DEFENDER CLASS DESTROYER

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DEFENDER CLASS DESTROYER The intended successor to the venerable Saladin and Saladin II Destroyer classes, the Defender class brought Starfleet s Destroyer line into the 24 th Century, incorporating

1 DEFENDER CLASS DESTROYER The intended successor to the venerable Saladin and Saladin II Destroyer classes, the Defender class brought Starfleet s Destroyer line into the 24 th Century, incorporating the technological advances first employed aboard the larger Renaissance (CA 9770) and Ambassador (CH 10521) cruiser classes. At the dawn of the 24 th Century, Starfleet placed generally little emphasis on the design, engineering and deployment of Destroyers in general considering them utilitarian tools to be used and deployed in areas too dangerous (or too mundane ) for larger, more valuable cruisers and patrol combatants. Frigates gradually assumed these roles, the development and deployment of the Okinawa (FF 1970) and Centaur (FF 42043) classes bearing witness to this shift, as well as the continued deployment of & reliance on ships of the Miranda (FH 1830) class. However notable & widely produced the aforementioned classes may have been though, their incompatibility with many of the revolutionary technological and engineering developments being introduced coupled with various astro-political developments including first contact and then a period of low level conflict with the Cardassian Union beginning in 2313 prompted a reevaluation of shipbuilding & deployment doctrine and served as calls for a replacement. Based on the proven single-nacelle design that connected a primary hull saucer with a single warp nacelle via a standard connecting dorsal or neck section, the ASDB created the Defender (DD 22012) class. Utilizing Ambassador class components, Starfleet s newest Destroyer class incorporated acclaimed advances such as phaser emitters (also referred to as phaser arrays ) and ASRV-type lifeboats. In a nod to the earlier Abbe (DH 5300) and Miranda classes, Defender also featured a dorsally mounted weapons pod. Featuring a self-contained torpedo launch system supporting two MK I launchers (1 fore/aft), the slender, triangular-shaped pod also housed long-range sensors and targeting systems. The design and implantation featured here would play heavily in the development of a similar pod for the later Nebula (CA 64510) class. Further armed with 7 Type IX Phaser Emitters and equipped with a standard deflector shield system, Defender was a quite credible fleet combatant. Early in the design stage, a proposal had been made to modify the Defender s saucer to include a dorsally located small craft bay on the starboard side. Similar in concept to the bays aboard the Moncrief (TT 3800) class, the proposal had destroyers so equipped embarking a pair of Valkyrie class Interceptors. Given the tactical superiority that the new phaser emitters had given Starfleet however, this proposal was shelved. Commissioned beginning in 2325, plans called for Defender to equip 10 squadrons the 2 nd, 3 rd and 5 th receiving their ships by the end of Initially stationed along the Cardassian and Romulan borders operating in the patrol and surveillance roles, they also found a home in various frontier and backwater systems, undertaking law enforcement and interdiction missions to combat the spread of the illegal narcotic Red Ice which was a major source of income for both the Asfar Qatala and Orion Syndicate organizations. The class also formed the backbone of Starfleet s operations against the Cardassian Guard during the Federation-Cardassian War. In retaliation for the Guard s operation in the Hugora Nebula which claimed the destroyer Olympia (DH 64911) and severely damaged the Denmark (DH 64908), the 12 th Fleet s 5 th Destroyer Squadron including the Defender class Bainbridge (DD 22018), Southampton (DD 22019), Andrea Doria (DD 22020), Algonquin (DD 22021), Cristobal Colon (DD 22022) and Inazuma (DD 22023) undertook a

2 scorched earth campaign. Led by Commodore Edward T. Sherman, the 5 th Squadron (which had been equipped with generous stores of Tri-Cobalt torpedoes at his personal request) detached from the 12 th Fleet and for almost a month, rampaged across Cardassian Space, destroying both civilian and military targets alike across a nearly 52 light year span, from the Omekla to the Salva star systems. However, even before Sherman s infamous campaign, the Defender class had begun to loose its luster within the fleet. It had successfully integrated certain, specific technological advances, thus promoting the spread of those new technologies throughout the fleet and helping Starfleet to maintain overall tactical supremacy, though at a cost. Starship design and engineering during the early decades of the 24 th Century hadn t yet caught up with rapidly evolving mission requirements, which were expanding at an unforeseen pace to encompass widely varying multi-mission objectives. The inherent inflexibility that was therefore a part of these ships played a direct role in the development of the Norway (DH 62341) class that entered service in 2363 and had begun to supplant Defender as Starfleet s front-line Destroyer. Unlike the larger Ambassador (CH 10521) class that was still utilized alongside the newer Nebula (CA 60202) and Galaxy (CH 70637) classes, the Defender class was formally retired in 2369.

3 Class Classification Service Number Active Defender Destroyer Mass Compliment 1,335,227 metric tons 168 Armament Defense Systems 7 Type IX Phaser Emitters 2 MK I Torpedo Launchers Standard Deflector Shield System total capacity 857,500 TerraJoules Length Beam Height Decks 299m 182m 71m 20 Standard Duranium/Tritianium Single Hull

6 Editor s Annotations The decision to do the Defender class was a last minute one made by myself, entirely in the interests of completion for my Heavy Hitters release to sort of bridge the gap between the TMP/Lost Era designs and TNG/DS9/VOY ones such as Norway, Akira et al. If you can t already tell, I got quite creative with the class history, naming 6 of the ships after destroyers from various world navies including Australia (HMAS Brisbane/DDGH 41), Britain (HMS Southampton/D90), Italy (Andria Doria/D 553), Canada (HMCS Algonquin/DDG 283), Spain (Cristobal Colon/F105) and Japan (Inazuma/DD-105) as well as fleshing out the Federation-Cardassian War a bit though the unrestrained use of force/ total warfare, including the use of WMD s (Tri-Cobalt torpedoes) strains credibility a fair bit.

7 Bibliography Logo Kristian Reverend Trigwell Star Trek Minutiae) Design Eric Kristiansen Blueprints Starship Schematic Database

CENTAUR CLASS FRIGATE

CENTAUR CLASS FRIGATE Starfleet s replacement for the Okinawa class and a compliment to the large number of Miranda and Kearsarge II class ships in service, the Centaur was fielded over a 17 year period