STARFLEET SHUTTLECARRIER CLASSES OF THE 23RD CENTURY By Richard Evan Mandel DRAFT COPY

Index Titan and Valkyr – the precursors Anton, Coventry, Miranda, and Surya fill the gap Santee – shuttlecarrier pioneer Coronado and Oriskany – “through-deck” pioneers Napoleon – emperor of all 23rd century shuttlecarriers Ariel – Starfleet’s white elephant Nimitz and the “strike carrier” concept Midway – the greatest of them all Jensahahn, Chosin, and Youngblood – coming full circle Addendum Miranda-based shuttlecarrier designs One-offs and other orphan designs/ships

Titan as launched, 2221 Titan and Valkyr – the precursors

The first “modern” Starfleet shuttlecarriers were the Titan and Valkyr classes. They were the grand experiments of the day; that is to say, they were the first attempt by Starfleet to build a class of starships capable of wielding large numbers of warp-capable small craft into battle. The designs were far ahead of their time, but so was the concept – and that would eventually prove to be their undoing.

Titan and Valkyr were designed and built during the initial heady days of the Baton Rouge era, and part of their design reflects this. They had fleet-standard primary hull saucers and early, non-dilithium-regulated warp engines – although both had to be adapted and modified for shuttlecarrier operations. The final design was a modified lifting body, not unlike the early “flying wedge” type spacecraft that were at one time one of the dominant design influences in 21st and 22nd Terran starship design. The reason for this choice was simple: it was the one shape that was both warp-friendly and provided the maximum internal volume for large numbers of small craft.

When Titan, the lead ship of the class, was launched from the Utopia Planita orbital shipyards at Mars in mid-2221, she was the largest starship ever built there up to that time (1). Her primary hull was built by Centriss – a competitor of Chiokis, the chief primary hull contractor for the Baton Rouge generation of starships, but nevertheless built to the same specifications and requirements. Six small craft launch tubes – three to a side – were recessed into the forward part of her massive secondary hull, while a massive single-entry hangar bay dominated her stern for recovery. Pegasys VX-26 warp engines were originally mounted; in later years these were replaced by Perth PB-series designs, as was common for all Baton Rouge era starships that continued serving in the Class I era. She literally bristled with anti-ship lasers and drone missiles racks for defense; offensive armament was minimal. No one in Starfleet or in the design of these massive vessels apparently remembered the Romulan War, when the

few cylinder-ship type carriers at Starfleet’s disposal then - such as the celebrated Yorktown – often participated in direct ship-to-ship combat with their foes. Instead, traditional planetary stand-off naval tactics were adopted, with each Titan or Valkyr usually escorted by one or two cruisers and anywhere from two to six destroyers or other similar smaller combat starships.

Valkyr, first introduced in 2228, was approximately half the size of Titan. It shared roughly the same physical dimensions; however, its secondary hull volume was cut in half and its warp engines mounted in standard Starfleet fashion (as opposed to the freighter-style back-of-engine mounts used on Titan). Internal design was also greatly simplified, with the complete elimination of the C3 suite and associated support systems. All three of the Valkyrs that were built eventually wound up with the Starfleet Marines, although their crews and captains were still drawn from Starfleet proper. They were frequently deployed in support of planetary ground assault operations, and it was in this capacity that they enjoyed their greatest success.

Valkyr as launched, 2228

On paper, and at staged press demonstrations, they were impressive ships indeed – both in size and potential capability. “Potential” is the key word here. To be honest, neither Titan nor Valkyr ever realized their potential. They were very expensive ships to build, and soon enough the Federation Council found convenient excuses to cut funding for additional hulls. Of the eight planned Titans, only two were ever built (Titan, Resolute). The numbers its smaller yet similar sibling, the Valkyr class, were cut in half from six to three (Valkyr, Hamilton, McQuarrie). Starfleet chose not to deploy them against the newly discovered Klingon threat for fear of losing them in combat, and this too added to their growing reputation as “white elephants.” Ironically, this same label would also dog their later descendant, the equally massive Ariel class super shuttlecarrier. Only the Valkyrs enjoyed any measure of operational success (for reasons cited earlier) when

compared to their cost, and this factor would play an important part in future days.

Both Titans and all three Valkyrs finally saw the kind of action for which they had been designed in the 2240s and 2250s, once the Klingons begin small craft border raids in earnest. Unfortunately, their age prevented them from participating in all but the safest of missions, and Starfleet was soon forced to pull them from the combat zone. They continued to serve in support roles in the rear, mostly as small craft ferries, until the mid-2260s, when all five were retired en masse. Fortunately for history, only the two Titans had gone to the scrapheap when Project Ariel became a reality. McQuarrie, which was the Valkyr in best shape, was saved from the boneyard and recalled to active service as a training carrier. The obvious reason was her operational similarities to Ariel, then the darling of the fleet. The real reason, though, was that Starfleet could spare no other shuttlecarriers to serve as a training ship.

McQuarrie never received a linear warp refit due to her age; however, she was given minor upgrades using leftover circumferential-era Class I components (removed from other starships that did receive linear warp upgrades) in order to make her as modern as limited funding and her aged space frame permitted. Her two sister ships were progressively stripped over the next twenty years for spares and other replacements for her more antiquitated systems, thus allowing McQuarrie to soldier on as the fleet’s lone training shuttlecarrier throughout the linear warp era. McQuarrie was finally retired in 2295, having recorded more small combat craft launchings and recoveries than any other Starfleet shuttlecarrier of the 23rd century. She is currently on donation hold, awaiting approval of a privately funded effort to turn “the last of the Baton Rouge shuttlecarriers” into a museum ship. What remains of her two sister ships can still be seen in the Starfleet boneyard at Qualor II.

(1) That record would stand until the 2280s and the linear warp era, with the winning by Utopia Planitia of the contracts for the Midway class super shuttlecarriers.

McQuarrie, the last operational Valkyr class shuttlecarrier, as she appeared in 2295 enroute to her decommissioning ceremony. Her physical similarity to Ariel is quite evident in this image – despite the fact that over fifty years separated their launch dates.

Anton, Miranda, Coventry, and Surya Fill the Gap It was thought at one time that the shuttlecarrier was one of those antiquated concepts, like aquatic battleships, that were long since past their day. The last time that Starfleet had used shuttlecarriers in combat was the Romulan War, and at that time they usually did not live up to their promised potential. Despite the much-trumpeted success of the strike carrier Yorktown and its escort fleet in its daring dash across the back of the Romulan invasion force, the simple fact of the matter was that sublight fighter shuttles were almost useless against warp-powered starships. The only way they could be effectively deployed was when said target vessels were not at rest, but even then there was a catch. The newly invented starship energy screens, or “force fields” as they were more commonly called, could deflect almost any type of munition or beam weapon carried on the limited and low-power spaceframes of a one- or two-man fighter or attack shuttle. So it was that the shuttlecarrier quietly departed the Starfleet inventory in the years following the Romulan War and – save for such exceptions as the converted Illustrious and the short-lived Titan and Valkyr classes of the Baton Rouge era – were never even considered as combatants until the next century. What few there were usually wound being used for little more than shuttle pilot training and planetary ground assault operations support. Enter the Klingons in the early 23rd century, whose loyalty to small craft operations is as fierce as the nostalgic romanticism that Terrans frequently attach to the concept. Add to that the fact that at least two other interstellar powers on Klingon borders also specialized in small craft operations – the Mirak and the Lyrans – and the stage was set. Finally, advances in warp technology over the past century now allowed even the lowly shuttlecraft to be warp powered. It might not have the range of the starship that carried it, but it now had both the speed and available power for its beam weapons to again play a role in starship combat. A whole new generation of heavy weapons, both of the drone and energy-bottled kind, had also been developed during this time by most of the major interstellar powers to deal with warp-powered starships in flight. Thus, everything was set for the return of the shuttlecarrier to

the Starfleet inventory. All that was needed was the proper reason to bring it back. That was provided by the Klingons, in the form of a dramatic upsurge in small craft operations on its shared border with the Federation in the 2240s and 2250s. To put it simply, they sensed a weakness in Starfleet’s capabilities in this regard and decided to exploit it as much as and for long as they could. Starfleet was forced to respond in kind … and as a result, the concept of the shuttlecarrier as an integral part of Starfleet operations was born anew.

An Anton class cruiser. These were some of the largest starships ever built during the Baton Rouge era, and served well as impromptu frontline shuttlecarriers during the Class I era due to their spacious shuttlecraft hangar bays. The immediate reaction was to bring the five Titan/Valkyr class shuttlecarriers to the border. It was exactly the kind of thing for which they had been designed; however, they had been built about a generation too early for the kind of space combat in which they were now called upon to serve. After some initial services and some rather close battles, they were pulled and reassigned to safer duties. Any Class I starships with spacious hangar bays were pressed into service to fill the gap left behind by this fiasco. The aging Antons served the best in this regard, although their age and inherent design flaws with their warp engine arrangement hampered them somewhat. Still, they had the most spacious hangar bays of any Class I starship available, and thus got the so-called “super shuttlecarrier” role by default. The somewhat smaller but newer - and operationally similar - Coventry class heavy frigates and Miranda class light cruisers were also frequently pressed into the shuttlecarrier role, and they would prove to be the best all-around performers in this role of the hulls available at that time. Not surprisingly, a small number of Surya class heavy frigates also wound up in the shuttlecarrier role, although the limited size of their dual shuttlebays – as compared to a Coventry or Miranda – limited their operational uses. Nevertheless, all four of these classes served with distinction in the shuttlecarrier role, each to the best of their abilities, in those early turbulent days of conflict with the Klingons. Had not certain factions in Starfleet insisted on these types being appropriated when they were, then the whole affair would have taken on a very different flavor indeed.

Santee - shuttlecarrier pioneer Still, there simply were not enough of these impromptu shuttlecarriers to meet the Klingon challenge. It was with this problem in mind that Starfleet authorized the purchase in 2246 of four hulls intended for neutronic full carrier construction and had them converted into specialized secondary hulls for its Class I starship program. These were chosen because they were the most ideal for quick conversion that was available at the time. Since these would never bear the stress of having Starfleet standard PB-series Perth warp drives mounted to them, Starfleet Engineering Division came up with a special T-bar mounting frame based on an elongated impulse deck that could be fitted to the rear of a standard Class I primary hull saucer. This T-bar mount was designed to handle the mounting of two warp engines in an inverted Ptolemy style arrangement without losing valuable interior space within the primary hull saucer itself. In retrospect, it would prove to be the salvation of the design – and not just in terms of cost. The end product was the Santee class shuttlecarrier – the first modern design to be fielded by the Federation Starfleet. It would go on to become a legend in its own time, and would eventually serve as the standard against which all later shuttlecarrier designs were measured.

Suwanee as launched – original Santee class configuration.

Oriskany class through-deck cruiser – the linear warp upgraded version of the original Coronado deslign.

Coronado and Oriskany - the early "through-deck" conversions Santee’s success and combat experiences went on to inspire Starfleet’s next dedicated shuttlecarrier class. This time, however, there was time enough to develop a secondary hull specifically geared towards small craft operations. Coronado was also the first of the modern Starfleet shuttlecarriers to sport what is known as a “through deck” design; that is, a continuous hangar bay running the full length of the hull (or secondary hull, in this case) and open at both ends. Instead of the traditional design of having two separate bays, with one each used for launch and retrieval, the same bay could be used for both. Small craft could land at one end and launch at the other, with service lifts in the middle of the bay connected to the maintenance and repair bays below. The shape of the converted neutronic fuel carrier hulls used to build Santee had necessitated her split stacked flight decks. Starfleet was hoping to overcome that deficiency with Coronado, and save sorely needed funds in the process. One large double-ended hangar bay, it was reasoned, would function just as well as two smaller ones. It was an interesting idea that should have gone farther than it did, but it was held back by a major gaffe on Coronado’s designers: her secondary hull was too small. This limited Coronado’s service with the fleet to specialty missions, and in the end she and her five sister ships spent most of their time performing anti-piracy patrols or assisting with civilian colonization efforts. This issue would never be rectified until the linear warp refits of the 2270s, when a new and larger secondary hull (capable of holding and operating more small craft) would be fitted to Coronado as part of the linear warp upgrade program. This new configuration would later become known as the Oriskany class (or Advance class in some publications of the day), so named for the first all-new linear warp build based on the Coronado design (1). It would aid greatly in extending the service lives of the Coronados, both the originals and what few Oriskany-type new-builds were added to the class during these years. (1) Starfleet’s official designation is the Oriskany sub-class, based on the commissioning date. Advance was actually the first of this new design to be launched, but underwent an extensive shakedown cruise for testing and evaluation. She did not return to dock until Oriskany had already been commissioned.

Napoleon - emperor of all 23rd century super shuttlecarriers As innovative as the Santee and Coronado were, they were still essentially conversions of existing designs. They were what they were due to financial limitations and availability of components on hand. There were a growing number of minds both in and out of Starfleet that wondered what could be done with a shuttlecarrier that was designed as such from the hull up. The last such vessels to serve with the fleet had been the Titan and Valkyr classes of the Baton Rouge era. They had been the grand experiments of their day; however, the conditions had never risen for which they had been designed. Now that a true threat loomed worthy of the shuttlecarrier concept - the ever-growing threat of Klingon small craft raiding across the border - the time had come, many felt, to revisit the idea once again. Two schools of thought quickly formed. There were those who pointed out the extensive studies that had been done leading up to the Titan and Valkyr designs, and who also pointed out that they had not been truly tried in their time. A modernized Titan, redesigned with the Klingons in mind, might just be the answer. Opposed to these were the traditionalists within Starfleet, who rightly pointed out the enormous cost of such a program, and that an all-new design more in tune with the fleet's Class I starship program was the best approach. It would be cost effective, it would share components and performance similarities with existing starships, current shuttlecarrier operations already developed for existing vessels might be more easily adapted, and so on. In the end, a compromise was reached that satisfied both design schools. The traditionalists would get the first go, since theirs would be based on Class I components and could be built in the quickest amount of time. Backers of the modernized Titan would thus get a breathing space to update and revamp their preferred concept, so as to have it ready as the second or successor design to enter service. The Federation Council signed off on both in 2255, paving the way for the subsequent Napoleon and Ariel classes -

and per the deal that had been struck, Napoleon came first. There has been a lot written and said about Napoleon that will not be duplicated here. Without a doubt they were the most impressive starships of the Class I era - and also the largest, outsizing even the Federation class dreadnought. Ironically, a fair amount of their technology came from the dreadnought program, as well as their warp engines - the massive Perth PB-47S "Stretch Titiac," the largest and longest circumferential warp engine built. The primary hull was a half-and-half affair, with the upper half loosely modeled on the venerable Baton Rouge, albeit modernized (after all, a shuttlecarrier did not need extensive science facilities and such), but the lower half clearly showing its dreadnought heritage. It also shared the same C3 and extensive suites as Federation. Beyond that, all similarities ended. The impulse deck was custom, designed so that the primary hull could accommodate the largest and most unique secondary hull ever built for Starfleet at that time. It was essentially a widened and significantly lengthened Coronado secondary hull, but completely redesigned to handle up to three times as many small craft and to overcome many of Coronado's operational deficiences. Best of all, when all of this was put together, it performed even better than anticipated. Perhaps the best praise designwise for Napoleon came years later from Vice Admiral Richard Thorndyke - the father of the Excelsior program. He went on the record several times as saying that had not Napoleon come first, then Excelsior might never have happened. Thorndyke also cited Napoleon as one of the major design influences insofar as Excelsior was confirmed Napoleon, the lead ship of the class, joined the fleet in 2258 and went immediately to the Klingon border - where, after joining up with its new task force, it commenced its first three year mission. To say that the Klingons were impressed would be an understatement. To say they were shocked would be putting it lightly. Macarthur joined the fleet two years later and was sent, oddly enough, to the Romulan border - but more on that deployment later. Zhukov, the third and what would eventually prove to be the last of the original Napoleons, was obstensibly deployed on the Mirak border - but more often than not operated on the end nearest the Klingon border and against the Klingons, frequently with the assistance of nearby Mirak strike carrier units. The operational deployment of Starfleet's first modern shuttlecarriers was a resounding success ... that is, save for one blight on their record. The scandal that resulted from Operation Eagle - the illegal deployment of Macarthur and her task force not only across the Neutral Zone but into Romulan space itself, which eventually (and predictably) resulted in the loss of almost every Starfleet vessel involved - was seized upon by opponents of the Napoleon program with gusto. With such potent ammunition at their disposal, it proved fairly easy for them to ramrod the cancellation of

the rest of the class through the Federation Council. "Cost overruns" were the cited excuse on the paperwork, although they had proved no more excessive than, say, the dreadnought program. In truth, the real reason was that the proponents of Napoleon's successor wanted to make sure their program got all the funding it possibly could - even if it meant sacrificing a proven and effective design. Not only was the Napoleon class curtailed at only three hulls built, but its opponents succeeded in getting a resolution passed in the Federation Council that would deny them the standard mid-service overhauls and system upgrades (i.e. a ESLP refit) given to every other Starfleet class - again for "reasons of cost." Thus, what some believed to be the three most powerful ships in Starfleet at the time were vitually guaranteed an abbreviated service life. Fortunately, not all was doom and gloom with the Napoleon program. The planned fourth ship in the class, Julius Caesar, was saved. Work had already started on it before the champions of the Ariel program made their move - in fact, it had already progressed to about 60% completion. Napoleon supporters both within and without Starfleet came up with various reasons to save the incomplete hull - technology testbed, conversion experimentation, even a target hulk at one point. By these and other means the Julius Caesar was saved, and it was fortunate that it was. A decade later, when Klingon carrier tactics and technology had again improved and the impending failure of the Ariel program was first beginning to make itself felt, work was finally authorized on completing the last Napoleon. One major concession was made for the times - linear warp conversion - but her incomplete state actually helped speed work on that along. Julius Caesar, last of the Napoleons and the only one ever fitted as a linear warp model, finally cleared the ways and joined the fleet in 2275. It had been two decades since the ship was first authorized and thirteen years since work on its original form had been stopped. Linear warp technology did much to improve operational effectiveness, and even more so once a third warp engine (fitted dreadnought-style on top of the ship) was added three years later. It remained Starfleet's all-around most effective shuttlecarrier until the advent of the Napoleon's true design successor, the Midway class, in the 2280s. Not surprisingly, Julius Caesar is still serving with Starfleet, and current plans are for it to remain in fleet service for the foreseeable future.

Computer simulation of how the older Napoleons might have been back-fitted with a third circumferential warp engine, Julius Caesar style. Sadly, this was never done.

Another simulation image – this time of the Julius Caesar, had it been competed as a three-engined old-style Napoleon, flying escort with a Texas class light cruiser over Olympus Mons on Mars (Sol IV). .

Ariel - Starfleet's white elephant Project Ariel was mired in controversy almost from the day it was suggested. Cost overruns on the Titan and Valkyr projects back in the 2220s - from which its base design was derived - had helped force the premature cancellation of both programs. The fact that the design was being upsized to be "twice as big, twice as good," coupled with all the changes that had to be made to modernize it, mean that construction of even the first Ariel was going to be a very expensive proposition. The Federation Council had given tentative approval to the program as the obstensible successor to Napoleon, but its supporters knew that the cost issues might eventually kill it. Additional funding had to come from somewhere ... but where? The scandal resulting from Operation Eagle played right into Project Ariel's hands. Its champions argued long and hard that one of the biggest reasons for the loss of the Napoleon was its "inadequate defenses." Their beloved Ariel would never have to worry about such a thing, since it was designed with the largest battery of ship-mounted phasers ever planned for a Starfleet vessel at the time. Its more warp-friendly shape would have given it greater ability to evade, and perhaps even escape, the Romulan forces that eventually cornered and destroyed Napoleon ... and so on, and so on. In the end, a sharply divided Federation Council gave Project Ariel almost everything it wanted. The Napoleon program was officially abandoned and all funding diverted to Project Ariel. Furthermore, funds that would have been allocated for Napoleon's routine ESLP overhauls was also diverted, and in the end they were cancelled outright. The proven Napoleons were being sacrificed so that Ariel could get off the ground. Even with the additional funding, work on the first Ariel took a long time. It had only taken 14-17 months to build each of the original three Napoleons. Ariel's keel was laid in 2271 - the same year that the Napoleon program was officially cancelled - but the ship itself was not completed and launched until four years later. Its sheer size and available power issues were the two biggest obstacles to overcome. It was far larger than Napoleon - in fact, such a large starship would not be built by Starfleet again until the 2280s. This almost proved its undoing, as not even Starfleet's newest and most powerful linear warp engine, the Leeding LN-64, was strong enough to push such a massive hull, and in the end it had to wait for the development of the

improved LN-65A before it could be launched. Project Ariel engineers used the delay to redesign interior hull spaces for maximum efficiency, with a mind both to what had been accomplised with Napoleon and what might be improved given such an abundance of interior hull space. Thus, instead of having one massive internal hangar bay like Napoleon, Ariel had eight smaller ones - four on each wing, joined inside the hull by maintenance and repair spaces, Miranda-style. This would allow Ariel to field eight full squadrons of combat small craft, in addition to normal small craft – more than twice as many as for which Napoleon had been originally rated. That was not all. There was room enough to spare for a full dreadnought-class C3 suite, an on-board sickbay that would have done a deep space station or even a small starbase proud, spaces and storage facilities for a full contingent of Starfleet Marines, complete with their own specialized small craft, and so on. Ariel finally joined the fleet in 2275, and there were few complaints from her crew. Starfleet was very happy to get the ship to fill out its shuttlecarrier ranks, and was looking forward to the additional nine hulls planned for the class. Like Napoleon, Ariel too became a victim of mandated cutbacks - not in spite of her performance, as had been the case with Napoleon, but because of it. Ariel never lived up to her projected expectations, largely due to the aforementioned power issues. That also limited her top cruising speed to warp 7 and an emergency speed of warp 10 - far below the norm for what was expected of a linear warp starship of her class. Finally, the "nested wall-of-fire" concept which had dictated her armament proved to be the paper fallacy its opponents had always claimed. It didn't work for the simple reason that Ariel's opponents simply stood off at long range and attacked with heavy weaponry, rather than risk close-in encounters with her formidable defensive array. Thus, Ariel always had to be sent out with an escort of heavy frigates, or destroyers specially modified for the escort role, whenever one went afield. It was the biggest glaring operational difference between Ariel and Napoleon - Napoleon could operate alone, if need be, although this was rarely done - and this lesson that would be taken into account with Starfleet's later shuttlecarrier programs. In the meantime, the number of planned hulls was cut back from nine to six. The shipboard power grid issues were temporarily rectified by the addition of a second impulse deck to the fantail. Fredrikstad, the fifth ship in the the class, was the first to sport this modification and the first to replace the original low-power defensive phasers with gatling phasers. It also featured a completely redesigned onboard power grid with the addition of six auxiliary fusion reactors, located in former storage holds, for even more power. The most substantially modified of all, though was the last - Malverne. In addition to the extra impulse deck, upgraded power grid, and gatling phaser upgrades, Malverne incorporated landing platforms for all of its hangar bays - a move much welcomed by its small craft

pilots. Fredrikstad was refitted to the Malverne standard as soon as was operationally possible, since it was the second newest of the Ariels; however, the only part of the Fredrikstad/Malverne enhancements backfitted to the older four hulls was the extra impulse deck. By then they was deemed superfluous, with newer and more capable shuttlecarrier designs having entered service. There was one last ditch effort to save the Ariel program. In 2290, program advocates proposed converting all four of the older Ariels into space control ships, vis-a-vis Project Excelsior. This would have not only brought them up to the Malverne standard but beyond, with their old warp engines replaced by Excelsior's new FTW-1s and the addition of megaphaser weaponry. This met stiff resistance not only from Federation Council budget cutters but from Starfleet itself, which was more convinced (and rightly, as it turned out) that Excelsior was the better design for such a purpose. Excelsior supporters rejected it outright on the grounds that it would divert needed resources away from their own program to "prop up a program plagued with problems," as one of them put it. The fight to save Ariel was thust stalemated until 2298, when both the Starfleet Marines and the Federation Intelligence Bureau unexpectedly threw their support behind "a seventh Ariel." The FIB had reasons of its own, of course, but the Starfleet Marines were quite open about their support - they wanted a specially modified Ariel to serve as both transport and command ship for planetary assault operations, just as the older Valkyrs had done so well in the 2220s and 2230s. This hard-fought political fight was finally won in 2303, with the Normandy ordered as the seventh and final Ariel - and the latter was made perfectly clear by the Federation Council. The matter was thought to be over - until the Federation Council abruptly reversed its decision in 2305. The ship, which was 80% complete, was ordered scrapped in her slip. Lest readers think this author has being too critical of the Ariel, it should be noted that there was at least one good thing to come out of the program. It was Starfleet's first experience in building what was then nicknamed the "superlarge hull." Admiral Thorndyke and others were quick to acknowledge the debt they owed to construction of the Ariel when it came time for Project Excelsior to become reality. A lot of the construction issues that might have otherwise slowed construction of Starfleet's first space control ship had been previously worked out with Ariel. The experience gained and techniques learned also proved of immense benefit to Ariel's immediate successor - Midway - as well as the subsequent space battleship programs of the 2280s and 2290s and the oversized explorer vessels of the early 24th century. In addition, the best of what was accomplished with Ariel was carried over into Starfleet's next super shuttlecarrier program, Midway. Ariel might not have lived up to all that her proponents

claimed her to be, but in practical terms she helped pave the way for the better large starships that followed in her wake.

Ariel as launched. Note the complete absence of the second impulse deck in the original design – a throwback to its Titan/Valkyr heritage. The dual impulsedecks, ironically enough, would go on to become one of the most recognizable aspects of the design.

Fredrikstad in her final configuration, sporting both the extra impulse deck of a late-era Ariel and Malverne-style landing pads on her rear hangar bay hatches.

Nimitz and the "strike carrier" concept The delays caused by construction of the first Ariel helped increase anxiety within Starfleet about the widening of the so-called "shuttlecarrier gap" with the Klingons. Even as work proceeded on designing Napoleon's true successor (Midway), and Project Ariel spluttered and stumbled along, Starfleet felt it could not wait any longer. It ordered the immediate construction and/or conversion of a new heavy carrier class. It would be an improved version of the old Coronado design, for that was all Starfleet had on hand that could be built in so short a time. The only major change made was to the custom secondary hull. It would still be a double-ended through-deck design, but now based on a larger hull than before – the larger one originally designed for the dreadnought program. These would be fitted either to existing Class I heavy cruisers or new builds while under construction, and could be done to either older hulls or ones sporting new linear warp technology. Starfleet had a surplus of old-style Class I heavy cruisers, thanks to the Bon Homme Richard and Achernar programs. Five of these, plus the venerable Farragut (a linear warp refitted Constitution), were chosen for conversion. All but the Farragut were renamed as part of the process, and thus the Nimitz class "strike carrier" came into being. The enlarged secondary hull made operations possible with Nimitz that simply could not be done with the older heavy carriers. Nimitz could in theory carry up to to 24 combat small craft, although in practice this was often reduced to 18 due to hangar crowding issues. The typical mix was a full squadron of 12 fighter shuttles supplemented by a half-squadron of 6 attack shuttles - or assault shuttles, if operating in conjunction with Starfleet Marine forces. It should be noted, however, that by the time this document was written most strike carriers still in service had two full squadrons of combat small craft crammed into their hangar spaces. All six of the original Nimitz class strike carriers were in service by 2281. All of them worked exactly as designed, and soon made their presence felt along the Klingon boarder. They proved far more successful than Oriskanys ever were in the heavy carrier role, and Oriskany production/conversion was soon after discontinued. The exceptional performance of Farragut,

the only linear warp strike carrier at the time, led to a second produciton block - this time all re-allocated from the Tikopai program. Four ships were initially ordered, then the allocation was increased to twelve, then cut back to six total for reasons that will soon become clear. In addition, all of the original Nimitz class starships were given linear warp conversions as soon as yard space and operational needs permitted. This gave Starfleet the excuse it needed to reassign the older heavy carriers, and so it did - with a Santee, unconverted Coronado, or Oriskany being "retired" to a safer zone of operation (such as the Romulan or allied borders, or Local Group space, and so on) as soon as a Nimitz was available to take its place.

USS Nimitz in her original Class I configuration, complete with old-style Perth PB-series warp engines. Note the striking design similarities with the Constitution class all-purpose cruiser, after which Nimitz was patterned. Nimitz proved to be far more sucessful than the limited Cornados or even the upgraded Oriskanys. The only flaw in the design was one that happened to be shared with the older Coronado/Oriskany. In redesigning Coronado for the linear warp generation (i.e. Oriskany), the main linear plasma feed though the secondary hall to the antimatter bottles had to be split in two in order to accommodate the through-deck hangar bay. This had not been an issue with the original design, since old-style circumferential warp engines were entirely self contained and there were no extensive plasma feed conduits to worry about. The standard single-shaft design was also not a problem with Starfleet's other Class I vessels, since it was buried deep within the secondary hull. The use of dual plasma feed conduits mounted to the side on the Oriskany and Nimitz, though, gave both two critical weak points, one on each side of the forward part of the secondary hull. Starfleet itself remained seeemingly blind to this issue until the spectacular loss of the Oriskany class heavy cruiser Forbus (NCC-1972) in a heated battle with the Klingons. After the carrier's portside shields had been overwhelmed, a Klingon photon torpedo hit the ship's port side weak spot - destroying the plasma conduit and causing the ship to blow up almost instantly. Starfleet was forced to install beefed up shielding (and even old-fashioned armor plate, in a couple of cases) in an effort to correct this problem. This design flaw that would lead to Starfleet's final heavy carrier design of the 23rd

century - but before that, we must first consider its final, and some say greatest, super shuttlecarrier of the era.

One of the later Nimitz class strike carriers, sporting the enlarged secondary hull that became common to most heavy carriers of this era.

Midway - the greatest of them all The Midway class represented the ultimate in Starfleet super shuttlecarrier design philosophy, engineering practice, and operational experience. It was a largely successful attempt at taking the best of both Napoleon and Ariel and combining them into a single hull. Even though Midway had its own unique set of teething troubles, the design soon proved itself -- and it soon became the darling of Shuttlecarrier Command. Perhaps the best tribute to their overall excellence is that today they are considered the backbone super shuttlecarriers of Starfleet, supplemented by Julius Caesar - their direct design ancestor - and with the once-vaunted Ariels now relegated to second-tier status.

Midway's design is straightforward enough. It still retains the classic lines of its venerated ancestor, Napoleon, but with a number of changes and improvements. Most of these came from experience gained with Project Ariel, and others from operational experiences with both Napoleon and Julius Caesar -- but the influence of the heavy and strike carrier programs can also be seen, too. Midway retains the same unified central flight deck and side bays as its immediate ancestor Napoleon; however, each side of the upper secondary hull now has only three entry bays instead of six. These are twice as wide as before, though, in order to enable Midway to field such "large" small combat craft as gunboats and fast patrol ships. In a nod to Santee, all noncombatant small craft now have and operate from their own ventral flight deck, located in a Miranda-style double hangar bay with a fleet-standard shared

maintenace area. The most obvious influence of Ariel is the oversized primary hull - sporting the same medical and C3 facilities as Ariel - but a lesser yet more telling one are the twin pairs of stacked LN-94 linear warp engines mounted in standard boom style and in standard starship configuration. No need for extra impulse decks or auxiliary power reactors with Midway - the ship has power and to spare. She can carry the same number small craft as Ariel (eight full squadrons - four fighter plus four attack), but can both launch and recover them in the same amount of time as Napoleon and Julius Caesar. Her mix of weaponry is practically the same as Ariels, but provides better coverage due to her more compact hull. This too offers improved performance at warp, with performance figures close to those currently maintained by Julius Caesar - the fastest super shuttlecarrier in the fleet and the second most maneuverable (Ariel still remains first in that regard).

Had it not been for the Khitomer Accords, then there would be six Midways in Starfleet service now. Ironically, Midway seems destined to wind up like its predecessor Napoleon - six authorized, only three built, the rest of the class cancelled, and a fourth hull sitting partially complete in spacedock. Whether or not the fourth Midway is ever finished remains to be seen. If history is any indication, though, then there may yet be a second-generation Julius Caesar in Starfleet's near future.

Jenshahn, Chosin, and Youngblood - Coming Full Circle The end of the 23rd century saw Starfleet's last heavy carrier class of starships enter productions. It was also the largest, with 65 hulls in three different productions blocks (Jenshahn, Chosin, Youngblood). Collectively these are known as the Jenshahn family or class, and proved to be the epitome of Starfleet heavy carrier design in the modern era. Ironically, they were also a throwback to one of the oldest carrier designs ever produced for the 23rd century Starfleet. Once the fatal flaw in the Oriskany and Nimitz secondary hull was discovered, Starfleet lost no time in trying to correct it. Once the Klingons and other Federation foes learned about it, too, they wasted little time in trying to exploit it. Battle tactics were changed accordingly, with the result that by the end of the 2270s life aboard a Federation heavy or strike carrier was a perilous thing indeed. Beefed-up sheilding generators and even the addition of old-fashioned armor plate (in a few extreme situations) were only stopgap measures at best. Numerous suggestions were made to correct the flaw before any more heavy carriers were lost, but the most remarkable of all turned out to be the simplest: return to the T-bar design of the venerable Santee. It was still in service as was its three sister ships, albeit in secondary roles due to their age, and their unique T-bar engine pylon mounts were widely credited with saving both the Santee and Suwanee during the early heady years of conflict with the Klingons. The chief problem lay in updating the design for the linear warp generation. Again numerous suggestions were made, but the one that the Starship Design Board settled on was to adapt the "routine-detatchable" warp pylon design from the Belknap class strike cruisers. For the new heavy carrier class, this would be inverted and attached - in a heavily modifed form - to a custom-built, T-bar style extended impulse deck. Thus not only was the need for extended plasma conduits all but eliminated, but also the new carrier class would have the same "routine-detatchable" warp engine capabilities of the Belknaps - albeit in inverted form. To test the concept, Starfleet pulled both the Belknap class training ship Dalghren and the Santee class shuttlecarrier Sangamon from active duty and reassigned them to the Cathedral Group. Both had their warp engines removed, and a special linear warp adapter - designed to fit Sangamon's current T-bar mount - was installed on the old carrier. After that,

Dalgren's "warp sled" was disconnected and mounted, in inverted fasion, on Sangamon so that the concept could be tested. It looked as clunky as it sounds - but, amazingly enough, it worked. In fact, it worked so well that appropriations for the inital production block of Jenshahns was approved almost immediately after the testing program was completed, both ships restored to their original form, and then returned to duty. It was also proposed at the time that all four of the Santees receive a LN-52 warp refit, given how well Sangamon had performed during the testing period in her new "temporary" configuration. Sadly, that never happened, and Sangamon herself was eventually scrapped almost a decade later after a fatal encounter with Meerkan pirates. Fortunately, by then, Jenshahn production was already well underway.

Originally, Jenshahns were fitted with a custom secondary hull patterned after that used with Nimitz but on a smaller scale, comparable in size to the standard secondary hull used in the Class I heavy cruiser program. This was soon found to be too small, and deck crowding of small craft was a constant problem in the early years of operational use. Beginning with Youngblood, a modified form of the actual Nimitz hull was used instead -- much to the satisfaction of all parties concerned. Indeed, it so improved operational performance that the Nimitz-style secondary hull was eventually backfitted to most of the ships in the earlier two production blocks. With the coming of the Jenshahn and its two sub-classes, Chosin and Youngblood, Starfleet's "shuttlecarrier" gap was finally filled. In fact, Starfleet wound up with more of them than it actually needed - but this had been part of the plan. Other sectors of the Federation had need of Starfleet vessels that could operate large numbers of shuttlecraft. The ample supply of the new heavy carriers, coupled with ample numbers of older hulls, almost guaranteed that anyone who need a shuttlecarrier for a particular reason or mission could get one. Starfleet actually saved itself the trouble of having to upgrade all of the older Jenshahns to Youngblood specs simply by farming the ships out to whoever in the civilian sector needed them - colonial missions, anti-piracy forces, scientific survey missions, planetary exploration, and so on. This allowed it to keep the more powerful members of the class - primarily the Youngbloods and uprated Chosins - on the borders,

where their impressive combat capabilities were best employed. Surprisingly, all of the Jenshahn family survived the post-Khitomer cutbacks. The Klingons were more obsessed with the capabilities of Starfleet super shuttlecarriers, like the Midways, and seemed content to let most of the older and smaller hulls finish out their service lives. A respectable number had to be partially disarmed and their combat small craft removed, of course, but Starfleet saw to it that most of these were units that had already been assigned to non-Starfleet duties. To this day it still maintains a strong force of upgraded Jenshahn family heavy carriers, ready to supplement its super shuttlecarriers in whatever mission or missions demand their unique capabilities.

Chosin as originally launched. Note the use of the standard Class I starship primary hull and LN-64 linear warp engines. This schematic shows the original secondary hull; Chosin and most of her sisters were eventually refitted with the larger Nimitz-type secondary hull.

Miranda based shuttlecarrier projects The reader might recall that in the early years of small craft conflict with the Klingons, existing hulls were pressed into service as impromptu shuttlecarriers. The best all-around performer in this regard was the Miranda class light cruiser and its close cousin, the Coventry class heavy frigate. Three decades later, with the "shuttlecarrier gap" not being closed as fast as many would have liked and as the high costs of the fleetwide linear warp revolution was making itself felt, the Procurements Board commissioned a series of studies into building cheaper heavy and super shuttlecarriers based on the upgraded Miranda (Avenger). All of these were authorized under the name of Project Prospero. While only two made it as far as the prototype stage and only one to production, they deserve mention nonetheless. These were intended from the start to be quick to construct and with minimal impact on available resources. All would have been conversions of existing regular Coventry or upgraded Miranda (Avenger) space frames -- and thus could have been in service within a year after work start, had the need pressed.

Brownwood While not technically a shuttlecarrier per se, any discussion of Miranda based shuttlecarrier designs must by necessity start with Brownwood. This was a modified Miranda design produced specifically for the Starfleet Marines as a replacement for older ships in their inventory that had reached the end of their service lives (Texas, et al.) Brownwood was essentially an uprated Miranda fitted with modified Dollond gear enabling it to carry two standard transport containers side-by-side (or a maximum of four by towing two more in tandem). Some of the ships were even modified by the addition of old-style armor plate on the foreward part of their saucers and warp engines, so they would have a limited atmospheric entry drop-and-go capability vis-a-vis Marine insertion-extraction operations. Also, and this is the part that is important to this discussion, the standard Miranda shuttlebays were somewhat enlarged and extensively modified for the deployment and operation of ground assault shuttles and Marine fighter shuttle escort. It was a throwback of sorts to the early days of the Klingon conflict, where older-era Mirandas were pressed into service as impromptu shuttlecarriers. The success that the Starfleet Marines had with Brownwood prompted the Starship Design Bureau to begin looking at ways that Mirandas could be modified for use as regular shuttlecarriers, and thus Project Prospero was born. Stock Mirandas could still (and were often) pressed into the impromptu shuttlecarrier role even as late as the 2280s; however, it was coming up with a super shuttlecarrier design based on Miranda that Project Prospero was primarily concerned.

Independence This was one of the first designs produced under Project Prospero. It was also deliberately designed as one of the simplest to implement. A stretched Miranda would be modified with four stacked through-deck hangar bays, two to each side, utilizing an over-under arrangement with respect to the ship’s primary hull. The chief failing of the design was the fact that small craft could not be launched from the forward part of the through-deck bays – which was standard Starfleet practice – because any such attempt would result in them flying through the firing arcs of the ship’s upper and lower side phaser banks. The design itself was rejected as a shuttlecarrier on this basis; however, further refinement (and elimination of the through-deck bays) eventually led to the Hippocrates class medical frigate.

Dakota Dakota started out as a late 2280s design study in seeing what was the largest possible shuttlecarrier that could be built based on an uprated Miranda hull that could be accommodated by existing Starfleet spacedocks. It kept getting longer and longer with each successive design iteration, as more shuttle bays and support systems were added. When the design exceeded even the most optimistic estimates for hull stress at warp or in battle, it was reclassified as a "heavy shuttle transport" and work continued. In the end, a third warp engined had to be added to power all of the additional systems, shielding, and so on that were to be installed, and Dakota wound up looking not all together unlike a Miranda-ized and stretched Julius Caesar. Like many such design studies, Dakota was never built. It consistently failed combat stress tests in simulation due to its stretched hull, and thus was soon rejected. Efforts to scale it back and make it more practical eventually led to Archangel.

Archangel Of all the Miranda-based super shuttlecarrier designs submitted under Project Prospero, this one was the most workable. It was essentially a stretched Miranda, like Dakota, but smaller and more practical. In addtion to the Miranda standard rear entry bays, it also sported six side bays arranged in Napoleon fashion - three to a side, with each set of three and the corresponding aft entry bay sharing a common internal hangar (1). As with Napoleon, small craft were to be launched through the side bays and recovered through the rear, so it was possible for takeoff and landing operations to proceed simultaneously. As with the original Miranda design, both bays were connected at their fore ends by a unified maintenance and storage area, although this was significantly larger in Archangel's case. The new hangar bay design forced the relocation of the warp engines to pylon mounts directly under the hull, with a cross-support bar added for extra bracing. The design was thus essentially a scaled down Julius Caesar (i.e. linear warp Napoleon), save for the absence of the third warp engine. Even this was discussed at one point, but the idea was discarded due to hull stress issues. The Archangel held so much promise that a single prototype was authorized for conversion from an existing Miranda. Coversion began in 2290 and was completed in 2291, after which it was turned over to the Cathedral unit for evaluation. One immediate alteration after their initial evaluation was the addition of Fredrikstad-style landing pads on each of the side hangar bays. Save for that, though, no other major changes in the design were necessary. It spent several more months with the Cathedral unit undergoing testing and evaluation, after which it was turned back over to Starfleet for regular fleet service -- where it serves to this day. There is ample evidence to suggest that Starfleet would have put Archangel into production had war

broken out with the Klingons. Its Napoleon-like performance coupled with its Miranda based design virtually guaranteed it. Documentation exists showing that plans were already underway to produce Archangels in order to supplement Starfleet's existing super shuttlecarriers, and also as replacments for ones damaged or lost in combat. An inital request for a single production block of 56 hulls - part of which were conversions and the rest new builds - was placed with the Procurements Board in early 2293. This would no doubt have been drastically reduced had the requested been acted upon, based on how other similar requests for large classes of new starships were being treated; however, it never was. The end of hostilities with the Klingons and the signing of the Khitomer Accords put an abrupt end to these plans - which is why the Archangel program was prematurely terminated after only a single prototype. To put it bluntly, it was no longer needed. Even so, as of this date Archangel remains on the books, slated to be Starfleet's next super shuttlecarrier design to enter mass production ... until a newer and better, or possibly more cost-effective design comes along. (1) This feature is not shown in the original design schematic. It was implemented shortly before work began on the production prototype in order to make its operational characteristics more like that of Napoleon.

One-offs and other orphan designs/ships Carrier transport pods

(Star Fleet Battles/SFC)

Hornet

Hornet was an experimental design at producing a light carrier using a concept known as the fractional hull. This was based on a Class I starship primary hull, but only included those sections absolutely necessary for the ship’s main functions. The rest was eliminated, resulting in a three-fifths saucer instead of the normal saucer. A center dorsal structure served to store, launch, and retrieve the ships’ fighter shuttle contingent. It is best remembered for being hurriedly pressed into service during the Kzinti Incursion of 2272, despite its experimental status, and performing quite well in spite of that. While Hornet remained strictly an experimental, one-off prototype, certain aspects of its design would be incorporated into both Starfleet’s later shuttlecarrier classes and the Akula/Akyazi family of fractional hull based perimeter action ships. Illustrious (II)

(SFC III website) Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima was a design study to see how the operational capacity of the Oriskany could be improved without sacrificing the efficiency of its through-deck design. To accomplish this, the designers simply added a second ventral shuttle bay. Launch platforms were also added in order to provide more room inside the hanger for simultaneous launch-and-retrieve operations. The study was quickly abandoned after the loss of the Forbus exposed the inherent weakness of similar designs, and none were actually built. Elements of the Iwo Jima design eventually found their way into Midway (the ventral hangar bay) and Malverne (extended platforms on the hangar bay entrances – for retrieval, in Malverne’s case). (Schmidt) Light carrier concept I (Texas based)

X Light carrier concept II (Kearsarge based)

X

Federation Shuttlecarriers timeline (NEEDS REVISING - Has both Dixon and Okuda dates!) 2221 - Launch of the U.S.S. Titan (NCC-422), lead ship in Starfleet's first modern shuttlecarrier class. Titan (422) Resolute (423) Hercules (428) - CANCELLED 2228 - Launch of the U.S.S. Valkyr (NCC-440), lead ship in Starfleet's second modern shuttlecarrier class. Valkyr (440) Hamilton (441) McQuarrie (442) Queen Christina (443) - CANCELLED Hypsipyle (444) - CANCELLED <unknown> - CANCELLED 2255 - Federation Council authorization for six hulls for the new Napoleon class is granted. - Six names previously assigned to Larson class destroyers are reassigned to the new carrier program. All of these are famous Earth military commanders whose campaigns changed the course of the planet’s history. 2258-2260 - Coronado class built and launched (6 ships) 2259 - Napoleon is launched and commissioned. 2260 - Macarthur is launched and commissioned. 2262 - Zhukov is launched and commissioned. - The Federation Council unexpectedly reverses authorization for the full class, citing unexpected cost overruns. The last two ships in the class (George Washington and Fredrick the Great) are cancelled. Work on Julius Caeasar is suspended for the time being at 60% completion. Starfleet will maintain the uncompleted hull for the next decade. It will be suggested for use in various projects during this time but never used. 2265 - The Titan, lead ship of its class, is decommissioned and sold for scrap. 2266 - The Resolute, the only other Titan class shuttlecarrier ever built, is decommissioned and sold for scrap. 2270 - All three ships of the Valkyr class are decommissioned and placed in storage. 2271 - Keel of the Ariel is laid - Macarthur is lost in combat with the Romulans under mysterious circumstances. The ship was supposedly on a routine patrol of the Federation side of the Neutral Zone. The mission is later revealed to have been an unauthroized strike mission into Romulan space in response to similar incursions by Romulan craft. The Macarthur Affair becomes something of a military and political scandal for the next few years. - It is about this time that one of the proposals for the successor to the Coronado is rejected. Although the design does not survive, the name will - Midway - and will later be applied to Starfleet's last and greatest super shuttlecarrier class of the 23rd century. (see Class I "Midway" schematic from Starship Schematics Database) 2272 - The strike carrier Nimitz comes about as the result of a conversion of a Class I (old-style) heavy cruiser - The experimental carrier Hornet is launched. It is the first vessel in Starfleet with a so-called "fractional hull." The success of this ship during the Kzinti Incursion will be a big influence on starship design during the 2280s. Many point to Hornet as the direct ancestor of the later Akula-type perimeter action ships. 2274 - The Oriskany class carrier Forbius is lost in a fiercely fought battle

with the Klingons. 2275 - Ariel, lead ship of her class, is launched (4 ships). She immediately commences a shakedown cruise that will last the better part of a year. She will not be commissioned until late in the following year, in 2276

- Authorization for the completion of Julius Caesar is granted as a replacement for the lost Macarthur. - Starfleet Command decides to convert the partially completed Julius Caesar to linear warp technology, in keeping with its current technology programs. Macarthur and Zhukov will not receive linear warp upgrades due to projected high conversion costs and “a perceived lack of need,” as conversion of the cruiser fleet to linear warp technology takes higher priority. This will make Julius Caesar the lone ship of its type. - Due to a shortage of shuttlecarriers to serve in the training role, the Valkyr-class shuttlecarrier McQuarrie is brought from storage and recommissioned. Another reason for doing so is her operational similarites to the Ariel class, then the pride of the fleet. The elderly McQuarrie is given a minor upgrade with leftover Class I pre-linear technology, but never receives a linear warp refit due to her age. She will serve as a training carrier for the next 20 years - thus becoming Starfleet's oldest operational shuttlecarrier by default. 2277 - Julius Caesar, last of the Napoleon class carriers, is commissioned. It is the only one built with linear warp technology and the only one ever so fitted. 2278 - Yamamoto is the first new-build Nimitz-class strike carrier, and the first built as a linear warp vessel. She is quickly followed by the Nelson. This is the "official" year that the Federation strike carrier enters service, even though Nimitz predates this. All are either conversion of exising hulls or new builds "appropriated" from the various heavy and strike cruiser programs. All are linear warp vessels. (See Dixon entry for 30 June 2279 for more ideas on the development of the class) - Problems with the new smaller custom secondary hull tried with Yamamoto cause her to be recalled. She will spend the rest of her career as a training carrier, rather than Starfleet spending the funds (not available) to be refitted to regular class specs. - Nimitz is brought back in to be refitted as a linear warp strike carrier. Class listing: Nimitz - 1951 Yamamoto - 1952 Nelson - 1953 Gorshkov - 1954 Raeder - 1955 Houston - 1956 Courbet - 1957 Conti de Cavour - 1958 Farragut - 1702 (conversion) - Gatling phasers become available to the Federation. They will be refitted to all shuttlecarriers of all types as soon as possible, and installed in new builds as standard equipment. 2279 - The strike carrier Nelson is part of what will later be called "one of the strangest shuttlecarrier duels in history" in the Tyson star system. - All four Santee class shuttlecarriers, the oldest in Starfleet, are recalled to active service and refitted with as much new technology as their aged spaceframes will allow. Operational experience with them will eventually lead to the development and production of the new Jensahahn family of heavy carriers. 2280 - Starfleet experiments with converting one of its old Texas class light cruisers into a light carrier. The end result is mixed, and the project is aborted. - S. Saunter writes the article "Shuttlecarriers: Do We Really Need Them?" for Starship Design magazine - Adjuvant, the last of the original Ariels, is launched - Julius Caesar is fitted with a third warp engine in a Federation-style, over-the-saucer mount as part of its first major overhaul. It is the only Napoleon so fitted. 2281 - Lauching of the U.S.S. Gorshkov, the fourth Nimitz class strike carrier. - Construction begins on the Jensahahn class heavy carriers - The Organians disappear or withdraw, reasons unknonwn. Once the

Klingons learn about this fact, they begin to take advantage of it. - Launching of the U.S.S. Raeder, the fifth Nimitz, "converted from an unfinished heavy cruiser." - Starfleet reassigns all of its newest and/or most powerful carrier fleets to the former Organian Treaty Zone to better deal with vast numbers of incursions by Klingon small craft. All older carriers, such as the Santees and Oriskanys, are reassigned to the Romulan border - where most of the antiques and oddball ships of Starfleet eventually end up. - Launching of the U.S.S. Houston, the sixth Nimitz. - Starfleet Command decides to decommission the oldest two members of the Napoleon class. Two reasons are cited. The first are the large number of smaller and more modern carrier classes now available for fleet service. The second is the up-and-coming Midway program, which is designed to replace Napoleon in its role as the fleet’s major carrier class. The sole exception will be Julius Caesar, for obvious reasons. 2282 - Two new types of fighter shuttles are introduced into service by Starfleet (F-15s and F-18s). The first and larger of the two are designed for use with Starfleet's larger carriers, while the latter is for use with older and smaller ones. Both are very well designed and perform exceptionally well, and are welcomed by fleet pilots. These are rotated in for the older fighter shuttles (F-4s) as quickly as possible during routine port calls and in-service overhauls throughout the year. The strike carriers Nimitz and Yamamoto are the first to receive the smaller (F-18s) - The U.S.S. Courbet (NCC-1957) the first "new-build" Nimitz, is commissioned 2283 - The super shuttlecarrier Napoleon is badly damaged in battle with Klingon forces. It is withdrawn from service and never returns. Instead, only those repairs necessary to bring it back to port are carried out and it is decomissioned immediately upon its return. It is promptly placed in reserve, awaiting potential awarding as a museum ship once sufficient civilian funding is raised. This is due largely to the fact that its intended successor, the Midway, will soon join the fleet. - The U.S.S. Midway, lead ship of her class and the third iteration of Starfleet super shuttlecarrier designs, is launched. The class is based on the old Napoleon design, albeit with significant changes and enhancements. - The U.S.S. Conti de Cavour (NCC-1957) strike carrier, the second "new build" Nimitz, enters service. 2284 - The U.S.S. Almirante Lattore (NCC-1959), the thrid new-build Nimitz, enters fleet service. 2285 - In this year, Starfleet begins experiments in converting its vast surplus of Kearsarge class light cruisers into light carriers. The results are again mixed, but more promising than the earlier attempts with a Texas conversion. Out of this project will eventualy come the designes for the Hermes and Vikrant light carriers. - The aged Santee class carrier Sangamon is damaged beyond repair while returning from a convoy assignment after an attack by Meerkan pirates. It is decommissioned and scrapped shortly after returning to port, and the name is reassigned to a new Akyazi class perimeter action ship. - Beginning this year, a minor weapons upgrade is performed on all Midway class shuttlecarriers either in service or under construction. Their flight decks are also modified to handle somewhat larger small craft, such as runabouts and patrol cutters. - The Midway class shuttlecarrier Ark Royal is launched. 2285 - Zhukov, the last remaining commissioned Napoleon class carrier in service, completes its final mission. It is found to be in “very poor material condition” upon returning to port. It is sent to the breakers almost immediately upon decommissioning. 2286 - The venerable starship Farragut (NCC-1702) is converted into a strike carrier this year. 2287 - The demands for shuttlecarriers both on Federation borders and for various scientific and colonization efforts within have become so

great by this year that a block of 12 new-builds are authorized. These will become the Youngblood class, representing the third and final iteration of the Santee/Jensahahn design lineage. - Fredrikstad, the first of the modified Ariels, is commissioned. Her impulse and auxiliary engines are different, and she is used to test the installation and use of shuttle bay landing pad extensions with Ariel class starships. 2288 - Construction begins on the U.S.S. Youngblood, the lead ship of its class of heavy carriers. - The one-of-a-kind shuttlecarrier Illustrious enters service. 2290 - An effort to convert the original four Ariels to space control ships is defeated in favor of the Excelsior large explorer program. This spells the end of the line for the Ariel and Fredrikstad programs, as the Federation Council refuses funding for building the four remaining ships in the program. 2291 - Suggestions to reactivate Napoleon as a experimental technologies testbed for various Excelsior generation programs are eventually dropped due to lack of Council support. 2292 - Malverne, the last of the modified Ariels, is launched. She will have almost double the armaments of all preceeding Ariels - incorporating a number of hard-learned lessons over the past two decades. She will also come out of the yard with all of the improvements originally installed or tried with Frerikstad. The former is eventually upgraded to the same level as Malverne, whereas the older four Ariels are left pretty much as they were built, save for routine in-service upgrades. 2292 - A private civilian effort to save Napoleon as a museum ship fails due to lack of funding. 2294 - Napoleon is expended as a target ship at the Arcturus Test Range. - The Malverne disginguishes herself in Operation Solar Wind, working in conjunction with a Starfleet Marine assault task force. 2295 - The elderly McQuarrie is finally decommissioned and retired. She is placed on donation hold, pending funding from a civilian effort to turn "the last surviving Baton Rouge shuttlecarrier" into a museum ship. 2298 - The Starfleet Marines unexpectedly throw their weight behind the effort to build the last four ships of the Ariel program. Now deemed the Normandy subclass, these would be built to a radically modified design in order to better support Marine operations. The biggest change physically is to be the replacement of the original Ariel primary hull with the Miranda-like secondary hull of the Kirov class dreadnoughts, as well as adding a Miranda-like roll bar complete with megaphaser weaponry. An unexpected backer of the program is Starfleet Intelligence, for reasons of its own. 2203 - A single vessel of the Normandy class is finally approved for construction. The only major change to the design is the use of Excelsior-style warp engines. 2204 - The keel of the Normandy is laid in spacedock at the San Francisco Navy Yards orbital complex. Completion is expected in 2210. - A proposal to convert existing Ariel and Fredrikstad hulls to as close to the Normandy standard as possible comes to nothing due to the projected high cost. 2205 - The Normandy project is cancelled, much to the fury of the Starfleet Marines, and the incomplete ship is scrapped in its slip. 2311 - The Ariel class shuttlecarrier USS Manna is lost during the Tomed Incident. Its sister ship Adjuvant is so badly damaged that it has to be scrapped. 2329 - Both Fredrikstad and Malverne are decomissioned.

Sources The Comprehensive STAR TREK Fanon Timeline version 1.7 (James Dixon) Constitution Class Evolution blueprints (Aridas Sofia) Federation Shuttlecarrier Comparison Chart (x) Federation Size Comparison Charts I and II, original and revised editions (Todd Guenther) Federation Spaceflight Chronology, unified first revised edition (Richard Mandel) Hobbyist’s Guide to the UFP Starfleet, Volumes 1 and 2 (Timo Saloniemi) Hornet Class Blueprints (x) Jaynz’ Starfleet Reference Manual, Volumes 1 and 2 (Eric Kristansen) Pixel Sagas (Neale Davidson) Star Fleet Battles (Stephen V. Cole and the Amarillo Design Bureau) STAR TREK Chronology, revised edition (Mike Okuda) Starfleet Command III user mods and starships website Starfleet Dynamics (David Schmidt) Starfleet Line Officer Requirements, complete edition (David Schmidt) Starfleet Prototype (David Schmidt) Starship Schematic Database