|| SPECIFICATIONS:

Class: Frigate
Status: Active Service
Role: Marine / Support
Mass: 920,950 - 950,500 T
Length: 965M
Max Speed (Impulse Cruise): < 7 KM/s
Max Speed (Hyper Cruise): < 8000 KM/s
Max Range (JDA): N/A
Date: 4405 A.D / 3 I.D.S
Origin: Origin: Aquarius Imperial Naval Shipyards, Lorentis System
Crew Complement: up to 120 Enlisted, 20 Officers, 1500-2000 Marines

Primary Armour Plating: Nanopolymer-based low-ferrous metallic composite construction
Primary Armour Thickness: =< 2.35M (Main), =< 1.2M (Secondary) =< 0.275M (Tertiary & Pressure)
Spinal/Axial Armament: N/A
Primary Armament: N/A
Secondary Armament: 8x C-Type FIMD-320-4-2 Rotary Kinetic Cannon Turret, 144x Hornet S/M/L Anti-Ship Missile VLS
Tertiary Armament: 22x D-Type FIMD-110-4-2 'Clusterfire-M3' CIWS Point Defence Turrets
Shielding: SG3-04C/6 (6 GW)
Sensors: E03-I2-FR Quad-linked Broad-spectrum Array with 4x external antenna (port, starboard; dorsal)
Propulsion: 3x Single-Stack Helium Plasma Reactive Drives, dual-stack Helium Plasma Reactive Auxiliary Drive (upper)
Powerplant: P03-I2-FR (MK68/RJ3) 6x 800MW Integrated Helio-Barycentric Cold Fusion Reactor
Hangars: Rear Open Hangar with space for 2x Strikecraft or Marine Boarding Pods. Central/Ventral Hangar with internal space for up to 50 Marine Boarding Pods.

|| DETAILS:

The Swordfish-class, along with the heavier Eel-class Assault Frigate are the result of the Imperial Navy's "New Heavy Frigate" initiative at the beginning of the Imperial Era in 4404 A.D. The initiative put forward requirements for two highly versatile, durable Heavy Frigate designs (up to around 1 million mass-tons and less than a kilometre in length) that would share a base hull design in order to simplify production and maintenance requirements. The project required a powerful combat-focused design and a lighter, marine support variant that also inherited the former's defensive capability. The result of the latter requirement was the Swordfish-class. It is lighter than the Eel-class (1.1 MT) at around 0.9 MT due to the lack of the B-Type armament and Axial IMPAC arrays. The internal space is instead used for accommodation and support facilities for up to around 2000 Imperial Marines. Such facilities include off-duty areas, medical support, training centres and barracks for example. While the Swordfish-class doesn't have a hull insertion mechanism itself, it carries multiple Marine Boarding Pods from its interior hangars that allow it to conduct multiple Marine Boarding operations in support of the fleet, simultaneously.

Due to the nature of its purpose and the lack of the main armament on the Eel-class, the Swordifsh has additional shield modulators and around 50% more shield power output than its combat-focused sibling, allowing it to take extensive punishment before needing to withdraw. The class retains the versatile Hornet S/M/L system and C-type battery of its sister, allowing to defend itself against other frigates and corvettes.