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New Orleans class
Commissioned 2364 - present
Dimensions
Length: : 339 m
Width: 290 m
Height: 53 m
Decks: 14
Mass: 900,000 tons
Crew: 190
Warp Speeds
Normal Cruise: Warp 6
Maximum Cruise: Warp 9.2
Maximum Rated: Warp 9.4 for eight hours
Armament
- 4 x Type VIII phaser arrays, total output 9,500 TeraWatts
- 3 x Standard photon torpedo tubes + 90 torpedoes
- Defence Systems Shield system, total capacity 1,012,500 TeraJoules
- Standard Duranium/Tritanium single hull
- Standard level Structural Integrity Field
Expected Lifetime 100 years
Refit Cycle
Minor: 1 year
Standard: 5 years
Major: 25 years
The New Orleans class was introduced as a counterpart to the large Nebula and Galaxy class starships. The intention was to produce a Frigate which incorporated the technology advances being deployed on these two starships. The New Orleans would also have nearly equal speed to facilitate fleet operations.
One unique feature of the New Orleans class is the torpedo arrangement. The ship carries a heavy armament of three torpedo tubes of the most modern type available. When this requirement was issued the design team expressed concerns that the tubes would take up far too much internal volume, necessitating a near 20% reduction in the science capacity of the ship. A reduction to one tube was requested, but Starfleet command rejected the idea. After much consideration, the design team finally decided to mount two of the torpedo tubes in 'bolt-on' modular packs; each module would contain the tube, loading and firing mechanism, supporting power and computer systems, and a magazine of thirty photon torpedoes. The antimatter warhead material is tapped off from the fuel supply as normal and transferred to the pod immediately prior to firing. Computer simulations indicated that the skeleton structure of the Engineering was not sufficient to support a third torpedo pod, so the lower engineering hull was re-designed to include a prominent projection on the underside which provided the extra volume required to house the torpedo tube and loading system - the magazine being housed within the engineering hull proper.
This ingenious concept not only allowed all three torpedo tubes to be housed within the design, but also permitted a nearly 25% increase in the volume available for other applications within the proper hull. This has allowed most of the major systems to be upgraded; the shield grid of the New Orleans class is one of the most powerful ever installed in a ship of this size. Her manoeuvrability is also quite impressive, although some vessels have experienced problems with hull stress around the connect points for the torpedo pods. The sensor and computer systems of the New Orleans represent a significant increase in capacity over previous designs.
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Nova class
Commissioned 2369 - 2370. Expected to resume in 2376 or 2377
Dimensions
Length: : 165 m
Width: 62 m
Height: 34 m
Decks: 8
Mass: 80,000 tons
Crew: 80
Warp Speeds
Normal Cruise: Warp 6
Maximum Cruise: Warp 7
Maximum Rated: Warp 8 for twenty hours
Armament
- 8 x Type VIII Phaser arrays, total output 6,000 TeraWatts
- 4 x Standard photon torpedo tubes + 25 torpedoes
- Defence Systems Shield system, total capacity 229,500 TeraJoules
- Standard Duranium/Tritanium single hull
- Standard level Structural Integrity Field
Expected Lifetime 120 years
Refit Cycle
Minor: 1 year
Standard: 2 years
Major: 6 years
The Nova class was designed as a modern replacement for the long serving Oberth class science vessel. The requirement called for a ship capable of making relatively short duration missions; Starfleet intended to use these ships in the large unexplored areas between Federation controlled space, missions which would typically be staged out of Starbases and last for a few months up to a year at most.
The design of the Nova class vessel was based on the Defiant pathfinder ship. This ship was of the right size and employed the latest warp field/hull geometry and propulsion technology. Starfleet replaced the warp core with a far less powerful version, reducing the top speed to Warp 8. Running the same nacelle design at much lower power greatly extended the operating life of the warp coils, reducing the ships refit schedule and making it easier to operate. The heavy weaponry was also removed, creating extra space for sensor arrays and scientific labs.
Originally, the Nova designation was intended to be assigned to the replacement for the Galaxy class Explorers. However, the Galaxy class went into high level production as a battleship in the run up to the Dominion war. After the war, many of these ships continued in service as fully fleshed out Explorers, while others were retired. It quickly became clear that Starfleet would have a ready supply of large space frames on hand for far longer than originally envisaged. Additionally, the entry into service of the Sovereign class introduced a new level of high technology to the fleet. Both factors reduced the need for a galaxy replacement significantly, and so the Nova development project was quietly dropped. With the name now available again, Starfleet chose to assign it to the new science ship.
Construction of the Nova class was suspended shortly before the Dominion war in favour of more combat capable vessels. Now that the war is over, construction is likely to be resumed within the next year or so.
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Nebula class
Commissioned 2355 - present
Dimensions
Length: : 433 m
Width: 560 m
Height: 145 m
Decks: 42 (including pod)
Mass: 4,500,000 tons
Crew: 780 including family members
Warp Speeds
Normal Cruise: Warp 6
Maximum Cruise: Warp 9
Maximum Rated: Warp 9.4 for twelve hours
Armament
- 8 x Type X Phaser arrays, total output 32,500 TeraWatts
- 3 x Type 3 burst fire photon torpedo tubes + 180 torpedoes
- Antimatter spread emitter
- Defence Systems High capacity shield system, total capacity 2,349,000 TeraJoules
- Standard Duranium/Tritanium double hull plus 8.0 cm
- High Density armour
- Standard level Structural Integrity Field
Expected Lifetime 100 years
Refit Cycle
Minor: 1 year
Standard: 5 years
Major: 20 years
The Nebula class was fielded in the 2350's to provide a smaller, more numerous counterpart to the Galaxy class then under construction. The design was intended to parallel that of the Galaxy class as closely as possible in order to allow for many identical systems to be installed in both classes; this has resulted in significant improvements in the design and construction processes for the Nebula class and thus allowed comparatively high numbers to be fielded. Compared to the Galaxy class the Nebula has a more compact shape - the engineering hull is mounted directly to the underside of the saucer section, a measure which saves some 200 metres in Length: .
The major difference in capability is the addition of a prominent housing aft of the saucer section of the Nebula class. This enables the vessel to carry any one of a variety of special equipment pods - current models include a high capacity sensor pod, an enhanced weapons pod, a colony transport pod, an emergency field hospital unit, or a science laboratory pod. Although the basic Nebula design has approximately 80% of the capability of a Galaxy class vessel in most areas, the addition of the mission pod brings that figure up to 95% or more in that specific area. This flexibility actually allows the Nebula design to accomplish almost almost identical missions despite its smaller size.
In service the Nebula class has proved highly satisfactory, and in many ways these ships form the backbone of Starfleets exploratory and scientific programmes. Like the Galaxy class they have received regular upgrades to their systems, most notably a new Warp Core design. With the advent of the threats from the Romulan, Dominion and Borg, Starfleet invested in sixty seven new enhanced weapon pods for the Nebula class; most of the vessels now carry this as a standard item.
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Niagra class
Commissioned 2336 - 2349
Dimensions
Length: : 443 m
Width: 260 m
Height: 152 m
Decks: 23 excluding nacelles
Mass: 2,800,000 tons
Crew: 520
Warp Speeds
Normal Cruise Warp 7
Maximum Cruise Warp 9
Maximum Rated Warp 9.4 for twelve hours
Armament
- 6 x Type VIII Phaser arrays, total output 22,500 TeraWatts
- 2 x Standard photon torpedo tubes + 80 torpedoes
- Defence Systems High capacity shield system, total capacity 1,647,000 TeraJoules
- Standard Duranium/Tritanium double hull plus 0.4 cm
- High Density armour
- Standard level Structural Integrity Field
Expected Lifetime 50 years
Refit Cycle
Minor: 1 year
Standard: 25 years
Major: 50 years
The Niagara design was fielded shortly after the Ambassador class, and originally showed a high degree of commonality with that class. Then Engineering hull and Nacelles were closely based on those of the Ambassador, and the ship is fitted with Type 8 phaser arrays and a pair of photon torpedo tubes which, combined with its speed and agility, make it a formidable opponent in battle. The Primary Hull shows elements of the Ambassador design, but is also clearly a forerunner of the later Galaxy/Nebula/New Orleans family. Like all Starfleet ships its role is primarily one of peaceful exploration and diplomacy, and the Niagara has served well in these arenas. The ship is fitted with Grade 4 diplomatic facilities, and as such is capable of handling multi-planetary conferences involving several high level diplomats and their staffs. In the scientific areana the ships high average speed allows it to cover greater areas than would be normal for a ship of this size, while the sensor fit on commissioning was of a generaly more advanced type than that of the Ambassadors.
In the mid 2360's the Niagaras, together with their smaller cousins the Freedom class, where refitted with Galaxy class nacelles in order to enhance their acceleration and turning ability, important to a ship which is more biased toward combat than most Starfleet ships.
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Norway class
Commissioned 2360 - 2370
Dimensions
Length: 329 m
Width 200 m
Height 45 m
Decks 12
Mass 650,000 tons
Crew 150
Warp Speeds
Normal Cruise Warp 6
Maximum Cruise Warp 8.4
Maximum Rated Warp 9 for twelve hours
Armament
- 1 x Type IX Phaser bank
- 4 x Type VII Phaser arrays, Total output 9,000 TeraWatts
- 2 x Standard photon torpedo tubes + 50 torpedoes
- Defence Systems Shield system, total capacity 877,500 TeraJoules
- Standard Duranium/Tritanium single hull
- Standard level Structural Integrity Field
Expected Lifetime 80 years
Refit Cycle
Minor: 1 year
Standard: 5 years
Major: 20 years
With the Akira and Steamrunner design projects well under way by by the late 2340's, Starfleet felt that it had cured the problems of fleet wide obsolescence and combat deficiency that had faced it. Starfleet Command now turned its attention to the other arenas. The Akira, Steamrunner and Sabre classes had been rather more combat oriented than the average Starfleet design; concentrating on these vessels had left a gap in the more important areas of Science and Diplomacy. In 2353 Starfleet requested a new class of Starship to complement the Akira and Steamrunner classes. This new 'Norway' class was to have a 50% reduction in armament to allow two extra science labs, a set of ambassadorial quarters and a large conference hall complex to be inserted. This would allow the Norway to host multi-party talks and scientific conferences on a significantly larger scale than its counterparts could manage.
Development of the Norway class went relatively smoothly, with the prototype launched in 2360 and series production begun later that year. The ships have a single hull of triangular profile, with the two nacelles supported on struts which project aft. In most respects the design is unexceptional; lagging slightly behind the cutting edge represented by the Akira, Steamrunner and Sabre classes, the designers generally chose reliability and low maintenance over performance. The ships have proved very popular in service, largely because of the good accommodation standards. Norway's have served with great distinction throughout the Federation, playing host to countless functions and events.
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Olympic class
Commissioned 2366 - present
Dimensions
Length: : 239 m
Width: 90 m
Height: 96 m
Decks: 23
Mass: 650,000 tons
Crew: 160 standard crew, plus up to 200 medical personnel and 1,000 patients
Warp Speeds
Normal Cruise: Warp 6
Maximum Cruise: Warp 8
Maximum Rated: Warp 9 for twelve hours
Armament None
- Defence Systems Shield system, total capacity 337,500 TeraJoules
- Standard Duranium/Tritanium single hull
- Standard level Structural Integrity Field
Expected Lifetime 100 years
Refit Cycle
Minor: 1 year
Standard: 5 years
Major: 25 years
The Olympic class stems from a starfleet requirement issued in 2360 for a new class of medical vessel to replace the ageing Nightingale class. The new ship was to improve on the Nightingales in every respect; it would incorporate a complete Starbase level mobile hospital capable of catering for up to 1,000 patients, compared to the Nightingales 560. The warp and impulse drives, computer systems, etc. where also to be up to the latest standards.
Starfleet chose the Olympic from several proposals in 2363, and construction began on the first of the class in the same year. The ship was launched in November of 2365, and completed its shakedown successfully in 2366. Series production began at once, and sixteen ships have now joined the fleet. The Olympic has proved very successful in service, and is highly popular with its crews. Their early careers where relatively uneventful, although the USS Olympic herself rescued several hundred survivors from the immediate aftermath of the battle against the Borg at Wolf 359. With the Dominion war the Olympics have seen a great deal of active service, and have been responsible for saving many hundreds of lives.
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