Ark Royal class

From FEInfobase

Ark Royal Class

Class Information
Expected Hull Life	200 Years
Resupply Time	15 years
Refit	10 years
Category	Battle Carrier
Affiliation	Starfleet
Dimensions
Length	1105.8 meters
Width	620.4 meters
Height:	210 meters
Decks	44
Engines
Warp reactor	M/ARA Dilithium-mediated
Warp nacelles	4
Cruising speed	Warp 7
Maximum speed	Warp 9
Emergency speed	Warp 9.756 (for 8 hours)
Impulse generators	Mark V Fusion Reactor
Defensive Systems
Phasers	6 Type-XII phaser arrays 8 Type-XV multi-fire phaser arrays 6 Type-U pulse cannons (3 port dorsal, 3 starboard dorsal)
Torpedo launchers	4 fixed launchers (2 fore, 2 aft) 2 rapid fire turrets (forward primary hull)
Photons	200
Quantum	200
Shields	Multi Layered Shielding System
Hull	Tritanium composite, augmented by Ablative Armour.
Tractor beams	type-XII ( Range 3.0 km )
Personnel
Officers	100
Enlisted	490
FMI/Sabre	570 (3 Companies)
Passengers	700
Auxiliary Craft
Shuttle Bays	2 fighter deployment hangers 1 service craft hanger.
Shuttles	10 Type 19 personnel shuttle 6 Type 18 shuttlepods
Fighters	36 Valkyrie Class fighters (4 kept in reserve) 12 Redemption Class heavy bomber (2 kept in reserve)
Runabouts	2 Delta Flyer Class runabouts 2 Arrow Class runabouts
Additional Information
Systems	Quantum Singularity drive Bio-Neural Computer System
[Source]

The Ark Royal-class was the first dedicated carrier built by the Federation in the aftermath of the Borg War of the late 24th and early 25th centuries.

History

Great Loss

During the Borg War, no Federation entity suffered greater total loses and causalities than Star Fighter Command.

Stationed mostly on starships in limited flight squadrons they were often the first elements in a direct Borg conflict eliminated by the enemy. Multiple squadrons stationed planet side or on starbases had the highest survival rates. After the war and with the success of the Angry Apes publicity Starfleet realised that stationing more than a single flight of fightercraft on a starship was an experiment worth trying.

However, it was generally known that only a scant few of the Akira Class battlecruisers were capable of carrying more than a single squadron of fighters without sacrificing needed shuttle capacity. Thus a project was proposed for the first dedicated carrier class design ever in Starfleet.

The Proposal

The initial proposal was for a craft of such great size and length that the first four designs were turned down as impractical and unrealistic. It was wanted to have a craft designed carry at least five squadrons with one in ready reserve, to do this the carrier would need at least four hanger bays with one filling the need for maintenance.

Needing an unprecedented support staff to carry out day-to-day operations of such a behemoth, such a vessel would also needed multiple crew amenities unseen in most ships built since the Galaxy Class.

One design which was submitted seemed to fill all of the requirements along with being of sufficient feasibility that it could actually being built. Equipped with twin warp cores and four warp nacelles, the carrier would be one of the most complicated ships to ever set out into space.

Borrowing from a Leviathan

The Chief Designer of the project, one William Newcastle had worked on another highly secret project begun shortly after the start of the Borg War, the Leviathan colony ship.

During the early days of the war it was decided that if the Borg would claim victory, the Leviathan would be launched carrying the best and the brightest along with plant and animal samples as well as seedlings along with historical records from all the Federation members and known worlds in the Alpha and Beta quadrants. The ship was the most massive construction ever attempted in the history of the Federation.

Measuring some six miles in length she was powered by four sets of twelve fusion reactors and was driven by four triple linked warp cores combined with six sets of nacelles. Much of what went into the hastily designed and constructed Leviathan project had been refined over the course of many years by Newcastle and in due course he incorporated much of this into the Ark Royal's design. More powerful and efficient warp cores lead to the inclusion of only two needed for standard propulsion. The custom designed nacelles mean only four would be needed to move the massive ship only a fraction of the size of the Leviathan.

Some more radical innovations to make it through the design process included the placement of a large Command and Control center instead of the more common Federation starship bridge. It was decided that due to the large number of fighter craft aboard the common bridge would be insufficient to control and coordinate the functions of such a large ship. Along with this unorthodox system it was decided that due to the ships large size the old style team of Navigator and helm control would be well served on the ship. Both are needed to move the ship safely while in port and while at warp speed given the highly unknown nature of space after the Borg conflict.

The number of Fusion reactors needed for internal power and impulse propulsion would have been prohibitively large on even a ship of this size. So it was decided late in the design process to include a hybrid Quantum Singularity drive in the design. Housed in the lower engineering section the drive serves mainly as a means of internal and impulse system power. In cases of extreme emergency or catastrophic failure of the main warp propulsion the singularity drive can be engaged for warp propulsion with a maximum speed of warp 6.7 for two and a half hours. If utilized for longer then that the drive could possibly suffer from containment failure and a black hole will form.

Construction History

Notable "Ark Royal class" vessels

USS Ark Royal - Destroyed
USS Invincible - Renamed Ark Royal
USS Excalibur

Behind the Scenes

Presumably this class was inspired by the Battlestars of the series "Battlestar Galactica" .