Excelsior Class refit
Class Information
In the year 2296, the USS Enterprise-B was commissioned. The ship was a refit of the new, yet proven design. Designed to travel slightly faster, offer better shielding, and a new type of sensor array that would help the ship track cloaked vessels.
The first major subgroup of the Excelsior class, the Enterprise-B subtype was designed for greater burst speed and manoeuvrability than the standard Excelsior and carried a much more elaborate electronics suite. The intention was to counter the new generation of cloak capable vessels being deployed by the Klingon empire. Starfleet was especially worried about developments which might permit Klingon vessels to fire while still cloaked, and it was these in particular that the new type was designed to counter. Plasma detector systems allowed the new ship to locate almost any existing vessel through its cloak, while some of the ship's Photon torpedoes were designed to home in on the 'exhaust' of a cloaked ship. The advanced sensors of the Enterprise-B were also able to engage vessels firing from cloak by automatically locking phasers onto the origin of the weapons fire and almost instantly laying down a pattern of fire on the immediate area before the enemy vessel could change its position. Although the plasma emission weakness was rapidly eliminated from Klingon cloaking devices, the automatic lock and fire system of the Enterprise-B subclass proved so successful in service that by 2310 the Klingons had been forced to abandon the whole idea of firing from behind the cloak and reverted back to using this device purely during approach and evasion operations.
The last Excelsior Refit Class starship built was USS Crazy Horse it was launched in 2350.
In 2374, the Excelsior Refit Class was upgraded to extend the usefulness of the class by incorporating new technology to give a much greater weapons capability. By the end of the Dominion war, all Excelsior class ships were fitted with upgraded phaser banks and quantum torpedoes, as well as improved shielding, sensors, and computer systems. The class is now projected to remain very much active well into the 25th century.
Specifications
| Class Information | |
|---|---|
| Expected Duration | 20 years |
| Resupply Interval | 3 years |
| Refit Interval | 5 years |
| Role | Explorer/Cruiser |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 467 metres |
| Width | 185 metres |
| Height | 100 metres |
| Decks | 28 |
| Warp Rating | |
| Cruising Speed | Warp 6 |
| Maximum Speed | Warp 8.4 |
| Emergency Speed | Warp 9.4 for 12 hours |
| Personnel | |
| Crew Compliment | 840 |
| Officers | 115 |
| Enlisted | 450 |
| Marines | 125 |
| Civilans | 150 |
| Auxiliary Craft | |
| Shuttlebays | 3 |
| Shuttles | 9 |
| Runabouts | 3 |
| Fighters | 0 |
| Tactical Systems | |
| Phasers | 14 Type-VIII+ Phaser banks |
| Torpedo Launchers | 2 forward launcher, 2 aft launcher |
| Torpedoes | 200 Photon Torpedoes, 100 Quantum Torpedoes, 8 Tri Cobalt Torpedoes |
| Shields | Graviton Shielding System |
| Other Systems | Duranium/Tritanium Double Hull |
