Flare Sci-Fi Forums: Akira Class Info

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Posted by Black Knight (Member # 134) on :

I'm currently working on my new webpage called Quantum Threshold. I've already got most of my graphics completed. Many animations prepared from the ship classes that I am including (for now). I'm also going to have my own fan-design section for my 'Avalon Fleet'.
Now to the point. I'm wondering if I could get all the canon information that you guys having regarding the Akira Class starship. Dimensions, armaments, etc. I know that the dimensions on this ship are not currently set in stone. But if you could give me your personal opinions on the subject, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
--Black Knight

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"I am a hyena. A hyena is an animal who laughs when there is nothing funy to laugh at. This is the sound a hyena makes. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha."--W.E.B. Griffen, Semper Fi

Posted by Black Knight (Member # 134) on :

And just to warn you, I'm probably going to be asking about more classes soon.

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"I am a hyena. A hyena is an animal who laughs when there is nothing funy to laugh at. This is the sound a hyena makes. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha."--W.E.B. Griffen, Semper Fi

Posted by nx001a (Member # 291) on :

Ask away and like you i am making a new site my self and unforunately there is a lot of information not set in stone such as the no of photon launchers on a Akira Class. Even the official stats contradicts what we see on screen. Have a look at my web site but there are probably a couple of errors there.

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Posted by Black Knight (Member # 134) on :

Yeah, I know about the 15 torp launchers, and I'm probably going to stick with that one anyways; though, what I'm mainly concerned about is the size. I know several people have pages concerning this. Comparing relative sizes, bridge sizes, and escape pod sizes, etc.
Though I might actually end up doing my own calculations anyway.

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"I am a hyena. A hyena is an animal who laughs when there is nothing funy to laugh at. This is the sound a hyena makes. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha."--W.E.B. Griffen, Semper Fi

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Frank is almost certainly going to try to answer your question. Ignore anything and everything that Frank says regarding ship lengths unless the rest of us say it's okay... :-)

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Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

340m! Nyah!

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Posted by nx001a (Member # 291) on :

I thought the akira class length was about 460 metres. It seems a bit small if it is 340 metres. I was wondering was the akira class launched in the mid 2360s or the early 2370s?

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Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :

I'd suspect early 2360s or even late 2350s: the ships have had 64000-range registries while the early 2360s-vintage Galaxies have 71000 range ones.

Probably these ships were built at the same time with the Nebula class, and Galaxy was a "luxury version" created to complement these earlier "workhorse" ships. All these ship types share a certain "look", even if the Akira nacelles differ.

John Eaves says he designed the ship as a shuttlecarrier or through-deck cruiser of sorts. Perhaps it is a successor/replacement for the Steamrunner class, which also seems to feature a through-deck shuttlebay but has lower registries, indicating greater age. Both ships have a configuration where shuttles can launch from the front and then return through large aft bay doors, protected from two sides by the nacelles and from above (Akira) or below (Steamrunner) by "secondary hulls".

Timo Saloniemi

Posted by nx001a (Member # 291) on :

So what you are saying is that the Akira and Steamrunner are not new ships at all. Instead the Akira is from the time of the nebula class (mid 2350s to late 2350s). While the steamrunner is about a decade earlier. I always assumed they were new ships developed after 2366. What do other people think about this?

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"We set sail on this new sea because their is new knowledge to be gained and new rights to be won" John F Kennedy

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Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

If the Akira is 340m it's smaller than Voyager.

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Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

http://frankg.dgne.com/sfsd/akiralength.html

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Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :

I believe Eaves said in the Magazine/the Fact Files that he wanted Akira to be an older design that would have existed during the run of TNG already. He didn't specify the decade, though. And I haven't heard anything specific on the Steamrunner class, although I'd tend to agree with nx001a's dating.

Timo Saloniemi

Posted by TerraZ on :

Well, we all know just how exact registries are... even though they are supposed to be chronological (some people disagree though).

The problem is that the design style of the Akira/Steamrunner/Norway/Sabre is very different from what we had seen for old ships. The New Orleans, Cheyenne and Freedom classes whose designs are all canon look a lot like present-day Galaxies. An Elliptical saucer, squared-shaped escape pods and similar nacelles are common to all. They all seem to represent a design style being refined as the years go by.

The ships are all quite slick, with for the most part an engineering hull, rectangular engines with the warp exaust grill on the side running all the way to the back. They have a neck with a saucer which all look similar, with a round top with the bridge in the middle.

When you consider however that the Akira and the Steamrunner are supposed to be 20 years old, and that the Sabre and Norway aren't all that new either, and that they don't look like regular Starfleet Ships from the past, there's something that doesn't seem right.

The Akira and Steamrunner have the design style of the Sovereign. These alleged "old ships" have very different nacelles which are at an angle, triangular escape pods, a different deflector design, no shield grid on the hull, etc. They look like they're fresh out of the shipyard.

When you add in the Norway and the Sabre, all four ships have a saucer which is not round (well, the Akira is, but it has a bottom extension with the deflector and two connecting dorsal on top so it kind of ruins it).

Don't get me wrong, I like the new ships (except the Steamrunner. I thought the sketch in the book about the art of STG and STFC was in some way better. Heck, all the sketches of the STFC ships in that book look a lot like standard Starfleet design. Their engines had the grill on the sides like a Galaxy.) but we have to somehow rationalize their age.

Ok, my theory is that there always were a single major design group assigned to the ASDB. It would be divided in little teams working on separate ship assignment but each would carry the "design esthetics" of the group so most ships from the same era (like the Constitution) would look very similar. Their philosophy was probably "If it ain't broke, use it!"

Around the 2340's, an outside group began issuing new design ideas and was incorporated into the ASDB for it's innovative thinking. That group, instead of going for conservatism, prefered to try new ideas and hull configurations to move beyond what had been done until now and build more efficient ships. The old team didn't like the competition, so both team worked separatly, litteraly fighting for each ship contract and each one would carry on it's own design style.

Starfleet liked their idea, but since they were basically experimenting at the time, they prefered to issue their more important contracts (Galaxy, Nebula) to the old team. Less important contract were granted to the new guys (Steamrunner, Akira, Sabre, Norway, basically all the weird ones ). Of course, over time, their work proved superior so the contract for the Sovereign was awarded to them (and since that seems to be the current design trend, we can assume the old team either disbanded or was incorporated in the new one). The End.

Whew! Alright everyone, I want feedback!

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[This message has been edited by TerraZ (edited February 10, 2000).]

Posted by Michael Dracon (Member # 4) on :

The only thing I can say is that they made the right choice both in fresh new designs and lower numbers.

It shows that Starfleet is using different designs for quite a while, and I think it is better that we didn't had a NCC-7xxxx only club in the Sector 001 battle.

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"Reality is a condition that occurs because of a lack of alcohol."
- Albert Einstein

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Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :

About the Akira-class...

Where does the USS Rabin and NCC-63646 come from? What episode and what did they do?

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Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :

The Rabin and NCC-63646 are from the Fact Files... Supposedly the Rabin was the Akira in "MiaB", IIRC

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Posted by Black Knight (Member # 134) on :

Thanks everybody!
Good idea, TerraZ.
And John Eaves didn't design the Akira, it was Alex Jaegar.

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"I am a hyena. A hyena is an animal who laughs when there is nothing funy to laugh at. This is the sound a hyena makes. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha."--W.E.B. Griffen, Semper Fi

Posted by Dat (Member # 302) on :

Supposedly NCC-63646 was fighting the Borg in First Contact. It could also be people mistakenly mixing up the Thunderchild's number with this one.

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Posted by Michael Dracon (Member # 4) on :

Which Akira Class names and registry numbers are given by Star Trek sources (any kind of source: books, fact files, etc.) upto now??

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Posted by Bernd (Member # 6) on :

*sees Frank's URL*

The Akira should be 440m (intended length): http://www.uni-siegen.de/~ihe/bs/startrek/articles/akira-size.htm

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Posted by Dax (Member # 191) on :

I pretty much agree with Bernd on the length. I believe the intended length was 1400', which is 427m. That gives a deck height of slightly more than 3m.

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Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :

Ok so if the Akira in "Message in a Bottle" was the Rabin, then where did the Spector come from?

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Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

If the Akira were that big, it would have a huge bridge, and the Galaxy would be 900m long.

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Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

nx001a: What do you mean the official stats contradict the onscreen evidence of the Akira's torp-launchers?
And what evidence DOES support 15 launchers?

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-Have some coffee, it's good!
-Ah don't want none o'your god-damn coffee!!

Posted by nx001a (Member # 291) on :

What i was saying is that the official ds9 tech manual says there is only 2 photon tubes. However, the designer of the Akira Class states it has 15 photon tubes. I have not seen it but some people say in ST:FC the you can see 15 launch tubes. I think 15 is a lot and at present i have not decided whether to have 2 or 15 tubes. Also i disagree with the size of the Akira. I think it is 460 m not 360 since it will be too small.

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"We set sail on this new sea because their is new knowledge to be gained and new rights to be won" John F Kennedy

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Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

On his page, Bernd says:

"Unless the ship is shown at a really small size next to a ship whose size is definitely known, I will stick to the 440m Akira."

Look at the first comparison on my page.

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Posted by Brown_supahero (Member # 83) on :

Length of Akira Class� Nebula Class?

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[This message has been edited by Brown_supahero (edited February 11, 2000).]

Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

Well, the VFX say that the Akira is much smaller than a Nebula.

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Posted by Dax (Member # 191) on :

Frank: I would hardly call the VFX conclusive. You've used comparisons where a distant Akira amongst a fleet of ships is measured against another "nearby" ship ("Call to Arms" and "Favor the Bold"). And with the Akira-Defiant comparisons (from "MiaB"), the Defiant could just as easily be scaled at 560' than 120m.

And why does the Akira bridge have to be massive at 430m? After all, the CGI doesn't clearly reveal the extent of the actual bridge. Anyway, look at the spacing of the windows - the decks would be tiny at 340m.

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"Forgive me if I don't share your euphoria!" (Weyoun to Dukat, Tears of the Prophets)
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Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

If we can't use the VFX for scaling, I don't see why anyone cares about the sizes of the ships.

When has the Defiant ever been conclusively 170m on-screen?

Even looking at the CGI model, the bridge would be larger than a Galaxy's or Sovereigns.

The decks seem fine to me...of course, everyone always talks about mono-species ships, so maybe all Akiras are populated by slugs or something.

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Posted by Michael Dracon (Member # 4) on :

Why can't a ship have a big bridge?? And maybe it is not all bridge. A part of it could be the briefing room or the captains ready room.

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"Reality is a condition that occurs because of a lack of alcohol."
- Albert Einstein

(-=\V/=-)

Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :

Someone please help me this.

USS Akira NCC-62497
From the Fact Files (or so I'm told)

USS Rabin NCC-63293
From "Message in a Bottle"

USS Spector NCC-65549
I have no clue on this one

USS Thunderchild NCC-63549
First Contact

Name Unknown NCC-63646
First Contact?

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"...and if frogs could fly; well we'd still have this problem, but wouldn't it be cool?" - Drew Carey
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