Excelsior class
From Star Trek Online Geekipedia
| Excelsior class | |
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| Faction: | United Federation Of Planets |
| Fleet Affiliation: | Starfleet |
| Operational Status: | 2280 to 2375 |
| Design Specifications | |
| Type: | Cruiser |
| Length Overall: | 467 meters |
| Beam: | 185 meters |
| Height: | 100 meters |
| Mass: | 2,350,000 metric tons |
| Designed Capacities | |
| Crew Compliment: | 730 |
| Life Support Capacity: | 9,800 |
| Tactical Systems | |
| Armament: | 12 x Type VIII phaser bank, total output 18,500 TeraWatts
4 x 2nd class photon torpedo tube with 150 rounds |
| Defenses: | Standard shield system, total capacity 1,201,500 TeraJoules
Standard Duranium Double hull. Standard level Structural Integrity Field |
| Engineering Specifications | |
| Cruising Speed: | Warp 6 |
| Maximum Speed: | Warp 9.2 (12 hours sustained) |
All stats vary due to refits.
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The Excelsior-class was a type of Federation starship first built in the 2280s to replace the Consitution Class of Starships. The prototype of this class, the USS Excelsior, was initially fitted with a transwarp drive and proclaimed as "the Great Experiment." The ship had an ignoble start when its engines were sabotaged after being called into action to prevent the theft of the USS Enterprise from Earth Spacedock in 2285. The ship was then refitted with standard warp drive and the Excelsior Class went on to become one of the longest serving and most widley produced starships in Starfleet History.
Ship Information
The history of the Excelsior-class tends to consist of extremes. Initially fitted with a Transwarp drive and proclaimed "the Great Experiment", the ship had an ignoble start when its engines failed when it was called into action to prevent the theft of the USS Enterprise. Although this was due to deliberate sabotage, it transpired that the Excelsior had been saved from a major disaster; engineers working to correct the damage discovered a series of flaws in the Transwarp drive which, had it been used, would have caused a nacelle implosion which would have destroyed the ship.
The Excelsior spent nearly a full year in spacedock while engineering specialists struggled to repair the problem. Re-launched early in 2286, the ship met with little more success. Although the fatal flaw of the Transwarp drive was repaired, the system was subject to major problems and over the next year it never completed a successful test, much to the embarrassment of Captain Styles and his crew. Finally Starfleet canceled the Transwarp project altogether, and for a short time the Excelsior faced decommissioning.
There was nothing wrong with the basic engineering of the spaceframe however, and in all other areas the Excelsior-class was still the most advanced ship in Starfleet, and indeed the entire quadrant, by a considerable margin. In light of this Starfleet rapidly decided to fit the Excelsior class with a more conventional propulsion system. Returning to spacedock for the third time in 2287 the USS Excelsior had her hull converted to run with a standard Warp drive. This process went remarkably smoothly, and by the end of the year the Excelsior was in space again. This version was dubbed the Mark II.
From here the history of the ship leapt from one extreme to the other; from being a costly and embarrassing failure, the Excelsior rapidly built a reputation for outstanding performance and a solid reliability few other designs have matched. Series production commenced at once, and continued unbroken for the next thirty nine years, a record for Federation shipbuilding.
The Excelsior herself was assigned to Captain Sulu in 2290, who had originally been slated as her commander in 2285 but his involvement with the Genesis Incident had complicated his assignment, and conducted extensive scientific, exploratory and diplomatic missions under his distinguished command.
Starting in 2293 a limited run of upgraded third generation Excelsior class ships were launched which featured two additional impulse engines allowing for greater sub-warp performance and an enlarged Engineering hull to accommodate enhanced sensors and scientific equipment as well as extra room for the equipment needed to enhanced ships systems. The lead of the enhanced Excelsior class would be the third ship to bear the name Enterprise, as well as the USS Lakota which would be notorious in the 2370's as one of the key vessels in Admiral Laytons attempted military coup of the Federation. Despite the enhanced abilities of these third generation Excelsior Class ships the second generation Excelsior ships would continue to make up the vast majority of Excelsior Class ships which would be produced.
Hundreds of Excelsior Class would continue to serve as the back bone of Starfleet well into the mid 24th Century undergoing regular upgrades and refits. During the Dominion War Starfleet would find that the nearly century old Excelsior class was reaching the end of its useful life however, ships of its class were still plentiful and able to carry out offensive and defensive fleet actions against the Dominion Fleets. With the end of the Dominion War in 2375 the bulk of the Excelsior Class hulls were retired and their duties assumed by the newer Akira Class ships which had been produced in great numbers during the war.
Not all the Excelsiors were decommissioned, however. A limited run of fourth generation refits were produced. Dubbed "Mark IV's", these ships were costly to make, but made a large leap in terms of efficiency. Known ships of this type include the "Krakow" and the "Regency".
Mark Designations
- Mark I - NX Excelsior
- Mark II - NCC Excelsior
- Mark III - Enterprise B
- Mark IV - Krakow
Known Ships Of The Class
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