previous designs, her midspace drive was based on a shunt composed of matterfield material; this technically put her behind the
state of the art, since neutronium-doped matterfield shunts were already beginning to appear in the very high-end civilian market.
But military expenditure was not a very high priority in the Coalition at this point, and this was one of several corners cut from the
Wolfsbane design for cost reasons.
The ship had a top cruise speed of 6.6 kc, a modest increase over the old Idibas class. Lack of neutronium components in her other
systems - primarily weaponry and shielding - also hampered the design.
Even the onset of the Tain war in 2986 did little to improve matters. The Coalition governments greeted the war with a degree of
complacency that is breathtaking in hindsight. It was fully a year into the conflict before the depth of the threat which the Tain
represented became clear.
The production of neutronium was not yet sufficient for an all-neutronium fleet, so the first round of upgrades were neutronium-doped
matterfields. This quadrupled the efficiency of the drive at a stroke, raising the Wolfsbane's speed to 12.6 kc. Similar improvements in
the sensors, weapons and shields followed.
The improved Wolfsbane class and their similarly upgraded comrades managed to hold the line against the Tain, turning a series
of disasterous defeats into a series of successful holding actions.
Later in the war some of the Wolfsbanes were further refitted with full neutronium drive shunts, further increasing their capabilities.
The "super Wolfsbane" class was capable of a maximum sustained cruise of 40 kc, a more than threefold increase over their predecessors.
Although the Kororra class was now beginning to become available, production of the Wolfsbanes continued for the remainder
of the war, largely because they were considerably cheaper and easier to build than the Kororras.
By 2991 the production of Wolfsbanes was being gradually decreased in favour of the Kororras. With the end of the war all Coalition
warship construction was cancelled, and large numbers of vessels were either scrapped or placed into mothballs. When the Mercer
government back in power in 2997 a significant number of these ships were returned to service as a stop-gap until full production
of the Kororra class could be resumed. These ships are now in the process of returning to retirement.
Thats quite a few fighters.
