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Akira Class
Akira Class
The Akira class is a medium sized type of starship with heavy armament. (First Contact)
Commissioned 2363 - present
Dimensions
Length: : 464.4 m
Width: 316.7 m
Height: 87.4 m
Decks: 15
Mass: 3,055,000 tons
Crew: 500
Warp Speeds
Normal Cruise: Warp 6
Maximum Cruise: Warp 9.3
Maximum Rated: Warp 9.8 for twelve hours
Armament
- 3 x Type X phaser arrays, total output 16,000 TeraWatts
- 15 x Pulse fire Photon torpedo tubes + 3000 torpedoes
- Defence Systems Shield system, total capacity 931,500 TeraJoules
- Duranium/Tritanium double hull plus 10 cm high density armour
- Standard level Structural Integrity Field
Expected Lifetime 80 years
Refit Cycle
Minor: 1 year
Standard: 5 years
Major: 20 years
The Akira Class is one of the very few Starfleet vessels which is heavily biased toward the combat role. The ships carry an extremely heavy torpedo armament of no less than 15 photon torpedo tubes. Seven of these are mounted in the large roll bar pod, all facing forwards; the remaining eight are located in the saucer section, two of which face directly out to port and starboard - an unusual feature in a Starfleet vessel.
Another unusual feature of the Akira class is the hangar bay arrangements. There are two large shuttle bays in the saucer section, one at the forward edge of the saucer section and one at the rear. These are linked together through the centre of the ship, allowing large numbers of launch and landing operations to be handled simultaneously. During peacetime this allows the Akira to evacuate large numbers of small survey craft, or ferry evacuees on board at a high rate. During the Dominion war the ships often serve as fighter carriers; in this role they can carry up to one hundred attack fighters, although a load of thirty six fighters and a dozen utility craft is more usual.
The Akira Class entered service in 2363, and a rapid production run put nearly a hundred others into the fleet over the next twelve years. Most were assigned to units on the outer Federation territories, performing patrol and presence missions as well as the normal mapping and exploration duties which any Starfleet vessel is expected to handle.
The Akiras had been due to cease production in 2373, but with the disastrous contact with the Dominion Starfleet decided to continue production at an increased rate. When the Dominion war began, production of the Akira was boosted to eighteen per year as the Federation converted its economy to a war footing. The Akiras have now become a common sight on the front lines, participating in most of the major battles.
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Constituion class
Commissioned 2244 - 2272
Dimensions
Length: : 288.6 m
Width: 127.1 m
Height: 72.2 m
Decks: 23
Mass: 600,000 tons
Crew: 430
Warp Speeds
Normal Cruise: Warp 5
Maximum Cruise: Warp 6
Maximum Rated: Warp 8
Armament
- 6 x Type VII Phasers, total output 4,250 TeraWatts
- 2 x 2nd class photon torpedo tubes + 120 torpedoes
- Defence Systems Shield system, total capacity 189,000 TeraJoules
- Double hull construction
Expected Lifetime 20 years
Refit Cycle
Minor: 1 year
Standard: 2 years
Major: 10 years
Perhaps the most famous class of vessel in Starfleet history, the Constitution class was a legend in its own time. When launched, the USS Constitution set a new standard of excellence in almost every applicable field - she was simultaneously the fastest ship, most advanced exploration platform and most powerful combat vessel in known space. The four hundred and thirty crew enjoyed a standard of crew accommodation unknown on other vessels of the period, while the diplomatic facilities rivalled those of all but the most elaborate Starbases.
By 2265 the early Constitutions where reaching twenty years of age, their designed life span. Starfleet had decided that they where becoming somewhat long in the tooth and was looking for a replacement class; however, such was the popularity of these ships that the Starfleet design bureau stated in an official memo that none of the contemplated new designs matched up to them and the best course of action was to simply rebuild the existing ships with the latest technology. Although Starfleet was not convinced at first, careful testing of the skeleton framework of several Constitution class ships revealed that the basic structure was more than capable of continuing in service, having withstood twenty years of hard use with ease.
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Constitution class refit
Commissioned Refit programme between 2269 - 2272
Dimensions
Length: : 304.8 m
Width: 141 m
Height: 71.0 m
Decks: 23
Mass; 620,000 tons
Crew: 400
Warp Speeds
Normal Cruise: Warp 6
Maximum Cruise: Warp 7
Maximum Rated: Warp 9 for short periods
Armament
- 12 x Type VII Phasers total output 17,000 TeraWatts
- 4 x 2nd class photon torpedo tubes + 120 torpedoes
- Defence Systems Shield system, total capacity 729,000 TeraJoules
- Double hull construction
Expected Lifetime Extended to 40 years total
Refit Cycle
Minor: 1 year
Standard: 2 years
Major: 10 years
The old Constitution Classes were refitted in quick succession. The new ships proved to be more than capable of carrying out their normal exploratory and scientific roles, while in the combat arena they where judged an easy match for the new Klingon K'T'Inga class. The Constitutions continued in service for a further twenty years, and once again the Enterprise set the standard for the rest of the ships to follow. After her shakedown the ship conducted another five year exploratory mission under Admiral Kirk before being transferred to training duties in 2277 under Captain Spock. She continued in this role for a further eight years, and many of Starfleets most successful officers went into space for the first time aboard this ship.
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Cheyenne class
Commissioned 2345 - 2352
Dimensions
Length: : 326 m
Width: 250 m
Height: 134 m
Decks: 16, excluding nacelle engineering spaces
Mass: 900,000 tons
Crew: 245
Warp Speeds
Normal Cruise: Warp 6
Maximum Cruise: Warp 9
Maximum Rated: Warp 9.4 for twelve hours
Armament
- 4 x Type VIII Phaser arrays, total output 7,500 TeraWatts
- 2 x Type 2 burst fire photon torpedo tubes + 50 torpedoes
- Defence Systems Shield system, total capacity 337,500 teraJoules
- Standard Duranium single hull
- Standard level Structural Integrity Field
Expected Lifetime 60 years
Refit Cycle
Minor: 1 year
Standard: 5 years
Major: 25 years
The Cheyenne project was approved in 2338 as a scoutship to counterpart the New Orleans class Frigate and the upcoming Galaxy and Nebula class Explorers. As with most scouts the Cheyenne was intended to be somewhat faster than its contemporaries in order to allow it to travel out ahead of the main body of a fleet. In order to accomplish this, the Cheyenne was fitted with four nacelles in the pattern established by the much earlier Constitution class.
Initially, all did not go well with the Cheyenne. Starfleet has relatively limited experience with four nacelle designs, and a good deal of difficulty was experienced with the warp field geometry. Eventually these problems where overcome and the USS Cheyenne, launched in 2344, achieved a maximum speed of Warp 9.4 in trials. However, in December of 2344 the Galaxy project received new specifications calling for a top speed of Warp 9.6. With the prototype about to enter service and five more ships under construction, it was already too late to make any serious attempt to improve the top speed of the Cheyenne, so Starfleet was forced to bring a scout into service which was some 10% slower than the vessels it was supposed to work with.
Over the succeeding years several attempts where made to bring the speed of the Cheyenne up to Warp 9.7, but problems with the field geometry began to re-surface with alarming regularity. This culminated with a test on board the USS Ahwahnee; when a new computer control system was tried out the ship created a wormhole effect on its first test flight. Although the Ahwahnee survived and there where no casualties, the subspace stress caused severe cracking in the hull structure of all four nacelle struts. The ship was in spacedock for over a year while the struts where replaced. Starfleet suspended production of the class in 2352 after twenty five had been commissioned, mothballing the six ships under construction.
The Cheyenne has proved less than successful in service. Her relatively low speed has restricted her performance in her designed role, and she has been forced to operate in the role of a Frigate. She is not especially suited to this task - certainly not when compared to the New Orleans class which was purpose designed for the role. As a result the Cheyenne's have been given a very low priority for refits and upgrades, and have fallen considerably behind the rest of Starfleet in this respect.
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Daedalus class
Commissioned 2158 - 2166
Dimensions
Length: : 104 m
Width: 48 m
Height: 40 m
Decks: 10
Mass: 30,000 tons
Crew: 229
Warp Speeds
Normal Cruise: Warp 4
Maximum Cruise: Warp 4.5
Maximum Rated: Warp 4.9
Armament
- 4 x Laser cannon, total output 1,000 TeraWatts
- 2 x Missile launch tubes + 24 fusion missiles
- Defence Systems Shield system, total capacity 40,500 TeraJoules
- Standard Monotanium single hull
-Low level Structural Integrity Field
Expected Lifetime 30 years
Refit Cycle
Minor: 1 year
Standard: 2 years
Major; 10 years
The Human / Romulan war was Humanities first interstellar conflict after more than forty years of total peace. Thus, while the Romulans began the war with a well tested fleet of purpose designed combat vessels, the Humans where trying to hold them back with converted merchant vessels augmented by the occasional ship bought from an alien government. From the first day of the war it was obvious that a new class of warships was needed, ships that where larger, faster and more powerful than any which had preceded them. Work began at a feverish pace early in 2156, and by mid 2158 the first of the new Daedalus class was launched.
The designers where urged to be daring, and they certainly took this advice to heart. Instead of the integrated hull form which most previous ships had possessed, the Daedalus class was the first design which featured a multi-hulled configuration. The engineering section was a cylinder six decks tall which housed the ships heavy engineering equipment - the warp core, structural integrity and inertial damper field generator systems, shield generators, hangar bays, impulse drive, etc. This hull was connected by a two deck neck to a spherical primary hull which housed the ships main weapons, control areas and provision for the crew. The Daedalus class was intended to remain in space for up to a full year with minimum outside support, far longer than any pervious design. The accommodation standards where thus much improved compared to the ships which began the Romulan war; the senior officers had individual rooms, while all enlisted personnel had barracks style accommodations. Considering that contemporary vessels slept everybody below the rank of Lieutenant Commander in hammocks hung wherever there was room, the Daedalus represented a quantum leap in luxury.
Primarily a combat vessel, the class was fitted with four laser cannon of the heaviest type in service and a magazine of twenty four fusion missiles. Combined with her high speed and enhanced shield capacity, the Daedalus was considered equal to any four Romulan warships. In service they proved exemplary, rapidly acquiring a fearsome reputation on the front lines. By 2159 the rapidly growing Daedalus fleet had turned the tide in the war, and by the end of that year they where routinely striking deep into Romulan MAIN territory. The Romulans, faced with a war now fought almost wholly on their own territory, sued for peace in 2160.
When the United Federation of Planets was formed in 2161, the constitution called on members to supply the newly formed Starfleet with ships until purpose-built vessels could be constructed. The pacifist Vulcan's where reluctant to devote resources to what they considered a military force, but the Humans had no such qualms; of the fleet of seventy Daedalus class vessels in service in 2161, they turned over no less than sixty of these to Starfleet. With Starfleet assigned a major scientific and exploratory role in addition to its secondary military mission, this bold move bought the Humans a huge stake in the future of the Federation. Virtually every exploratory mission, every first contact, every new scientific discovery made in the first eighty years of the UFP was made by Daedalus class starships under Human command and carrying wholly Human crews.
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Defiant class
Commissioned 2367 - present
Dimensions
Length: : 170 m
Width: 100 m
Height: 20 m
Decks: 5 including nacelle sub-decks
Mass: 120,000 tons
Crew: 50
Warp Speeds
Normal Cruise: Warp 6
Maximum Cruise: Warp 8.7
Maximum Rated: Warp 9.5 for twelve hours
Armament
- 4 x Class I rapid fire phaser pulse cannon
- 1 x Type X Phaser bank, total output for all phaser weapons 70,000 TeraWatts
- 4 x Pulse fire Quantum/Photon torpedo tubes + 30 torpedoes
- Defence Systems AAuto-modulated high capacity shield system, total capacity 2,376,000 TeraJoules
- Heavy Duranium/Tritanium double hull plus 20 cm Ablative armour
Expected Lifetime 20 years
Refit Cycle
Minor: 6 months
Standard: 1 year
Major: 5 years
The Defiant class was initiated in 2365 as a crash programme to develop a starship capable of fighting and defeating the Borg. The design incorporated several new weapons concepts, including the Quantum torpedo and phaser pulse cannon. The design and construction teams were briefed to produce a small, tough, simple to build vessel packing the maximum possible level of firepower. A secondary aim of the project was to develop new technologies for implementation in the Sovereign project and possibly into existing starship designs.
The vessel which emerged from the design office was unlike anything ever contemplated by the Federation before. In place of the usual graceful structures, Defiant was a compact, boxy, almost ugly design. The central body is a three-deck block with the a single deck bridge mounted on the top for four decks in all. The upper deck contains the bridge, engineering support spaces and some crew quarters. Deck two features main engineering, a simple medical bay, more crew quarters and the ships communal mess hall. The third deck includes the transporter room and ships storage and cargo bays and the deuterium fuel tanks. Deck four houses the ships replication storage tanks and systems, the antimatter fuel pods and the small shuttle bay. The single computer core is split between decks two and three.
The navigational deflector is located in a prominent housing on the ships bow, which also contains a probe launcher. Flanking the deflector housing are a pair of torpedo tubes capable of firing both Quantum and photon torpedoes. Aft of this the nacelles are fitted directly to the main hull, flanking the bridge. Each nacelle housing includes four warp coils and two of the ships pulse phaser cannon. The nacelles supporting equipment are contained within a fifth deck which hangs below the normal four; this deck is divided into three levels of crawl-way spaces. Aft of the nacelles are the aft torpedo tubes, and the ships armament is completed by a turret type phaser array aft of the bridge.
Serious faults in the design surfaced. Overpowered and over gunned for a ship of its size, Defiant experienced serious problems with her structural integrity during warp flight and weapons operation. With the Borg threat now less urgent, the President ordered the Defiant project shelved in favour of the new Sovereign class which was then under construction.
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