In 2536, the admirals of the Terran Hegemony came to the conclusion that the Quixote frigates had outlived their usefulness. Incidents between them and the WarShips of the other Great Houses showed that the Quixote could be outmaneuvered by foreign ships of comparable size. They needed a replacement and they put out the call for one.
         A year later, the architects of Dekirk Aerospace submitted a design that seemed so good that the Hegemony Navy accepted it without hesitation. Construction of the first Congress ships met a series obstacle in the form of a lawsuit filed by the Federated Suns against the shipyard and the Hegemony government. In the lawsuit, Challenge Systems of Galax claimed that most of the Congress design belonged to Challenge Systems and that it was stolen by Dekirk's industrial spies.
         After three years of legal wrangling, the companies signed a compromise agreement in 2540 that paved the way for Congress to be built. Without admitting guilt, Challenge Systems and Dekirk formed a partnership for construction and the Congress become common in both the Federated Suns and in the Terran Hegemony navies.
         The Beowulf actually first sailed out of the Galax yards and served the Federation until the Great Houses formed the Star League. The Davions gifted the Beowulf to the new navy and she cut her teeth fighting the Taurians in the hardest and bloodiest battles of that war. She escaped destruction over a dozen times and earned the reputation of being a charmed ship. During the Star League Civil War, she reinforced that reputation, taking part in the entire campaign, including the assault and liberation of the Terran system.
         She and her crew left with Kerensky but even her charmed reputation could not save her from being attached to a Brian cache. The Clans restored her to operation, assuming her Star League hull lines would go unnoticed when Wolf's Dragoons began scouting the Inner Sphere, but when the Dragoons realized that the Successor States no longer had access to matching vessels the Beowulf was put to sleep again.
         After the Clan Invasion, the Dragoons recovered her and began using her as one of their more prominent vessels. She helped save Northwind and then Outreach in the opening stages of the Word of Blake Jihad, and then became an integral part of the long drive to Terra. When the Alexander disappeared after the first failed assault on Terra, Beowulf became the Dragoon flagship, a title she has kept ever since.
         Beowulf's every cubic centimeter is used to maximum effect, yet the vessel remains surprisingly comfortable and easy to maintain, a trademark of Dekirk AeroSpace's design work. Her primary flaw is the mere single fighter squadron she can carry, but she usually carries two Union-Cs configured as fighter carriers to make up for that issue. The Beowulf's main armament comprises a mix of naval autocannons that can cripple or destroy most targets. Killer Whale and White Shark missile systems compose the vessel's secondary armament, along with a recently-upgraded array of conventional weapons for defense against AeroSpace Fighters and larger craft.