Aegis-class heavy cruiser

The Aegis-class heavy cruiser is a fictional starship class in the Battletech'' universe.

The Aegis is one of the oldest classes of warship in the Inner Sphere, having first entered service in the late 24th century, but the ship's inherent durability and firepower have kept it viable even in the 31st century.

Class history
The first ship, THS Aegis, was launched from Di Tron Heavy Industries' Terra shipyards in 2372. At the time, the cruiser was the most advanced ship to see service, boasting withering firepower and the added striking power of a three-squadron fighter group. The vessel served the Terran Hegemony admirably through the early 26th century, when the short-lived Avatar-class heavy cruiser supplanted it. The surviving 106 Aegises were mothballed.

After the formation of the Star League, with war in the Periphery looming, Star League First Lord Simon Cameron authorized the reactivation and refitting of the Aegis class, with a third of the vessels being given to the Council Lords for their private navies, and the rest joining the Star League fleet. These vessels were fitted with the newest weapons and technologies, and their new armaments gave them excellent firepower, although the aged armor was not upgraded. Despite the near-fiasco of the Reunification War, the refitted Aegises served well.

The class continued their reputation for excellent service for the next two centuries, and when the war to liberate Terra from Stefan Amaris arose, the Aegis cruisers charged into battle, much of the class meeting heroic ends over Terra or major Terran worlds. Surprising for such a venerable class, more than two dozen of the cruisers survived, and to a ship they followed Aleksandr Kerensky on his Exodus. Many of those cruisers still exist in the Clans today, the majority of them serving in Clan Jade Falcon. Several are, surprisingly, in the hands of Inner Sphere states; the Free Worlds League has a couple in its navy, as does ComStar.

Class specifications
The Aegis class displaces 750,000 metric tons, and is 725 meters in length, with a jumpsail diameter of 1,308 meters. It boasts a safe speed of 1 G and a maximum speed of 1.5 Gs. The armor is 627 tons of ferro-carbide armor, although Clan versions have downgraded that to 596.5 tons. The model in general service today, based on the 26th century refit, offers respectable firepower: 18 Naval Autocannon/30, 24 Naval Autocannon/20, 12 White Shark missile launchers, 4 Naval Laser/45, and 12 Naval Laser/55. The cruiser carries either 18 or 20 fighters, depending on whether it's an Inner Sphere or Clan model.