Duderstadt Class
History
During the development of Constitution-III class, the team that was working on the design was split off to begin work on a series of new ships. This project was called the Starfleet Neo-Design Project, named in such after the nickname of NeoConstitution for the Constitution-III.
The first requirement for the new project was a deep space survey ship that would make use of advancements in sensor technology from projects like the Ross, Sagan, and Pathfinder. These sensor technologies were built into a single high power sensor suite, with the intent of building the rest of the ship around it.
One of the first challenges discovered was that the closer to the nacelles the sensor was, the less accurate. In testing, the sensor pod was slung under a Sagan-class and adjusted until it reached peak efficiency. From here the rest of the project began to design.
A large engineering section was created, using the deflector dish as an amplification of the technology and to ensure as clear of a sensor image as possible, while giving the suite full access to the power of the ship’s warp reactor.
The rest of the ship came from there, effectively being designed entirely separated from this engineering section. Borrowing the saucer section from the near-complete Constitution-III, as well as its nacelles and pylons, the rest of the ship was designed as effectively its own vessel, with a third pylon designed to carry this new engineering section. For engineering testing purposes, the engineering hull was designed to be detached to be worked on without affecting the rest of the design. This feature would be retained to the full production, as it allowed a high degree of flexibility in function for future designs.
The prototype, the USS Duderstadt, NX-78500 was launched in 2396, actually beating the USS Titan-A to completion due to the development of all new systems. Using new automated building techniques, three spaceframe were already laid by the time space trials were completed by Q2 of the year, with them expected to be completed before Q3.
The Duderstadt completed here trials, and was marked for completion, receiving it’s NCC designation, with the USS Intrepid.
As previously mentioned, the Duderstadt class featured the engineering section to be removable. While this was originally intended to be removed, the multi-role nature of this capability meant the ship could be “refit” for multiple roles without the need for a complete overhaul. Instead, just the engineering sections needed to be built, with the computer and warp core being transferred between the two modules, and sent on their way.
Possible modules:
- Long range survey
- Combat refit
- Additional torpedoes, additional phasers, upgraded targeting computer
- Long range patrol (more efficient warp core, added fuel storage)
Naming convention
Towns
| Name | Registry | Status |
|---|---|---|
| USS Duderstadt | NCC-78500 | Active |
| USS Intrepid | NCC-79520 | Canon Ship |
| USS Trumbull | NCC-72370 | Reserve |
| USS Rochester | Reserve | |
| USS Hialeah | ||
| USS Sarajevo |