Imagine "your" perfect ship....

[Steel Sterling]

Ok, here's a nice fanboy (fangirl) question.

I'm limiting it to practical considerations-but for any series of Trek.
(I'll explain below.)


Let's say you were a captain of Starfleet, with considerable experience.
(And considerable pull/mojo.)

You currently have some say over your next assignment.
You're going to captain a ship.

(Defiant-class is EXCLUDED from this.)

Now, it's got to be a ship in regular Starfleet production and use.
(No secret classes or whatevers.)
You can set your answer in any official Trek timeframe.
(The Original Series, The Next Generation, etc.)

The ship's purpose will partly be defined by its spaceframe,
and both will affect its crew complement.
In other words, each ship will do something related to what it's designed
to do, with a staff sized to accomplish that.
Military-type ships like frigates will have a military purpose,
and be staffed appropriately.
Medical ships will have medical staff,
and so on.

Now, you have enough pull to have some modifications retrofitted to
this ship- or added as it's being completed- before you take over.
(Within the limits of what the ship can do-
you can't make a ship exceed its maximum speed, nor just strap
heavy guns all over it. Nothing that changes the exterior, nor the
engines, nor requires capacity beyond the current engines.)

The ship will be in excellent condition, being newly made or newly
reconditioned.


Keeping all of that in mind,
this is your chance to decide what "your ship" would be like.

So,

What Trek era would it be?
What ship's class would you use?
What would its primary missions include? (What do you do with it? Remember
that you need to work WITH the class...)
What changes would you have made to the ship?
Most importantly,
what will you name this ship? smile


Feel free to post more than one answer, so long as each one is answered fully.
(I'll be posting 2 of them eventually, myself.)  

[Steel Sterling]

Ok, I'll give an example.

Me, I think Starfleet needs to refocus on building smaller vessels.
I'd finish refitting and repairing all the ships from the Dominion War,
including taking the Galaxy-class ships that were rushed into production
and fully outfitting them as explorers.
That pretty much covers all current needs for larger ships,
and is much faster than building them from scratch.

Many of their current tasks are much better served by SMALLER ships that
are faster to build, use fewer resources to build and equip, and take up
fewer officers and crew. To hedge all bets, that would include some
Defiant-class escorts, but mostly would include more general-purpose ships
like the Intrepid-class (like Voyager).

My personal dream command might go like this.....

The tiny NOVA-class is replacing the ancient OBERTH class as science
vessels. The Nova class ships are smaller than the Intrepids, making them
one of the smallest ships in Starfleet. Depending on the mission, they
can be used for extensive scientific exploration of a planet, as scouts,
as surveyors, or a little of each.

So, here's what I say....

The Enterprise-D was often sent to study astronomical anomalies and chart them,
etc. etc. How wasteful.

A Nova-class ship could do the same job with a fraction of the "cost."

Nova-class ships have a few disadvantages, which I will address.

The purpose of this ship will be to serve specifically as a long-term surveyor.
That's it. Detailed scans from space, or detailed scans OF space.

With a narrowing of the mission profile, I can cut the crew complement in half.
They average about 80, and I can do this easily with just under 40.

Now, cutting down the crew allows me to address 2 of the drawbacks of
the Nova class-supplies and living quarters. With 1/2 the crew, supplies
will last longer even if they are not increased. The more spacious crew
quarters would remain in use, but the shared-quarters space will be
converted to additional reserve batteries.
(These come in handy in desperate situations, and can dump additional
power into the shields and phasers in case of military action.)
The Nova's been shown to be remarkably tough for its size, and a little
more reserve power would help that.

The removal of the other mission profiles will mean that most of the labs
won't be needed. That's good-because Nova-class ships are notorious for
having almost no space to relax. Some of those labs would be converted
over nicely. The Astrometrics/Stellar Cartography lab would be retained,
as would one general-purpose one that could be converted over to another
A/SC lab if the main one is damaged. One lab would be converted to a
training facility, so crewmembers can drill on various procedures and
remain sharp. (Lowered numbers of crew means everyone must be sharp.)
Navigational skills and combat-drills would be mandatory.

Other labs could be converted to a sort-of "bar" like a small 10-forward,
a permanent gym, and a holodeck. (Opinions differ as to whether or not
it has a holodeck.) All of these will make lengthy journies less stressful.

One lab would remain prepared for use as an isolation lab
(just in case it's ever needed), and all the others would be converted to
storage space for more supplies.

Most of the crew will be trained in at least 2 functions, with at least one of
them being Navigation, Stellar Cartography, or gunnery/shields operation.
Engineers will make a significant portion of the crew, since they will be
travelling far from starbases and may need to handle much more
extensive repairs than would be normal. (This also is why there's more
supplies.)

As-is, this ship would be well-suited for long-term studies and charting,
without undue stress on the crew. The extensive blank time will also serve
as time for them to learn new skills for later use in their Starfleet career.
Cross-training in disciplines is always a good thing.

The EMH (or LMH, if it's build yet) will serve as the main ship's doctor,
but one medical officer will be on-call at all times in case they are truly
needed.

The ship is designed for long-term engine use, at the expense of speed.
That can't be sacrificed back. Therefore, the ship's top speed is not
sufficient to run from larger attackers. The drilling in weapons systems
is a measure to improve performance by improving the crew.

If I was to play "fanboy", I'd say it was equipped with the cloaking device
of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey purchased on the black market, to correct that
deficiency. (They can hide from warships.) If not, however, they'd be
unable to add one due to the Treaty of Algeron.

The final change includes its vehicles. Due to the range the ship must
travel, its emergency supplies include evacuation vehicles for the entire
crew. The two shuttlebays are equipped as follows:
A) one Danube-class runabout, and 1 work bee
B) one Type-11 (Enterprise-E) shuttle, and 1 work bee.

The Nova class has a "waverider" shuttle flush against the bridge,
like the Intrepid class' "Aerowing/aeroshuttle".
With this one, we're swapping out the waverider for an Aerowing.
This means that a Warp-capable ship is docked to the bridge.

Thus, the Nova-class ship can be fully evacuated with 3 Warp-capable
vessels, guaranteeing a return to Federation space.
In the event of needing to abandon ship, the 3 craft can all be launched,
with all remaining crew using escape pods. The runabout can then beam in
the crew and emergency supplies from the pods before heading back
to Federation space.



So, that's the ship and all its refits.

I give it a name matching its function.
Therefore, I dub thee....the USS Gazetteer!  

[Steel Sterling]

The USS Gazetteer...
 

[Steel Sterling]

And again...

 

[Preator Suran]

What Trek era would it be?
Nemesis

What ship's class would you use?
Excelsior class with Lakota refits

What would its primary missions include?
It would be used for short and long-term military assignments, including intelligence operations

What changes would you have made to the ship?
I would have a smaller (like on the Defiant class) secondary warp core that would be used to give extra power to the weapons and shields. The ship would carry two type-11 shuttles, and a small wing of Peregrine fighters. The ship would also carry a platoon of Starfleet marines and extra security officers. There would be a Starfleet intelligence officer working on the bridge at all times using one of the extra consoles. The ship would have two EMH programs altered to run for as long as needed.

what will you name this ship? USS Vengeance  

[Steel Sterling]

GR Gorkon

What Trek era would it be?
Nemesis

What ship's class would you use?
Excelsior class with Lakota refits.

The latest refits for the class, a good choice.
Spiffy. Quantum torpedoes, upgraded phasers.
With both sides trying not to destroy the other,
the Defiant and the Lakota were nearly an even match.

Quote:

What would its primary missions include?
It would be used for short and long-term military assignments, including intelligence operations

Like the Lakota itself, I see.
So far, totally viable, and there's precedent, even.

Quote:

What changes would you have made to the ship?
I would have a smaller (like on the Defiant class) secondary warp core that would be used to give extra power to the weapons and shields.

A warp core is one of the biggest parts of the smaller ships.
The ship would need to be redesigned to accomodate a second warp core,
even a smaller one.
Where would it go, and what would be displaced by it?
(If you ADD something on the interior,
you need to REMOVE something it replaced.)

(Unless you meant the Defiant had one as well, and I can't find a hint
of that ANYWHERE.)

Not saying it can't be done-just that it will take a redesign on your part.
That's why "my" ship added extra reserve batteries rather than an
additional warp core-there's no place on a Nova to put one without
re-engineering the hull completely, and Starfleet would never buy that one.

Quote:

The ship would carry two type-11 shuttles, and a small wing of Peregrine fighters.

I like the idea, and 2 Type-11 shuttles works fine. They can be used for
general purpose, or for combat. (I was already floating a similar idea.)

Fitting a SQUADRON of fighters into both shuttlebays, however, would be
a very tight squeeze, even if you emptied them of everything but the
2 shuttles. More than a squadron would be out of the question.
(Unless you added another shuttlebay, and then you'd have the same
problem as above...)

The 2 Type-11 shuttles works fine.
A dozen Peregrine fighters can be made to work.
(Presuming some creative engineering by the crew-as in "stacking"-
but launching all of them FAST would not be an option.)

More than that, you'd need a bigger ship.
*checks*
That would mean an Ambassador-class (unlikely)
or a Galaxy-class.
A Galaxy-class has one main shuttlebay, and two smaller ones.
It MIGHT fit 2 dozen fighters (2 squadrons) if you redid the interiors.
(I'm thinking RACK the fighters, thus allowing them to STACK.)
This would allow a slow discharge of most of them, but not a fast
deployment.
One cargo hold has access to the exterior, and MIGHT be designed
into another smaller shuttlebay. If you did that, you could move
2 shuttles and a workbee in there, and reserve the other shuttlebays
for the fighters. Here's hoping you never need to land another shuttle
on the ship...)

Quote:

The ship would also carry a platoon of Starfleet marines and extra security officers.

No problems there.
Just remember to rotate crew assignments. smile

Quote:

There would be a Starfleet intelligence officer working on the bridge at all times using one of the extra consoles. The ship would have two EMH programs altered to run for as long as needed.

No problem on the intelligence officer.
The EMH's already work for long-term usage.
(We saw that on Voyager.)
No alteration is needed.
Are you adding the second one to the same sickbay?
If not, are you adding a second sickbay?
If so, what are you replacing?
(There should be room for it unless you've already gutted the ship
with redesigns.)

Quote:

what will you name this ship? USS Vengeance

Consider me like the crazy theoretical engineer, sorta like Scotty,
but not as old, not as fat, and without the moustache.

We can figure out all kinds of crazy ways to make the ships do things,
but "Ah cannot change the laws of physics!"

Figure out which options you want to exercise,
and as soon as you have a viable design you can live with,
I'll announce the completed (theoretical) ship.

The good news is that-once you've passed my scrutiny-
it's good enough for most of the demanding fanfics and so on,
so you can use the design later and stuff.  

[Steel Sterling]

*studies the Excelsior some more*

Ok.
There's a main shuttlebay,
and a large cargo hangar.
If you move out the cargo-restocking it into the interior where possible-
and rework the hangar interiors (empty them),
you SHOULD be able to fit the shuttles and a dozen/squadron of fighters
without difficulty, and MAYBE another dozen if you RACK the other dozen
and put them across the top of the two bays.

If that's fine, then you can fast-launch one squadron from the ship,
and I'd recommend the racks be used for replacements.
(Replacing parts or fighters, since the racks slow launches.)

The Galaxy-class could probably fast-launch one squadron, and rack
a second squadron without difficulty.

Forget launching the shuttles without launching the fighters first either
way, since the ceiling's blocked by the racks.  

[RockyRatt]

Era: DS9/VOY
Class: Nova
Primary Missions: Science & Exploration
Changes: Just add a holodeck, then it'd be perfect.
Name: U.S.S. Starfarer

The Starfarer would have a crew compliment of 70-80, mostly science officers. It would be sent on missions to investigate spacial anomalies, and to run initial scans of newly discovered planetary systems.

It's small size would allow it to enter the atmosphere of, and land on, planets which it is investigating.

Landing, though, would mostly be for maintenance that cannot wait or hiding from enemy forces, considering that the ship would have minimal weapons to free up resources for scientific equipment.  

[Steel Sterling]

Pack Rat

Era: DS9/VOY
Class: Nova
Primary Missions: Science & Exploration
Changes: Just add a holodeck, then it'd be perfect.
Name: U.S.S. Starfarer

Swap out 1 lab, you have your holodeck.
(Novas have lots of labs.)

Quote:

The Starfarer would have a crew compliment of 70-80, mostly science officers. It would be sent on missions to investigate spacial anomalies, and to run initial scans of newly discovered planetary systems.

Sounds like it's well within the normal Nova-class functions, and doesn't
need refitting at all.

Quote:

It's small size would allow it to enter the atmosphere of, and land on, planets which it is investigating.

Well within the specs of the Nova-class.

Quote:

Landing, though, would mostly be for maintenance that cannot wait or hiding from enemy forces, considering that the ship would have minimal weapons to free up resources for scientific equipment.

Novas are already pretty well equipped for science overall as-is,
and do not need to free up additional resources for them.
Unless you really, really want to.
Standard phasers for the Nova have variable settings, and have
use as a utility phaser for cutting as well as a weapon.

Sounds like the Starfarer is the type of ship that might be sent on similar
assignments as the Gazetteer, only closer to home or to specialize where
the former went on a survey.
We had similar ideas in mind, but not identical.

(Mine was optimized for longer missions, and for comfort for the crew.)

So, did you want to keep the Nova-standard systems, except for the
holodeck? Or did you really want to upgrade the already-impressive
sensors and science rigs?  

[Steel Sterling]

*waits for Gorkon or Pack Rat to post again*  

[Steel Sterling]

Ok, here's another ship.

We know that Starfleet still has lots of Miranda-class ships,
which it wastefully throws into major engagements and more modern
capital ships chew them to pieces.
That's not smart.

Other uses of the Miranda-class ship are as a light transport,
or as a convoy escort.

Here's where it can be made more effective.

Convoys can be attacked by capital ships-which means they need LARGER
escorts or one or more Defiant-class ships- or by small raiders.

With my design, the Miranda-class ship is refit to be THE anti-raider ship,
which Starfleet currently does NOT have.
(Unless you count the Defiant-class.)

So, we begin with the original spaceframe, complete with the "rollbar"
with weapons on it. We saw that in Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan.

We will go with all the basic upgrades that have already been applied to
the entire class since then, leaving the rollbar in place. So, it appears like
the Reliant-configuration, and has the new technology. So, it can now
exceed Warp 9, and is actually matching the USS Majestic, a Miranda-class
refitted ship.

Now we get to the changes.

It began with 2 photon torpedo launchers on the rollbar facing front, and
2 facing aft. We'll replace one of each with an additional phase-pulse
cannon. (It already has 2 pulse phaser cannons, per the Majestic fit.)
Now, there's a pulse-phase cannon facing fore and aft, allowing for an
improvement firing both fore and aft. Capital ships would thus find it
knocking down their shields amazingly fast firing forward, and knocking
them down fairly quickly if they CHASE this ship. (Forward, it has 3/4 of
the cannon capacity of the Defiant, not counting its standard phasers.)

So, the ship now can handle itself marginally better against capital ships.
And it has carrying capacity sufficient for a long journey (since it's not
being used as a transport ITSELF.) What about the anti-raider?

Well,
here's the most significant design change, IMHO.
The skin of the ship will be dotted with a number of shuttle-phasers and
microtorpedo launchers, and multiple gunnery stations. This allows for
gunners to sight and fire less-powerful guns rapidly at continuous fire,
slashing at quick-dodging raiders. With such a rate of fire and range of
guns, the raiders will be unable to pass undamaged through its fields of
fire. Once they're slowed by attrition from such fire, then the standard
phasers of the ship can disable or destroy a raider in a single shot.
(The phase-cannons and torpedoes would be impractical to use against
small raiders, unless they flew in parade formation...)

Furthermore, the Shuttlebays have their own surprise...
the ship has been outfitted with 2 Type-9 shuttles and 2 Type-11 shuttles,
each capable of acting as a fighter. In addition, 4 Peregrine fighters have
been readied for "hot launch". With this addition, the ship also acts as a
"pocket carrier". The main ship itself can take down raiders, and its
fighter and shuttle complement are themselves capable of engaging 8
more raiders in a defensive pattern. Together, they are enough to blunt
even a large-scale raider attack on a convoy, even if the other ships have
negligible combat capacity. If the other ships have even minimal defense
abilities (standard phasers and shields), this ship and its smaller craft can
eventually wipe out a whole squadron of raiders preying on the convoy-
given enough time to destroy each raider in turn.

Naturally, if capital ships are expected to be attacking, then a more capable
capital ship should be employed to engage it- like one or more Defiant
vessels. In one such engagement, the Defiant attempted to defend a
convoy against 2 capital ships, where they would engage ONE ship while the
OTHER attacked the convoy. If such a strategy was enacted on a convoy
accompanied by this Miranda refit, then the Miranda ship could engage one
capital ship, allowing the Defiant to focus on one ship and still leave the
convoy defended. (Complete with 4 fighters hanging close to keep any
ship busy if it slipped out to attack the convoy.)

So, this ship now serves as a convoy escort against raiders, and as a
support craft in defending, backing up the capital ship assigned to the
convoy.


Finally, the name.
In acknowledgement to the original fan-name for the Miranda-class,
I shall name this....the USS Avenger.  

[Jean_Luc_Picard]

Era: Late TNG
Class: Miranda
Primary Missions: Pwning
Changes: Fuzzy dice, DDR
Name: NCC 526-B U.S.S. Brigam Young

3 adtional phaser bankes, Vista Opperating system, and a reclinable captains chair  

[Se Ga Takai]

@ Steele - I believe what Gorkon meant by a small Wing was something around 4-6 peregrine class fighters, though I might be wrong. But I doubt he meant a Full Squadron, or even two. In Most Fiction, a Wing of Fighters is usually less than six(it makes Character Development MUCH simpler that way wink ), I am unsure of how it is in real life.

And this is really interesting, I might think of doing this sometime soon, once real life gets out of the way. Is a Sovereign Class Vessel allowed? I've only seen teh Enterprise-E carry that model.  

[Se Ga Takai]

Jean_Luc_Picard

Era: Late TNG
Class: Miranda
Primary Missions: Pwning
Changes: Fuzzy dice, DDR
Name: NCC 526-B U.S.S. Brigam Young

3 adtional phaser bankes, Vista Opperating system, and a reclinable captains chair

you misspelled Brighaim, and I don't recall Picard ever stating that he was on a Mission of "Peace, Exploration and pwning teh noobs lawlzorz!!!1!!11!!one-eleventy1!"  

[Steel Sterling]

Se Ga Takai

@ Steele - I believe what Gorkon meant by a small Wing was something around 4-6 peregrine class fighters, though I might be wrong. But I doubt he meant a Full Squadron, or even two. In Most Fiction, a Wing of Fighters is usually less than six(it makes Character Development MUCH simpler that way wink ), I am unsure of how it is in real life.

Thanks.
I was thinking 48 fighters, which I got from somewhere. (A Star Wars novel, possibly, but if so, which one?)
Either way, he should be able to fit 8 Peregrine fighters easily between the
2 bays, available for "hot launch", plus replacement parts and the normal
shuttlecraft for the ship.

I stand corrected.
(Of course, he could have said so himself...)

Quote:

And this is really interesting, I might think of doing this sometime soon, once real life gets out of the way. Is a Sovereign Class Vessel allowed? I've only seen teh Enterprise-E carry that model.

By definition, the USS Sovereign must also be this class. smile

I'm not crazy about it, but hey, as I said, it's your ship, so, let's hear it.
What are you doing to the interior?



BTW,
I'm rescinding my exception for the Defiant class.
That class has very little room on the ship for customizing,
but if you've got an idea, let's hear it.
Please note that it's already at its top speed and weapons output.
(So, you could DOWNGRADE either, but not UPGRADE either.)