The Gagarin-class, named for Human cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, was a type of spacecraft developed by Starfleet in the late 24th century as part of the Yard 39 Project. It was inspired by the Shepard-class of the 23rd century and was rated a scale 5 heavy cruiser.
History[]
- "In all times and all eras man's greatest joy has been to take part in new discoveries." - Yuri Gagarin; quote on the dedication plaque of the class prototype
Design[]
Starfleet recovered a number of starship hulls and components in the late 24th century from Yard 39.[1] Still recovering from the attack on Mars, the admiralty directed its engineers to repurpose the recovered starships. The Corps of Engineers assigned a team to each of the recovered hull classes, tasked with the responsibility of bringing the vessels into the 25th century. The undertaking was dubbed the Yard 39 Project.
The team assigned to the Shepard-class hulls was stationed at the San Francisco Fleet Yards and was led by the Dr. Rotche Ortiz, who had been one of the lead designers on Project Miracle Worker. Ortiz ran his team efficiently and they presented a plan for the Gagarin-class to Starfleet Command a month after beginning the assignment. The design was approved and shortly thereafter production began on the first Gagarin-class cruiser.
Service[]
The USS Gagarin in drydock.
The prototype and lead ship of the class, the USS Gagarin, was launched from the San Francisco Fleet Yards in early November 2410 (Stardate 87842.06) and was commissioned in mid December (Stardate 87957.71). It was the eighth vessel to bear the name. Five more of the cruisers would follow in the early months of 2411.
Keeping with the theme of space exploration in their names, all Gagarin-class vessels were named after notable firsts in spaceflights from member worlds of the United Federation of Planets.
The Gagarin and her sister ships proved incredibly useful in the engagements against the resurgent House Mo'Kai and the ensuing Klingon Civil War. Though Starfleet classified them as cruisers, other forces specified the Gagarin-class as battlecruisers.
Technical information[]
Physical arrangement[]
The Gagarin-class applied elements of the Marrone/Ortiz design philosophy to the old Shepard profile. The class had a saucer-style primary hull, with the secondary hull tucked underneath, which connected to two elongated nacelles by with swept-back double pylons. The class was 492.2 meters in length, had a beam of 258.06 meters, and a draft of 60 meters. The primary hull had a draft of 44 meters, which provided for 11 decks.
The spaceframe was constructed of double-redundancy, layered duranium structures. The class was designed to be highly adaptable and modular.
Deck plan[]
The following was the standard internal layout of Gagarin-class vessels.[2]
| Deck no. | Ship location |
|---|---|
| 1 | Modular Rapid Deployment System compartments, aft launch tubes |
| 2 | Officer’s mess, CO's quarters, XO's quarters |
| 3 | Bridge, CO’s ready room, executive conference room, Docking control |
Command systems[]
Bridge[]
View of the bridge module installed with the 2410 retrofits.
The bridge of the Gagarin-class was located on Deck 3, centered on the dorsal side of the primary hull.
Main engineering[]
Computer systems[]
Propulsion systems[]
The matter-antimatter reaction assembly (M/ARA) implemented in the class was the Yoyodyne 47A. Sublight propulsion was facilitated through two Keenser/Pegg Type 3 Impulse Units. The vectored exhaust nozzles flanked the aft shuttlebay.
2410 retrofit[]
Based upon the successful core used in the Pathfinder-class, D’Shalla Industries developed the Class 10T taFar-8/3 M/ARA in mid 2410 and the core was picked for inclusion in the 2410 retrofit of Gagarin-class starships. The assembly was connected to 2 Leeding Longbow Dilithium-Energized Linear Warp Drive Units (VW-039-LEL-111) with Multi-Phasic Bussard Ramscoop Collectors. The Keenser/Pegg impulse engines were replaced with two Vervyn HK-7 Combat Subatomic Unified Energy Impulse Units.
An advancement implemented from Project Miracle Worker in the Gagarin-class was the Cyclical Quantum Slipstream Drive. Equipped with a Skywalker Division 1138 Cyclical Quantum Slipstream Field Projector, this system allowed for vessels to travel at slipstream speeds exceeding 300 light years per hour. Two waveform attenuators, attached to the upper pylons, helped maintain the slipstream field. Due to power limitations at the time, the drive could only be operated for 22 seconds at a time before needing a 100 minute recovery downtime.
Ithra's IT-5 Subspace Conduit Access Coil comprised the subspace conduit propulsion system of the Gagarin-class starships. The system allowed vessels to connect to the Federation Transwarp Network and jump to gateways within the network at speeds of 360,000 light years per hour. The system had massive power needs, even more than the quantum slipstream drive. To power the coil, a Gagarin cruiser had to divert energy from weapon and shield systems. Due to strains on the IT-5 coil, it could only be used once every 20 hours.
Science and remote sensing systems[]
The original design carried 14 EM/SUB passive sensor vanes and twelve DYN-80 multi-band linear sensor suites.
2410 retrofit[]
To improve the tactical capabilities of designs in the Yard 39 Project, Starfleet engineers incorporated the SENTINEL Omni-Directional Targeting Arrays of the Endeavour-class. To complete the Gagarin's advanced and varied sensor package, engineers also included a Class-G long range sensor array and four DYN-90 Multi-band linear sensor suites.
Tactical systems[]
The hull of Gagarin-class starships was a neutronium alloy armor reinforced with micro-ablative generators. Based upon technology brought back from the Delta Quadrant by the USS Voyager, these generators helped to dissipate energy across the hull and to regenerate damaged portions of the ablative hull coating.
Two Yoyodyne 960-B unified field emitter deflector shield arrays were standard on the class, projecting unimatrix shields with regenerative, multi-spectrum, covariant, and metaphasic properties around the vessels. Nexus Defense Screens, that protected the crew from the effects of the Nexus and similar phenomena, were also integrated into the shield systems.
View of the phaser banks, pulse phaser cannons, Shuttlebay 2, and the navigational deflector.
Gagarin-class vessels were equipped with four Type-XII phasers at the fore of the primary hull. Twelve Annular Confinement Beam-jacketed Type-X phasers were strategically located around both the primary and secondary hulls. For point-defense, the cruiser carried seven Type-VII phasers. Two fore and two aft variable-payload launch tubes completed the armaments of the design. Quantum torpedoes were carried as standard ordnance, but Gagarin-class starships also carried a complement of tricobalt devices for the bombardment of heavy targets and could easily replicate photon torpedoes.
An experimental module integrated into the deflector array allowed for Gagarin-class vessels to focus protonic energy through their EPS conduits and emit a refracting energy shunt through their navigational deflector. The protonic energy would sear EPS conduits on the target vessel.[3]
Auxiliary systems[]
View of the Modular Rapid Deployment System compartments.
A core element of the Gagarin-class was its highly adaptable electro-plasma distribution network (EPS).
The secondary hull housed eight compartments of the starship's Modular Rapid Deployment System. This equipment was designed to allow the starships to fulfill their multi-role functions without extensive refit. Each compartment could be used to quickly deploy probes, mines, and other equipment.[4]
Holographic projectors were equipped throughout Gagarin-class vessels. These allowed for emergency holograms to be quickly activated at any location at the time of need. The photonic core of the class stored the programs for three Emergency Medical Holograms, three Emergency Engineering Holograms, and six Emergency Security Holograms.
The transporter systems connected to six emitter arrays on the external hull.
Auxiliary craft systems[]
Shuttlebays[]
View of Shuttlebay 3 flanked by the impulse engines.
Gagarin-class vessels had three shuttlebays: two at the fore and one at the aft. The two forward facilities, designated Shuttlebays 2 and 3, were located on the dorsal and ventral hull respectively. The aft facility, designated Shuttlebay 1, was located between the impulse engines and provided entry to the starship’s main hangar bay section and auxiliary cargo bay. Primary docking control and an office for the aerospace officer were located above Shuttlebay 1 at the aft of Deck 2.
Standard complement for the class was 4 shuttlepods, 12 shuttlecraft, and 4 workpods, although Gagarin cruisers could accommodate a total of 30 craft and the actual number would vary depending on mission profile and long-term assignment.
The cruisers also carried sixty-six Type A Mark IX and 5 Type C Mark XII Autonomous Survival and Recovery Vehicles (ASRV). Each of the Type A evacuation pods sat in its own ejection berth.
Ships commissioned[]
The first batch of Gagarin-class vessels were named for notable astronauts and aviators from Federation member worlds. The second run used terms related to outer space. Subsequent starships obtained designations from either naming convention. The NCC registries 97930 through 97999 were reserved for members of this class.[5]
| Designation | Registry | Service | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| USS Aether | NCC-97953 | 2403- | |
| USS Azlath | NCC-97933 | 2398- | Named for the first Benzite into space |
| USS Beyond the Veil | NCC-97948 | 2404- | |
| USS Chawla | NCC-97962 | ||
| USS Christopher | NCC-97936 | 2399- | Named for the first Human to set foot on Titan |
| USS Cunningham | NCC-97949 | ||
| USS Ebony Tapestry | NCC-97941 | 2403- | |
| USS Elysium | NCC-97943 | 2403-2409 | Destroyed |
| USS Empyrean | NCC-97949 | 2404- | |
| USS Gagarin | NCC-97930 | 2398- | Class prototype; named for the first Human into space |
| USS Gotana-Retz | NCC-97951 | ||
| USS John Kelly | NCC-97944 | ||
| USS Kurdono | NCC-97938 | 2399- | Named for the first Saurian to travel faster than the speed of light |
| USS Mebingin | NCC-97932 | 2398-2409 | Named for the first Denobulan into space; destroyed |
| USS Orr ni'Li | NCC-97937 | 2399-2409 | Named for one of the first Talin into space; destroyed |
| USS Quienri | NCC-97934 | 2398- | Named for the first Haliian into space |
| USS Rāqīa | NCC-97967 | ||
| USS Resnik | NCC-97945 | ||
| USS Shepard | NCC-97947 | ||
| USS Star Hunter | NCC-97939 | 2399- | Named for the first Lyran vessel to travel faster than the speed of light |
| USS Sunshot | NCC-97975 | 2408- | |
| USS Tereshkova | NCC-97935 | 2398- | Named for the first Human female into space |
| USS Titov | NCC-97931 | ||
| USS Versiga | NCC-97984 | ||
| USS Welkin | NCC-97940 | 2403-2409 | Destroyed |
| USS Z'Anlet | NCC-97931 | 2398- | Named for the first Zaranite into space |
Gallery[]
Appendices[]
Connections[]
| Starfleet |
|---|
| Details: United Federation of Planets • Starfleet Command • Starfleet uniforms • Starfleet starship registries
Leadership: Commander-in-chief • Joint Chiefs • Chief of Starfleet External Affairs • Chief of Starfleet Operations • Chief of Starfleet Research and Exploration • Chief of Starfleet Tactical Agencies: Operations (Engineering • Judicial • Materiel Supply • Mission Operations • Personnel Management • Records Service • Shipyards Operations • Starbase Operations) • Research & Exploration (Science • Medical) • External Affairs • Tactical (Intelligence • Security • MACO) Notable units: Ktarn Fleet • Task Force 77 Facilities: Deep Space K-7 • Deep Space K-13 • Deep Space 9 • Masamichi Array • Starbase 45-Keepsake • Starbase 82-Maat • Starbase 234-Beskerm • Starbase 247-Vershina |
Sources consulted[]
- Gagarin class article at Memory Alpha.
- Gagarin class (25th century) article at Memory Beta.
- Gagarin Miracle Worker Battlecruiser article at the Star Trek Online Wiki.
- Star Trek Online Starships Collection issue 01: "USS Gagarin NCC-97930."
- Star Trek Online: Gagarin Class Battlecruiser - Official Breakdown video by the Spacedock channel.
- Star Trek Adventures - Utopia Planitia Starfleet Sourcebook by Modiphius Entertainment.
Footnotes[]
- ↑ Star Trek Online - Age of Discovery short story: "Utopia Planetia: The Mystery of Yard 39."
- ↑ Derived from MSD created by Bruno Attanasio.
- ↑ Star Trek Online - Mirror of Discovery short story: "Jayce's Interstellar: Around the Galaxy."
- ↑ STO Starships Collection issue 01: "USS Gagarin NCC-97930."
- ↑ STA - Utopia Planitia Starfleet Sourcebook, 200.