Nebula Class

Nebula Class
Affiliation:	Federation Starfleet Division 14
Service Period:	2374 - Current
Dimensions
Length:	442.23 meters
Width:	318.11 meters
Height:	108.33 meters
Mass:	3,300,000 metric tons
Specifications
Decks:	30
Crew:	750 officers and crew 130 visiting personnel 9,800 personal evacuation limit
Speed:	Warp 9.6
Armament:	Phaser Arrays Probe Launcher
Defenses:	Deflector Shield
Auxiliary craft:	Danube Class Runabout Starfleet Shuttlecraft

Overview

With peace reigning between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire having left galactic politics, Starfleet Command ordered large scale exploration of the galaxy. Many vessels were ordered through this project, including the Galaxy Class, but Starfleet quickly realized that their new flagship class would be a resource intensive platform. Knowing that they needed a more modest exploratory vessel to supplement their forces, Starfleet ordered the Advanced Starship Design Bureau to begin work on another vessel that would incorporate the same advanced components, systems, and design features in a more cost-effective manner.

Assigned to Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems at the 40 Eridani A Starfleet Construction Yards near Vulcan, the Nebula Class was designed to perform various scientific and exploratory roles along with patrol and transport duties throughout Federation territory and beyond. Members of the class would be outfitted with an extensive array of multi-purpose weaponry and new technologies. Highly modular through the inclusion of a configurable mission pod, Nebula Class ships were intended to replace the Miranda Class as a workhorse class throughout the Federation; however, the emergence of the Borg threat and the Dominion War would delay this process. Despite this, the Nebula Class would become the most numerous of the large-scale explorers of the late 24th Century.

Work on the Nightengale Subtype of the Nebula class would begin in early 2373 following the Klingons invasion of Federation territory. The Federation's defenses were inadequate against the Klingons, and Starfleet faced heavy losses. Partnering with Starfleet Medical, Starfleet Command directed the Advanced Starship Design Bureau to begin work on a new vessel capable of defending the Federation and rescuing any injured concurrently. Initial work focused on building a new class of vessel known as the Osler Class; however, Starfleet Command viewed that this process would take too long and instead ordered a focus on refitting an existing starship design. Vulcan's 40 Eridani A Starfleet Construction Yards were selected, along with Yoyodyne Propulsion, to construct four vessels under Project Nightengale.

While work proceeded quickly at the Vulcan Shipyards, Starfleet Command was forced to rethink their operations with the outbreak of the Dominion War. While three vessels were nearing completion (Nightengale, Comfort, and Mercy), efforts to construct the fourth hull were met with multiple delays. As fighting intensified and reached Vulcan itself, Starfleet Command ordered that the Britannic be launched without its Hospital Pod and would later fit the craft with a Tactical Pod instead. Nonetheless, due to the success of the three craft during the Dominion War, Starfleet ordered that the Britannic be converted to Nightengale specifications following the completion of the War in 2375.

Mission Profiles

While the typical Nebula Class vessel is designed to undertake almost any mission profile, the Nightengale Subtype of the Nebula Class has been constructed with three primary mission protocols:

• Colony Support - The Britannic has been specially equipped to assist colonies in all stages of development. Among the responsibilities that the Britannic can undertake include providing cargo transfer, conducting scientific support, and can provide medical assistance to colony worlds.
• Crisis and Emergency Response - Members of the Nightengale subtype of the Nebula Class are capable of responding quickly to a crisis, no matter what it may be. By design the Britannic can deploy large quantities of personnel or cargo to a disaster zone, or evacuate large populations from the region.
• Scientific and Survey Operations - Like its sister ships, the Britannic has a high capacity to undertake scientific endeavors and has been specially equipped for these types of missions.

Technical Specifications

Physical Arrangement

The Nebula Class was developed alongside of the larger Galaxy Class and shares a similar design lineage with its cousing, notably its primary and secondary hulls and warp nacelles. The Nebula Class incorporates two hull sections, including a saucer-shaped primary hull that was directly mounted atop the secondary hull with two warp nacelles mounted directly below the primary hull on either side of the stardrive section. Earlier designs of the Nebula Class featured a more specialized secondary hull; however, later designs - like that of the Britannic - were reconfigured to more closely match the components of the Galaxy Class engineering hull. Along with this redesign the Britannic is capable of separating its saucer section.

In addition to its compact profile, the Nebula Class includes a large superstructure built within the stardrive section that has been designed to support a variety of mission modules. The Britannic and her sisters have been equipped with an oval shaped platform that incorporates a full hospital complex capable of treating over 1,000 patients per day. While the mission pod was intended to be modular and easily replaced, the hospital pod is more closely integrated within the design and not easily swapped out by a starbase.

Command and Control Systems

The computer system on board the Nebula Class were isolinear based and concentrated in the vessel's three computer cores; two located in the saucer section and one in the engineering section.

Medical Systems

In addition to the standard Sickbay complex associated with the Nebula Class, the members of the Nightengale subtype have been outfitted with a specially designed hospital pod able to provide emergency, on-site medical care and support in disaster relief and humanitarian operations.

Each hospital pod contains twelve fully equipped operating rooms, a 1,000-bed hospital facility, medical laboratories, medication storage, therapy, and specialized equipment. The equivalent of a Starbase's medical center or large planetary hospital, treatment aboard the Britannic reduces the mortality risk by 25% compared to other vessels. This is due to the Britannic having a full range of specialists and equipment available to patients at all times due to its role as a hospital ship. Each member of the Nightengale subtype also maintains a full research program and is a leader in trauma education and injury prevention.

Propulsion Systems

The propulsion systems for the Nebula Class were designed by Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems and incorporate the same Warp Core design as the Galaxy Class, generating approximately 12.75 billion gigawatts of power for shipboard systems and travel. Faster than light travel was provided by twin warp nacelles, which housed multiple pairs of warp coils, and could propel the ship at speeds up to Warp 9.6. Deuterium Fuel Tanks were located above the core, while antimatter storage pods surrounded the base of the core.

The Nebula Class incorporates three Impulse Drives, two on the saucer section and one in the stardrive section; however, unlike most vessels, the Impulse engines were hidden behind baffles to scatter their signature for stealth reasons. Due to these stealth settings, the Britannic's engines operated with an intermix ratio above ninety percent in order to successfully leave orbit of a planet. Fine maneuvering of the vessel was provided by Reaction Control Thrusters located a key locations along the vessel's hull.

Scientific Systems

The Britannic supports a wide variety of scientific equipment and laboratories, with health and life sciences dominating other disciplines. In place of the Captain's Yacht, a specialized Laboratory Pod has been installed that can be isolated from the rest of the Britannic at a moment's notice and ejected from the craft if necessary. Sensor systems could be customized and upgraded as necessary for a specific mission and the Britannic included a high-energy sensor sweep that would cycle every 5.5 minutes. Between each of those cycles, a "window" of a fiftieth of a second would open, requiring the ship's shields to be realigned if they were active during a scan cycle.

In support of its mission, Britannic has been equipped with a variety of probes and scientific devices that could be launched from the forward torpedo launcher. The vessel includes basic scanner probes and reconnaissance probes, class-A probes and probes from class-1 to class-5. A number of space buoys - including basic stationary beacons, warning buoys and emergency buoys - were also among the vessel's complement.

Tactical Systems

While the Britannic and its sister ships in the Nightengale subtype of the Nebula Class maintained a maximum effective weapons range slightly below 300,000 kilometers, interstellar treaty required that the Britannic be outfitted with defensive weapons only. To accommodate this mandate, the Phasers aboard the Britannic have been hardwired for low intensity mode. As low intensity weapons, these weapons use less energy and do not generally damage the hull of a target, making them more effective at disabling an opponent. Phasers were installed on the forward dorsal and ventral of the primary hull, and on the secondary hull below the deflector dish.

As a medical vessel, the Britannic is not permitted to support offensive weaponry; however, Starfleet Command did authorize the installation of a Probe Launcher in the ship. Located above the Main Deflector Dish, the Probe Launcher is based upon the second-generation torpedo launcher created by Starfleet in the mid-23rd Century. By design, the Probe Launcher is capable of launching a probe every five seconds, has lower maintenance requirements than other models, and is less prone to overheating with prolonged use. The Britannic's crew have supplemented their defensive capabilities by converting several probes into makeshift Photon Torpedoes for use in an emergency. While capable, these makeshift weapons have limitations when compared to the real thing as they have less destructive potential, may only be fired in a narrow arc, and have a poor chance to actually hit their target.

While the Nebula Class is normally fitted with a standard defensive shield grid, the Corps of Engineers was able to create a specialized regenerative shield grid for the Britannic and its sisters. Based upon the designs utilized by the Prometheus and Sovereign Class, Regenerative Shielding is a force field system that protect against enemy attacks or natural hazards by absorbing energy expended into the shield during the attack to reinforce the field. Through the Regenerative Shield the Britannic is able to remain in a dangerous situation for a longer period than its contemporaries.

Transport and Cargo

Nebula Class vessels are equipped with a variety of auxiliary craft from standard personnel shuttles to larger runabouts. Auxiliary craft were housed in one of two shuttlebays, with the main shuttlebay was located on Deck 4 in the saucer section and shuttlebay two located in the superstructure attached to the engineering hull. Numerous multi-level cargo bays were located throughout the ship, with each having sufficient room for storage, cargo transporters, and anti-grav units for the transportation of cargo. The Britannic also supports 16 Transporter Rooms located, primarily, in the saucer module with supplemental units in the stardrive.