Federation U.S.S. Archangel class Shuttlecarrier (Star Trek):

From: Starfleet Prototype

This design is meant for the times between the movies Star Trek Two: Wrath of Khan and Star Trek Six: The Undiscovered Country. This could easily also be used in Next generation times as ships pulled from Mothball / Reserve fleets to cover the huge losses incurred while fighting against the Borg and Dominion.

Among the starships built by the Federation during the time just after the destruction of the NCC-1701 USS Enterprise, the shuttlecarriers are among the largest. The name is a bit of a misnomer and comes from the fact that originally all space fighters in the Federation were considered to be shuttles. They filled a similar role to that of the supercarriers of later part the twentieth century and much of the twenty first century. The ships purpose it to transport, launch, and support small craft such as shuttles and fighters. Because of this, the ships are lightly armed and expected not to engage in combat if possible. As well, they operate either with at least destroyers as escorts or as part of a task force.

The Archangel class was built to address problems with some of the previous classes. The ship has better launch facilities and has 25% more space for small craft than its predecessor yet is less than 5% larger than the older Fredrikstad class Shuttlecarrier. These ships were quite effective and their ability to both carry fighters and troops found them useful in many ways. Interest in the ships dwindled and these ships were slowly decommissioned over the intervening years with the Federation seeing no need for carriers. The ships sat in mothball until the beginning of the Cardassian and Federation war. One of the shuttlecarriers was recommissioned and was brought into service against the Cardassians. The ship served far harder than it ever had during its previous service but served with distinction. It was used to carry fighters and combat shuttles to support fleet actions and was also used to carry ground assault shuttles for planetary assaults. The ship also managed to prove that politicians never change. Like the North Vietnamese claimed about the Battleship USS New Jersey, the Cardassian diplomats claimed that the shuttlecarrier was a detriment to the peace process and Federation Officials put the ship back into mothball status against the protest of many of the senior officers. There it and its sisters sat until the beginning of the Dominion War. Having a pressing need for ships that could carry fighters, the Archangel class was refitted and recommissioned along with the Federation converting a large number of cargo vessels into emergency fighter carriers. One major problem was the fact that many captains and flag officers were not sure how to employ shuttlecarriers properly and several were lost. Even though very elderly, the Archangel class far outperformed the converted cargo ships in terms of survivability and speed at handling fighters. Due to their age and damage they took during the Dominion war, it is likely that the remaining ships will be decommissioned and scrapped. However; there is discussion of keeping them in service until a new purpose built shuttlecarrier class can be built to replace them. If this occurs, it is likely the Archangels will be decommissioned on a one at a time basis as the new ships are completed. Another idea is to convert several Galaxy class ships into shuttlecarriers themselves.

These ships are armed only for defense and any captain that brings one of these ships into direct combat will likely be brought before a board of inquiry. These ships have six banks of two phasers on the primary hull and two single mount phasers on the secondary hull. These ships carry no photon torpedo launchers. The ship does carry powerful shields and the shear size of the vessels means that they can withstand a surprising amount of damage. One interesting feature of the class is that it carriers two impulse engines to increase its top sublight acceleration.

The ship is built with six shuttle / fighter bays. Each shuttle bay was designed to carry six standard shuttles, twelve medium fighters such as the Argus or Arco class, or eighteen Tycho class. Normal Compliment was 12 Shuttles, 12 Argus class Warp Fighters, 12 Arco class warp sleds, and 36 Tycho Interceptors but often varied on ship’s mission. As the years went by, it was found that a wide variety of ships could use the large bays as well. During the Cardassian war, the one commissioned carrier often carried two Raiders (Predecessor to the Maquis Raider) per bay. In the Dominion War, the ships were found that they could carry 12 Peregrine class fighters per bay or four Runabouts. Unless used on ground assault missions, the ships often carried exclusively Peregrine class fighters giving the ship a total of six squadrons or 72 fighters.

These ships carry fairly small crews for their size and time of construction. These ships were designed to be able to act as flagships and have full facilities. Along with being able to carry a large number of embarked craft, these ships are designed to be able to carry a large number of marines.

This design is written to be able to interact with modified phase world rules. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World / Three Galaxies for more details. There is a lack of hard detail on this ship. Some materials have suggested accelerations that are simply beyond scope. I have taken a moderate level in writing up this starship for Phase World because otherwise the ship would either be far too powerful or far too weak for Phase World. Warp speeds are far slower than the FTL speeds for Phase World but they are very close to those from the original series and Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual. Also, a note on the mass of starships. The original sources indicated much smaller masses for starships than Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual does and where possible, both masses are listed for the gamers to choose which one seems most appropriate.

Model Type: NCC-2294.
Vehicle Type: Shuttlecarrier (By Phase World terms would be considered to be a Light Carrier)
Crew: 500 (150 officers and 350 enlisted)
Troops: 800 Marines, 150 fighter pilots, and can carry up to 50 passengers in addition.

Vehicles:
Listed is normal vehicle compliment but can vary on situation.

Original
Design

Cardassian
War

Dominion
War

Fighter Compliment:

36	0	Tycho class light interceptors.
12	0	Arco class attack sleds
12	0	Argus Class warp fighters
0	72	Peregrine class fighters.

Shuttle Compliment:

	12	0	0	Standard Shuttles
	0	12	0	Raiders

M.D.C. By Location:

	Siege Phaser Cannons (6 banks of 2 each):	800 each bank
	Siege Phaser Cannons (2, Individual mounts):	400 each
	Small Craft Hanger Doors (6):	2,500 each
	Warp Nacelles (2, under primary hull):	15,000 each
	Impulse Engines (2):	8,000 each
	[1] Primary Bridge:	12,000
	[1] Auxiliary Bridge (Also used as Flag Bridge):	12,000
	[2] Main Body (Primary Hull):	35,000
	[2] Secondary Hull (Main Body):	35,000
	[3] Variable Force Field:	8,000 a side (48,000 Total)

Notes:
[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge through the ship’s armor. This ship does have an auxiliary bridge. Even if both of the bridges are destroyed, the ship can still be piloted from engineering but ship is -3 to dodge and all weapon systems will be at local control. Weapon hits near the bridges that do not penetrate the ships integrity can injure crew members on or near the bridge.
[2] Depleting the M.D.C. of the primary or secondary hull will put the Dreadnought out of commission. If the secondary hull is destroyed, the primary hull weapons may still be fired. Impulse engines are mounted in secondary hull so primary hull cannot operate with impulse engines. If the primary hull is destroyed, all internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck.
[3] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (2,400 M.D.C.) per melee round.

Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship to travel up to 60 percent of the speed of light. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.8 percent of light per melee round. If one impulse engine is destroyed, acceleration drops to 0.6 per melee round
As an alternative, the starship can reach .99 of the speed of light but is normally restricted to slower speeds so that starship is not effected severely by time attenuation that occurs at the higher sublight speeds.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Cannot travel within an atmosphere efficiently.
Stardrive: Uses a warp engine that allow ship to travel at Warp Factor 6.8 on cruise (0.035 Light Years per Hour),
Warp Factor 7.6 Flank (0.050 Light Years per Hour), and Warp Factor 9.5 Emergency (0.098 Light Years per Hour). Warp speed is raised to the third power to figure out how many times the speed of light the ship travels. These speeds are very slow when compared to Phase World ship, so if used in that universe, they could be increased enough to operate within Three Galaxy speeds but should not exceed them.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. The ship carries about three years worth of supplies on board and a small hydroponic section.

Statistical Data:
Length: 985.9 feet (300.5 meters)
Height: 173.2 feet (52.8 meters)
Width: 465.2 feet (141.7 meters)
Mass: 250,000 Metric Tons (Starfleet Prototype)
Power System: Primary power system is Anti-Matter with a 20 year life span. Ship normally only goes 5 year between refueling
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 30,000 tons of cargo in addition to standard compliment of supplies and ammunition.
Market Cost: 3.4 billion to construct. As far as it is known, the Federation does not sell their starship designs to other interested parties.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Six (6) banks of 2 Siege Phaser Cannons: Primary energy weapon system with three banks on the top and three banks on the bottom of the primary hull and two individual mounts on the top rear of the ship. The weapon's damage is about equal to laser cannons used by the CAF but the Phasers have a greater rate of fire. The phasers are also slightly shorter ranged but only slightly. Both Phaser Cannons in each bank can be linked or can be fired separately. They cannot be used faster than the speed of light. Weapons system has half the normal penalties to hit fighters and small targets.
Maximum Effective Range: 12,437 miles (20,000 km) in space and 12.4 miles (20 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega Damage: 2D4x100 M.D.C. each or 4D4x100 for both in a bank.
Rate of Fire: Maximum of Three (3) times per melee each cannon.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.

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Technical information sourced partially from Starfleet Prototype.

I would like to recognize Henning Rogge as giving assistance with the revision of the Star Trek starships.

Image drawn and copyrighted by Mischa (E-Mail Mischa). Click on line drawing for a better view.

Mischa has no art home page at present but many other items on my site.

Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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