Supporting Material for "A Star Trek Story"

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BigJKU316
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Supporting Material for "A Star Trek Story"

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The following is a report from the Bureau of Ships who is responsible for managing the construction of ships for Starfleet. It gives the roadmap from where Starfleet was at the end of the Dominion War to where it stands now.

Bureau of Ships Construction and Development Schedules
United Federation of Planets

General: Beginning with the Dominion War in 2375 the Bureau of Ships was tasked to produce a series of 5 year plans for ship-building and fleet modernization. The following is a historical summary of each 5 year period, along with projections for future 5 year periods.

2375- Dominion War construction hits its peak over the next two years. The totals listed represent rolling averages for each category over the 5 year period between 2375 and 2379. All non-standard ships are not included in these totals as they were immediately scrapped upon the conclusion of the war.

Construction Per Year Time to Build Total In Progress

Galaxy Class 12 5 Years 36 (3 Years Production)
Nebula Class 18 3 Years 54 (3 Years Production)
Akira Class 36 2.5 Years 90 (Full Production)
Defiant Class 36 1.5 Years 54 (Full Production)
Prometheus Class 12 2 Years 24 (Production Ramp up)
Nova Class 50 6 Months 25 (Full Production)
Intrepid Class 25 1 Year 50 (Full Production)
Sovereign Class 12 3.5 Years 42 (Full Production)
Steamrunner Class 48 1 Year 96 (Full Production)
Norway Class 30 2 Years 15 (Final Year Production)
New Orleans Class 50 1 Year 50 (Final Year Production)
Saber Class 50 6 Months 25 (Full Production)

Total 379

Total Tons 512.5 Million Tons

Development Projects

Luna Class- The Luna Class is a mid-sized exploratory ship designed to augment the fleets exploratory capability without investing a huge capital cost. Displacing about 2.8 million tons it is projected to have a construction time of between 2.5 and 3 years

Unnamed Galaxy Class Replacement- A large, multi-purpose exploratory ship displacing 7 to 9 million tons and based on the Sovereign Class design.

NXS- Theoretical design project designed to test the viability of Slipstream drive for use in future ships.

Defiant Class Flight II- A comprehensive project to reduce the cost and time to build of Defiant Class ships. Every aspect of production is reviewed and certain compromises, primarily in the area of hull strength, are made to allow large scale production of this ship. By 2380 they will largely be built on shore side yards and then bonded and stuffed together in orbital facilities. The resultant seams reduce the overall hull strength, which in the original models was very high due to the generally oval shape of the hull. Crews initially complain about the compromise but are given the alternative of serving on a Miranda or Steamrunner class ship in the same role. No further complaints have been filed with the Bureau of Ships.

2380- The rebuilding of Starfleet continues to pick up steam as infrastructure comes back on line and the total number of classes under construction is reduced in an effort to wring more efficiency out of the system.

Construction Per Year Time to Build Total In Progress

Akira Class 36 2.5 Years 90 (Full Production)
Defiant Class 80 1Year 160 (Full Production)
Prometheus Class 64 2 Years 128 (Production Ramp up)
Nova Class v2 100 6 Months 50 (Full Production)
Intrepid Class 75 1 Year 150 (Full Production)
Sovereign Class 24 3Years 72 (Full Production)
Steamrunner Class 48 1 Year 96 (Full Production)
Luna Class 24 3.5 Years 84 (Full Production)

Total 426

Total Tons 545.7 Million Tons

Development Projects

NXS- The NXS achieves stable, though unmanned, slipstream flight in 2378.

Unnamed Galaxy Class Replacement- Project is cancelled in 2377 due to lack of transformational technology. With present warp drive the range is not sufficient to justify the size. Generational ships would need to be significantly larger than Starfleet could support. No tangible advantage is found to the size of the space frame over the Galaxy Class ships presently in service other than a higher top speed. The proposal is shelved and development resources are focused on a refit project for the Galaxy Class ships to increase their speed since they are now available in numbers. Proponents attempt to resurrect the proposal as a test platform for a production slipstream drive but the cost risk is too great to overcome.

Redemption/Excelsior II Project- This project is formally known as the Common Medium Hull Replacement Program. It is intended to provide a common hull to replace the Akira and Luna Classes in production. Initially conceived as a combat oriented vessel the project is co-opted to produce the Excelsior Class exploration ships which will be the first manned ships to be equipped with the slipstream drive. This is viewed as the lowest risk method in which to field the new drive technology to a limited number of ships. Rather than basing the development of a whole class around a new drive system a small number will initially be produced on a space frame already being developed.

Independence Class Project- In 2378 initial requirement were let for a class of battleships to be the first of their kind in the Federation. Various designs were submitted, with the Independence Class being selected based on its deliverability, affordability and capability. The team borrowed liberally from the proposed hull structure for the proposed Galaxy Class Replacement in order to meet ambitious timetables set for production. A final weight of 7.5 Million tons it would be by far the largest ships Starfleet had ever contemplated building.

Nova Class Ongoing Update- Being single purpose ships the Nova class platform is put into a pattern of continual updates which produce new variants year after year to keep the program fresh at a minimal expense.

2385-2387

Construction Per Year Time to Build Total In Progress

Akira Class 24 2.5 Years 60 (Full Production)
Defiant Class 105 1Year 210 (Full Production)
Prometheus Class 64 2 Years 128 (Production Ramp up)
Nova Class v3 150 6 Months 100 (Full Production)
Intrepid Class 50 1 Year 100 (Full Production)
Sovereign Class 32 3Years 72 (Full Production)
Steamrunner Class 48 1 Year 96 (Full Production)
Luna Class 48 3 Years 144 (Full Production)
Independence Class 12 5 Years 60 (Production Ramp Up)
Redemption Class 0 3.5 Years 24 (Production Ramp Up)
Excelsior Class 0 3.5 Years 12 (Production Ramp Up)

Total 533

Total Tons 706.9 Million Tons

Development Projects

Trans-Galactic Class Explorer- A long lead time project to study the feasibility of using slipstream drive to transit to and explore galactic formations other than the Milky Way. Utilizes the infrastructure designed for the Independence Class ships and is a hypothetical large exploration ship. This program is in very early stages of development as the hypothetical

Defiant Class Replacement- The Defiant Class has become a fixture in the Federation fleet. Severing as both an escort in fleet actions and a system patrol ship all over the Federation its overall numbers will reach nearly 1,200 by the end of the decade, second only to the Nova. No longer state of the art it is more than adequate as an escort but lacks top end speed to really keep up with its sister ships. This program is plagued with problems from the outset. Given a goal of no more than a 25% weight increase it proves impossible to maintain firepower and protection while adding the necessary speed. This program continues through the present and is considered the highest priority procurement program in Starfleet. For the moment the nearly 20 year old design will press on for lack of an alternative.

New Patrol Ship Program- The Intrepid and Steamrunner class ships are indispensable figures for enforcing the law, keeping a lid on piracy and providing general security all among the Federation. This program intends to replace them with a ship displacing less than 1 million tons that can serve as a general purpose starship within the Federation.


Long Term Goals

Starfleet plans to slow production starting with the 2395 shipbuilding plan to avoid block obscellence issues within the fleet. With an average weighted lifespan of 45 years estimates are that current production capacity can sustain a fleet of 15-20,000 ships in accordance with whatever legislative limits and demands are put in place.

Current construction pace would maintain a fleet of nearly 24,000 ships, which is larger than anything being contemplated. Anticipated production in the 2390 schedule will be just under 500 ships per year, decreasing again in 2395 towards a level between 350 and 400 ships per annum. Any further lowering would have a negative impact on the ability of Starfleet to scale up production in the event of major conflict and Bureau of Ships considers 350 ships to be the minimum necessary to support the current level of infrastructure.


Long Term Projects

Sovereign Class Replacement- Projected for the 2395 shipbuilding plan. Production will wind down in the 2390 shipbuilding plan. No specifications have yet to be created for this theoretical ship.

Prometheus Class Replacement- Projected to begin in the 2405 shipbuilding plan. No specifications yet exist.

Independence Class Replacement- Projected to commence with the 2415 shipbuilding plan. No specifications yet exist.
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BigJKU316
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Re: Supporting Material for "A Star Trek Story"

Post by BigJKU316 »

Class: Independence
Affiliation : Federation
Type : Battleship
Unit Run : 48 Completed (Out of 120 Authorized)
Comm:

Dimensions
Length : 830 m
Beam : 292 m
Height : 108 m
Decks : 30
Mass : 7,500,000 metric tons
Crew : 1,200 (200 Officers, 1,000 enlisted)
Marines: 500

Armament : 32 Type XII Phaser Arrays- Total Output 200,000 TeraWatts
2 High-Throughput Phaser Arrays- Total Output 600,000 TeraWatts
3 Rapid Fire Quantum Torpedo Systems
8 Pulse Fire Quantum Torpedo Tubes

6,000 Quantum Torpedoes

Defense Systems : Auto modulated shield system, total capacity 12,500,000 TeraJoules

Heavy Duranium/Tritanium Double hull plus 30 cm Ablative armor.

High level Structural Integrity Field
Warp Speeds

(TNG scale) : Normal Cruise : 8
Maximum Cruise : 9.9
Maximum Rated : 9.99 for 36 hours.

Strength Indices (Galaxy class = 1,000)
Beam Firepower : 16,000
Torpedo Firepower : 13,500
Weapon Range and Accuracy : 1,800
Shield Strength : 4,629
Hull Armour : 4,900
Speed : 4,125
Combat Maneuverability : 2,000
Overall Strength Index : 9,818
Diplomatic Capability : 3

============================================================


Design Lineage: The Independence Class traces its design lineage back to two ships. It is a direct descendent of the Sovereign Class ships put into service about a decade prior. The hull form was originally designed for a Galaxy Class replacement that was abandoned due to the lack of transformational propulsion technology to make the ship appreciably better than the already existing Galaxy class for the task it was being designed to complete.

When the orders came down to design a fully capable battleship for Starfleet the structural team that had done the preliminary work on a skeletal frame for the Galaxy Class replacement was snapped up by the Utopia Planetia Design Group who partnered with the Andorian Engineering Consortium on their submission to Starfleet command. Their design was chosen over the Vulcan Science Institute design for reasons of deliverability, affordability and capability. The Vulcan design was in many respects a more advanced, but much larger design but the Independence Class as it was now called offered a much shorter delivery timeframe.

Capabilities: The Independence Class boast an impressive firepower increase for Federation ships, setting new standards for both torpedo and phaser effectiveness. The torpedo system boast a sustained firing capability of 1,200 rounds per minute, though this will exhaust the ships stocks in 5 minutes of sustained firing it is rare for all tubes to be firing at once since unlike the Akira Class they provide all around coverage for the ship.

Fed by three warp cores the phaser armament is among the most powerful in the quadrant. Initial studies showed that matching the firepower displayed by the largest Romulan and Dominion ships would necessitate fitting nearly 100 phaser arrays onto the ship. Indeed this was the primary drawback of the Vulcan design. Simply put, attempting to use this method to match potential opponents would necessitate a ship nearly as large and posed huge problems with the network necessary to distribute power to all the arrays on various parts of the ship. Ship weights ended up pushing the 12 to 13 million ton mark.

Instead a more modest armament of 32 Type XII arrays provides all around coverage that is sufficient against any but the heaviest opponents. In place of a large number of weaker arrays several solutions were considered, including a batter of pulse phasers in the nose of the ship and a fixed, large pulse phaser in the model of the Klingon cruisers.

Finally an engineering team hit upon a quick and dirty solution to the problem. Traditional phaser arrays were constrained in power by two factors. The first was the ability of the crystals to hold the energy being supplied without having a pre-mature discharge. This problem was easily fixed by looking back at historical research on early arrays when the limiting factor was power production. A synthetic crystal that had a much higher power capacity, and previously could not be charged enough to be used in a weapon, was selected for the new array.

The second problem was that of discharging and aiming the array. To discharge a traditional array an opening the crystal is excited and small forcefields are controlled in such a manner as to aim the beam. However forecfield technology does not exist that can sufficiently control a 300,000 TeraWatt beam. Rather than hold up the project to create an admittedly more elegant weapon the design team simply elected to discharge the weapon with a mechanically aimed lens assembly. This sacrificed some accuracy but cut years off the production time for the weapon.

The advantage conferred is profound. While having a lower combined output than other large ships the Independence Class is able to deliver concentrated strikes to any target in its forward hemisphere. The large, single impact point has a tendency to punch through and collapse shields, rather than wear them down by sustained bombardment.
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