Originally designed and built during the Trinity War, when the Trinity Alliance needed anything they could build on the front with the Capellan Confederation, the original Magnums were nothing more than mobile naval autocannons. Lacking any anti-fighter weapons and having even less fuel and armor than modern Magnums, they were little more than flying coffins whose only goal was to get close enough to a Capellan ship to kill it before they went down.
         The volunteers who piloted those early ships were honored in the Concordat, but when the Trinity War came to an end in 3093 Challenge Systems of Panpour recalled the surviving Magnums to Panpour for a full refit. The Magnums have been through several small changes since then, and though they now sport some smaller weapons, crew comforts, and actually have enough fuel to be useful for patrols, they are still little more than flying eggshells with hammers.
         Few Magnum crews expect to survive a battle, and all Magnums continue to be crewed only by volunteers. Consequently, the small crews of these ships tend to be rather wild and when they arrive at a friendly port the local Constables usually know to expect some wild parties, fights, and other general mayham.
         Standard battle doctrine has entire wings of Magnums concentrating on one enemy at a time, with the survivers of that attack run moving on to other ships, much like the fighter squadrons they depend on to survive. Magnum crews and fighter pilots see each other as kindred spirits and Magnum crews are the only naval personnel welcome in fighter pubs, where their fun-loving ways are fully accepted.
         Most Magnums are seen on the borders with the Syrtis Federation and the Capellan Confederation, in service of either the Pleiades or Panpour fleets, but some do serve in the other Taurian sectors and even in the Colonial Marshals. They most often serve in wings and support larger ships, using fleet reserves of fuel and spare parts when possible as their own storage capabilities are minimal. Because of the numbers in which they are built and the transient nature of their existance in the navy, Magnums are not officially given names and are referred to by their hull number in all official documentation. Their crews often bestow nicknames on them though, to give them some character.