[Starhawk]

2419.1 The new breed
The first Lord Nelson class dreadnoughts slipped out of their massive docks and began deploying to their fleets with all possible speed.

[3rd Fleet]:
“My Lord she’s a beast of a ship!” Ross uttered as the massive three kilometer form of the HMS Shadowclaw jumped through the warp point, she dwarfed every other ship in the fleet and made the older cruisers look like toys.
“Aye sir, but she’s also faster then every other ship in our fleet.” Sandra Fowler said with a smile as she looked over what was going to be her new command.
“Yeah that’s right, she uses the new Quantum reaction engines and Solar grav sails doesn’t she?” Ross looked back at Sandra and remembered seeing that same look on her face when he first gave her command of Saber all those years ago, before she was turned into an orbiting museum over Icara.
“That’s right sir, she also uses the new inertial compensation that the quantum reactor has produced, that means that she can go nearly twice as fast as a Heavy cruiser and her crew won’t feel a thing, it’s marvelous isn’t it sir?” She beamed at her Admiral quickly and returned her eyes to the massive warship in front of her.

The cavernous boat bay of the dreadnought overwhelmed Admiral Ross as he walked down the cutter’s ramp, two columns awaited him in parade formation, one of marines the other of ops crew, all of them came to attention sharply and saluted equally as formally. Ross returned the massed salute and walked forward between the two columns, Fowler a step behind him.

“Admiral on DECK!” the marine sentry inside the massive command center announced, the entire command crew snapped to attention and turned to face the entrance.
“As you were.” Ross smiled openly at the magnificent command center that lay before his eyes, it was huge compared to that of his heavy cruiser, two tiered layout with the command chair on a raised “arm” in the center of the bridge. A holotank sat just behind the command chair and it too impressed Ross, the level of detail and it’s sheer size was breathtaking. He turned to see Fowler glowing with pride and excitement he nodded at her as she walked off to inspect her new bridge.
The Shadowclaw was the first and so far only dreadnought assigned to 3rd fleet so Ross made sure he had pulled the best officers and crew he could for her new command staff, unfortunately captain Yu Lin did not have the seniority of Fowler and so she had to remain aboard [/i]Lenin[/i] until the next dreadnought arrived to reinforce their fleet.
Ross had nothing against Fowler, she was a superb officer and an excellent Captain but he had rather hoped to serve directly with the officer who had served as his flag captain while Hawkwing had undergone repairs and who had been his friend since his days in the academy back in the class of 86.
The joyful moment would not let its self fade so easily however and the Admiral felt his apprehension flow away as he strolled the bridge investigating all the latest gadgets the fleet had installed onto their new behemoths, his curiosity wanted to see what this new AI was like as well but she was offline at the moment and remain so for another month until calibration was completed.

Meanwhile;
The first fleet had received priority for receipt of block one production of the Lord Nelson class dreadnought including the class ship herself. Admiral Tyson Babcock was as impressed with the Lord Nelson as Ross had been with the Shadowclaw however Tyson allowed himself a little quirk of pride in the fact that his flagship was not just any dreadnought but she was the FIRST dreadnought, and the one that bore the class name as well as the best crew.
Along with Lord Nelson the dreadnoughts Falcon, Repulse, and Reinhardt joined the 1st fleet, making it the most powerful formation of warships in Icaran space.