Gage Class - Specs

Universe :	Prime Timeline
Affiliation :	Federation
Class Name :	Gage Class
Type :	Scout Ship
Unit Run :	NCC 11672 USS Gage - Destroyed plus 1 others built in total. 2 have been lost in all.
Commissioned :	2332, remained in service until 2367
Dimensions :	Length : 320 m [1] Beam : 128 m Height : 63.4 m Decks : 12
Mass :	950,000 metric tons
Crew :	250
Armament :	2 x Type IX phaser arrays, total output 2,000 TeraWatts 2 x Standard photon torpedo tube with 20 rounds
Defence Systems :	Standard shield system, total capacity 310,500 TeraJoules Standard Duranium / Tritanium Single hull. Standard level Structural Integrity Field
Warp Speeds (TNG scale) :	Normal Cruise : 6 Maximum Cruise : 9 Maximum Rated : 9.4 for 12 hours.
Strength Indices : (Galaxy class = 1,000)	Beam Firepower : 40 Torpedo Firepower : 250 Weapon Range and Accuracy : 350 Shield Strength : 115 Hull Armour : 50 Speed : 917 Combat Manoeuvrability : 5,000
Overall Strength Index :	222
Diplomatic Capability :	3
Expected Hull Life :	80
Refit Cycle :	Minor : 1 year Standard : 1 years Major : 20 years

Notes

The Gage class was fielded as one of Starfleet's occasional experiments with new warpfield geometry's and hull shapes to fit them. The class had a new type of warp nacelle which created a sharply tapered aft field lobe. It therefore dispensed with the usual curved engineering hull in favour of a triangular shape. It was hoped that this would allow higher speeds and greater agility at warp speed.

Two ships were built to test the concept, but it rapidly became clear that the designers expectations would be only partially met. The ships did prove to be faster than many of their contemporaries, but their agility was nothing special. Starfleet decided to allow the ships to enter service as scouts, where their relatively high speed would serve them well, but to cancel further production.

In 2350 the second ship of the class suffered an accidental explosion, causing severe damage to the port nacelle strut. Starfleet decided to scrap the ship rather than repair it. The USS Gage continued in service until it was destroyed whilst fighting with the fleet which attempted to stop the Borg incursion of 2367. [2]

Colour key

References

#	Series	Season	Source	Comment
1			Speculative	Approximate, scaled to the estimated height of the captain's yacht on the saucer section. Since this ship was designed as a version of the Enterprise for 'Star Trek : Phase 2', the size should be roughly similar to the original Enterprise. Note that class name is speculative, assuming that the only known ship of this class was in fact the first of its kind.
2			Generic official information

Comments

The Gage is another of those low information Federation ships where a good deal of speculation is needed. The model was originally a study model for the new Enterprise which was to be used in the "Star Trek : Phase Two" television series. It was designed by Ralph McQuarrie, who also worked on the Star Wars movie. I don't know if he designed the Imperial Star Destroyer, but the triangular primary hull of the proposed Enterprise suggests a bit of cross-pollination there.

The Phase Two series was abolished in favour of ST : TMP, which featured a much more conventional Enterprise. However, years later the Phase Two model was called into service as the USS Gage for the Wolf 359 graveyard scene. The makers of Best of Both Worlds clearly wanted to include a whole slew of different classes in this scene, and it looks like they hauled just about every unused model they could find out of mothballs for it!

As with many of these ships, information is sketchy at best. The name USS Gage and the registry number come from the ST Encyclopedia, 3rd edition, page 163. The entry also claims that the ship is of the "Apollo" class, but the same book also says on page 475 that the T'Pau is an Apollo class ship. The T'Pau looks absolutely nothing like the Gage, so clearly one or the other is wrong. I have arbitrarily decided to ignore the Apollo designation for the Gage. My policy for any ship where I don't know the class name is to name the class after the first ship of this type seen on screen, hence the "Gage class".

This is the earliest model I know of to include a Captain's yacht on the saucer, although the positioning of the vessel would change to the underside for the Galaxy class. I've sized the ship to make the Yacht deep enough for a person to walk around in it comfortably, with a bit of space above and below for conduits and suchlike. This gives a length of 320 metres, which is about right for an explorer type ship of this era.

The hull registry of a Starship can generally give an approximate idea of when it entered service, and a number in the 11,000s like that of the Gage makes it a contemporary of the Ambassador class. It's about the same size as the Intrepid class (in terms of dimensions, not volume) and I've aimed it's specs around that level.

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Last updated : 12 Mar 2013

Source :	Speculative
Comment :	Approximate, scaled to the estimated height of the captain's yacht on the saucer section. Since this ship was designed as a version of the Enterprise for 'Star Trek : Phase 2', the size should be roughly similar to the original Enterprise. Note that class name is speculative, assuming that the only known ship of this class was in fact the first of its kind.