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<p>While the Frontline Squadrons of the Crown Navy are used to going toe-to-toe with enemy fleets, the Support Squadrons serve a range of unique roles to aid and assist the fleet as a whole to complete their missions. The Hotspur Support Carriers add additional fighter Support. It is common for Hotspur captains to drive their ships at full speed towards the enemy, hoping that their large engines give their Defiant strike fighters an optimal launch position. The Agincourt Bombardment Cruisers are armed with the dreaded Taranis Naval Mortar, capable of hurling all manner of projectiles up to a range of over fifteen miles.</p><p>The Athelstan Flak cruiser provides a screen of anti-aircraft fire to ensure that the Defiant Squadrons hit their targets and to defend the decks of the Crown vessels. A Squadron of Athelstan's was used on the Thames to celebrate the Queen's Pearl Jubilee, firing magnesium pyrotechnics above the city to mark the occasion.</p><p>The Excalibur Heavy Destroyers are also typically found with the Victory class or other capital ships. Their role is to deter smaller attack vessels from swarming the immense Carrier as well as other large command vessels.</p>

The most common vessel and backbone of the Crown fleet is the Albion Cruiser. This dependable ship is armed with heavy gun turrets, broadside and torpedoes. Several modifications have been made to the Albion Hull design over the years such as the intimidating Lancelot Heavy Cruiser, the fast Picton and the lightly armed Bedivere. With so much coast to cover and such a large fleet the creation of the Sabre Class Command Cruiser enabled high ranking Naval officers to command Battlefleets from more numerous, smaller ships. These Command Ships allow the crown greater reach without the need for so many Battleships.

Salvaged by the crew of HMS Nautilus from an Enlightened vessel adrift in the Mediterranean, Drum was discovered in a shipping container marked as 'Aberrant Technology' - likely to be examined and disassembled. This large Automata was apparently built for mechanised labour but Erasmus Darwin made the contraption his own personal project, tinkering for hours on end. He envisaged the machine being used by the Nautilus to operate in the deepest parts of the oceans where no human can travel safely, let alone explore or recover wreckage. After several weeks, Darwin managed to coax the temperamental machine back to full operational capacity albeit with more than a handful of glitches. His barrel-like carapace earned him the nickname of 'Drum' and it was clear that he exhibited a sense of self-awareness that Erasmus and the other engineers had never seen in any Automata before. Fascinated as to the nature of this 'personality', Captain Nimue offered the Automata the opportunity to join her crew. Surprised at being treated like a human, Drum paused momentarily before enthusiastically choosing to stay and make the Nautilus his home.