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This next batch begins with the Daedalus class. The write-up is by Marcel van Wijk, with a diagram by Frank G.
---------------- DAEDALUS CLASS ----------------
CONSTRUCTION
The Daedalus class was among the first starship classes to operate under Federation/Starfleet auspices. The Daedalus class was a carryover from Earth's pre-UFP space programs, so that Starfleet had immediate availability of a fleet of starships, without building them first themselves.
The Daedalus class was proposed by United Earth Space Probe Agency (UESPA) in 2138. UESPA suggested a long-range exploration cruiser capable of dispatchment on exploratory and scientific missions for periods longer than previously existing spaceships. While being well equipped for missions of exploration, the Daedalus class was also supposed to be heavily armed, with recent skirmishes with the Kzinti still in mind. Once general specifications were established that year, drawing begun and the first sketches indicated an independent primary and secondary hull configuration, still a common occurence on today's 24th century starships.
The ship's definitive hull shape was presented in 2139, and definition work on materials, computer systems and defensive capabilities begun. It was decided that inertial dampening systems should be based on the existing configuration on the DY-750, the most advanced spacecraft at the time. Since navigational deflector technology was still in its infancy - utilizing electrostatic fields only able to deflect the lightest particles and interstellar dust - erosion-persistent hull plating was among the most important elements on starships from that era, and materials research received high priority. With this ship faster than previously existing spacecraft and thus experiencing intenser erosion, material experts were ordered to conceive new materials for the erosion plating.
Materials definition was finished in 2142, and it was decided to use triple-layered titanium-silicon-carbide-413 plating. Inertial dampening system definition finished later that year. Software architecture was at 40% completion, and computer hardware was in full development.
Work on warp drive systems continued, while it was decided in the mean time that impulse propulsion would be based on the Los Alamos DFZ-1835 issue Z-pinch fusion drives already in use by existing DY-750 spaceships. Internal volume studies showed that the Daedalus spacecraft would be able to hold only up to 2 shuttlecraft for extravehicular research. Hull architects worked on a total internal re-division, since the original Daedalus class specifications demanded at least 4 shuttlecraft to be held in the sketched volume. The work was finished in 2144, showing the capability of holding 4 shuttlecraft, but crew habitat space was comprimized. Defensive system specifications included 4 Type-5 laser emitters and a missile bay to hold up to 20 long-range missiles, optionally equipped with nuclear warheads.
With all vehicle studies completed, frame construction for the first 8 Daedalus class spaceships started at the Aztec Yards in Guadalajara, Mexico in 2146. The first frame members arrived there in May of that year. Sensor systems were in fabrication at the Delft Laboratory of Technology in the Dutch-Belgian Assembly. The Quantum-II Stardrive was in development at the Warp Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United North-American States. The warp drive schematics incorporated completely revised mechanics, and the propulsion field itself was revolutionary. More efficient subspace field feedback was accomplished by generating external field compression shifts, a principle first devised in a 2133 paper by leading warp physicist Miguel Matthews.
With the frame construction at 51% in 2149, propulsion system frames arrived. All defensive and navigational deflection systems were completed in that year.
The frames of the first batch of 8 ships were completed in 2151 and undergone mechanical stress simulations with success. Structural plating arrived from the Mendelev Laboratories in Havana, United Carribean Archipel, and was subsequently welded to the spaceframes. Propulsion assemblies were incorporated, and missile bays were configured. Sensor clusters were fixed alongside the equators of both hulls. Erosion plating arrived from that same laboratories. Artificial gravity stators from the Cape Town Space Application Laboratories arrived and were incorporated.
Frame construction of the next batch of ships begun at the Baltic Yards in Saint-Petersburg, Russian Union, in 2152. Inertial dampening field systems and computer systems incorporated. Erosion plating on 27%.
Engine cores undergone low-power tests in 2153; warp cores received Warp 1.5 energy equivalent; fusion drives received 10^5 megajoules plasma energy equivalent. Tests indicated the fusion drive's thermal skins peeling off, and new thermal skin were subsequently ordered at the Thermal Physics Laboratory at Sheffield, Brittanic Union. Incorporated at the end of the year 2152.
Frame construction at the Baltic Yards in progress. Hull plating approached completion in 2153. Thruster packs installed; new propulsion core test results within acceptable limits. Warp core thermal expansion of 0.042% fixed. Antimatter containment pods showed unaccepable containment loss of 0.0021%, because 6 to 11% of the YBaCuO superconductive materials in the magnetic field coils showed light material fatigue. New materials delivered and fitted.
Hull plating completed in 2154. Habitat arrangements started. The eight craft almost finished. IDF system tests all but one successful, causing construction delay on one craft. Computer software installment completed. All missiles installed. Laser emitters tested.
Craft construction finished in 2154. All 8 crafts were transported at thrust power to the Orbital Earth Drydock 4. Shakedown trials start with ceremony. Cross-system checks indicate no significant problems.
Propulsion systems powered up to 100% capacity. All tests succesfull. Insufficient IDF energy flow causes harmonic vibrations in parts of the sensor clusters on three crafts; problem traced to conflicting power distribution procedures; responsible software adjusted, problem fixed. All ships flown on full impulse to Neptune. Impulse systems determined to function perfectly. Warp drives enabled for 30 minutes Warp 2 flight out of the solar plane; those test also deemed succesful. Warp 3 flight enabled in second shakedown trials. Plasma flows deemed insufficient; power distribution conduits undergo full examination at specialized center on Ganymede Station. Problem fixed.
Begin on the third batch of ships at the Rotterdam Ship Yards, Dutch-Belgian Assembly. Fourth batch of ships to be constructed at the Shimizu Ship Yards, Japan.
All craft were returned to drydock in 2155 and were christened. Ships commissioned and crew awaits orders.
The six ships from the Baltic Yards finished construction in 2160. The seven ships from the Shimizu Ship Yards finished construction in 2165. The ten ships from the Rotterdam Ship Yards finished construction in 2166.
The Daedalus class was completely decommissioned in 2196. Some leftover ships were obtained by civilian interests, serving even well into the 23rd century. Also, some ships were re-commissioned for single missions in the early to mid-23rd century. Daedalus class ships were responsible for many edge-cutting missions of exploration in the 22nd century, and were UESPA's solid workhorses in the Romulan Wars.
COMMISSIONED SHIPS
USS Daedalus NCC-159 (Status: decommissioned) USS Carolina NCC-160 (Status: decommissioned) USS Icarus NCC-161 (Status: decommissioned) USS Leviathan NCC-162 (Status: destroyed) USS Siren NCC-163 (Status: decommissioned) USS Alcubierre NCC-164 (Status: destroyed) USS Barentsz NCC-165 (Status: decommissioned) USS Gagarin NCC-166 (Status: destroyed) USS Tereshkova NCC-167(Status:decommissioned) USS Glenn NCC-168 (Status: decommissioned) USS Sphinx NCC-169 (Status: decommissioned) USS Gizeh NCC-170 (Status: destroyed) USS Tout'Anchamon NCC-171 (Status: decommissioned) USS Suffolk NCC-172 (Status: decommissioned) USS Essex NCC-173 (Status: decommissioned) USS Cornwall NCC-174 (Status: decommissioned) USS Hemisphere NCC-175 (Status: decommissioned) USS Horizon NCC-176 (Status: destroyed) USS Landscape NCC-177 (Status: decommissioned) USS Plato NCC-178 (Status: decommissioned) USS Aristoteles NCC-179 (Status: decommissioned) USS Aristarchos NCC-180 (Status: lost) USS Vegetius NCC-181 (Status: decommissioned) USS Lyra NCC-182 (Status: decommissioned) USS Crux NCC-183 (Status: decommissioned) USS Vulpecula NCC-184 (Status: decommissioned) USS Lynx NCC-185 (Status: decommissioned) USS Camelopardalis NCC-186 (Status: decommissioned) USS Lepus NCC-187 (Status: lost) USS Kepler NCC-188 (Status: decommissioned) USS Archon NCC-189 (Status: destroyed)
SPECIFICATIONS:
Category: medium cruiser Crew: 196 Evacuation limit: 380 Decks: 17 Length: 104m Width: (I have no availability Height: of reasonably detailed [yet], so the exact dimensions are still to be determined.) Mass: 500,000 metric tonnes Warp engines: Quantum-II Stardrive Impulse engines: 2 Los Alamos DFZ-1835-B Z-pinch fusion drives Cruise velocity: warp 3.0 Max. sustainable cruise velocity: warp 3.7 Max. rated velocity: warp 4.2 for 12 hours Weapon systems: 4x type-5 laser emitters, 1 missile launcher, 20 missiles (full arsenal) Computer systems: Linux Space Control OS v8.32 [LOL] Expected lifetime: 35 years Time between resupply: 5 years Time between refit: 12 years
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O Muse, tell me of the flights and fames of that ship whose wings, aglow with starlight Set upon the spine of untouched realms.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
None are listed as "missing: presumed destroyed"?
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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