Guide:Remora
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| Remora | |
|---|---|
| Class Overview | |
| Category | escort |
| Operational | 2257 - 2274 |
| Constructed | 78 (built 2257-2264) |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 144.8 m |
| Beam | 101.9 m |
| Height | 41.7 m |
| Mass | 138,200 mt |
| Performance | |
| Cruise Speed | w 5.0 |
| Max Speed | w 6.0 |
| Endurance | 1 year |
| Complement | |
| Officers | 7 |
| Enlisted | 56
|
| Tactical Systems | |
| Beam Weapons |
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| Shields |
|
| Transporters | First builds (all)
Refit (post-2268, all)
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| Historical | |
| Ships of Note |
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| Canonicity | |
| Design | FASA (Timo) |
| Name | FASA |
| History | FASA, Timo
|
Background: Hobbyist's Guide
Star Fleet’s two corvette designs for the 2250s totaled some 110 hulls, or 150 when counting the scout and courier versions of Procyon. In a Federation now controlling thousands of planets and hundreds of star systems, it was obvious that these light units would seldom be available for duty outside their assigned insystem or near-system patrol volumes. Also limiting such assignments was the fact that neither PB-34 nor PB-37 could be considered a viable deep space propulsion system.
In this respect, post-Axanar threat scenarios were troublesome indeed. After the Klingon offensives of 2246-50 subsided to aimless raiding, it was harder and harder to efficiently use conventional battlefleets for defense. What was needed were low-cost, light units that had no obligations beside local protection. Some of these—the corvettes—would guard star systems and other fixed "point targets", fighting a delaying action until higher-performance, higher-cost units could arrive. This placed very modest requirements on propulsion. Others—the perimeter ships—would do the same across the vastness of border space. Their engines had to provide significantly greater dash speed. But spacelanes were too vast targets to be secured by either ship type or doctrine; instead, protective forces would have to concentrate on covering the actual shipping that plowed the lanes. This placed a most stringent requirement on propulsive systems. Constant deep space cruising at convoy speed would have to be presented, yet at low enough acquisition cost to allow sufficiently many of the escorts to be built, and at low enough maintenance cost for them to be operated.
Staff Requirement 137/2255/1C was exacting in its specifications. Only one warp engine could match the criteria: Cochrane Warp Dynamics’ PB-35 was explicitly decreed as the propulsive system of the hundred and twenty escort vessels to be constructed between 2257 and 2264. USS Remora (NCC-E800 in the mission-specific registry scheme) was completed by Eckard Collins Fleetworks Ltd in early November 2257, to meet the specifications to the letter. A saucer markedly larger than the Procyon or Kiaga hulls, some 85 meters in diameter, was introduced for crew accommodation and weapon and sensor mounting. Propulsive systems in turn resided in a 90-degree cutout astern: two FIB impulse engines flush to the sides, and a beavertail secondary hull some 55 m long and 10 m deep in between, mounting the multilinear Fairey RMR-720 warp core horizontally on the upper level, the single PB-35E nacelle dorsally, and the Hobbs navigational deflector dish ventrally.
Combat resilience of the escort hinged on her F-type shield generators, outriggered laterally in finlike extensions that allowed the ship to erect a protective shield bubble around her closest protégés in addition to shrouding herself in a conformal field. The fins also mounted radiator surfaces and plasma expanders; these gave surge reserves to the power systems, for the famous minute of sheer terror among the months of uneventful waiting and cruising. At the first sign of threat, shields would be brought to full power and four twin banks of Type IV phasers would be preheated—yet not fully charged until absolutely necessary. At anything higher than the nominal cruise speed of warp five, the Remora was a notorious underachiever, dangerously starved of power. This was only to be expected, for a ship this small inevitably had to make compromises when emulating the various functions of proper starships. Like a PA ship, the escort would quite deliberately sacrifice herself when committing to battle, giving time for the convoy to scatter and the combat fleet to respond.
Star Fleet small ship construction facilities at the time were largely occupied with the PA ship program, which stretched the Remora construction schedule somewhat. Nevertheless, in addition to the prototype and three pre-production vessels, two batches of 37 escorts had reached completion by 2265, when production was halted due to changes in the operational environment. The great hunt for Orion slavers had cut down piracy overall so much that an escort force half the originally intended size would be able to deal with the remainder, both Klingon and otherwise.
Unlike the perimeter force, the escort fleet had by then faced plenty of actual combat. Also, unlike the corvette case, engagements had mainly involved Klingon opponents. Prior to the Organian peace, a dozen vessels were lost with all hands, lending credibility to the belief that Klingons took no prisoners. Typically, the killers had been battle cruiser flotillas, but lesser enemy units had also taken their toll on the shipping and its protectors. Assignments aboard the escorts were the exact opposite of perimeter fleet positions: hated for their mind-numbing boredom, feared for the deathtrap nature of the ships, devoid of the "sniper thrill" of the attack-oriented PA force, and undervalued even by the mercantile crews the escorts were trying to protect. Only minor job satisfaction could be derived from the higher accommodation standards the Remoras enjoyed over the austere Kiagas or even the Procyon or Centaurus ships.
The Organian lull resulted in thorough reorganization of commerce protection, among other things. Perimeter ships and escorts, the controversial "sacrifical lambs" of Star Fleet, were withdrawn as economically and ethically nonviable and capital ships freed by the truce were deployed in their stead. Frigates of multiple types drove pirates either out of business altogether or into the clutches of the semi-civilized Orion syndicate. Light cruisers cut to pieces those who did not conform. With sighs of relief, the escort crews moved on to other assignments.
The Remora vessels themselves, idled as they were, were not significantly affected by a 2267 culling that left just the most spaceworthy two dozen vessels in active reserves. Star Fleet had vague plans of rearming and re-engining, but mainly went ahead with the mothballing because the associated costs were minimal. USS Remora herself was singled out for testing the LN-61 light linear engine, and entered a box dock at Titan in August 2267, to emerge for first trials in January 2268 already. The results of this experiment and its unexpected offshoot are described in detail in a subsequent entry. The story of the original type ends in 2274, with honorable discharging and swift scrapping of the entire remaining force.
Gallery
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Remora Flt II
(reference image)
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See also
Notes
- Timo provides zero images for this. However, since it re-enters production as the Remora refits, the design can be retro-inferred.
- A dozen Remoras are lost before the registry reassignment in 2271. I've decided that the 3400 block (of standard hull numbers) will be shared with the surviving Hellespont ships (and possibly the Lenthal and Griffon classes, as well). This will necessitate a random order of assignment between the classes.
- Important: As a member of the Remora Flight Is, USS Charger (NCC-3482) was USS Catfish. There was no USS Charger with the first flight.
References
Alt Sources