Wherever possible, the Colonial Navy preferred to use Cruisers or even Battlestars to patrol their space, especially on the frontiers where pirates and Cylons lurked, and to send anything else was just an act of stupidity.

However, in the inner systems, the need for the larger ships of the line to act as escort vessels for regions where piracy was at a minimum was considered a waste of valuable resources, after all, why send a Battlestar to an area where it was not needed?

As a result, a smaller breed of vessel was constructed - the patrolboat class range of ships. Small, manoeuvrable and able to carry enough firepower and fighters to defeat a typical small pirate force, these ships were cheap and quick to build in comparison to even a typical light cruiser, and allowed the more valuable ships to be sent to where they were needed most.

Of course these smaller ships had disadvantages. Firstly, they were cramped for their crews, especially the fighter carrier variants. Secondly they carried almost no extra equipment other than that needed for escort duty, so they couldn't be used as survey ships or other such roles. And finally, they really were not built for combat against a foe other than pirates. While they were military grade ships, with armour and military turbolasers, against anything other than pirates they just couldn't survive. If they were ever employed in a stand up fight with Cylons, then something has gone incredibly wrong as even a flight of Raiders, poor as they are, would destroy a patrolboat with ease.

Variants:

Pegasi Class Patrolboat

The Pegasi Class was probably the most numerous of the patrolboats. It has a decent range and speed, and as well as mounting a few turbolasers to fend off attack shuttles, also carried a full flight of (usually) Viper fighters. Unfortunately duty on these ships was not really welcome, as the amount of space that a full fighter flight took up ate up most of the interior of the ship making it incredibly cramped. Most crews complained that these ships "smelt funny".

Names: These ships were named after winged horses of myth, and included: Lampos, Actaeon, Chronos, AEthion, Asterope, Bronte, Pyroeis, Erythreos, Phelgon, Celeris and Chryosaur.

Gryphon Class Patrolboat

The Gryphon was a later model patrolboat and learned from some of the mistakes of the older - but more common - Pegasi Class. It was more spacious and had a slightly bigger turbolaser battery, although the arc of fire was more limited. Unfortunately this did come at a price. The ship was not able to carry a full flight of fighters anymore, only half. Sometimes this mattered, sometimes not. Still, it was considered better duty than the earlier Pegasi.

Names: This class of patrolboat was named after flying creatures similar to the winged horse, such as the Pigasus (flying pig), Pteracentaur (flying Centaur) and the Cerapter (flying Unicorn)

Hippogriff Class Gunboat

An odyssey amongst the class of patrolboats, the gunboat was equipped with no fighters for defence but instead had a bigger class turbolaser with a limited forward arc. it is armour was slightly increased as well. This class was something of a mystery as, like it is brethren, it could not engage ships of the line in combat, unless it utilised the swarm tactic, in which case the cost of life would be enormous and generally unacceptable. Against pirate ships, it could generally inflict that bit of extra damage, and against attack shuttles the heavier turbolaser was useful, but for the same reason the ship was usually singled out first for destruction by the enemy. Duty was considered a mixed blessing by crews. The ship was spacious (being about the same size as the patrolboats but without the fighters and extra deckhands meant the crew had more space for quarters), but in combat they were generally the first to be attacked.

Names: The Hippogriff class of ships were named after mythical Cyclops creatures who were supposed to be their riders, but ended up being named after any one-eyed creature. Such names include Polyphemus.

The Patrol boats were designed and SSD's drawn by me.

Patrolboats follow the normal rules for yachts. Not having launch tubes or anything fancy for these fighters, they launch in direction 1, while shuttles launch in direction 4.
Normal Vipers are the standard for carried fighters, but sometimes other types could be carried under exceptional circumstances. No additional supplies or expendables are carried for these fighters though.
Patrolboats have a hyperspeed multiplier of x1.5.

Master Ship Chart Extract:

Annex #7B: Ships able to land on planets

These ships may land on a planet via Powered landings (P2.434).

Annex #7G: Carrier information & Annex #7N: Missile reloads