Starbase 375

Universe :	Prime Timeline
Class Name :	Starbase 375
Type :	Starbase manufacturing and support facility
Unit Run :	20 built in total. 9 have been lost in all.
Commissioned :	2345 - 2365, class remains in service
Dimensions :	Diameter : 2,842 m Height (overall) : 2,160 m [1] Decks : 397 in m
Mass :	20,000,000 metric tons
Crew :	5,700 Starfleet, typically 4 - 6,000 civilian
Armament :	100 x Type XII phaser arrays, total output 600,000 TeraWatts 8 x Type 3 burst fire photon torpedo tube
Defence Systems :	High Capacity shield system, total capacity 1,026,000 TeraJoules Light Duranium / Tritanium Double hull. Low level Structural Integrity Field
Docking Facilities :	Internal docking bay [2] capable of holding up to fifteen starships, depending on type
Starbase 375 :	Not capable of independent movement; attitude control and/or orbital adjustment only.
Strength Indices : (Galaxy class = 1,000)	Beam Firepower : 12,000 Torpedo Firepower : 4,000 Weapon Range and Accuracy : 1,200 Shield Strength : 380 Hull Armour : 6.25 Speed : - Combat Manoeuvrability : -
Overall Strength Index :	4,571
Diplomatic Capability :	Grade 6
Expected Hull Life :	150
Refit Cycle :	Minor : 5 year Standard : 5 years Major : 50 years

Notes

One of the two major Starbase designs fielded in the 2340's the Starbase 375 variant is the more combat oriented of the two. Compared to the Starbase 173 design the station has reduced scientific facilities, without the telescope dome, and a reduced capability to handle civilian traffic. The base is also designed to operate largely within planetary systems, and as such lacks Starbase 173's large bulk cargo and fuel containers. More space is given over to weaponry, with roughly double the armament. The shield generator is identical between the two stations, but the removal of the cargo containers means that Starbase 375's shields need to cover a significantly smaller volume, and this increases their overall strength.

Starbase 375 was established near to the Cardassian border, and was an important base during the Dominion war. Admiral Ross was based on the station, along with his aide Captain Sisko. Many important operations were planned and staged from here, including the operation to destroy the Dominion's advanced sensor system [3] and the operation to retake Deep Space Nine. [4]

Colour key

References

#	Series	Season	Source	Comment
1			Speculative	Scaled to the the USS Defiant in the DS9 episode 'Favour the Bold'.
2	DS9	6	A Time to Stand
3	DS9	6	Behind the Lines
4	DS9	6	Favor the Bold

Comments

Yet another modification of the Orbital Office model first used in Star Trek : The Motion Picture, Starbase 375 features in the Dominion war. This much abused model has already been turned upside down, made to appear many times larger than the original and had a dome added to one of its disk modules. Now it undergoes the ultimate indignity when it's entire lower - originally upper - section is cut off entirely, leaving it a kind of floating space station "head on a stick" but without the stick.

As mentioned in the write up of SB 173, that station and this come out to just about the same size. Given that the scaling for each was done from FX shots done many years apart and comparing to completely different ships, that's quite a coincidence. As a result I've made the stations identical size and said that they were are variations on the same basic design, itself a scale up of Regula.

The whole missing section is a bit of a mystery - these tube things were on the original orbital office, on Regula and on Starbase 173, but are missing from 375. Those things look like fuel tanks, but they seem a little large - tanks of that size could fill a Galaxy class starship many hundreds or even thousands of times over! It's hard to believe that Starbases regularly stock so much fuel, and it's especially hard to believe that some Starbases do, but one used as a major fleet base during a war does not. Because of this I've said that they are mostly for cargo storage, and so aren't really needed in the more combat oriented fleet base.

That SB 375 is a heavily armed combat-type base is my own invention, but does seem in line with what little we see of it during the war. Indeed, almost the entire specs entry is speculative - as I have said many times in other Comments pages, it strains credibility that the real Daystrom Institute wouldn't know the basic specs of Federation designs so putting "Unknowns" up in large numbers really isn't on. I've based the specs on those of Starbase 173, but with better weapons and more crew.

This is also another of those cases where a model has been scaled up. In this case, the scaling is rather extreme - the original office model was about 70 metres tall, while this station is thirty times that height. While you can get away with factors of two or three, this creates problems. The windows visible on the disk modules measure a good 15 - 30 metres tall, while the arboretum section windows are 40 metres tall! That's an awful lot of headroom; you could forgive it for the arboretum section since they might want to put trees in there, but a 15 metre deck is pretty over the top. I'm no architect, but the way I would do it is to have an atrium-like affair, with a large empty space behind the window and several decks opening onto it.

But it does make me wonder why the powers that be didn't just re-use the Spacedock model. I mean, it would avoid all of the scaling problems at a stroke since that model was designed to be a big station from the outset. And we hardly ever get to see the Spacedock style stations, while they've used no less than FOUR different variations on this model!

Hopefully the powers that be will retire this model, and we'll get some new stations soon.

Page views : 59,267

Last updated : 31 Dec 2004

Series :	DS9 Season 6
Episode :	A Time to Stand

Series :	DS9 Season 6
Episode :	Behind the Lines

Series :	DS9 Season 6
Episode :	Favor the Bold

Source :	Speculative
Comment :	Scaled to the the USS Defiant in the DS9 episode 'Favour the Bold'.