Federation Class

Universe :	Prime Timeline
Affiliation :	Federation
Class Name :	Federation Class [1]
Type :	Dreadnought [1]
Unit Run :	NCC 2100 USS Federation [1] - Retired NCC 2101 USS Star League [1] - Retired NCC 2102 USS Unificatum [1] - Retired NCC 2103 USS Compactat [1] - Retired NCC 2104 USS Corporation [1] - Retired NCC 2106 USS Konkordium [1] - Retired NCC 2107 USS Star System [1] - Retired NCC 2108 USS Affiliation [1] - Retired NCC 2109 USS Concordat [1] - Retired NCC 2110 USS Directorate [1] - Retired NCC 2111 USS Organization [1] - Retired NCC 2112 USS Star Union [1] - Retired NCC 2113 USS Alliance [1] - Retired NCC 2114 USS Confederation [1] - Retired NCC 2115 USS Dominion [1] - Retired NCC 2116 USS Star Empire [1] - Retired NCC 2117 USS Trusteeship [1] - Retired NCC 2118 USS Association [1] - Retired NCC 2119 USS Consortium [1] - Retired NCC 2120 USS Entente [2] - Retired 20 have been retired from service.
Commissioned :	2260 - 2266, remained in service until 2296
Dimensions :	Length : 320 m [3] Beam : 140 m [1] Height : 87 m [1] Decks : 16
Mass :	900,000 metric tons
Crew :	500 [1]
Armament :	10 [1] x Type VII phaser bank [1], total output 7,000 TeraWatts 4 x 2nd class photon torpedo tube [1] with 190 rounds
Defence Systems :	Standard shield system, total capacity 243,000 TeraJoules Heavy Monotanium Double hull. Standard level Structural Integrity Field
Warp Speeds (TOS scale) :	Normal Cruise : 8 [1] Maximum Cruise : 9 Maximum Rated : 10 [1] for 12 hours.
Strength Indices : (Galaxy class = 1,000)	Beam Firepower : 140 Torpedo Firepower : 250 Weapon Range and Accuracy : 115 Shield Strength : 90 Hull Armour : 20 Speed : 522 Combat Manoeuvrability : 5,060
Overall Strength Index :	191
Diplomatic Capability :	3
Expected Hull Life :	30
Refit Cycle :	Minor : 1 year Standard : 1 years Major : 0 years

Notes

Although the Constitution and Miranda classes were widely regarded as being more than able to defend the Federation, in the 2260's it was decided to produce a new class of vessel which would give Starfleet a decisive superiority over the Romulan and Klingon Empires. This new vessel was to be almost totally dedicated to the combat mission; she would carry very little in the way of scientific research or diplomatic conference facilities. This marked a radical departure in Starfleet design ethics, and lead to a type of vessel new to the Federation - the Dreadnought. [4]

The ship was given a heavy weapons fit comprising five phaser banks of two phasers each plus two photon torpedo tubes. [1] The latter were of a new and heavy type, far more powerful than those in service at the time. In defensive terms the ship was equally well provided. [4] The shields were almost 30% stronger than those of the Constitution, while the hull structure was considerably stronger than those generally used by Starfleet. The entire hull was also covered in a superconductive coating which spread the energy of impacting phaser strikes across the entire ship, greatly increasing the resistance to battle damage. [4]

Uniquely for the time, the vessel employed a three nacelle configuration which [1] coupled with the far more powerful warp core allowed considerably greater speeds to be achieved - the Dreadnought was capable of a sustained Warp 10, almost double the speed of a Constitution class vessel. [4]

The first ship, USS Federation, was launched in 2260 with more soon following. Sadly, the most notable incident this class was involved in came when the second ship, the USS Star Empire, was used during an attempted coup against the Federation council. Other Starships, led by the USS Enterprise, were able to defeat the conspiracy with minimal loss of life, but the Federation class was tainted with a reputation of being too militaristic for their name. [4] Nevertheless, twenty vessels of this class were constructed [1] and served with distinction until their retirement in 2296.

Colour key

References

#	Series	Season	Source	Comment
1			Star Trek - Starfleet Technical Manual
2			Star Trek : The Motion Picture
3			Star Trek - Starfleet Technical Manual	Stated on page 01:04:24.
4			Dreadnought

Comments

The original Dreadnought design was created by Franz Joseph for his TOS Technical Manual, and a version of it later featured in the novel "Dreadnought".

The ship is highly controversial. The version of events depends somewhat on who you listen to, but I gather that the gist of it is that Franz Joseph wrote the TOS TM with Gene Roddenberry's knowledge and approval during the Trek-drought between the end of TOS and the authorization of Phase II / TMP. When the latter arrived, Roddenberry basically decided to take Trek in a different direction, and set about trashing Joseph's version of things as much as possible. It even seems that the whole concept of canon may have been invented in order to rule out work like the TOS TM in favour of the new material.

The novel "Dreadnought" therefore features a significantly different ship from the TOS TM. The ship in the book had hexagonal hull structures, while the one in the TM has conventional layout. More importantly, the USS Star Empire featured in the book was the first and only one of her kind - at the end of the book it is declared that Starfleet has abandoned the project as too militaristic. The TM, however, has the USS Federation as the first of the class and the USS Star Empire as only one of many, many ships - clearly a sizeable production run.

To muddy waters further, Gene produced a set of Starship design rules. Many fans see these rules as being largely - or entirely - designed to rule out every design in the TOS TM. One of the rules was that nacelles must be in pairs, hence ruling out the three nacelled Dreadnought type as well as the single nacelled Saladin.

Things became more confused when elements of Franz Joseph's work were incorporated into several films - one of Mr Joseph's projects was to produce a complete set of blueprints for the Enterprise, and these are used several times in the films when characters point to displays of the ship.

My standing on this issue is basically one of not taking sides. I have no idea whose version of events is the accurate one, and I have no idea of the legal positions involved. I simply don't have anything like a complete enough picture of things to say what Gene actually did, and if his actions were right or wrong. I am not including the TOS TM ships in this site in order to support one side over the other. I simply saw the designs and thought they were nice!

All of the information coded green is directly from the TOS TM. I hesitated over whether it should be white, since the TOS TM doesn't seem to be considered official these days. But in the end I decided on green partly because the book does seem to be Paramount approved at least to some extent, and partly to distinguish it from my own guesswork.

The size comparison image is one I cobbled together myself by re-arranging the parts from the Constitution size comp image. It reflects the TM version of the ship rather than the novel version - I worked up a version with hexagonal hulls, but it looked a bit blocky and ugly so I haven't used it.

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Last updated : 29 Mar 2014

Book :	Star Trek - Starfleet Technical Manual
Comment :	Stated on page 01:04:24.