EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate/Legends

The Nebulon-B escort frigate was a 300 meter-long warship that was built by Kuat Drive Yards for use by the Imperial Starfleet, to protect convoys from Rebel starfighter actions.

They were eventually used extensively by both sides in the Galactic Civil War, as the Rebel Alliance also acquired a number of these ships through defection or by capturing them in battle.

Details
Escort frigates were often used to support larger capital ships, such as Imperial-class Star Destroyers and rebel Mon Calamari Cruisers. Standard Nebulon-B frigates were armed with twelve turbolaser batteries, twelve laser cannons, and two tractor beam projectors. Twenty-four starfighters could be carried in internal hangar bays.

The Nebulon-B was originally designed as to protect Imperial convoys against Rebel starfighters. However, the Rebels were able to find other uses for the ships which took advantage of their sophisticated sensors and deep-space multifrequency antennas. Escort frigates were used as long-range scouts, search and rescue ships, or to relay information to command ships during battle. In small, shorthanded Rebel task forces, Nebulon-B frigates often served as the command ship. The Rebels were not the only ones beyond the Empire to acquire Nebulon-B frigates. It was rumored that Kuat Drive Yards would sell the frigates to interested third parties through secret fronts so as to not upset the Imperial Starfleet. The sale price was 194,000,000 credits, cited as a twentieth the cost of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer.

The Rebels also converted some of its Nebulon-B frigates into medical vessels, which served as mobile hospitals. Weaponry and hangar space was sacrificed to make room for treatment facilities, bacta tanks, and hospital suites. These ships could not carry any fighters, and they were only armed with 6 turbolasers and 8 laser cannons. The most famous medical frigate was the Redemption, the ship on which Luke Skywalker was treated following his duel with Darth Vader on Cloud City.



An improved version of the Nebulon-B, the Nebulon-B2, was eventually produced. Most of these ships served in the Imperial Navy, although a few ships found their way into the hands of the Alliance and other groups. The Nebulon-B2 had almost the same exact performance as the original model, but it was 50 meters shorter and had stronger hull armor. The Nebulon-B2 looks very similar to the Nebulon-B, except for its forward section. The Nebulon-B2 has a much smaller forward pod, which does not extend straight down. Two downward-sloping "wings" are attached to the pod, making an inverted "V" shape. Nebulon-B2s were commonly referred to as "Modified Frigates."

Following the Battle of Endor, Kuat Drive Yards followed up on its successful Nebulon-B design with a new starship class, the 275 meter-long Corona-class line frigate. Corona-class frigates were produced for the New Republic, not the Empire. These ships could carry 36 starfighters, and were armed with 10 turbolasers, 10 laser cannons, 4 ion cannons, and 2 tractor beam generators. Corona frigates were not part of the New Republic's New Class modernization program. Because of that, orders for the ships remained modest.

Behind the scenes
The shape of the Nebulon-B, designed by Nilo Rodis-Jamero, was inspired by an outboard motor.

There is some dispute among fans on the claimed fighter capacity of the Nebulon-B. Visual inspection reveals no docking bay entrances on either the port or starboard side, and the ship lacks the internal volume to carry 24 TIE fighters without hollowing out nearly the entire forward section. Further confusion arose due to the X-wing series of computer games, which showed starfighters docking and launching via an opening in the thin connection between the superstructure and drive bay.

However, The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, seemingly the source which first introduced the Nebulon-B's starfighter capability, makes no mention of internal hangars. The text simply says that: "The escort frigate has the capacity to carry up to two squadrons of starfighters into battle. In addition, the ship has docking fixtures to accommodate ships of up to medium freighter size" (p. 60). Since The Empire Strikes Back shows the "docking fixtures" to be external hardpoints on the spar between the prow superstructure and engines, it is possible that the fighters are also carried on a rack along the spar, in the manner of Carrack-class cruisers, Assault Frigates, and the FarStar.

Additionally, some fans have speculated that some Nebulon-Bs could have been equipped with an enclosed hangar bay fitted under the spar, filling the space between the forward keel and the engine block. Perhaps added as aftermarket additions, such hangars would enable them to carry fighters like X-wings more comfortably, and a ship that could belong to this subtype of the class has appeared in Rebel Alliance hands in an issue of Rebellion. Although scaling extrapolations when compared with snubfighters shown in the same panels would suggest a size significantly larger than the 300m-long Nebulon-B, the two designs corresponds closely in appearance, and the size discrepancy may simply be a result of artistic license in the comic-book art.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: X-wing
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars: TIE Fighter
 * Star Wars: X-wing Alliance
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * X-wing: Rogue Leader
 * Lumiya: Dark Star of the Empire
 * Heir to the Empire