2242 – Ptolemy (Modified)

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The Ptolemy class transport was the first in a line of successful high-load warp transports used by the Federation. Equipped with specially designed warp engines suitable for towing mass never before realized, the vessels were a boon to infrastructure building outside the core of the Federation. Initially, production contracts called for 30 ships of this class to be constructed. However, due to the fleet-wide ship build-up at the time it was commissioned, limited appropriations permitted the construction of only 15 of the class.

The Ptolemy class was designed for easy and efficient transporting of cargo within outboard cargo containers. The cargo containers were easily attached and detached via a specially designed coupling unit fitted to the neck of the primary hull of the starship. Depending upon total mass, up to two containers could be towed by the Ptolemy at one time. These containers were mass-produced and supplied to both Starfleet and private shipping concerns (at a reduced rate) to promote the use of these standardized containers. Practically a ship unto themselves, these containers were a break-through in shipping technology just as the high-load warp engines mounted on the Ptolemy were.

The containers came in five basic types:

  • Mk I Liquids
  • Mk II Dry Bulk Goods
  • Mk III Refrigerated/Thermal Goods
  • Mk IV People (starliners, mass transport)
  • Mk V Products (non-food stuffs and misc.)

The Mk I-III and V containers had their own cargo transporters (up to six), turbolifts for carrying goods to various levels and self-contained environmental machinery. The Mk IV containers also included 6 personal transporters and could accommodate 800 passengers. This container also had its own sensors array, was capable of sub-light speed and could sustain its passengers in case of an emergency for up to 18 years.
During the Four Years War, an urgent need arose for military cargo transports. Because of their slow speeds, the Ptolemy was not a viable candidate. However, the need was so great that all Ptolemys in service at the time were converted to Mk IIs. The Mk II mounted the FWB-1 engine which improved the speed of the transport, but at the cost of limited cargo capacity. The Mk II could only carry approximately 121,000 mt of cargo in smaller outboard cargo containers. However, this was sufficient in its role as a military transport.

After the Four Years War, surviving Ptolemys were retrofitted with the FHLWA-1 and returned to their pre-war roles. Many of the Mk IV containers were converted to starliners, with luxurious accommodations for up to 500 passengers. These starliners contained a park promenade, numerous recreation lounges, 2 full theaters, a gymnasium, pool and hydroponic gardens.

This modified version was first built in 2242 alongside the standard version, it featured more discreet hull mounted deflectors as opposed to the large dish of the standard ships. Post war most of the class were converted to this standard, which gave no performance benefits, but considerably improved reliability.

Class: VII Year: 2242
Ship Source: Starfleet Technical Manual/The Starfleet Museum Ship Datasheet: Download PDF

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2248 – Mission

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When most citizens of the Federation think of the ships of Starfleet, their thoughts may soar with the mighty designs of the Constitution ,Enterprise and Excelsior classes. However, one of the most successful and influential designs in the history of the Federation is the modest Mission class. This versatile little ship will forever be linked to the success of the Federation in many ways.

Class: II Year: 2248
Ship Source: FASA Ship Datasheet: Download PDF

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2251 – Stellarford II (Assault)

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“The Stellarford II (Mk4) was an attempt to restart production using new technologies in the shape of the FWH-1 warp drive. However only five new build ships were completed before the shipyard went bust due to the high costs of building the class compared to newer modular vessels, a further hull was abandoned while 60% complete. These five ships were procured by Mars shipping as part of the civilian reserve fleet program, which saw Star Fleet underwrite a proportion of the cost of acquisition of the ships in return for them being made available in times of emergency.

The performance of the Mk4 prompted Star Fleet to offer to underwrite the conversion of Mk3 ships to the standard, again in return for use of the ships in times of war. At the time the conversion of a such a number of large elderly ships was thought to be pointless, but with hindsight it can be seen that it was a perfectly timed program. 20 ships were modified to this mark by 2247, and that was planned to be the end of the program.

Visually, the Mk4 could be easily distinguished from the earlier versions as the short FFTL-3B nacelles were replaced with the much longer dilithium energised FWH-1 nacelles. The more modern construction and materials of the nacelles meant that despite their increased size they massed substantially less, meaning the class reverted to Class IV mass (unladen) and Class VI (Laden).

The increasing hositilities with the Klingon Empire prompted Star Fleet to reassess its needs for assault ships, and in 2251 an incomplete new build Mk4 Stellarford Class liner was taken in hand by Star Fleet Division and completed to Mk5 standards. The Mk5 added fore and aft accelerator cannons in the former bow and stern observation decks, as well as two pairs of lasers covering all arcs fore and aft at the top of the ‘sail’ assembly. These weapons were intended for use in self defence only, as part of the new role of assault ship. Later that year the six newest remaining Mk3s were converted to this standard, as well as four of the new build Mk4s and a pair of rebuilt Mk4s. In total 13 ships commissioned as Mk5s.

Class: IV-V Year: 2251
Ship Source: Spaceflight Chronology Ship Datasheet: Download PDF

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2245 – Stellarford II

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“The Stellarford II (Mk4) was an attempt to restart production using new technologies in the shape of the FWH-1 warp drive. However only five new build ships were completed before the shipyard went bust due to the high costs of building the class compared to newer modular vessels, a further hull was abandoned while 60% complete. These five ships were procured by Mars shipping as part of the civilian reserve fleet program, which saw Star Fleet underwrite a proportion of the cost of acquisition of the ships in return for them being made available in times of emergency.

The performance of the Mk4 prompted Star Fleet to offer to underwrite the conversion of Mk3 ships to the standard, again in return for use of the ships in times of war. At the time the conversion of a such a number of large elderly ships was thought to be pointless, but with hindsight it can be seen that it was a perfectly timed program. 20 ships were modified to this mark by 2247, and that was planned to be the end of the program.

Visually, the Mk4 could be easily distinguished from the earlier versions as the short FFTL-3B nacelles were replaced with the much longer dilithium energised FWH-1 nacelles. The more modern construction and materials of the nacelles meant that despite their increased size they massed substantially less, meaning the class reverted to Class IV mass (unladen) and Class VI (Laden).”

Class: IV-V Year: 2245
Ship Source: Spaceflight Chronology Ship Datasheet: Download PDF

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2196 – Stellarford I

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“The Stellarford Class Starliner had double the capacity of the previous Declaration Class liners, and its much greater range opened up the galaxy to all peoples. Catering especially to the burgeoning tourist industry, these Stellarford series ships made excursions to such galactic wonders as the Jewel Stars. One Mk1, the King Charles, was the most luxurious starliner ever conceived and set a standard of opulence and comfort still unsurpassed.”

Class: IV-V Year: 2196
Ship Source: Spaceflight Chronology Ship Datasheet: Download PDF

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2246 – Cygnus I

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The Cygnus Class entered service in 2246 as a Command Courier version of the highly successful Saladin/Hermes class. The Intention was that an Admiral could use the ship as a sector command post. To this end the design was given the FWC-1 warp drive, giving it more power than its half sisters, the weapons were entirely laser based to make more room for the Admiral’s facilities and command centre.

In 2250, the USS Columbia was converted to a more heavily armed configuration as an experiment to evaluate the benefits of an FWC-1 powered heavy destroyer type. These trials amounted to nothing, but the Columbia was left in this configuration, and was assigned as a Destroyer Leader to a flotilla of Saladins in the Klingon Border Area.

The outbreak of the Four Years War saw a major change in Starfleer Operational Procedure, a number of the Cygnus class ships were involved in near disasters in 2252, as operating independently without escorts as they had been designed to do made them tempting targets. In a fleet role the additional speed of the Cygnus was wasted, so it was ordered to convert the other 8 mk1 vessels to mk2 standards.

  • Class:VIII
  • Year:2246
  • Ship Source:Starfleet Technical Manual
  • Ship Datasheet:Download PDF

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2249 – Diligent

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The Diligent Class Combat Support Tender commissioned in 2249, the ships were intended to provide frontline support to damaged ships, towing them out of the battlefield with the powerful tractors, then assisting them with repairs.

The Class was based on the Coventry Class hull, but with a vertically enlarged rear hull which housed the massive spare part storage bins and the enlarged hanger bays. The Twin FTB-1 Tractors (also fitted in the aft hull) could each haul 300,000 mt. The maximum mass that the Mark 1 could haul was 330,250mt (this covered all class 14 ships, and some class 15), where as the later Mark 2 could haul 480,250mt (including all ships up to class 17, and the majority of class 18 ships as well).

The ships were armed with 4 FL-6 lasers which were meant to give a measure of self defence, in fact coupled with the state of the art shielding the Diligent was a surprisingly capable combat vessel, capable of a very robust defence. With the advent of the four years war these ships were plunged into action. They were initially used in there intended role of recovering crippled Federation ships, but their role developed as the war continued.

In 2255 the USS Stevenson and USS Brunel were employed in a most unorthodox operation, a Klingon Z-3 Station had been placed in a position where it could easily monitor Starfleet Traffic. All previous attacks on a Z-3 had failed as insufficient ships were available locally to push home the attack. The two Diligent class ships were tasked to pull the Z-3 out of its stable orbit and start it moving down towards the planet’s surface, a a Federation Task group was simultaneously attacking the station to prevent it diverting power to its station keeping thrusters. The operation succeeded, but the losses on the Federation side were such that the exercise was not repeated, the losses included the USS Brunel.

2256 saw a more daring but more conventional mission, Starfleet Intelligence learnt of a crippled Klingon D-10 with only a skeleton crew aboard in the vicinity of ‘Malta Station’ within Klingon controlled space that was awaiting recovery. The USS Diligent, the USS Sir Lancelot (an Eagle class Troop ship) and an escort squadron of Baton Rouge class cruisers crossed into Klingon space and successfully captured the vessel, then towed it back to the Federation at the painful speed of warp six. This was the first intact D-10 captured by the Federation and was the source of much valuable intelligence. In all 8 ships of this class were lost or destroyed during the war, but they recovered an estimated 4.5 million mt worth of ships from the battlefields to fight another day.

Class: VIII Year: 2249
Ship Source: Steve Bacon, based on Coventry from Ships of the Starfleet. Ship Datasheet: Download PDF

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2251 – Aaken

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The Aakenn Class transport entered service in large quantities during the Four Years War, during which the class was used to move men and materiel to the front and supplies to the rear to keep the Federation’s wartime production at high levels.

Class: VI Year: 2251
Ship Source: FASA Ship Datasheet: Coming Soon

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2258 – Pyotr Velilkiy

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Ordered as an alternative in case of the failure of the Constitution Class. The delays to Constitution Class and poor performance of the Ranger II meant that the Pyotr Velilkiy served as an interim Heavy Cruiser, and was ordered in quantity in response to Klingon aggression in 2244.

The eventual entry of the Constitution Class to service in large numbers meant that the Pyotr Velikiy was relegated to less glamorous duties, and some were converted to serve as tugs. The Cruiser version was phased out by 2312.

The Pyotr Veliky class was conceived as fall back design in case of delays to the Constitution Class Program. The Protoype, USS Pyotr Veliky named for the Tsar who created Russia’s Imperial Fleet, entered service in 2241. The ship mounted the ultimate non dilithium warp drive to enter service, the FFTL-7B and was the only class fitted with this engine. The other technology of this design was also well proven, in direct contrast to the advanced systems chosen for the Constitution Class. The class was designed and built at Andorian shipyards in an effort to disperse the strategically important role of building heavy cruisers away from Earth, additionally much of Earth’s ship building and design capacity was tied up in the Constitution class program.

Delays to the Constitution Class led to the ordering of 5 Mk 2 ships, the first of which entered service in 2244. The Mk 2 featured improved laser weaponry and improvements to cargo handling systems. The Pyotr Veliky class, despite it’s old technology warp reactor did have the same nacelle design as would be used on the Constitution, and many minor improvements made to the nacelles on these ships found their way into the Constitution class nacelles.

As the Mk2 ships entered service, increased Klingon aggression prompted an order to be placed for 14 Mk3 ships. The Mk3, which entered service in 2245 mounted the brand new FAC-4 accelerator cannon, but the main advance was with shielding. The New unary shields were now coming into service, and the FSG was selected to replace the inefficient system mounted on earlier ships. The FSG required the addition of a new style M series computer, and the M3 was accordingly fitted.

With the Constitution class beginning to be available in quantity by 2250, steps were taken to refit the 20 Pyotr Veliky ships for further service. 14 Ships were refitted to MkIV standards for service with Military Operations Command, and 6 to MkV for service with Galaxy Exploration Command.

The MkIV adopted the FWD-1 warp drive, this drive at half the weight of the FFTL-7B meant that the ship’s mass dropped by almost a 100,000mt. The resultant ships, although less powerful, were more efficient in movement and had a higher maximum speed, useful for patrol duties. The only old technology system retained aboard the ships was the dependable FNSP-X impulse system, as no newer style engines could yet power ships of Class XI. The refits were all complete at the outbreak of the Four Years War, where this class served distinction.

The MkV adopted the even lighter FWE-1 Warp drive, and had a major physical change with the removal of the secondary hull. These ships had been intended for use in an exploration role, but the Four Years War saw them serve as Frigates until the Surya and Coventry classes entered full service. The MkV mounted the same weapons as the MkIV and the FIC-3 impulse engine meant that it had the same amount of power as its larger sibling, but the lighter structure could absorb less damage.

Postwar surviving vessels were used in second line roles, some for exploration (Mk6) and some as cargo tugs(Mk7) or transports (mk8), although a small number did remain in defence roles with the Blue Fleet (Mk9).

The last Pyotr Veliky was not retired from service until 2312, that vessel, the USS Salah Ad-Din is now on display in the Starfleet Museum.

  • Class: IX
  • Year: 2250 (Mk V)
  • Ship Source: Starfleet Museum
  • Ship Datasheet: Download PDF

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Commissioned Ships

USS Pyotr Velikiy NCC-1670

USS Shrelev II NCC-1671

USS Yi Sun-Shin NCC-1672

USS John Paul Jones NCC-1673

USS Tav NCC-1674

USS Elizabeth I NCC-1675

USS Etrox NCC-1676

USS Togo NCC-1677

USS Rommel NCC-1678

USS Friedrich Barbarossa NCC-1679 USS Goyathlay NCC-1680

USS Washington NCC-1681

USS Niakenchiis NCC-1682

USS Salah Ad-Din NCC-1683

USS Giap NCC-1684

USS Hannibal NCC-1685

USS Zerisshebi NCC-1686

USS De Grasse NCC-1687

USS Rexx NCC-1688

USS Gantu NCC-1689