Guide:Soyuz
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| Soyuz | |
|---|---|
| Class Overview | |
| Category | survey frigate |
| Operational | 2259-2288, 2368-2373 |
| Constructed | 3 total: |
| Dimensions | |
| Length |
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| Beam | 148.2 m |
| Height | 73.0 m |
| Mass |
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| Performance | |
| Cruise Speed |
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| Max Speed |
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| Endurance | 8 years |
| Complement | |
| Officers | 40 |
| Enlisted | 250
|
| Tactical Systems | |
| Beam Weapons | original
refit
|
| Shields | original
refit
|
| 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 | TNG (TOS comic "Spock: Reflections", pt 3/David Messina) |
| Name | TNG |
| History | own, TNG, TOS comic "Spock: Reflections", pt 3/Scott & David Tipton)
|
The tragic loss of USS Sverdlov in 2258 shortly after the installation of the modern PB-51 high efficiency, low signature warp engines was a turning point in Star Fleet efforts to develop a stealthier type of starship for deep penetration missions. Thanks to the incident, Fleet engineers from various specialist branches now had access to a well-working starship that officially no longer existed, and could perfect a technology that had officially utterly failed.
It was only in the mid-nineties that the full story of the Sverdlov loss could be disclosed, even though many elements of it were already common knowledge among conspiracy theorists, and many more had been deliberately added to the mythos by Star Fleet Intelligence. The antimatter seal failure that had supposedly annihilated the vessel had been simulated by a controlled release of the substance, after which the ship had coasted to a distance and then engaged in a lithmus test of the low signature warp drive, successfully reaching distant docks at Finnea. Only a skeleton test crew had been embarked in the first place, and this team now formed the core of a force dedicated to operating Star Fleet’s first true stealth asset.
On short notice, armament was stripped from the Sverdlov as unnecessary and counterproductive to the mission. The torpedo system superstructure was replaced by a higher-volume installation for controlling a wide range of signals intelligence instrumentation. Side sponsons were bolted on for housing bulky passive gravimeters and subspace receiver antennas; a boxy section was welded to the stern, for added coverage with dorsal and ventral sensor pods, and for further analysis facilities. Impulse drive was trunked past the stern add-on in two semi-cylindrar accelerator tubes that also featured advanced exhaust reduction systems.
Although a fairly extreme example of cloak and dagger thinking, this clandestine conversion was but one of many taking place as a response to the gradual petrification of the Klingon border. The ill-coordinated raids of the post-Axanar years had in fact been a welcome and mostly harmless source of information on Klingon military technology and tactics. Now that the Empire again practiced self-restraint, the information had to be pried out with signals intelligence flights to the vicinity of the border defense installations. A large number of civilian vessels received the appropriate gear, but these seldom braved the tactically interesting regions. Outdated Detroyat heavy destroyers were also converted in semi-secrecy, but these clumsy, high-emission vessels rarely caught Klingon border installations by surprise. The converted Sverdlov thus met a very concrete need when she sailed out again in late 2259, in theory sporting the name USS Soyuz but in practice staying all but invisible to both Federation and Klingon observers. The success of the first missions against Klingon frontier garrisons guaranteed SFI the resources for the acquisition of a further two vessels, the Collins and the Bozeman – both Miranda conversions masquerading as ‘cutbacks’ rather than ‘losses’.
Regardless, losses eventually were suffered. An apparent reactor failure forced the Collins in 2265 to abort her mission and accept assistance from USS Enterprise. Admiral Carlson refused to abandon ship until her total destruction could be counted on; all the evacuated crew members were placed under strict quarantine to prevent any kind of information about the ship or her mission from finding its way to the known and unknown Klingon agents within Star Fleet. Whether such agents had been involved in the disaster that claimed the Collins was never established. Sister ships were placed under warp envelope restrictions when PB-51 could not be ruled out as the element at fault. Search for a replacement engine began at once.
Engine emission stealth ceased to be a concern in the late sixties, as Star Fleet acquired its first practical cloaking devices. A ‘routine’ refit to LN-64 propulsion was therefore selected, and implemented on both the remaining vessels. The saucer rim was likewise reworked to modern heavy frigate standards, and some phaser weaponry restored. Impulse propulsion was modernized as well, with Avidyne 2275 installed beneath the aft hull extension; just a single IMRF crystal was available, making the ships sluggish performers at sublight.
Propulsive performance was of little concern, however. It was the rapid development of weapons and sensor technology on the Klingon side that soon left these ships outdated for their role. By the time the Organian disappearance was openly reported, the spyships were far too lightly armed to brave the borders and too unlikely to go unnoticed. Also, Star Fleet sensors no longer penetrated through the latest Klingon camouflages and cloak designs. This had been anticipated from the outset: the roomy interiors and external mounting points of the ships had been designed to facilitate extensive refits, and in 2275, the onboard sensor gear entered its fourth iteration.
However, the hull extensions also imposed great stresses on the spaceframes, drastically shortening their lifetime. Structural failure was thus a preferred explanation for the disappearance of USS Bozeman (NCC-1841) in 2278. The Soyuz was given just one further sensor refit, then retired in 2288 and scrapped due to fatigue. Her special sensors were at that time already becoming standard issue aboard exploration starships. In fact, some of the systems were moved to other ships and installations virtually intact, since only the spaceframe itself was really worn out.
The frontier sigint task at that point became largely the responsibility of the Amerind scoutships and Ticonderoga and Constellation reconnaissance cruisers. The frigate force ostensibly assumed an honest frontier patroller role. Yet the conversion of eight Avengers into the Endurance ‘survey’ configuration told of a stalwart Admiralty belief in the virtues of multipurpose combatants in the intelligence gathering role. It is also likely that at least a few externally innocuous-looking Mirandas were given modular internal sigint gear, similar to the packages that had turned five Darans into Bragg spyships, to help Star Fleet ensure that the Klingon Empire kept to its Khitomer treaty commitments.
Through a freak time-shift anomaly in the Typhon Expanse, USS Bozeman later returned to our universe in 2368. Onboard the ship, no time had passed, and the vessel was for all purposes brand new. Thus, she was pressed back to Star Fleet service despite her outdated equipment, to fill in gaps in 3rd Fleet strength left by the Wolf 359 disaster. The ship got rid of her now useless sensor mounts and received modern communications gear and a partial transporter upgrade, but retained virtually all other systems, including the logistically awkward binary fuel arrangement. She was finally lost in the second Borg offensive in 2373, near the area where she was found. Few such time displacements have been credibly documented before, although it is widely suspected that some Klingon technology has in fact been obtained from advanced spacecraft displaced backwards in time.
Gallery
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Soyuz class (2259) -
Soyuz class refit (2274) -
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Notes
- The sidebar indicates the USS Sverdlov was operational in 2259, as was the construction period. The text indicates she first sailed again (as Soyuz) in 2260, but for simplicity's sake, and since the conversion doesn't need to take up all of 2 years (since "loss"), the text will be changed to match the sidebar.
- Because the appearance of the USS Bozeman (TNG: "Cause and Effect") had a hull registry (notably of NCC-1941, instead of game-canon NCC-1841), the secretive nature of their mission seems to imply they kept their original ship names' registry numbers, though it is presumed they avoided (including the use of covert facility support) any interaction with Star Fleet vessels that might unknowingly reveal their clandestine role.
- The modernization refit for the remaining Soyuz ships is presumed to occur in 2276, the same year the Mirandas received the same service.
Alt Sources
- Star Fleet Reference Manual v1, pp. 110-113