In its day the Taipan was the most feared fighting ship that roamed the space lanes. The then revolutionary tail boom, which allowed an oversize cannon to be installed, was in reality nothing more than a modified hydrofoil – a direct result of Supermarine’s exploitation of the niche aquatic planet market. Despite what would at first sight appear to be a somewhat shaky design philosophy the result exceeded all expectations and the ship had a real edge over the competition in terms of firepower. The use of twin-engine clusters made the ship hard to disable and its low centre of gravity gave excellent manoeuvrability, although some deemed it downright twitchy. Later advances in wing design have now curtailed the advantages of the tail boom and its once outstanding firepower is only average by modern standards. Despite this, the design is still popular and its speed and agility still make it a formidable opponent.