The Empress Troyhune was originally constructed in orbit above Mora/Mora in 1067 for system defense. Budget constraints, its experimental nature, and provision for future ship expansion meant that the ship’s tonnage was not fully utilised as constructed. Many turrets were installed as dual rather than triple mounts, and a sizeable fraction of the ship remained unused. Originally it was envisioned that this space would be later committed to additional heavy fighter squadrons and launch tubes. So far, this has not been the case, although the empty interior space has proven useful in other ways.

In 1101, the monitor was declared surplus to the needs of the Mora system and acquired by Rorise/Mora for system defense purposes. Transport to its new home presented something of a problem, as neither of the navies of Mora or Rorise possessed a transport ship of sufficient capacity to carry the monitor, and commercial ships of that size are unknown in the Spinward Marches. An appeal to the Imperial Navy brought eventual results, and during the fleet exercise of 1104 the million-ton fleet tender Gorodish carried the Empress Troyhune to Rorise in place of one of its Hadrian class battleriders.