuration: Amidship: 8 ||

|1 Bow AMLS – 8 Tubes, 1066.8mm Light Missiles|

||Bow Missile Magazine: 2x - 24 1066.8mm racks, including autoloader||

||Range: Variable, 299,792km - 1,500Mkm||

|2 Amidship AMLS – 16 Tubes, 1066.8mm Light Missiles|

||Amidship Missile Magazine: 8x - 24 1066.8mm racks, including autoloader||

||Range: Variable, 299,792km - 1,500Mkm||

|2 Amidship HTLS – 12 Tubes, 3200.4mm Heavy Torpedoes|

||Amidship Torpedo Magazine: 4x - 6 3200.4mm racks, including autoloader||

||Range: Variable, 299,792km - 15,500Mkm||

|6x EWCLS|

||Configuration: Bow: 1| Aft: 1 | Dorsal: 2 | Ventral: 2||

||Magazine (EST): 64 EW Drones, 1024 Chaff Clusters, 1048 Smart Flares||

||Other||

|Bow D-field: 512cm B-lens|

|Plasma Fusion Reactor, 24 Rod Configuration, Large|

|Military 2-Waveform Tunnel FTL Drive|

|Single-phase Military Class Linear Drive|

|Gas Thrust Vectoring System, Class V, Ports: 512|

|Pressurized Cargo Bay|

|Amorphous Carbon Radiator Array - Retractable and Inlaid|

|Crew Berthing: 235|

||Captain’s Quarters: 1x - Single Bunk||

||Officer’s Quarters: 12x - Double Bunk||

||Quartermaster Cabin: 1x - Single Bunk, Galley-Attached||

||NCO Quarters: 40x - Double Bunks||

||Marine Quarters: 2x - 12 Berth Bunkroom||

||Ratings Quarters: 21x - 5 Berth Bunkrooms||

The Courage IV is an updated model of the Courage III with relatively few changes other than an increase in missile stowage capacity and armor plating. The ship series continues its tradition of heavy armor and even heavier firepower with the reconfiguration of its Heavy Torpedo Launch System from a single vertical dorsal mount to a double Amidships configuration. Ammo stowage has been essentially doubled for all its systems despite the relatively small increase in magazine protection. This on paper would seem to risk catastrophic damage from an unlucky strike.

Possibly the Federation Navy has seen some need to extend the amount of firepower the ship can throw downrange in extended engagements. This seems at odds with the fast and furious speed at which starship combat currently occurs, but this would not be the first time the Federation Design bureau continued along an already outdated doctrine.

Despite the enhancements of a 2-Waveform FTL tunnel and a new Single-phase Linear Drive the ship’s heavy mass from ample armor plating results in a slow escort that just isn’t possibly nimble enough to fulfill that role in many cases. The Courage IV would be more at home in a line of battle supporting heavier units than tending to merchant freighters and responding to distress calls.

One possible purpose would be to sell the design to fledging colony worlds that do not have the naval budget for a full-sized battleship. These frontier areas could be well served by a heavy defense unit utilized to protect their orbitals that they could otherwise not afford. The Courage IV would undoubtedly have no trouble dealing with pirates or the occasional slaver raid. This year the Navy Budget Commission successfully negotiated with the Federal Congress to keep a percentage of all ship sales for the admiralty.