An advanced hull coming into service only a year before the Chouka campaign, the Tormin Light Cruiser was a showcase for the new engineering and technological breakthroughs made by the Circasians in the previous two decades.

A mid-sized, compact heavy combat vessel, this ‘light cruiser’ (it was later sometimes referred to as a ‘heavy destroyer’) filled a very important role in the Imperial order of battle. Before this time, there were no ships sitting between the combat abilities of the Moshesta frigate and the Kolanis cruiser. The Tormin attempted to perform the mission objective of a light warship to fight in support of other fleet elements.

The Chouka War saw the Tormin’s first trial by fire, though very few had been actually produced by the time of the conflict. Production proceeded at a swift pace throughout the war, but an appreciable amount of hulls did not enter service until after the suppression of the Chouka guerillas.

Following the war, the military smiled upon the efforts of the lesser Moshesta frigate, not the Tormin Light Cruiser. As far as they were considered the Tormin was still an untried hull and they did not have the hard, definitive combat analysis evidence to support its abilities, though they had such for the Moshestas. So the Tormin silently served, patrolling new territories and exerting control over sectors newly discovered by Circasian explorers. The Tormin did receive a major structural upgrade starting in 1976, with the last Tormin being upgraded by 1980. This round of upgrades hardened the armor on the outer structure blocks while retrofitting advanced weaponry systems to the hull.

During the ak-Tai War, the Tormin Light Cruiser saw its last round of active service. The ak-Tai fleet and fleet tactics rendered the Tormin a moot point in most battles, and the light cruiser could not do appreciable damage to enemy ships before being eaten apart by fighters and medium ships. A limited amount of Tormins were refitted with repeating plasma cannons in a vain attempt to offset these disadvantages, but their early shakedown cruises ended in disaster and all were scrapped following the war.

Of the 37 Tormin Light Cruisers built from 1971 to 1981, only 5 survived the ak-Tai War. Rather than be mothballed, these ships were sold to the Th’sook to provide for their local defense in exchange for a military presence in their territories.

This upgrade of the original Tormin Light Cruiser implemented an advanced weapons loadout and made it more deadly.