Model: Magellan-class heavy cruiser
Manufacturer: Ares Dynamics (Mars), Titan Exoatmospherics (Saturn), Beta Orbital (Alpha Cantauri β)
Length: 600m
Beam: 200m
Crew Complement: 500 (SCC-4700 President, as command ship), 350 (SCC-4679 Magellan, as standard complement), 25 (skeleton crew)
Propulsion: 2x Wilcock & Babcox Class VII hyperdrives, 4x Eastinghouse heavy impulse engines, 120x Prak und Daim light vector thrusters
Protection: 6x Mark XIV anti-ordinance shields (fore, aft, dorsal, ventral, starboard, port), 12x Pulowski emergency backup defensive screens
Defensive Systems: MGS-96 decoy flares (1800x), HRO-90 acoustic decoys (x60), EM-85 multi-band scramblers (x30)
Armament: 15 Type XI heavy maser arrays, 4 meson torpedo launchers (2 forward, 2 aft), 250x Mark VIII meson torpedoes, 100x Type IV gravitic mines, 10x “nebula-buster” magnetometric guided charges
Auxiliary Craft: 6x Type 5 shuttlecraft, 6x Type B shuttlepods

Intended as the new standard in the construction and deployment of Star Confederation vessels, the Magellan-class was designed to be far larger, far better-armed, and far more capable than its predecessors, the Cook-class. While designated as heavy cruisers by the Star Confederation, they were often informally called battlecruisers by the Vatna, murderbirds by the Zypger, battleships by the Fulvan, and tactical tubes by the 11001001.

While officially designated for exploration, diplomatic, and peacekeeping duties, the Magellans also served to project power, and a modified Magellan,, the SCV President, served as flagship of Fleet Arm. They were also informally referred to as “resort hotels” by crew, as the vessels had been designed with enough room for a very opulent standard of personal space and comfort. This was reflected in their state-of-the-art, but complex, systems, and in combat they proved to be susceptible to jamming. Despite the creature comforts, many in Fleet Arm disliked the vessels, seeing them as tactically dubious, easy to break, difficult to repair, and easily evaded by smaller and nimbler ships–to say nothing of the enormous crews they required.

The Star Confederation parliament, meeting in Brasilia, debated the appropriations for the Magellans fiercely, with many feeling that the ships were expensive vanity projects and that Fleet Arm would be better served by more numerous smaller vessels. Due in part to the personal intervention of Lamar Stonebridge and Fleet Arm head Admiral Adams, the ships were approved but strictly limited to seven, as opposed to Adams’s preference for twenty or more. The seven Magellans were all named by Adams personally aside from the prototype and the SCV Confederation, which overrode one of the admiral’s suggestions that Parliament found offensive.

Notes:
SCV Magellan, the prototype, was constructed with a number of untested features and launched without several key systems with components from Cook-class hulks installed. Her lengthy shakedown process meant that five of her sisters officially entered service before she did.

SCV President, the fourth ship of the class, was built to a modified design to serve as the personal flagship of Head, Fleet Arm. Admiral Adams personally oversaw the construction process, and dictated several changes to the construction crews in mid-assembly. As flagship, it is arguably the most famous ship in Fleet Arm and is considered its “poster child.”

SCV Confederation, the seventh and final ship to be constructed, was renamed in mid-construction at the insistence of Parliament. As a result of this perceived slight, Admiral Adams ensured that the Confederation had last priority for construction supplies, crew, and provisions. He also assigned it to particularly humiliating and degrading duties for a ship of its size and cost, leading to it being informally nicknamed “The Scow.”