The Dragon battleship is far and away the most powerful ship
in usage among the Yaeger. The Superion Dreadnought is a good deal
more powerful, but only two of those craft were ever made, and one
of those two is non-functional. Twelve Dragons have come out of
Yaeger Yards, five of which have been destroyed and three are so
battle damaged that they are in permanent drydock. However, the
four remaining craft play an important part in Yaeger strategy.
Too large to easily move in the floating tactics that the
Yaeger prefer, the Dragons provide a high priority target that
Imperial commanders can't ignore, and attempts to disable a fleet's
Dragon (usually incorrectly identified as the fleet's flagship.
Yaeger flagships are usually unmarked modified Panther or Daemon
cruisers) often lead to far greater casualties than the goal is
worth, especially when Yaeger ships fail to flee after the Dragon
is taken out.
Despite the fact that Dragons primary function in combat is to
act as a target, they are fearsome enough battle platforms that
ignoring them is just as fatal as devoting too much effort to
destroying them. In addition, the crews of the Dragons don't much
like the idea of dying to help the cause, and the Dragons have been
given sufficient teeth to drive off many attacking craft, including
Imperial Star Destroyers.
Originally the Dragons were fitted with five additional
torpedo tubes, but those were removed when the Torch cannons were
invented. All existing Dragons have been modified in this manner,
so in a way the modified version has become the stock model.
Because of the value and firepower of the Dragons, Navy officers
cannot purchase these ships with credits earned toward their ships,
and as no Dragons have been produced in the last five years, it is
hard to give an exact value on these ships. Suffice it to say, the
Yaeger nation does not intend to sell any of these ships, and would
take notice if one of them went missing.