A lightweight warship of the Corvette class (CV) developed by the Aquarian Imperial Navy shortly after the dawn of the Imperial Era in 4402 A.D. Previous CV-type warships employed by the former UAS Federal Navy; themselves largely retrofitted or upgraded hulls from Old Federal Navy service some hundreds of cycles prior, were deemed unfit for the new requirements that the Imperial Admiralty set forward for the CV-class in the newly formed Imperial Fleet. As such, these vessels would be moth-balled in favour of a new, scratch-built design based on existing superstructures.
As such, a series of new CV-class warships were to be developed from existing designs and laid-down. While not an entirely new design, CV-IF, also known in the fleet as Infiltrator-class, is an entirely upgraded and redesigned platform, specifically optimised for stealth insertion roles or covert operations. CV-IF is based on the MKVII Corvette hull used by the former UAS Federal Navy for in-system patrol duty and 'anti-cloak' warfare. It is a light vessel, at 120 metres long including the drive canopy (which adds around 20 metres over the actual length of the pressure hull) and with a mass of just over 10,000 Mass Tons, it is able to accelerate and de-accelerate to much higher tolerances than larger vessels - allowing the advanced Gravimetric-assisted drives to produce a warship that is extremely fast and manoeuvrable.
A trait they share with the larger Frigate-class (FR), Corvettes such as the CV-IF do not carry independent Jump Drive Arrays. As such, they are intended to operate from motherships such as the HY-class (Hydra) Light Fleet Carrier, which is capable of docking four CV-class vessels for FTL transition, two externally with magneto 'limpets' (clamps), two internally, with one in the primary hangar and the other on the flight deck. The ability to be carried internally is a sizable advantage for corvette deployments, and they are the largest vessel in the fleet to operate from internal bays on carrier-class vessels.
While CV-IF is an independent class, a new lineage of CV-class vessels with a similar hull design were developed for Aquarian Imperial Navy with a variety of intended roles, from Electronic Warfare to Marine Boarding or Missile Platforms. Infiltrator-class Corvettes are the backbone of the Imperial Rapid Response fleet's 'Crimson Thunder' Marine Corps, operating throughout the Aquarius cluster and beyond in counter-terrorism duties or supporting agents from the ATIS Imperial Naval Intelligence Bureau.
