Editing Athena (WarShip class)

{{Otheruses|the [[WarShip]]|the combat vehicle|Athena}}
{{InfoBoxWarShip
| image = [[Image:Athena (WarShip).jpg|191px]]
| name = ''Athena''
| manufacturer = [[Athena Corporation]]<ref name="FR2765:Pp10">''Field Report 2765: Periphery'', p. 10, "Infrastructural Integrity"</ref>
| Use = Cruiser<ref name="FR2765:Pp31+">''Field Report 2765: Periphery'', p. 31-32, "Athena (Cruiser)"</ref>
| Tech Base = [[Inner Sphere]]
| Cost = 
| Introduced = [[2569]]
| production year=2569
| year reference=
| Mass = 500,000
| Length = 625m
| Sail Diameter = 1,208m
| Fuel = 5,000 tons
| Burn Rate = 39.52
| Safe Thrust = 1 g
| Top Thrust = 1.5 g
| Sail Integrity = 4
| KF Drive Integrity = 12
| LF Battery = None
| Armament = <span></span>
* 64x [[NL55]]
* 8x [[NAC/30]]
* 30x [[White Shark]]
| Armor = 895 tons of standard armor
| DropShip Capacity = 0
| Crew = 50 officers<br>120 enlisted/non-rated<br>120 gunners<br>222 bay personnel<br>300 first class passengers
| Grav Decks = 2 x 225m diameter
| Escape Pods/Life Boats = 100/100
| Heat Sinks = 7,000
| Structural Integrity = 90
| BV (1.0) = 
| BV (2.0) = 107,892
}}
==Description==
The '''''Athena'''''-class cruiser was a concept originally developed by the [[Terran Alliance]]. Beginning in the 2170s the Alliance became concerned that separatists would either seek to establish their own colonies or strike at Alliance colonies in acts of nuclear terrorism. The Alliance government was concerned enough that it issued enormous grants to the defense industries of a number of leading Terran nation-states, industries that had been rendered largely moribund by that point.<ref name="FR2765:Pp31+"/>

The various industries involved in the development of the ''Athena'' had virtually no practical experience of deep space warfare, and the resulting design concept was the result of a range of simulations, brainstorming, and experience of orbital space battles conducted during the [[Cold Wars#Second Cold War|Second Cold War]]. The final design was for a ship designed to provide support for Alliance troops invading separatist colonies, and for conducting space-to-space nuclear warfare. Equipped with potent batteries of lasers for such tasks as surface bombardment, anti-shipping missions and providing anti-fighter coverage, the ''Athena'' design also incorporated heavy capital missile batteries in the nose and stern and a number of autocannon batteries. While the autocannons were most likely added as an afterthought, they could be used both for high-speed closing engagements and for engaging targets such as satellites and stations that were largely immobile. The ''Athena'' design featured stern-heavy weaponry, a feature that later designs such as the ''[[McKenna (WarShip class)|McKenna]]'' shared, indicating that the ''Athena'' was intended to hover over a battlefield at the threshold between the atmosphere and space, with her nose pointing away from the planet.<ref name="FR2765:Pp31+"/>

The ''Athena'' never entered service with the Terran Alliance, and the design remained unused for many years. The future founder and [[Director-General]] of the [[Terran Hegemony]], [[James McKenna]], discovered the plans for the ''Athena'' while he was enrolled at [[Annapolis Academy]]. McKenna developed an infatuation that incorporated the core concepts of the ''Athena'' and which became the combat [[JumpShip]]. When the various interstellar nations around the Hegemony began developing armed JumpShip designs the Hegemony revisited the ''Athena'' design and went on to develop the famous ''[[Aegis]]''-class heavy cruiser. The ''Athena'' design returned to obscurity, only to be revisited by the [[Magistracy of Canopus]] in the closing stages of the [[Age of War]].<ref name="FR2765:Pp31+"/>

The Magistracy was in a position to build a version of the ''Athena'' more faithful to the original design, and the resulting ''Athena''-class cruiser was the first WarShip to be produced domestically by the Canopians. Although the Magistracy had to improvise in some areas, those improvisations were made only as a concession to the availability of various components locally, and the class would continue to display its ancient origins through such features as the large bays for [[DropShuttle]]s it possessed, and the lack of K-F booms and docking collars.<ref name="FR2765:Pp31+"/> The corporation within the Magistracy responsible for developing the ''Athena'' from a design into a functioning WarShip class was the Athena Corporation, founded in the [[twenty-sixth century]] and tasked with the "Athena Project". The Athena Corporation began with a combined engineering firm and think tank located in the [[Canopus IV]] system and successfully launched the first ''Athena''-class WarShip, the [[Athena (Individual Athena-class WarShip)|MCS ''Athena'']] in [[2569]]. Only one more ''Athena'' would be produced prior to the [[Reunification War]], the [[Kossandra Centrella (Individual Athena-class WarShip)|MCS ''Kossandra Centrella'']].<ref name="FR2765:Pp10"/>

In contrast with many WarShips the ''Athena'' featured roomy and well-appointed quarters for all of its personnel, not just a select number of officers, as well as similar quarters for any passengers being transported. All of these quarters were encompassed within the two large rotating gravity decks, and the ''Athena'' was a popular choice amongst upper-echelon officers looking for a flagship.<ref name="FR2765:Pp31+"/>

==Weapons and Capabilities==
The ''Athena'' suffered from relatively slow acceleration but was protected by almost nine hundred tons of standard armor, distributed with a slight bias towards the nose and stern of each cruiser. Banks of eight NL55s were mounted in each arc except the nose, with the stern mounting twice as many as any other arc. Each ''Athena'' also mounted two banks of two NAC/30 in the nose and stern, whilst three pairs of White Shark missile launchers were mounted in each of the fore left, fore right, aft left, aft right and stern arcs. Each pair of White Shark launchers was supplied with a score of missiles.<ref name="FR2765:Pp31+"/>

While the ''Athena'' had originally been envisioned as transporting a pair of large DropShuttles and two squadrons of smaller shuttles, the Magistracy redesigned the bays to accommodate a little more than twenty standard small craft-sized vessels; in practice, the Canopians assigned eighteen [[aerospace fighter]]s and four shuttles to each ''Athena'', giving every cruiser a moderate fighter screen and enough independent transport to serve the marine contingent stationed aboard.<ref name="FR2765:Pp31+"/>

The first new ''Athena'' to be launched after the devastation of the Reunification War was produced in the mid-[[twenty-eighth century]], following the construction of the [[Diamond Garter Fleet Yards]], which were in turn completed in [[2725]].<ref name="FR2765:Pp5">''Field Report 2765: Periphery'', p. 5, "Strategic Update"</ref> That first WarShip was named the MCS ''Kossandra Centrella'', just as one of the pre–Reunification War ''Athenas'' had shared its name with the founding [[Magestrix]] of the Magistracy,<ref name="FR2765:Pp5"/> and would serve as the flagship of the ranking officer of the Canopian navy.<ref name="FR2765:Pp4">''Field Report 2765: Periphery'', p. 4, "WarShips of the Territorial States"</ref>

==Cargo==
* Bay 1: 22 Small Craft - 5 Doors,<ref name="FR2765:Pp31+"/> 4 Motorized Infantry Platoons<ref name="FR2765:Pp31+"/>
* Bay 2: 26,317 tons of Cargo - 2 Doors<ref name="FR2765:Pp31+"/>

==See Also==
*[[:Category: Individual Athena-class WarShips|List of named ''Athena''-class WarShips.]]

==Notes==
The ''Athena'' was first mentioned in ''[[Strategic Operations]]'' as part of the Inner Sphere's "firsts" in aerospace-based technology developed per faction.<ref>''Strategic Operations'', p. 14, "Naval Factor"</ref> 

The Record Sheet for the ''Athena''-class cruisers is found in ''[[Field Report 2765: Periphery]]''.

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Field Report 2765: Periphery]]''
* ''[[Strategic Operations]]''

[[Category: Cruiser classes]]
[[Category: Periphery WarShip classes]]
[[Category: Small WarShips]]
[[Category: WarShip classes]]