I'm excited to introduce a new designer, Ben, and his ship spec, the Thurisaz. Lets all welcome Ben with constructive reviews and cake! /me hands out chocolate cake to any reviewers.

Review closes after we get 2 solid reviews or 2 weeks, whichever is later. - Jen

Preamble

This is my first ship design, a fast, hard-hitting little thing. I hope you enjoy it. It is named Thurisaz after the signature rune of the Norse god Thor, which represents will and determination, those kinds of things. This ship, relayed in proper SSSF format, 16-point, Times New Roman Font follows. [obviously it's not 16-point TNR here, but it was in my inbox - Jen ]

Thurisaz-class
Category: Destroyer
Variant: Tactical
Designer: Ben F.
Mark I
Draft 1.5
Date: Saturday, July 18, 2009
Referenced URLs: N/A

HISTORY AND MISSION OVERVIEW

"The sun knew not | where she had housing;
The moon knew not | what Might he had;
The stars knew not | where stood their places.
Thus was it ere | the earth was fashioned." - The Poetic Edda, Völuspá

A team of engineers entered an area that had not been used (or functioning) since the mid-23rd century. It contained much broken-down equipment, including computers that would prove very useful. The engineers worked and worked, and finally managed to get the computers up and running. Starfleet technicians looked through the newly discovered databases, and found something they certainly had not been expecting.

During the 23rd century, many ships were lost to threats and anomalies in space, never to be heard from again. It seemed that Starfleet had decided to create a ship that could defend these vessels, by fighting fast and hard, and by scouting ahead to check on anomalies that the primary vessel might not be able to pull out of, while the smaller, much faster ship could.

It seemed they wanted to create the Thurisaz class.

The schematics for the Thurisaz class were sent to the Daystrom Institute. They were innovative for the time, but in the modern era, they were rather outdated. And because of the damage to the computer systems, not all of the schematics could be recovered, therefore the Daystrom Institute was left to revise the old schematics and finish the design. For this reason, the draft of this document was labeled 1.5: It was a continuation on half of an old design.

As per the old mandate, the primary mission of the Thurisaz class is to protect science vessels. It has been designed with specialized impulse engines that allow it to reach near-maximum speed. It is too big to go the full 0.35c safely, however it is possible. Several other features allow for high maneuverability, and the weapons systems are designed, not for extreme, heavy power, but to hit very hard at extremely close range. The Thurisaz can also serve as a military ship to supplement heavy tactical assaults.

STRUCTURE AND CONSTRUCTION

"The Merciless Destroyer
Of the people of the Giants
Grasped with ready fore-arms
At the heavy red-hot iron." - The Prose Edda, Skaldskaparmal

The hull of the Thurisaz is constructed from a duranium/tetraburnium alloy. The tetraburnium was used in an attempt to allow the ship to withstand the immense stresses placed on its hull by its high-speed maneuvers. The ship's hull is also scattered with patches of monotanium armour plating. The reason for this is that monotanium adversely affects targeting beams, and as such, the scattering of monotanium plates makes the already fast ship harder to hit.

The ship somewhat resembles a transport vessel. It is elongated, and straight; the ship does not drop down in height like a Galaxy class. The bridge is at the front of the ship, like a traditional airplane. The nose of the ship is rounded. The sides are somewhat rounded at well, with the top and bottom being flat. A little more than halfway back on the ship, two "wings" extend out to the sides. These wings are vital to the maneuverability of the ship. On the port wing, a thruster points down, and on the starboard wing, a thruster is mounted in the top, pointing up. The thrusters are mounted a little bit from the end of the wings, which angle backwards at about thirty degrees. These thrusters are slightly more powerful than normal, and are linked directly to the conn with bio-neural circuitry; thus, they are much quicker to respond, thus enabling the ship to flip upside down in less than one second by the use of these thrusters. Near the ends and on the inside (towards the ship) of each wing, supplementary impulse engines are mounted. They look like small boxes, and face backwards, but are on hinges at the top and bottom, thus enabling them to rotate side-to-side to help with navigation. The computer normally handles these adjustments, but they can be switched to manual control. At the ends of each wing, the two variable-geometry warp nacelles are mounted, about even with the back of the ship. The nacelles are located at the ends of the same wings that hold the impulse “boxes” and thrusters. The back of the ship glows bright red with the main impulse engine.

This ship cannot land on planets, but does have one unique feature: Magnets. They are located on the top of the ship. The point being, that this ship can literally land on an enemy ship, thus out of their firing range in the best way.

SCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS

"But under that root which turns toward the Rime-Giants is Mímir's Well, wherein wisdom and understanding are stored; and he is called Mímir, who keeps the well." - The Prose Edda, Gylfaginning

The Thurisaz is not a science ship, but scouting ahead is part of its mission. To maintain decent sensing ability without compromising space for other, more necessary systems, the Thurisaz was equipped with type VI sensors.

The computer cores (2) are primarily isolinear, while incorporating some bio-neural technology for better control responses. However, the majority of the systems are isolinear.

In the original document, there was a discussion of a specific operating system for the Thurisaz class. The Daystrom Institute has revised and modernized this system, called T.H.O.R.’S, which stands for “Thurisaz High-Optimum Response System.” It is similar to LCARS, and only requires minimal learning. It is designed to further the ship’s speed, both in console and engine, by designing an operating system specifically meant for this particular design. System controls that are used at consoles are also laid out in a more efficient way. On non-critical consoles, such as map and system monitor consoles in the hallways, it is possible to activate a simulation of LCARS. This would be most useful to guests who do not know how to use Thor’s (Thor’s is the less formal and most common way to refer to the Thurisaz’s OS).
The ship carries a standard EMH program for medical emergencies.

Carrying type VI sensors, this ship has a hi-res range of 2.5 lightyears, and a lo-res range of 8.5 lightyears. It carries no extra sensing equipment, except of course for the deflector, which is mounted in a pit in the front of the ship, below the bridge and forward torpedo cannon.

The Thurisaz also carries standard ECM and ECCM. Because it is designed for fast, painful, and precise strikes on enemy ships, the ECCM is significantly above benchmark.

WARP PROPULSION SYSTEM

"At the northward end of heaven sits the giant called Hræsvelgr: he has the plumes of an eagle, and when he stretches his wings for flight, then the wind rises from under his wings, as is here said:" - The Prose Edda, Gylfaginning

The Thurisaz is a fast ship mainly in impulse, but also good at warp. Therefore, it carries a class VI warp core. This core has a cochrane rating of 1516, a standard cruising speed of warp 5.0, a maximum sustainable speed of warp 7.0, and a 12-hour maximum speed of warp 9.3. The ship uses variable-geometry nacelles mounted at the back of the ship on the wings, which extend the nacelles slightly behind the ship, and it has two nacelles.

There is a major design flaw in the warp system. For efficiency, much of the ship's machinery for energy and data transfer, the computer core, and impulse reactors are located on the ventral-most deck. Critical control areas are in the middle of the ship. Therefore, it was necessary to elevate Main Engineering, and the warp core, to deck one, high in the ship. This vulnerability makes the core an easy target. The EPS conduits drop a couple decks immediately and make their run to the nacelles below, but the core is vulnerable. Therefore, a plate of ablative armour was slapped over the top of the ship above the core. There is a wide patch of armor that covers Engineering, and then, above the core, a thicker patch in a circle shape, 15 meter radius.

IMPULSE PROPULSION SYSTEMS

"Thor has two he-goats, that are called Tooth-Gnasher and Tooth-Gritter, and a chariot wherein he drives, and the he-goats draw the chariot; therefore is he called Öku-Thor" - The Prose Edda, Gylfaginning

The Thurisaz carries three impulse engines, one major one in the back, and two one the wings that can be rotated. The impulse engines are where the ship shines, employing powerful engines that allow for a full 0.35c, however this speed is not recommended. The ship also contains a full set of strategically positioned thrusters, including the two on the wings, allowing for amazing maneuverability. They are mounted on the inside of the wings, in front of the nacelles, so as to provide maximum thrust to the ship. This maneuverability is what makes the Thurisaz class so special. There are also two braking thrusters mounted on either side of the ship, facing forward.

TACTICAL SYSTEMS

"He has also three things of great price: one is the hammer Mjöllnir, which the Rime-Giants and the Hill-Giants know, when it is raised on high; and that is no wonder, it has bruised many a skull among their fathers or their kinsmen." - The Prose Edda, Gylfaginning

Shields

The Thurisaz’s monotanium plating and ridiculously fast speed and high maneuverability make it difficult enough to hit. For this reason, the designers felt it would be possible to install lower-powered shields, since between these three, the ship would be relatively safe. Therefore, the ship comes equipped with type 8 shields. They have a maximum graviton load of 1344 megawatts, and a maximum dispersion rate of 3.7 x 10^5 kilowatts. It was felt that this would be sufficient to sustain any unavoidable fire.

Phasers

The Thurisaz uses type VIII phasers. These have a maximum energy output of 2.6 megawatts, and an effective range of 150,000 kilometers. The Thurisaz’s power lies in numbers, and several Thurisaz ships going in for a strike would be more than enough with this armament. The Thurisaz’s phasers are its primary attack, and as such, it carries no less than ten arrays. One is front mounted, one is rear mounted, four are evenly positioned on top, four on bottom. The reason for four strips on the ventral and dorsal sides were because the ship was designed to fly though with the ability to strike many spots, or focus all phasers on just one location. It would be possible to build a model with only two phaser strips on the dorsal and ventral sides, however, if a ship with a faster firing rate was needed. The top and bottom strips have 125 emitters per strip, and it took some work to fit them all. The fore and aft strips each have 90 emitters, being shorter. The ship is constructed in such a way that it should be possible to fire all the phasers, except the aft one of course, at a target directly in front of the ship.

Torpedoes

The Thurisaz has two torpedo tubes, both in back. This may seem surprising, but the logic was that, because the Thurisaz's primary purpose was extremely close-flying attacks, it would not, in most cases, want to launch a torpedo right in front of itself, that the blast should damage the Thurisaz as well. However, it was part of tactical planning that the Thurisaz could fly in, hit with phasers, and then strike with torpedoes from its two aft launchers on the course away from the enemy ship. The Thurisaz is fully capable of firing quantum or photon torpedoes.

Thor's Hammer

The Thurisaz carries a special missile called Thor's Hammer. This weapon is class-specific, and must have a special launcher. The launcher is mounted on the bottom of the ship, and is normally retracted. Therefore, if it is damaged before it can extend, it will not be able to fire.

Thor's Hammer is an EM shock missile. It is about 2 meters long, with extremely powerful magnetic plates on the end. Its purpose is to shut down a subsystem, such as the warp core or sensor array of an enemy ship. To operate it, the following conditions must be met:

1. The enemy ship's shields must be down on the side the Thurisaz will fire from.

2. The hull over the targeted subsystem must be weakened by weapons fire.

3. The missile launcher must be extended.

4. The missile is equipped with a .5 meter long "spear" on the end. It is charged with gravitons so it will rip though most weakened hulls. It must be targeted directly at the subsystem, or an essential power conduit going to said subsystem.

5. The Thurisaz must fly within 20 kilometers of the ship. The extremely close distance is necessary because of the precise targeting necessary to the operation of the Thor's Hammer missile. It is equipped with a thruster system which can give it a boost of 1/500th impulse power, plus the momentum from the ship at the moment of launch.

6. Once the missile hits, the "spear" drives a hole into the hull, and the magnets latch. A powerful EM surge is then released through the "spear," which, if targeted correctly, should disable or severely damage the subsystem. Then, a photon warhead mounted within the missile detonates for added damage, and to prevent this technology from falling into enemy hands, since it would be permanently latched to an enemy hull.

The Thurisaz class may only carry one of these at a time. Because they are experimental, they may not always be available at a Starbase for reloading (i.e., GMs, your call). In addition, it is very susceptible to ECM. Because of the advanced scanning systems, there is only room in it for a substandard EM-23 rod, which provides only the most basic ECCM. It would not be affected by a great amount, but enough to miss the targeted subsystem and waste the missile. This rod has a chance of holding off ECM long enough for a hit, but if the missile is specifically targeted, it is unlikely. This is another reason it is necessary to get so close to the target.

COMMAND AND SUPPORT SYSTEMS

"Breidablik 't is called, | where Baldr has
A hall made for himself:
In that land | where I know lie
Fewest baneful runes." - The Prose Edda, Gylfaginning

The bridge is not located on its own deck, but, like the Defiant class, shares its deck with critical stations.

The bridge is actually considered deck two; deck one is higher in the ship and is Main Engineering. Engineering is a utilitarian affair, with a smaller size than most. The warp core is situated in the center of Engineering, making it possible to walk around it. A console on the railing around the core is designed for quick access to the most critical parts of the core, in case emergency measures need to be taken quickly. Engineering is wide and circular, with a ring of consoles around the edge. The first level is general engineering. Level 2 deals specifically with the dilithium matrix and reaction. This level is smaller than the first and is generally used only in emergencies, when strict control of the reaction is necessary to prevent a warp core breach. There is a ladder by the warp core by which one can go under engineering and examine the pipes and conduits there.

The Bridge resembles something in between that of the Defiant class and old-time Constitution class. It is sleek, designed for optimal efficiency. Consoles ring the walls, all the way up to the small viewscreen. The captain's chair is on a slightly raised dais, so he can easily see everything that happens. A turbolift is situated in the aft-port side of the room, and a door to the rest of deck 2 is situated in the aft-starboard side.

Deck 2 houses the bridge and other critical stations. Hallways connect to the central damage control room, an escape pod room (a smaller-scale one, there is another main one in lower decks), and weapons control, a room devoted entirely to the control and maintenance of the weapons systems.

The other decks are fairly standard. There is only one holodeck. Deck layout is somewhat strange, but it not relevant to these specs. The mess hall is located on deck four, which is actually directly beneath deck 2 near the front of the ship. Another interesting feature is on deck 10. There is something of a ball room here, in the back of the ship, with holographic emitters to display holographic waiters and such. It is for the reception of guests.

UTILITY SYSTEMS

"Vídarr is the name of one, the silent god. He has a thick shoe. He is nearly as strong as Thor; in him the gods have great trust in all struggles." - The Prose Edda, Gylfaginning

There is a small cargo bay on deck 9, in the aft-ventral part of the ship, for carrying small loads. This is no cargo vessel.

The tractor beams are the meat of this section, for they are a new system that only the Thurisaz possesses. The use a pair of 8 megawatt emitters, for a total power of 16 megawatts per beam. The interesting thing is that there are six very small emitters mounted on the top and bottom of the ship. They are used as slingshots.

In a combat situation, the point of the Thurisaz is speed. That is what these tractors give it. It is possible for the Thurisaz to speed in, phasers blazing, activate its tractor beams, and literally swing around on the ship. The tractor emitters can swivel, and they use this turning ability to sling the ship around at the angle desired. There is a special console on the bridge for handling these emitters, with the computer doing much of the work because of the extremely quick adjustments in power allocation and emitter rotation that must be made. The polarity in these beams can also be reversed, in order to use them to push away from the other ship, i.e. if you were to fly in fast, pull up, and push away with the tractors to prevent a collision.

These tractor beams would be capable of towing something small, like an escape pod, but there is no main emitter, and as such, the Thurisaz cannot tow ships.

There is one transporter on deck 5, which is somewhere in the middle of the ship. It has six pads, and a range of 35,000 kilometers (5,000 less than standard; this is to conserve power).

Deck 11 runs under every single deck and is considered the maintenance deck. Jefferies tubes run off of it in many directions, usually upwards into the maintenance areas of the decks above.

CREW SUPPORT SYSTEMS

"Andhrímnir | has in Eldhrímnir
Sæhrímnir sodden,
Best of hams; | yet how few know
With what food the champions are fed." - The Prose Edda, Gylfaginning

Sickbay is located on deck 8, in the middle-starboard-ventral part of the ship. It has three biobeds and one emergency surgical area, similar to the Intrepid class. From the door, the biobeds are on the right, the surgery area is at the back in an alcove with forcefield emitters around it, the doctor's office is to the left of the sickbay and is simply two walls and a door with a glass panel. The panel measures about 2 feet high and 2.5 feet wide. On the left of sickbay, and more towards the main door, is a door to the lab, where all kinds of medical tests can be conducted.

As mentioned before, deck 10 is a huge guest reception room, and there is only one holodeck on the ship, on deck 3, which is behind and a little below deck 2.

Because of the harsh maneuvers the Thurisaz makes, it was necessary to design an extremely specific inertial dampening system. It is called the T-82 and can only be used in a Thurisaz. It is extremely effective, which is, again, very necessary due to the way in which this ship is designed to fly.

Swing positions include TTBO (Tactical Tractor Beam Operator, which is so difficult it does require special training), and it is possible to have one or more T.H.O.R.'S. specialists onboard, though it is not necessary.

AUXILIARY SPACECRAFT SYSTEMS

"Now is the flight of eagles
Over the field; the sailors
Of the sea-horses hie them
To the Hanged-God's gifts and feasting." - The Prose Edda, Skaldskaparmal

The Thurisaz, aside from a complement of escape pods, contains absolutely no such vessels. There is an extremely small shuttlebay for emergency docking of shuttles. It can hold absolutely no more than one shuttle or five escape pods (that would be a cram) at a time.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

"Swiftly the Far-Famed rideth,
The Foretelling God, to the fire speeds,
To the wide pyre of his offspring;
Through my cheeks praise-songs are pouring." - The Prose Edda, Skaldskaparmal

Dimensions & Structure:
Length: 150 meters
Beam (Width): 90 meters
Height: 40 meters
Decks: 11

Crew Complement:
Officers and Crew: 72
Visiting Personnel: 30
Maximum Evacuation Limit: 300
Core: Isolinear data core x2
Software: Thurisaz High-Optimum Response System (T.H.O.R.’S)

Warp Systems:
Power Plant: One 1516 cochrane MARA core feeding two nacelles
Cruising Velocity: Warp 5.0
Max. Sustainable Velocity: Warp 7.0
Max. Velocity: Warp 9.3 (12 hours)
Impulse Systems:
Full Impulse: 0.25c
Zero-0.25c: 3.5 seconds
0.25c-Zero: 4 seconds
Defensive Systems
Shield Maximum Graviton Load (Continuous): 1344 MegaWatts
Shield Maximum Energy Dissipation Rate: 3.7x10^5
Offensive Systems
Torpedo tubes (x2)
Standard payload: 150 photon torpedoes
Phaser systems
10 Type-VIII phaser strips
Thor’s Hammer Missile
EM missile, explained in the Tactical section.

DECK LAYOUT

"I pray the high-souled Warder
Of earth to hear the Ocean
Of the Cliff of Dwarves, my verses:
Hear, Earl, the Gore of Kvasir." - The Prose Edda, Skaldskaparmal

Deck 1:
Main Engineering
Power shuts for the warp core

Deck 2:
Bridge
Weapons control
Emergency escape pods
Central Damage Control

Deck 3:
Lounge
Quarters

Deck 4:
Quarters

Deck 5:
Transporter
Thor's Hammer Missile emergency manual access

Deck 6:
Tactical planning room (includes a holographic display table, communications console, seating and access to full library computer database)
Conference room
VIP Quarters
VIP meeting room

Deck 7:
Auxiliary navigation
Primary escape pods

Deck 8:
Sickbay
Shuttlebay (limitations described above)

Deck 9:
Cargo bay
Decontamination (has settings for cargo and human. Cargo setting will kill humans. Transporter facilitators are placed in this room to allow for people and cargo to be beamed directly there. Door has forcefield emitters around it as well. Controls are outside, and there is a window allow to see in)

Deck 10:
Ballroom/grand dining hall (possesses holographic emitters that can create holographic waiters and musicians)

Deck 11:
Maintenance deck. Runs under whole ship, with Jefferies tubes running generally upwards into maintenance areas of the rest of the ship's equipment. Much of the ship's equipment meets up here. This is for simplification. Most repairs on things like phasers start by going to this deck for access to the main Jefferies tubes. Deck 11 is equipped with transporter facilitators to beam people directly in if repairs need to be fast, however, many critical systems can be accessed from other Jefferies tubes around the ship.

All decks have Jefferies tube access leading to other decks, and in some cases, repair areas, in case the turbolifts should go out. Transporter facilitators consist of heavy wire which runs through the ship to places where they are needed, as of now only decontamination and Deck 11. The person is beamed through these wires and out of metal plates, making in-ship transport safer.

SHIPS OF CLASS

"The Prince requires my lore,
And bound his praise to pour,
Odin's Mead I bore
To English shore." - The Prose Edda, Skaldskaparmal

USS Thurisaz, NCC-57001 [class ship]
USS Bifröst, NCC-57002
USS Norway, NCC-57003

CONCLUSION

"There the Týr of Triumph
Himself inspired the terror
Of ships; the gods of breezes
That favor good men steered them." - The Prose Edda, Skaldskaparmal

The Thurisaz is designed to escort other ships, as per its original design. It was an old plan from the 23rd century that never saw its finish. Now the Daystrom Institute has filled in the holes in the data and created the brand new Thuruisaz class. This ship is built for speed and power, and will serve its role well with all the work put into it by the Daystrom Institute.