Class - Black Lion battlecruiser
Length - 772 Meters
Displacement - 802,000 tonnes
Crew Compliment - 208

The Black Lion class battlecruiser's re-done art in Battletech was god damn aweful, it looked like some kind of weird and ugly sex toy ( http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/f/...../Blacklion.jpg ) whilst the original art for it was good but not great ( http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/e/.....ack_Lion_I.jpg ).

I wanted a more modern representation of the older design, sleeker, less bulky and galleon like, and Shimmering Sword http://shimmering-sword.deviantart.com/ was more than up for drawing it.

This is the CGB Bear's Den in formation with an unidentified Black Lion, both ships have their dropships deployed and fighter escort is in close proximity, indicating both vessels are moving to engage. The pict was probably taken during the battles to reclaim the Pentagon worlds by the nascent Clan's. This angle gives you a magnificent view of the huge turrets that mounted the triple NAC-20 batteries on the broadside and aft arcs, each of these turrets weighed as much as a 21st century warship, the weight needed to smoothly traverse the mass of 7500 tonnes of auto-cannon and their associated equipment, the whole array weighing just under 8000 tonnes. You can also see the dual NAC-30 mountings, whilst less radical than the huge 'ball turrets' these could still rotate 360 degrees and the guns traverse arc was over 180 degrees allowing them to engage broadside targets as well as those closing.

You can also see that the port side dual NAC-20 mounts are being elevated and depressed, this is often done on such mountings before combat to ensure that there is no stoppages or faults in the turrets prior to engaging hostile warships. A sharp eye will also notice the dual mounts independent fire control systems which include a LADAR array as well as laser range finders, optical sensors and other, classified systems. The fighers are probably the Den Mother's organic support, flying close CAP to engage any hostile aerospace assets that leak through the BAR-CAP.