Magellan Class Frigate

The Magellan Class is a series of 10 frigates in service with the United American Federation Navy. Constructed from the hull of the Endurance class light cruiser, the Magellan class is on the smaller end of UAF frigates. The Magellan class, like most UAF frigates, was designed with long and solitary missions through the UAF's vast territories in mind. Because of this, emphasis was placed upon self-sustainability and redundant systems. Magellan class ships also have the ability to serve in traditional task forces such as carrier battle groups or battleship squadrons. Each ship in the class is named after one of Earth's great maritime explorers.

Design and Construction
The Magellan class' design process began in the early 2200s as the Department of the Navy began calling for a new frigate design to replace the aging Yeager class frigates. Designers eventually chose to build the Magellan class on the Endurance class light cruiser hulls. The problems surrounding extremely long deployments and solitary operations drew special attention from the UAF's top naval designers. The Magellan class is the first UAF frigate to have a fully dedicated hydroponics deck to provide food to its crew. Designers also sought to maximize the speed of the Magellan class with upgraded engine systems and cutting edge reactors and FTL drives. The Magellan class was granted funding for construction in 2207 and construction began immediately after at Patriot Interstellar Shipyards orbital shipyard's orbiting Trappist-1d. Each ship only took one and a half years to complete.

Propulsion Systems
Magellan Class frigates are equipped with two high speed FTL drives and four cold fusion reactors. Only one FTL drive and two reactors are ever operational. The other FTL drive and the other two reactors act as backups in case either system experiences a failure. The high speed FTL drive is a relatively new innovation from the UAF that allows much faster FTL travel than other FTL drives. Testing has shown that the high speed drive gives a nearly 30% increase in speed over standard UAF FTL drives. However, high speed drives are forced to sacrifice precision for their speed increase. Because UAF frigates operate in the vast expanse of the UAF frontier it was deemed acceptable to lose some precision in favor of being able to travel at high speeds.

Weapons Systems
Magellan class ships are lightly armed and primarily use their weapons for defense. Their heaviest weapons, eight naval railguns, would be hard pressed to destroy even a light cruiser on their own. The Magellan class weapons are effective against smaller ships such as destroyers but most frigates will not actively seek a fight even against a small ship. Along with the eight railguns, the Magellan class is outfitted with 14 light cannons and two point defense laser banks. The laser banks could be considered the "main" weapon of the Magellan class as it is the weapon most likely to be used in day to day operations.

Magellan class ships also carry a small spacecraft complement of 20 CVF-51 multirole starfighters and eight CVS-3 multi-purpose shuttles. The CVF-51s are primarily used for intercepting attacking spacecraft but can also be used for a rare attack mission. The CVS-3 shuttles are used in a wide variety of roles such as atmospheric missions, rescue missions, and scientific missions.

Scientific and Medical Systems
Magellan class ships have a dedicated science deck and a dedicated medical deck.

The science deck houses offices and laboratories for several different fields of study including astrophysics, stellar cartography, exobiology, planetary geology, astronautical engineering, and others. UAF Navy scientists often seek deployments on frigates for the rare opportunity to study distant stars and planets.

The medical deck features state-of-the-art medical treatment facilities as well as laboratory facilities for research and testing. Magellan class ships are unique in that they are the first class of frigates to have a dedicated medical deck. Previous UAF frigates placed medical research facilities with the other scientific laboratories and the sickbay was located on a separate deck entirely. This change has already paid dividends as researchers aboard the UFS Amerigo and the UFS Raleigh have used the advanced facilities to synthesize cures for Sirius fever and Gemini flu.

Defense Systems
The only defensive system the Magellan class ship is equipped with is the High-Frequency/Low-Intensity (HFLI) shielding system. The HFLI system has been around since the late 2180s but it is nonetheless an excellent shielding technology. The HFLI operates on a high frequency but is very low intensity in that it is unable to operate for very long and uses very little power. The HFLI system offers the best power to protection ratio of any known shielding system which is why the UAF equips many of its smaller vessels with the system. The HFLI system is used in short bursts in contrast with the shielding technologies of larger ships which operate continuously when activated. The high frequency on which the shield operates and the low amount power given to the system results in a kinetic barrier which is extremely protective while in use but is unable to stay active for very long. The HFLI system has proven successful at protecting a ship from structural damage against any weapon smaller than a GGR mass accelerator. In a combat situation against a stronger opponent, a Magellan class ship would activate its HFLI to protect the ship while using the ship's superior speed to outrun the enemy. In this situation the HFLI protects the ship for the short time it is within the enemy's weapons range and is not needed (and not able to be used) shortly after making the HFLI the ideal choice for smaller and faster ships such as the Magellan class.

Support Systems
The Magellan class has an entire deck dedicated to hydroponics to help supplement stored food supplies and rations. The hydroponics deck makes Magellan class ships nearly self-sustaining dramatically increasing the amount of time the ships are able to stay on a deployment. In theory, the hydroponics deck would be able to sustain the entire crew for several months if all other food supplies had run out.

The Magellan class is also equipped with two high endurance life support systems. The ships carry two of these systems in the unlikely event that one of them succumbs to failure. The high endurance systems are specially designed for UAF frigates and their long deployments.

Ships in Class

 * UFS Magellan
 * UFS Columbus
 * UFS Amerigo
 * UFS Marco Polo
 * UFS Raleigh
 * UFS Smith
 * UFS Drake
 * UFS Cabot
 * UFS Cook
 * UFS Dias

Trivia

 * The UFS Magellan currently serves as the flagship of the Fifth Fleet and is part of the Eternal Republic's carrier battle group.
 * The Magellan class is the only class of ship to be outfitted with the high endurance life support system.