The U-Type is a hybrid carrier command module that uses an advanced version of the Isan’s artificial gravity launch technology. It “drops” its launch craft through long tubes that exert such extreme g-forces, pilots need to wear special compression suits to survive the process. These tubes run through the interior of the long sides of the “U” toward the tip. This allows the cylindrical outer hull to be covered with turrets and point-defense cannons, making the U-Type the foundation of a true hybrid carrier. The pilots of these drops are known as “Divers,” attracting adrenaline junkies who would get more addicted to the thrill with each drop, becoming the most daring and feared Isan fighter pilots, the berserkers of the Isan Free Navy. 

The U-Type is essentially a 500-yard long cylinder, 100 yards in diameter, bent into a U shape. Each straight section measures 200 yards long, with the remaining 100 yards comprising the “bend” section. Gravity in the U-Type is a little harder to visualize than on other Isan ships: It’s centered on an imaginary central axis that’s exactly in the middle of the two straight sections and cuts through the ship at the center of the bend section. From above, this axis would look like a straight line vertically bisecting the U. (Picture the ship rotating around this axis, and the gravity would point in the same direction as the centrifugal force.) So “up” on the long sections would point toward the space between them and “down” would point away from the module to space. In the bend section, up points toward the center of the bend, with gravity “flipping” as you cross the center to the other half of the bend. The decks are still arranged concentric relative to this imaginary central axis, which requires substantially different floor plans from other standard Isan modules. At each tip of the U, there’s a coupling to stack O- and X-Types. The launch tubes run along the edge of these tips, which taper outward about 10 extra yards to launch craft at a slight angle to clear these stacks. Command and engineering are housed in the bend section of the U, with mini-exhaust ports running along the back of the bend. As with the I-Type, the U-Type can retract these ports to reveal another coupling next to the engine at the center of the bend, allowing a D-Type to link up for extra power that can be used to boost the ship’s speed or diverted to the Nephelium-boosted turrets. These turrets are installed in modules like on the D-Type, which means that each U-Type’s particular combination of light, heavy, and point-defense batteries is up to the admiral in command. The U-Type has heavy armor at the bend section but only medium armor on the long sections, relying on the turrets’ firepower and the launched fighter craft to protect those sections.

The U-Type’s contribution to histagal is that while it’s less customizable than the simpler command modules, it’s intrinsically versatile by combining the firepower of a heavy cruiser with drop tubes that launch craft much faster than a normal flight deck. The drop fighters themselves can be reconfigured in the hangar into all-purpose fighters, interceptors designed to dogfight small enemy craft, and fighter-bombers that sacrifice speed to carry anti-capital ship bombs. With two couplings at each of the tips, a U-Type can lean further into a particular role or shore up its weaknesses, but these customizations are generally less dramatic because the U-Type is so much larger. However, some admirals have used U-Types as the basis for super capital ships, like putting an I-Type on each tip to give the combined ship two whole groups of the I-Type’s gun drones on top of the U-Type’s already considerable firepower and carrying capacity, plus even more stacks of O- and X-Types at the combined command modules’ several couplings. (The reason the launch tubes taper outward is to allow for configurations like this, as the I-Type and other command modules are wider than the utility modules and would block the drop tubes otherwise.) Along with the T-Type, the U-Type was a go-to command module when constructing ships designed to take on more formidable enemy capital ships, like a Rhino or a captured Venture-class.