FOR APPROVED FEDERATION VISITORS
AND STARFLEET PERSONNEL
"The Specs you are about to see are for the latest in a long honorable line of Dreadnoughts dating back to the days of the famous Captain Kirk. A line standing for Courage and Valor in defense of Starfleet and the whole Federation." --Lt. R.E. McCullick, designer SD 92051.9
Type: Class V Dreadnought
| Overall Length: | 814.2 meters |
| Overall Beam: | 528.7 meters |
| Overall Draft: | 302.9 meters |
| Saucer Length: | 481.8 meters |
| Saucer Beam: | 528.7 meters |
| Saucer Draft: | 121.6 meters |
| Stardrive Length: | 658.4 meters |
| Stardrive Beam: | 205.9 meters |
| Stardrive Draft: | 165.9 meters |
| Nacelle Length: | 632.4 meters |
| Nacelle Beam: | 65.2 meters |
| Nacelle Draft: | 57.2 meters |
Total Decks: 50
Compliment:
Alliance - NCC-82369
Andorian - NCC-2019-D**
Armstrong - NCC-82363
Ark Angel- NCC-2014-A
Dresden - NCC-1837-B
Entente - NCC-82371
Federation - NCC-82365
Franklin - NCC-82368**
Higgins - NCC-82367***
Horta - NCC-82370
Nelson - NCC-82364***
Nimitz - NCC-82360*
Roddenberry - NCC-82362
Star Union - NCC-82366
Washington -NCC-82361
*CLASS SHIP
**LOST IN THE LINE OF DUTY
***DECOMMISSIONED/IN STORAGE
ALL NAMES PROCEEDED WITH UNITED STAR SHIP (U.S.S.)
The main mission of the Nimitz-class is, like all previous Dreadnoughts, to defend the Federation from it's most hostile and powerful enemies. It patrols the most dangerous borders of the federation, always ready for battle with an invading ship or ships. It is a primary interception vessel, capable of holding out against a fleet or an extremely powerful enemy vessel indefinitely. It's secondary function is as a guard ship for diplomatic vessels in positions where the diplomatic vessel is likely to be attacked by someone opposed to whatever diplomatic action is being taken. It's tertiary function is as a rescue vessel. This is for one reason alone. Dreadnoughts, due to the likelihood of combat have very extensive and well staffed sickbays, for treatment only.
On Stardate 6587, Vice Admiral Rittenhouse proposed a new ship idea to Starfleet Command, the Dreadnought. On his recommendation, Starfleet began the building of one dreadnought in secrecy, the Star Empire. On the day before the scheduled launch of the Star Empire, it was stolen by Rittenhouse's assistant, claiming to be acting for the benefit of the Federation. Investigating the theft, Captain James T. Kirk discovered that Rittenhouse planned to use the dreadnought to force the Klingons and Romulan into submission to the Federation, with him as the new Federation leader. Rittenhouse was arrested along with several high ranking Starfleet personnel, causing a general refit of Starfleet. This marked the start of the career of the famous dreadnought Captain Piper, then a Lieutenant. (Note: The above was a brief summary of the novel "Dreadnought", by Diane Carey).
The Dreadnought Project, as well as the Star Empire, was about to be scrapped. However, these events occurred at the same time the Federation Council was beginning to be concerned about the threat of several alien species, the Klingons and the Romulans chief among them. In a move that surprised most of Starfleet, the Federation Council not only resurrected the Star Empire, but on Stardate 6066, appropriated funds for starfleet to build an additional 19, along with funds to refit the Star Empire. Thus, the first class of Dreadnoughts, the Federation-class, was born.
By stardate 7412, all 20 Dreadnoughts were in service and functioning above and beyond the call of duty. Nine more were commissioned (The Star League-class) and then 5 more (The Nichter-class). One of these last, the U.S.S. Andorian (NCC-2019) came to distinction of nobility and selflessness because of Captain Piper and her crew. This prompted Starfleet to reissue her name and registry, like the Enterprise before her. This happened on Stardate 8973, after the Andorian was destroyed by Tholians and the crew brought home a pair of captured Tholian vessels.
Around Stardate 11000, both Starfleet and the Federation decided that the threat of the enemy cultures had decreased enough, with the alliance with the Klingons and the disappearance of the Romulans from galactic politics, that the new Excelsior-classes could deal with the threat of the remaining hostile cultures. On stardate 11365, the Dreadnoughts were cut from Starfleet's budget. All the Dreadnoughts were recalled and retired.
On stardate 49012, with the emergence of the Borg, the Dominion, and the Maquis in less than a decade, Starfleet decided to reactivate the Dreadnought project. Five new Gagarian-class Dreadnoughts were built as interim ships while the new permanent class of Dreadnought was being designed.
In the beginning, a man by the name of Marcus Gatwain was in charge of the Nimitz-class. Gatwain was a great designer of private exploration vessels, but shortly after he started the Dreadnought he retired. After along conference between Starfleet and the contractor, he was replaced by Randy Edward McCullick, a young Lieutenant who was formerly Assistant Engineer on the U.S.S. Enterprise. McCullick redesigned existing ship specs in and out, and was the man in charge of the construction of all fifteen Nimitz-class vessels.
"Now down to business. Without weapons, defense is just temporary." -R.E. McCullick, designer
Phasers- 20 main Phaser Banks (2.5) 80 redundant Phaser Banks
in 4 separate Auxiliary Arrays
Locations (all locations are x4 with redundant systems):
Primary Hull:
Photon Torpedoes- 12 main tubes, each tube consisting of 2 launchers 24 redundant tubes.
Locations (all locations are x3 with redundant systems):
Primary Hull:
Both systems provide a 360° sphere of attack around ship, making it impossible for a ship to attack in a phaser or torpedo "blind spot".The Nimitz-class uses the Mark XXXXII and XXXXIIA torpedoes. The Mark XXXXII torpedo is just a triple power version of TNG's torpedoes and follows a guided path. The Mark XXXXIIA is a "fire and forget" torpedo. It has on board a variation of the Mark X cloak detector hooked up to the torpedo's guidance system and it's purpose is to sniff out a cloaking field. The Mark XXXXIIA is still considered experimental.
(Engineer's note: Although the original 15 Dreadnoughts were supplied with modiifed photon torpedoes, any new ships will most likely be supplied with modified quantum torpedoes. In the future, Starfleet may refit the current ones to use them.)
Plasma Cannons- 6 Standard Plasma Cannons
Locations:
Primary Hull:
Locations: Top of Each Warp Engine
Both Sytems fire a powerful beam of plasma energy at their target. The difference between the two is that the standard system takes energy from the EPS net, while the 3rd Phase system take power directly from the Warp Engines.
Probe Launchers-
Locations:
Primary Hull
The PXXI probe travels at Warp 5 and carries a 75 pod
Anti Matter warhead. It has an on board guidance system
that locks on to a preprogrammed shipand is detonatable
by a four-digit code sent on a certain subspace
frequency.
(Note: In an emergency, The 10 Probe Launchers can double
as torpedo tubes)
Anti Matter Spread-
Ports on the Primary Hull and near the front of the Warp
Engines vent Anti-Matter at enemies. Only Effective
Directly Ahead.
Transwarp Wave Augmentor (TWA)*-
Although Transwarp was a failure as a mode of
transportation, this device was found to be a very
gruesome weapon. Fired from either the fore or aft
deflector dish, it creates a transwarp pulse wave that
causes a brief dimensional rift in it's center. In this
rift anything can happen and frequently does. The
downside of this weapon is it drains almost all of main
power.
(Note: I would suggest the GM's be creative with this
one. I tend to use things like partially phased ships
fusing together in the rift or the entire crew of the
other ship being stuck in another dimension while their
ships remain or vice versa. I got the idea from the Diane
Carey novel, "Battlestations".)
Wave Motion Gun (WMG)* -
The Nimitz-class Dreadnought's "Wave
Motion" energy systems take inert space matter, such
as dust and gas (standardly collected through the Bussard
Ramscoop), and breaks them into tachyon particles by
means of electromagnetic compression. The actual
compression ratio and sequence is classified. It is then
diverted into the Wave Motion Gun.
The Rift in space caused by decellerating Tachyon Particles causes intense releases of energy. This is the basis of the Wave Motion Gun. It's fire power is created by creating massive deceleration of Tachyon Particles, and then focused through the Main Deflector Dish, which has been specially designed to handle energy of that magnitude. However, it DOES result in a main long range sensor blackout (both fore and aft) and a tractor beam failure from the time fired until about 2-3 minutes after it is shut down. For this reason, I express the fact that the Wave Motion Gun be used in emergancy situations ONLY!
(Note: This weapon is my personal favorite. I designed it for use against the Borg. I got the idea from an old '70s Japanese cartoon that's called "Starblazers" in America. I modified it to fit in with Trek.)
"Even though the best defense is a good offense, I feel that a good defense is useful in case your offense is not as good as you thought it was." --R.E. McCullick, designer
Shields-
(Note: Before I go on any further, I feel I must explain
some of the terms I am about to use. I am unable to
completely translate my shielding specs into the new
system. I will therefore give you my old system. Two key
points are used. One is the term "layers". This
refers to the thickness of the shielding. The Enterprise-D
has 10 layers of thickness. The other term is Tactonic.
This refers to the amount of subspace distortion. The Enterprise-D's
shields are monotactonic or plain tactonic. --REM)
Metaphasic shields-
Originally used on the U.S.S. Enterprise-D,
metaphasic shields are standard equipment on the Nimitz-class.
Quantoberilium Hull-
Quantoberilium is specially designed synthetic
material that is effective against focused energy
weapons. It spreads the fire along the hull, dissipating
the effect, kind of like hitting a rubber wall with a
mallet. Hull breaches can be postponed over a minute with
this kind of hull. Only effective, of course, if shields
are down. (Note: From the Novel "Dreadnought"
by Diane Carey)
Interphase Generator-
This device, also known as a Phase-Cloak, makes the ship
both invisible and intangible. However, while in
Interphase, Weapons cannot be fired, shields cannot be
used and sensors are nearly blind.
"I believe someone once said that without power, one is powerless. That is most definitely true." --R.E. McCullick, designer.
Main Power-
Main Power is provided by three M/A reactors located with
one in the aft part of the saucer and two in the
Engineering Hull, port and starboard. These reactors work
in sync to provide power for the entire ship. The two in
Engineering provide the majoriy, while the smaller one in
the primary hull is usually on standby, and activates in
emergancy situations to provide additional power or warp
capability to the primary hull after a hull separation.
Auxiliary Power-
Auxiliary Power is provided by 100 separate fusion
Generators located at Various points throughout the ship.
These provide emergency power when needed.
Emergancy Power (batteries)-
In the event of both Main and Auxiliary power failure,
there are 200 storage batteries, 4 on each deck, to
provide life support and other basic power needs until
main or auxiliary power can be restored.
"Without the ability to move, where would we be?" --R.E. McCullick, designer.
Warp Propulsion System (WPS)-
The Warp Propulsion System is distributed in three
separate engines. One is located just aft of center,
above the Primary Hull. The other two are located in
standard formation on the secondary hull. Engines are
Summers, Inc. model FWZ-2.
Impulse Propulsion System (IPS)-
The Impulse Propulsion System (IPS) has not changed much
in form from the Galaxy-class system. The only
modification is on the central stardrive section where it
splits into two (p/s) engines before ending this is for
better maneuverinf at impulse speeds.
Maneuvering Thrusters-
There are maneuvering thrusters at several points along
all 6 major sides of each hull. These provide low speed
movement in any direction.
Wave Motion Engine (WME)*-
As we know, there are at least two types of space --
normal space and subspace. Moving through sub-space makes
it possible for a ship to travel faster than light, at
least if it's motion is measured with respect to it's
displacement in normal space. WM Warp is acheived by
invoking a rift between normal and subspace, and then
allowing a ship to slip into subspace, as opposed to
generating a Subspace field around a vessel to keep it in
subspace. It is done by allowing a charge of tachyons to
re-integrate into slower particles. Moving in subspace
allows the ship to jump off the "curve" of
normal space, letting the ship travel from crest to crest
instead. This is acheived with less effort that it would
take for a ship to travel completely along the curve. In
short, you create your own temporary Wormhole and travel
through it. However, the time and location at which the
jump occurs is important. The fabric of Space/Time is a
wave pheonomeneon, hence the afore mentioned
"Curves" and"crests". The ship can
enter WM Warp only when it enters subspace at a time when
it is at a wave crest on the space time curve. Otherwise,
the ship would merely submerge into some level of
subspace for a short duration. This should be noted that
it can be used as a primitive cloaking method, but is
ineffective since Warp or even any other motion isn't
possible while in it, and the ship can be easily located
by creating a small space warp.
M 10 Computer Core*-
Designed by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation, the M 10
computer provides the latest in speed and performance.
Also included is an AI interface.
Holographic Generator*-
This creates a holographic image of whatever you program
it for and places it wherever you want to place it. The
device also sends a signal from the ship to other ships
sensors, fooling them into believing what it says is
there. This image can be modified for external imput.
(Note: From the Star Trek novel "Dreadnought"
by Diane Carey.)
Mark X Cloak Detector*-
This device is used through the Navigational Dishes. It
fires a multidirectional tacyon pulse in a 360o sphere.
It will uncover any cloaked vessel in the pulse range.
Does not work on Interphased vessels.
Navigational Dishes-
Unlike Heavy Cruiser design, Dreadnoughts have both front
and rear deflector dishes. This is to accommodate the
many uses listed previously. These dishes also house the
main tractor array.
Tractor beams-
The tractor array is more powerful than those of any
other federation vessel to date. These beams are powered
through the navigational dishes to provide both power and
accuracy. Beams can lock as narrow as one square
centimeter and both front and rear tractors can be used
in sync.
Medical Section-
The Nimitz-class has a Main and Emergency Sickbay.
The former is located on the majority of Deck 9 and the
latter is located on part of Deck 40, for use during Hull
Separation or Emergancy Rescue. These bays are fully
staffed for emergency combat wounds.
Recreation-
The Nimitz-class has six recreational areas on
Deck 12. The first two are for the bar and for a
Holodeck. The remaining four are cubicle installable
areas for crew choice, including another holodeck.
However, power allotment will only allow two holodecks.
Science-
There are limited scientific research facilities on the Nimitz-class.
Besides the sensory, science has 4 labs on Deck 9.
Because the Nimitz-class is not designed to be an
exploritory vessel, departments like Stellar Cartography
and Planetary Geology do not exist. The is only a limited
General Science Staff.
Security-
Security is on Deck 11. There is a large brig as well as
the security office. This is for any POWs taken. For
security reasons, the Armories are located on Decks 9 and
47, and are guarded at all times. Regulations state that
all Security Officers must wear sidearms while on duty
and Senior Officers must wear sidearms during
battlestations. All other crewmen are at the CO's
discretion.
Shuttle Bays-
The Nimitz-class has four shuttle bays containing
the Omicron Class Assault Sleds.
Locations:
"To sum it all up, this vessel is one of the most advanced ships ever created. It is also one of the most dangerous. Responsible use of the ship is necessary here even more than on other vessels." --R.E. McCullick, designer, from his address to the Federation Council and Starfleet Command, SD 92031.7
The devices marked with an asterisk (*) are experimental. These were only given to two vessels. The U.S.S. Andorian and the U.S.S. Ark Angel. The equipment on the U.S.S. Andorian was destroyed with the ship. All the equipment on the U.S.S. Ark Angel was never installed, except the Wave Motion Engine and the M10 Computer Core. The rest is still in storage. Many of these devices later became the backbone of my Andorian-class SuperDreadnought Design. --REM
©Copyright 1996, 1998 Mad Rabbit Publications