Guide:Bryne
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| Bryne | |
|---|---|
| Class Overview | |
| Category | hospital ship |
| Operational | 2179-2219 |
| Constructed | 7 |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 290.0 m |
| Beam | 137.3 m |
| Height | 137.3 m |
| Mass | 160,520 tons |
| Performance | |
| Cruise Speed | w 2 |
| Max Speed | w 3.1 |
| Endurance | 2 years |
| Complement | |
| Officers | 36 total
|
| Enlisted | 420 total
|
| Patients |
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| Tactical Systems | |
| Beam Weapons |
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| Shields |
|
| Laboratories |
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| Transporters |
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| Auxiliary Craft |
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| Historical | |
| Ships of Note |
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| Canonicity | |
| Design | SFC |
| Name | SFC |
| History | SFC
|
Second-generation warp drives enabled spaceships to reach operational theaters within months or
weeks instead of years. The need for hospital ships was deemed to have decreased significantly
since the Romulan War, now that fast spaceships could speed patients to the nearest starbase in
reasonable time. Still, a confrontation at the outer fringes of UFP-explored space was likely to result
in casualties that would have to be handled in situ. To replace the outdated Hopkins hospital ships,
Star Fleet fielded a type modified from starliner components; thus emerged the Bryne class. Once
again the vessels were named after medicine Nobel winners. Giving them full ‘military’ NCC-prefix
registries was also contemplated, to highlight the integrated, multi-mission nature of the new
Star Fleet. Eventually, the NH prefix was adopted instead, and the Federation took the explicit stance
of supporting the conceptual sanctity of casualty evacuation and care through various treaties,
conventions and systems of identification symbology.
The Brynes were loosely based on the popular Infinity series passenger ships. They featured a cylinder-symmetric hull with a forward sphere 66 m in diameter and a conical midsection flaring from 48 to 85 m, and were carried by a propulsion system section with a single axially mounted 120 m Mitsuhirato Mi-88 nacelle surrounded by a collarlike assembly of sixteen radial fusion reactors. The propulsive assembly was scaled up from the original starliner one simply by doubling the number of reactors and the amount of fuel carried, and could be separated after it had deployed the hospital. Only sub-impulse propulsion was available for the hospital section itself.
In the sphere, eleven decks normal to the longitudinal axis featured patient wards, operation rooms, cryostasis facilities and research laboratories. Winglike equipment pylons housed support functions, including two self-defense lasers, plasma guns and shield generators. The weaponry was mostly symbolic, and the ships were to be operated with a frigate or destroyer escort in military theaters – Star Fleet viewed the odds of the hospital ships being protected by interstellar treaties with grim realism, even if the actual operations of the Brynes were out of Fleet hands now.
The conical heart of the ship was dedicated to non-medical or support functions. The command and navigation facilities were located to one side, flanked by hangars and docking bays for up to six medevac shuttles and a number of salvage pods. The initial two vessels, USS Bryne (NH-200) and USS Wallace (NH-201), were direct conversions of existing Infinity starliners, and retained their high-class docking bays and large observation lounges. The midsections of the two ex-liners also berthed two large atmospheric transports, converted from excursion boats to deployable medical centers for operations on class M, L and K planetary surfaces. The five following vessels were newbuilds, and had slightly more utilitarian layouts in mid-hull. They featured increased numbers of shuttlepod mounts in place of the excursion boat docking berths, enabling the ships to deploy a maximum of ten auxiliary craft to assist in sorting out wreckage or towing in disabled craft. The newbuilds also added a small fission reactor for radio-medicinal purposes, filling a space reserved in the original design for a spa center. Main power for the hospital section in all seven ships was provided by a single ejectable fusion reactor opposite the command area.
The ships were built at a leisurely pace between 2179 and 2188; even the last five differed slightly from each other in medical equipment standards. Constant system upgrades, mainly to astrogation and communication soft- and hardware, were still infrequent compared with the efforts to keep the medical gear at the forefront of Federation know-how. All weapon systems were removed in 2203 as antiquated if also unused.
The high operating costs of the vessels, mainly due to their civilian-standard power systems that were not quite up to the rigors of constant travel at warp 2 from one colony-support deployment to another, finally led Star Fleet to consider discontinuing medical ship operations. Instead, spaceship medical facilities were upgraded and the starbase network extended to provide medical care. The last Bryne class ship, USS Carrington (NH-205), was retired in 2215, but shortly reactivated in 2217 to assist with the evacuation of Bayard’s Planet. The ship had to be towed in place for that operation, but served admirably at constant 300% overcapacity, helping ensure medical safety of the evacuees during the two-year operation.
Gallery
Notes
- Active years lengthened to 2219, to accommodate the two-year period supporting the Bayard’s Planet evacuation.