Time to take a final look at this specification before we close the review.

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Changelog From Draft 2 - Draft 3:

Cleaned up wording across the spec
Removed crisis response etc from mission profile
More grammar/punctuation/spelling clean up stuff across the spec
Revised names of ship and registry (again) to better conform with feedback given

Independence-Class
Category: Frigate
Variant: Heavy
Designer: Robert Archer
Mark I
Draft 3
Date: 08/10/2020

HISTORY AND MISSION OVERVIEW

The dawning of the 2240’s was a generally peaceful one for the Federation. Though there were random border raids near Klingon space, and the occasional issue with Orion pirates, Starfleet felt confident that the immediate future would be one of expansion and discovery.

There is no comma needed between the words “space” and “and”, as there are only two independent clauses here.

They still had to remain vigilant for possible threats from old enemies and potential new adversaries. It was with this in mind that Starfleet put the call out for a multi-role rugged frigate, one which, though smaller than common cruiser designs, could perform just as well in a variety of situations.

It took the Starfleet design bureau almost five years of design and construction before the first five Independence class frigates came out of the assembly yards around Earth, with another three ready for commissioning should the need arise. The intent was to build a small, fast, maneuverable and relatively inexpensive ship that could be easily reconfigured for a variety of different roles should the need arise. This would range from system patrols, to scientific surveys, anti-pirate/raider actions, and service as a logistics transport.

That last sentence is clunky. I would suggest that you replace “range from” with “include”, say “scientific” instead of “to scientific”, and call it a day.

Mission Profiles

The Independence Class Frigate is suited to the following mission profiles:

Survey, analysis and cataloging of anomalies and uncharted systems
Planetary and astrological event response
Discovery and survey of new life and civilizations
System and border patrols, anti-piracy/raider combat roles
Cargo supply and relief efforts in emergencies

The last term here is somewhat confusing. Does it mean that the Independence only performs cargo operations during emergency situations? Given that cargo supply and relief efforts are technically separate operations, perhaps you should separate that. I would suggest that you do the same with patrols and anti-piracy/raider combat.

STRUCTURE AND CONSTRUCTION

The Independence Class Frigate was designed from the ground up to be rugged, dependable, and functional for its missions. The rearward sections of the ship are shaped as a rectangular structure which then connect seamlessly as one unit into a half dome shaped saucer. Projecting upwards at the rear of the ship, on a pair of short V shaped pylons, are the ship’s two warp nacelles.

This is still a little confusing. Are there two rectangular structures at the aft (not rearward) of the ship, or one? I’m guessing that lower outer hull of the aft section is level with the lower forward hull, but I’m not entirely clear on that here. As for the pylons, I’m envisioning a V-shape that is fore-to aft with the pylon being directly parallel to the z-axis of the ship. If that isn’t your intent, you may want to adjust your wording.

The entire frame of the ship extends 12 decks across a triple layered duranium hull structure, in between each hull layer are 5cm of dura plastic foam. The outer layer of hull plating is in a state of permanent polarisation to enable greater unprotected resistance to enemy weapons fire. The duranium trusses that support the outer hull are laser welded to form a permanent support chassis.

The Independence class is capable of atmospheric entry and flight, though not landing, on gravity up to 2.5 times Earth standard gravity. Atmospheric flight is handled through a combination of the ship’s impulse reactors fed through special atmospheric RCS thruster packs along the ship’s frame.

Well, newer Trek shows off this capability in larger ships, and also in vessels of the size of the Independence (e.g. DSC S1 Ep. 1, Into Darkness, Beyond), so I’ll accept it. I’m not sure that it will ever be used, given that it’s a capability that we don’t see in TOS, but who knows?

SCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS

SNIP. Not seeing anything problematic here.

WARP PROPULSION SYSTEMS

The Independence Class Frigate is equipped with the Class V warp core system. It has a maximum Cochrane output of 615, with a standard cruising speed of TOS-Warp 5, a maximum sustainable speed of TOS-Warp 7, a maximum speed for 12 hours of TOS-Warp 8, and an emergency speed for 2 hours of TOS-Warp 8.5.

The core is positioned vertically on decks 11 and 12 with support systems on deck 12 with the matter/antimatter pods. Emergency ejection systems propel the core and pods out the bottom of the ship.

I know this has already come up in discussion, as Discovery has mentioned core ejection, thereby making it a possible feature. Looking at the Enterprise Owner’s Manual, it isn’t a capability that featured in the Constitution, partly due to the fact that the warp plasma conduits were a grouped series instead of a pair of lines running to the individual nacelles. You may want to specify the dual conduit setup instead of the multi-conduit setup just so that this is clearer.

IMPULSE PROPULSION SYSTEMS

The Independence Class Frigate has one quad-injector impulse engine positioned at the rear of deck 1. The engine has a maximum output of .23c and can accelerate or decelerate the ship, coupled with the RCS thruster system, in 35 seconds.

Okay, this makes the ship design even more confusing. Does that mean that Deck 1 runs from the fore to aft in a continuous shape?

TACTICAL SYSTEMS

Defensive Shields and Hull Polarization Systems

Okay.

Phaser Systems

The Independence Class Frigate is equipped with the Type-5 phaser bank system. The system has a maximum energy output of 0.3 MW out to a range of 18,750km. The ship has two, twin emitter banks to port and starboard along the forward lines of the ship positioned dorsal and ventral. With an additional pair of twin emitters to port and starboard, dorsal and ventral along the aft end of the ship next to the ship’s nacelle pylons.

There are both grammar and technical issues there. There shouldn’t be a comma in the third sentence, so it should read “two twin”. The last sentence is a sentence fragment, and should say “additional pairs” since you described four phaser banks. Finally, you don’t say how many emitters each bank has.

Forward phaser fire can angle 90 degrees to port and starboard respectively providing a full 180 degree length of coverage along the forward dorsal and ventral beam of the ship. The aft phasers cover an additional 180 degrees of the aft quarter except for a narrow line between the ship’s nacelles and pylons.

The phrase is “firing arc”, not “length of coverage”. That also only treats the X and Y axes, not the Z-axis. I’m guessing that you meant that they can adjust their aim by 90 degrees in all directions. Technically, that leaves a space directly forward of the vessel where the phasers are incapable of firing; you may want to adjust the horizontal firing arcs to have some overlap.

Fire control for the forward banks is handled by the control room on deck 7, while the aft control is handled by the control room on deck 8.

Torpedo Systems

SNIP. Okay.

COMMAND AND SUPPORT SYSTEMS

SNIP. Okay.

Scientific, Medical and Engineering Labs

The scientific, medical and engineering labs of the Independence class span the central areas of decks 9 through 12. Each grouping of labs for both the science and engineering departments, contain 10 dedicated duotronic computer cells for lab processing and faster archival storage to the main computer system. The labs also contain basic 3-D holographic projection systems for object analysis and study.

There doesn’t need to be a comma after “departments”.

Each lab layout is modular, though in general contains two work areas with 1 or 2 consoles and work tables each, for their specific individual fields of focus. Each section can also be isolated by force fields or exposed to the vacuum of space, in case of experiment containment breach. Each science and medical lab also has a 5x5 meter cold storage stasis unit for resuming experiments at a later time.

A single access lift connects each of the lab clusters to those above to aid in joint fields of work.

The Independence’s scientific, medical and engineering labs are divided as follows:

On Deck 9 is the general biology lab. The Chief Science Officer’s office is also located here.
On Deck 10 is the general planetary science lab.
On Deck 11 are the general astrological science, and stellar cartography labs. The last of which extends down to the port side of deck 12.

There does not need to be a comma after “science”. It’s “latter” instead of last, since you only have two labs listed. This needs to be a single sentence with a comma instead of a period after “labs”.

On Deck 12 are the mechanical and computer science labs and the lower access point for the stellar cartography lab.

SNIP. Okay.

UTILITY SYSTEMS

Cargo Bays

The Independence’s primary cargo bay takes up the majority of the aft sections of decks 5 and 6, with the two secondary smaller bays located to port and starboard on deck 6 situated to either side of the primary bay. The primary bay has an exterior hatch capable of supporting a work bee or standard shuttle for temporary measures of loading or off loading cargo. All the bays can also support up to H, K, L, M, N, or N(2) environments for a variety of purposes, and up to 3 times Earth standard gravity.

Tractor Beam Systems

There are 2 tractor beam emitters located dorsal and ventral on the aft ends of decks 2 and 12.

I get what you’re saying, but this is awkwardly phrased. It seems like you’re saying that, somehow, the emitters are both at the very aft of the vessel, but also on top and bottom of the vessel. Honestly, you need to say “aft dorsal” and “aft ventral” and then the decks. Also, given how you’ve described the ship structure to this point, it seems somewhat difficult to have the dorsal side of Deck 2 be exposed enough for a tractor beam. Does the aft section of the vessel somehow cut Deck 1 short?

The dorsal emitter is clear of the ship’s nacelle pylons for a full 180 degree area of lock. The 2nd emitter is located ventrally on deck 12 providing the same 180 degree area coverage. Both emitters have a maximum range of 10,000km, depending on local relativistic and delta-v conditions, as well as a towing capacity of 20,000 metric tons each.

SNIP.

CREW SUPPORT SYSTEMS

SNIP. This all works.

AUXILIARY SPACECRAFT SYSTEMS

The Independence’s shuttle bay is located along the underside of the ship’s forward midsection on deck 12. It is divided by a series of double doors that allow half of the bay to remain pressurized while the other half is launching or recovering spacecraft. Due to the interlocking doors, only one spacecraft can be launched or recovered at a time.

This has a very Pre-Federation feel to it. Most other TOS-era vessels launch their shuttles from the aft of the ship. Why the difference?

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Dimensions and Structure

Length

150 meters

Beam (Width)

50 meters

Height

58 meters

Decks

12

Crew Complement

Officers and Crew

120

Visiting Personnel

10

Maximum Evacuation Limit

300

Computer Systems

Core

1x Duotronic computer core

User Interface

MAJEL

Warp Systems

Power Plant

1x 615+ Cochrane Type V Warp Core feeding 2x nacelles

Cruising Velocity

TOS Warp 5

Maximum Sustainable Velocity

TOS Warp 7

Maximum Velocity

TOS Warp 8 (12 hours)

Emergency Velocity

TOS Warp 8.5 (2 hours)

Impulse Systems

Full Impulse

.23c

Acceleration

35 seconds

Deceleration

35 seconds

Defensive Systems

Shield Maximum Graviton Load (Continuous)

806 MW

Shield Maximum Energy Dissipation Rate

1.46x10^5 KW

Hull Polarization System Maximum Energy Dissipation Rate

5.475x10^4 KW

Offensive Systems

Torpedoes

Torpedo Tubes

2x Type-2 (1 Forward, 1 Aft)

Standard Payload (total)

55x Mark-2 Photon Torpedoes
20x Class 1-9 Scientific Probes

Phasers

8x Type-5 dual-emitter banks

Okay, so you clarify here that each bank has two emitters. You need to clarify it in the main body of the spec.

DECK LAYOUT

SNIP

SHIPS OF THE CLASS

Ships of the Independence class are named, barring the first ship of the class, after east coast colonies, major settlements, and also river heads that empty into the Atlantic.

USS Independence - NCC 1600
USS Hudson - NCC 1601
USS New York - NCC 1602
USS Delaware - NCC 1603
USS Baltimore - NCC 1604
USS Chesapeake - NCC 1605
USS Savannah - NCC 1606
USS Portsmouth - NCC 1607
USS Potomac - NCC 1608
USS Philadelphia - NCC 1609
USS Rhode Island - NCC 1610
USS Raleigh - NCC 1611

I understand that it’s typical to name a minimum of 10 vessels in a spec, but you said in the design history that Starfleet assembled five and planned a further three. The list either needs to be pared, or you need to adjust your description above.

Conclusion

Independence class frigates are small, rugged, multi-role vessels capable of many duties of larger cruiser designs at half the cost and build time. Capable and functional, though not the prettiest, they will likely be in use for many years to come.

Submitted: 09/1/2020 by Robert Archer

This is an improvement over the previous draft, but there are still a few hiccups here and there. A rework is definitely in order.

The review for the Independence-class is closed and the specification is returned to its designer for revision.

Nicholas Villarreal
Engineering Director