"Command of Colonial Fleet has fallen to Rear Admiral Cain."
"Our mobile shipyard, Daidalos, has become the ad hoc fleet headquarters."
Designed roughly 10 years before the First Cylon War by Sinon Quade,
the designer of the venerable Jupiter class battlestar,
the Adamant was an economical but versatile frigate.
The class was a blend of various design elements from other colonial warships;
its angular alligator head with distinctive eye recalls the Mercury class,
the central underside flight deck with guns mounted above the Viper launch tubes
is similar to the Berserk class,
and the curved triangular engine pods have a clear link to
those of the Jupiter class.
Despite being a single continuous shape, the main hull still resembles the segmented
appearance of battlestars thanks to a pair of wide dark strips across its length.
Overall, the visuals perfectly draw together the diverse appearances of other Colonial vessels
into a single cohesive design, and also effectively condenses them
onto the third smallest warship in the fleet.
The class came equipped with turrets on either side,
a ventral flight deck with side-facing launch tubes,
and the capability to launch a wide variety of missiles and mines.
Though this versatility came at a cost; the guns were light and there weren't very many of them,
the flight deck could only accommodate a limited number of Vipers or support craft,
and the munitions reload time was lengthy.
Offensively it was the embodiment of jack of all trades, master of none.
The real strength of the Adamant lied in its formidable armor plating, which surpassed that
of some much larger cruisers or gunships, in both the Colonial and Cylon fleets.
Despite this, the class remained one of the fastest in the fleet, and could outpace everything except scout ships.
The plating wasn't all encompassing though, with the forward and lower aspect armor
being reduced by the front-facing flight deck entrance.
However, even these weaker angles were still on par with larger craft.
In smaller fleets, this strong armor allowed the class to shield
more vulnerable combat craft and fragile civilian vessels,
with its attendant squadron adding an extra layer of missile defense.
The utility brought by both the flight deck
and the on-board munitions launchers, afforded a great deal of tactical flexibility
to any officer planning a small-scale mission involving the class.
A particularly effective formation was the so-called Wall of Death,
made up of stacking multiple Adamants vertically,
with all ships focusing their broadside gunfire onto a single target.
The massed fire from even light guns, when combined with staggered missile launches
and squadron support, allowed them to punch far above their weight.
Presenting many targets also reduced the effectiveness of enemy fire;
while one frigate could be disabled or destroyed the rest were still at full fighting strength.
Amongst a larger fleet with cruisers, gunships and battlestars,
the Adamant was relegated to a support and escort function.
The slow reload time of launched munitions compared to dedicated missile craft like the Ranger cruiser,
meant that Adamants were often instead used for reactionary countermeasures
or even single-use nuclear weapons.
Their ability to provide a shield for other ships was also completely outclassed
by the significantly larger Artemis and Jupiter class battlestars.
The limited firepower on board, while persistent by virtue of the classes armor,
was also surpassed by more specialized vessels that could be adequately protected by larger craft.
Later in the war they may have been pushed out of use as escorts,
in favor of similarly sized Defender class frigates and Valkyrie class battlestars
whose defensive flak fields were more suited to countering the missile-centric doctrine of the Cylons.
Before that though, the Adamant class proved to be a staple vessel of the Colonial Fleet,
with its adaptability, speed and staying power allowing it to take part in any mission.
Its economical and tenacious design was key to early successes against the Cylons,
allowing production resources to be put towards expanding
the Colonial Fleet rather than making up for expensive losses.
And though its use eventually declined,
the Adamant remains the quintessential example of enduring Colonial design.
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