Post by Admiral Vanessa A Yates on Dec 11, 2006 0:07:33 GMT -5
Type : Enhanced Deterrence Explorer - uprated
Unit Run :
NCC 73811 USS Sovereign - Active
NCC 73838 USS Federation - Active
NCC 1701-E USS Enterprise - Active
plus 3 others built in total. The class remains in production.
Commissioned : 2372 - present
Dimensions : Length : 680 m
Beam : 240 m
Height : 87 m
Decks : 24
Mass : 3,500,000 metric tons
Crew : 700
Armament : 16 x Type XII phaser arrays, total output 100,000 Terawatts
1 x Rapid fire quantum torpedo tube
4 x Type 4 burst fire photon torpedo tube
4 x Standard photon torpedo tube with 300 rounds
Defense Systems : Auto modulated shield system, total capacity 5,737,500 TeraJoules
Heavy Duranium/Tritanium Double hull plus 10 cm Ablative armor.
High level Structural Integrity Field
Warp Speeds
(TNG scale) : Normal Cruise : 8
Maximum Cruise : 9.9
Maximum Rated : 9.99 for 36 hours.
Strength Indices :
(Galaxy class = 1,000) Beam Firepower : 2,000
Torpedo Firepower : 5,600
Weapon Range and Accuracy : 1,420
Shield Strength : 2,125
Hull Armor : 1,900
Speed : 4,125
Combat Maneuverability : 4,000
Overall Strength Index : 3,084
Diplomatic Capability : 5
Expected Hull Life : 120
Refit Cycle : Minor : 1 year
Standard : 1 years
Major : 10 years
Notes : With the advent of the Dominion war it was felt that the Sovereign would need more firepower to compete with Dominion designs. Most especially, the rearward torpedo coverage was felt to be a little lacking. As a result Starfleet decided to proceed with an uprated version of the ship.
Three extra aft facing photon torpedo tubes were added, along with two more forward facing tubes; a twin launcher aft of the bridge, a single launcher above the aft hangar deck, a single launcher at the base of the bridge terracing, and a single launcher near the bow. Additionally, four extra phaser arrays were added to the nacelle pylons.
The photon torpedo handling system had to be redesigned, which increased the stowage capacity from 300 to 350. This was considered more than adequate for most threats, although with so many tubes available there was a real danger of running out of torpedoes in a major battle.
As well as the increased weapons, the weapon range and accuracy was increased by installing the latest sensor and fire control systems, and the shield capacity was increased by about 25%. This gave the Sovereign an excellent capacity to withstand heavy fire in a battle. Some thought was given to increasing top speed, but this was abandoned.
The Sovereign class Enterprise-E was able to test out the new systems in 2379 when it faced the Reman ship Scimitar. Although the Scimitar greatly outgunned the Enterprise, the Starfleet ship did comfortably outperform the Romulan Norexan class warbirds in the battle. The ship did eventually run out of photons and exhaust its phasers, but it took a considerable degree of battle damage and remained at least partially operational.
Should the Romulans continue to produce the Scimitar class ships, Starfleet will be faced with considerable difficulties. It is possible that an even more uprated version of the Sovereign could be produced, but a completely new and much more powerful vessel may be required.
