HVMS Conquerer

HVMS Conquerer is the name-ship for a class of four Valderan Super-Battleships, first commissioned in 2368. Conquerer is the largest battleship currently in service with any Alpha Quadrant species.

DEVELOPMENT
HVMS Conquerer was designed and built to counter the Tyderian Heavy Dreadnaughts of the Ishkar'val class. Conquerer was designed by a design team from the Valderan Naval War College in Valderis city, and was built at Valdera IV Shipworks.

Construction of the Conquerer was, naturally, greeted with a fair degree of skepticism, both from the Parlaiment and from the people. The ship was dubbed a waste of resources by the media. After 4 years of construction, however, Conquerer finally took to space under her own power. She was commissioned by the Emperor himself, and the Empress served as Ship's sponsor, christening the ship two months prior to launch.

WEAPONS
Conquerer boasted the most powerful main battery guns available to a Valderan ship at that time, the Mk. 38 404 mm (16") Long Disruptor cannon. 24 of the guns are carried in Conquerer, while 10 304mm (12") cannons and 10 203 mm (8") Cannons are carried as secondary weapons. the 304mm guns are roughly equivelent to a Starfleet Type X Phaser cannon, while 203mm guns are rapid-firing weapons similar to those of a Klingon Bird of Prey.

For extra hitting power at medium and long ranges, Conquerer mounts 10 missile turrets, mounted along the ship's dorsal and ventral midline. Each missile turret has three independently targetted launch tubes capable of firing either photon torpedoes or Etherhawk Anti-Ship Missiles, which are technically very similar to the Starfleet Tomahawk Missile.

FIRST DEPLOYMENT
When Conquerer set out on her maiden voyage, the departure was a media circus. Many in the Media hypothesised that the ship would instigate a war with the Tyderians, and that she would be destroyed within a year. Indeed, a war with the Tyderians did occur, however Comquerer had the last laugh, as she destroyed the enemy dreadnaughts Ishkar'val and Ishkar'mal, two of the ships she was designed to defeat in the first place.

DOMINION WAR
The Valderan government decided, in late 2374, to join the Dominion War on the side of the Federation Alliance. in doing so, the Valderans may have tipped the scales enough to allow a victory, although it was not certain at the time.

Conquerer made continuous deployments into the slot during 2373 and 2374, as a deterant to Jem'Hadar agression. However, the Jem'Hadar moved one of their battleships into the area in october of 2384, to try and challenge Conquerer to a fight. When Conquerer refused to cross the border and attack the Dominion vessel, the ship's Vorta commander and the founder embarked decided to instigate the action. They waited for a Jem'Hadar Battlecruiser to arrive as back-up, then charged.

Conquerer turned into the attacking Dominion ships, transmitting to Valderis "The walls are breached", the prearranged code that indicated an agressive move into Valderan space by the Dominion. The business of informing the capitol done, Conquerer set to her work. General Quarters sounded, and the ship's crew arrived at action stations ready for a fight. Both sides held their fire until they were within 50,000 kilometers. the Jem'hadar fired first, but their first ranging volley had little effect. Conquerer returned fire. Her main battery focused on the Battleship, while the secondary battery took up the Battle Cruiser. At ranges between 35,000 and 40,000 kilometers, the battle quickly became an out and out slugging match, with both sides pounding the other. 45 minutes into the battle, the Dominion's battlecruiser experienced a systematic loss of power, culminating in containment loss.

With one enemy vessel destroyed, Conquerer was left in a Battleship to Battleship gunnery duel. Conquerer refocused, and brought her total weapons compliment to bear. Vice Admiral Jarul Fignarigto, Commanding Conquerer from her battered bridge, ordered full broadsides into the ship. in just under 80 minutes, Conquerer had destroyed a third hostile dreadnaught, and had destroyed a battle cruiser.

the next week, Conquerer led a Valderan "Task Force" of 200 ships to join the war effort.

The Conquerer saw little action until Operation Final Assault, when Conquerer lead a force of 1200 ships on a fient towards the Breen Homeworld. The move worked, and drew ships away from Cardassia, allowing the Federation Alliance fleet to gain the decisive victory.

POST DOMINION WAR
After the Dominion War, ''Conquerer was modernised in a comprehensive, 18-month overhaul. Her weapons, sensors, and shields were all upgraded to remedy problems encountered in actual combat. Her computer systems were also modernised, reducing the number of crew required by some 250 officers and crew.

Conquerer clashed with Tyderian ships on numerous occasions after the Dominion War. The most notable battle came in early 2385, when Conquerer engaged and damaged Tyderian Admiral Nukaro's flagship, the Resolute.

BANOR WAR
With the Banor invasion of 2386, Conquerer was again called on to provide muscle to an allied force desperately in need of firepower. She, along with her sistership Mauler, held off a Banor Capitol ship long enough to allow hundreds of Federation, Valderan, Klingon, and Kntarian ships to escape to Starbase Licentia. At Licentia, Conquerer again stood against the Banor Battleships, this time with the support of the rest of the fleet. The Battle of Starbase Licentia resulted in the pushing back of the Banor, and the start of a stalemate.

Battle of Kebiir
In late August, 2386, the Valderan Expeditionary force made base in orbit around Kebiir IV, an M-Class planet already home to a Valderan Science Outpost. On 01 September, a joint Banor/Tyderian force attacked the fleet at anchor. During the initial skirmish, Conquerer damaged a destroyer, which then made a suicide attack on the Super-Battleship. The collision took down Conquerer's primary shield grid and knocked her warp coils out of alignment, trapping the great ship. As the rest of the fleet began to withdraw, the critically damaged dreadnaught began covering their escape. Conquerer engaged two enemy battleships, of similar size. Without shields, Conquerer was exposed, but made a valiant fight of it, inflicting heavy damage before a torpedo penetrated her engineering spaces, detonating the massive vessel's warp cores. The resulting explosion ripped the ship apart.

all 3700 crewmembers, including Warmaster Jarul Fignarigto, were lost with the ship.