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USS Newcastle, NCC-1903, Southampton-Class (A TOS-era fan design study, feedback most welcome!)
ryan218
Member Posts: 36,106 Arc User
in Ten Forward
Further cementing my descent into madness TOS-era, I started thinking about a hero-ship for a potential fan-fic set in the period, and came up with this: the Southampton-Class Light Cruiser USS Newcastle, NCC-1903.
The image is a bit crude, and to be honest I'm not happy with the scale. The saucer really needs to be one deck higher, for example.
Feedback is most welcome.
Southampton-Class Light Cruiser (2258)
Design Objectives:
• Fill need for a mid-range presence cruiser between the Constitution-Class Heavy Cruiser/Explorer and the Miranda-Class Light Cruiser.
• Provide a multi-mission platform for border patrol, deep space probes, and task force actions.
• Provide a fast response vessel for emergencies and war scenarios.
Ships in Class (Laid Down):
NX 1900, USS Southampton (San Francisco Fleet Yards, Earth, 2258)
NCC 1901, USS Birmingham (San Francisco Fleet Yards, Earth, 2260)
NCC 1902, USS Gloucester (San Francisco Fleet Yards, Earth, 2260)
NCC 1903, USS Newcastle (Utopia Planetia Fleet Yards, Mars, 2260)
NCC 1904, USS Charleston (Utopia Planetia Fleet Yards, Mars, 2260)
NCC 1905, USS St Louis (Tranquility Base, Luna, 2260)
NCC 1906, USS New Orleans (Antares Shipyard, Caldik Prime, 2260)
NCC 1907, USS Albany (San Francisco Fleet Yards, Earth, 2261)
NCC 1908, USS Asama (Utopia Planetia Fleet Yards, Mars, 2261)
NCC 1909, USS Tokiwa (Utopia Planetia Fleet Yards, Mars, 2261)
NCC 1910, USS Izumo (Luna Shipyard, Luna, 2261)
NCC 1911, USS Iwate (Antares Shipyard, Caldik Prime, 2261)
(If anyone can see where I got the names from, have a cookie!)
The image is a bit crude, and to be honest I'm not happy with the scale. The saucer really needs to be one deck higher, for example.
Feedback is most welcome.
Southampton-Class Light Cruiser (2258)
Design Objectives:
• Fill need for a mid-range presence cruiser between the Constitution-Class Heavy Cruiser/Explorer and the Miranda-Class Light Cruiser.
• Provide a multi-mission platform for border patrol, deep space probes, and task force actions.
• Provide a fast response vessel for emergencies and war scenarios.
Ships in Class (Laid Down):
NX 1900, USS Southampton (San Francisco Fleet Yards, Earth, 2258)
NCC 1901, USS Birmingham (San Francisco Fleet Yards, Earth, 2260)
NCC 1902, USS Gloucester (San Francisco Fleet Yards, Earth, 2260)
NCC 1903, USS Newcastle (Utopia Planetia Fleet Yards, Mars, 2260)
NCC 1904, USS Charleston (Utopia Planetia Fleet Yards, Mars, 2260)
NCC 1905, USS St Louis (Tranquility Base, Luna, 2260)
NCC 1906, USS New Orleans (Antares Shipyard, Caldik Prime, 2260)
NCC 1907, USS Albany (San Francisco Fleet Yards, Earth, 2261)
NCC 1908, USS Asama (Utopia Planetia Fleet Yards, Mars, 2261)
NCC 1909, USS Tokiwa (Utopia Planetia Fleet Yards, Mars, 2261)
NCC 1910, USS Izumo (Luna Shipyard, Luna, 2261)
NCC 1911, USS Iwate (Antares Shipyard, Caldik Prime, 2261)
(If anyone can see where I got the names from, have a cookie!)
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Comments
Technical Specifications:
Armament: Eight Phaser Banks (16 Emitters), Two Triplex Forward Torpedo Tubes, One Duplex Aft Torpedo Tube.
Shields: Deflector Shields
Propulsion: Cruising Speed: Warp 6.0; Maximum Speed: Warp 8.25.
Shuttlecraft: 4 Shuttlecraft, 2 Workpods.
Description:
Origins:
Designed in response to the Klingon-Federation War of 2256, in which much of Starfleet’s older Light Cruiser force had been devastated by losses and proved too small to effectively engage major enemy combatants, doubts were raised regarding the effectiveness of the Miranda- and Hoover-Class Light Cruisers, the latter of which had lost half its members (USS Dana, and USS Edison) at the Battle of the Binary Stars, with USS Hoover lost in the Pacem Sector Ambush alongside the USS Muroc and USS Gagarin.
The Miranda-Class would undergo selective reconstruction, including the fitting of an outboard weapons module fitting two forward-firing phaser emitters and two bi-directional torpedo tubes, with most of these reconstructions being carried out in the 2270s Fleet Modernisation Program.
Meanwhile, the war had also seen a crippling reluctance to commit the much more powerful Constitution-Class starships, which were ordered to continue their deep space missions and only return to Federation Space as a last resort.
With the Miranda-Class being considered too weak (with initial series ships only being armed with six phaser banks and a single duplex torpedo tube), and the Constitution-Class too costly to risk outside a major conflict, there was a need for an ‘intermediate’ cruiser with an armament comparable to the Constitution-Class and Crossfield-Class Heavy Cruisers, but foregoing the high cost of these ships (associated primarily with range on the Constitution-Class and various research facilities and modularity on the Crossfield-Class). The low-cost approach would see a decision early on to drop the newer warp engine designs of the Crossfield, Hoover, Magee, and Galaxy Classes, which had proved temperamental and overly-costly compared to those of the Constitution-Class’ generation. This also reflected a desire by Starfleet to abandon the practice of the previous half century of building large numbers of relatively small classes in favour of standardising on a small number of utilitarian classes which could each perform a variety of roles. The fact that, just over the course of the 2230s, Starfleet had accumulated four separate light cruiser classes, reinforced this argument.
Propulsion Systems:
The low-cost approach was immediately undermined, however, by a desire to make the ships fast-response vessels. With the decision to return to the Constitution-pattern nacelles, this would be made possible by increasing the number of nacelles to four as in the Cardenas-Class, allowing sustained high-warp sprints by alternating between the ventral and dorsal pairs. Due to the concern expressed that this would almost instantly wipe out all the cost (and mass) savings gained by reducing the fuel and supply holds to provide sufficient mid-range running, this proposal was dropped in favour of reducing the ship’s mass and volume further by bringing the secondary hull closer to the saucer module and bringing the nacelles in tighter to the hull to reduce the size of the needed warp envelope and so allow the nacelles to operate at a lower power level while attaining the same warp factor. This gave the ships a theoretical top speed of Warp 9.0 under extreme risk, with a safe maximum warp of 8.25. More to the point, however, the ships were capable of maintaining a speed of Warp 8 for around 25% longer than their larger cousins.
Armament:
The restricted firing arcs caused by the relocation of the nacelles forced a relocation of the aft torpedo launcher from the shortened neck to a location below the main shuttlebay. This, in turn, necessitated the relocation of the aft ventral phaser bank. As much of the aft dorsal vector of the ship was now obstructed by the nacelle structure, the opportunity was taken to reposition these phasers to the aft of the saucer module, forward of the impulse drive units. Otherwise, the armament was arranged as in the Constitution-Class, with phaser banks at the three, twelve, and nine o-clock positions around the saucer on the dorsal and ventral hulls, and two triplex torpedo tubes located immediately above the primary sensor dome.
As with modifications made to the Constitution-Class after 2257 (ostensibly a result of Starfleet Intelligence reports of Klingon experimentations with remote computer hacking), the Southampton-Class would be built with the capacity for tactical systems to be ‘decoupled’ from the main computer and operated on manual-only, with each phaser bank being capable of directed firing from Phaser Control as well as remotely from the Main Bridge. Potentially, the phaser banks could also be fired independently under battery control. Similarly, the torpedoes could be programmed and fired manually from the torpedo bays or remotely from the Main Bridge.
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
Apologies for the comparative lack of detail, but I'm probably gonna treat these as a draft and do a more accurate scale drawing at some point. Saucer definitely looks like it needs a deck added and radius reduced by maybe 25%?
EDIT: Looking at it, I think the problem is the nacelles need beefing up a bit.
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
Shuttlecraft:
The class was built with a shuttlebay of similar dimensions to the Constitution-Class, capable of holding four shuttlecraft and four workpods. Spaced around the edge of the saucer were three large ‘utility bays’, with armoured space doors. These bays were intended to serve as staging points or accommodation for emergency evacuations, carry the ship’s lifeboats, serve as additional cargo space if needed, and serve as secondary shuttlebays. Typically, the port and starboard bays would be configured with lifeboats while the forward bay would be kept clear so it could be readily adapted in case of emergency. However, where it was known a starship would be involved in a specific type of operation, the utility bays would be configured to suit.
Crew Facilities and Bridge:
Support Systems included a Sickbay with capacity for ten casualties, plus a further ten in an Intensive Care Unit. Owing to the class not being intended for deep-range assignments, no nursery was provided. Two medical labs were installed. Recreational facilities included three rec-rooms, a mess hall and galley, gymnasium, bowling alley, and chapel. The more specific facilities provided on Constitution-Class vessels such as the ship’s theatre were dropped in favour of a more modular design for the standard recreation rooms allowing them to be reconfigured as desired.
The Main Bridge was largely identical to that of the Constitution-Class, except for the provision of a Conference Room immediately behind the main Bridge, along with a Ready Room, freeing up additional space in the bulk of the Primary Hull.
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
An interesting design using the era's asthetics, without looking like a TOSified version of an existing design. The main thing that cements her size is the size of those shuttlebay doors.
I'd be interested in seeing more.
Yeah, the main shuttlebay doors are perhaps a bit big.
Thing is, as you say, the TOS-era design aesthetic is so functional and utilitarian there aren't that many 'creative' configurations you can do - especially if you're trying to stick with the traditional design rules, since you need to have some kind of line of sight between the nacelles.
More is coming, don't worry. I actually have some basic initial uniform patch designs I can show off.
Sciences
Command
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
I'm guessing, given the mission profile, that as opposed to the 400 or so crewmembers aboard a Constitution-class, this would be looking at a crew complement more in the 150-200 range?
Yeah, around that area, with capacity for about 220-250 under wartime conditions.
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
It looks a lot better. I've cut the saucer diameter down by about a third. I'm considering going to a flat-back saucer like the Miranda-Class, hence why the aft edge cuts shallower than the leading edge.
Biggest improvement is probably the Secondary Hull. I scaled the shuttlebay to be three decks high, whereas before it was a bit more than that. The nacelles are actually about the same size as they were before, it's just everything else looks a little more correct in scale. Length is 448m or 1470ft, so about 50m longer than it should be, because the saucer section is still too big (going by Jefferies' blueprints x1.5 to DSC scale) - about 25% larger than a Connie's! I'll probably do what DSC's visual effects artists did and compress the double-bulge superstructure into one smooth bulge, losing Deck 2 for a total of 20 decks (followed, I suspect, by losing two decks from the Secondary Hull somewhere).
Oh, and I discovered something else for anyone who hasn't done burning images of the DSC Enterprise. The original Enterprise bridge was at an offset angle, because the turboshaft ran through the centre of the saucer, but this meant the cameras wouldn't get a good view of actors leaving the turbolift if anyone was sitting in the command chair, so they moved it on the physical set, but the shaft is still visible centreline on the model. On the DSC set, the turbo is still offset, but on the CGI model the viewscreen faces directly ahead because they put that big stupid window there. Oops.
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
Sorry, my vichyssoise of verbiage veered most verbose. What I mean is, the exterior model of the Discoprise clearly shows the viewscreen (which is, for some incomprehensible reason, still a window facing directly forward. My point was they put the turbolift in the wrong place given its location on the original model, but your point applies in both cases (and it's not something that particularly bugs me - I only know about it because I was reading MA last night and the article mentioned it).
In other news, refinement of the Newcastle continues. I have shortened the saucer again (after thinking about it, I'm going to stick with a full saucer) , reduced the gap between the nacelles, primary, and secondary hulls, shortened the latter slightly, and the whole thing is now barely 400m from stem to stern, or about 1310ft (which scaled back down to TOS original scale would make it 873ft, 74ft shorter than the TOS Enterprise.) At 18 decks, (two lost from shortening the neck, one from removing Deck 2) I'm pretty satisfied with her size now, at least from the side.
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
Further on the crew complement: though smaller, the Newcastle shares most of the same tactical systems with the Constitution-Class, just far fewer labs, no arboretum, etc. By my reckoning, the crew complement would be closer to 270-300.
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints/sd-constitution-nx-1700/sd-constitution-nx-1700-sheet-7-8-X.jpg
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
Feedback and questions welcome.
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
And firing phasers (because I wanted to experiment with making phaser effects in GIMP.)
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
There was an in-universe explanation for the turbolift offset.
What you see is where the main tube is, but the bumpout goes beyond where the top of the tube needs to be if the car just stopped at the top of it, it continues on a little for the hatch for the secondary use of turbolift cars as emergency escape pods.
The reason the turbolift doors are offset is that the car rises to level with the bridge floor and then moves into a niche to the side to clear the tube. It exits the niche when the doors close with people inside while the people are still reaching for the handles so you don't see the shift the way you would a longer sideways trip.
(Then again, they didn't seem to be sure how many decks the Ent-E had, and when Spock was flying up the turbolift shaft in ST5 he flew past the same deck at least twice...)
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
Too much on-screen evidence shows that the bridge is NOT offset though, whenever they get jerked to a stop the crew is thrown forward in relation to the floorplan, very high acceleration presses Kirk and the the helm/nav people straight back into their chairs, not an angle, etc.
Yea... apparently the Ent-A has over a hundred decks?
In the FanFic, Newcastle is just concluding a refit, during which Starfleet has decided to test a new warp core which ties the energy output from the core into the main phaser power banks. This is essentially a test-bed for the reactor design we see in The Motion Picture, with Newcastle experiencing some teething troubles, namely the phaser systems drawing more power than they should and causing everything else to overload, since the power distribution net wasn't designed to handle that much energy at once. (This also helps explain why Enterprise needed a complete redesign between TOS and TMP. Uprating the ship's entire energy infrastructure would in of itself mean taking the ship apart practically to the frames anyway.)
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
That actually fits very well with the novelization of TMP. Roddenberry is notorious for turning arguments and decisions he did not like into background stories and whatnot, along with perverting any decisions against his wishes into story points that technically comply with it while still going his way some fashion.
And several of those deal with the Enterprise itself. Back in TOS days NBC refused to let him call the ship a battleship so he just balanced things so that while Enterprise was called a "heavy cruiser" (at least at first, in the third season, after Roddenberry was kicked up to "executive producer", the second day-to-day producer caved into NBC further and started calling the ship a "Starship" with a capital "S" to denote its being a "capital" ship without any reference to military ships at all), it was still bigger and more powerful than a battlecruiser.
He had a funny story about that and some of the other decree-twisting tricks which he would tell at conventions. The size class one had the Federation council taking the place of NBC and refusing to build a battleship but approved the heavy cruiser that Starfleet designed as a replacement for the battleship proposal--and it was the exact same design.
He liked the Phase II version of the ship (which was the TOS saucer mated to the movie version secondary hull) and disliked the movie division decision to replace the saucer with a "sleeker" one, so in the book Kirk briefly mused about the changes, which included that early test runs with the original saucer turned up technical problems that required a complete teardown and rebuild to fix, essentially rebuilding the thing entirely with only some of the old structural components still in place.
Very basic this time:
Specs are drawn somewhat from the FASA 'Klingon Ship Recognition Manual', assuming the D7C or M is the ship most-prominently seen in TOS. This is mainly because I don't know of any more-specific canonical sources for the ships and the D7 stats in the RPG sourcebook seem fairly credible.
So why not just use one of the ships from that? Well, it is stupidly difficult to tell when the stardates correspond to (which I don't blame on FASA - I blame it on Roddenberry waiting until the last minute to decide when TOS was set and just making the stardates arbitrary) so I don't know when a lot of the ships are supposed to be in service, and most of the designs either look ridiculous or fit more with the TMP-era, so I made my own. It's basically a Raptor using the D7 design language. The image is NOT to scale. At all. I just wanted to get the basic outline down while it was in my head.
Trials of Blood and Fire
Moving On Parts 1-3 - Part 4
In Cold Blood
Well after the last minute, in fact - dialog in the shows can place the series anywhere from the 22nd to 25th centuries. The 23rd wasn't nailed down until later, and the specific years, IIRC, came from fanfic (and were later accepted as official, because again why not?).
The first series bible said "about 200 to 500 years in the future" and Roddenberry was more inclined to a bit later than sooner in that range. What nailed it down was a joke in Tomorrow is Yesterday where the officer interrogating Kirk threatened to throw him in prison for "two hundred years" and Kirk muttered "that would be just about right".
True, sometimes I think Trek writers must have failed basic arithmetic the number of times they have botched things like that over the decades.