Guide:Detroyat
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| Detroyat | |
|---|---|
| Class Overview | |
| Category | heavy destroyer |
| Operational | |
| Constructed | 10 total: |
| Dimensions | |
| Length |
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| Beam |
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| Height | 54.9 m |
| Mass |
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| Performance | |
| Cruise Speed | w 4 |
| Max Speed |
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| Endurance | 1 year |
| Complement | |
| Officers |
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| Enlisted |
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| Tactical Systems | |
| Beam Weapons | Detroyat (original)
Detroyat (refit 2230)
Miramar
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| Missile Weapons | Detroyat (original)
Detroyat (refit 2230)
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| Shields |
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| Transporters | Original
Refit 2245
Miramar
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| Auxiliary Craft |
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| Historical | |
| Ships of Note |
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| Canonicity | |
| Design | Aurora/Michael Morrisette |
| Name | Aurora/Michael Morrisette |
| History | Aurora/Michael Morrisette/SotSF
|
The emergence of the Klingon threat was a major divider in the history of Star Fleet in many ways.
The heritage of the Romulan War had turned the trend toward large, self-contained and heavily
defended ships of cruiser class. This in turn led to very independent operational procedures and the
neglect of the art of fleet action. Furthermore, dedicated scoutship development met delay after
delay, as cruiser programs kept the fleet yards busy. Small warship types were left to age and were
only very slowly replaced by modern yet under-armed types.
But when Klingon cruisers began to amass at the fringes of the Federation, Star Fleet was in grave need of ships dedicated to crippling capital ships at lowest possible cost. The frigate and destroyer categories were reinvigorated, and a more balanced battle fleet put into drawing boards. When fielding of light Kovaris vessels proved insufficient, Star Fleet R&D initiated two destroyer development programs featuring the latest innovations in propulsion and weaponry on a grander scale.
The programs both utilized a flat saucer hull, at 122.0 m and 140.2 m diameter, respectively. Beyond this, the designs diverged both in terms of propulsive technology and combat doctrine. The Saladin program, given to Geering Space Structures, used an engine configuration optimized solely for high sustained speed. A single hyper-modern PB-29 engine was to deliver the ship rapidly to a battlefield, letting her then fight a conventional sublight battle augmented by the use of short range warp torpedoes. The project was delayed by engine troubles, and the Detroyat program of Aurora Design Bureau thus reached completion earlier. This vessel utilized a less radical engine design with two lateral PB-25 nacelles, mated to the saucer hull with a ventral extension for enhanced engineering systems. High speed was in this case sacrificed for inherently greater warp maneuverability, making better use of the destroyer’s all-new weaponry.
At first, even the Detroyat project proved incredibly expensive, due to the fitting of largely experimental weaponry and fire control hardware into the warp-efficient yet cramped saucer hull. This forced Aurora to modify the hull several times during the design process and made the company teeter on the verge of bankruptcy. But ultimately, the design offered better performance and more potential for further development than the Saladin class, prompting the creation of Icarus battle cruisers and Apache heavy destroyers and later the Miranda and Surya dilithium frigates and their Avenger successors. All of these spawned subcontracts for the primary Detroyat builder Star Fleet Division; alas, the role of Aurora in frontline starship design ended here.
As can be surmised from the pedigree, the basic model was a potent warship in her own right as well. The Detroyat featured three twin laser banks, in the layout familiar from Baton Rouges and also chosen for Saladin and other later designs, although with space for fitting three more units if needed. Smaller barbettes held twin plasma cannon for point defense, there being six evenly spaced mounts on both saucer surfaces. Finally, there was a heavy Keindoffer-Klaatsen warp torpedo launcher aboard – or more properly, the hull was built around this hypermodern weapon. A long accelerator tube ran along the ventral surface of the saucer, its power systems and loaders mounted within the dorsal extension. Twenty unwieldy ‘Long Shot’ warp torpedoes some 1.86 m in diameter were carried, each capable of sustaining warp for more than twenty seconds and delivering a guided fusion or antimatter warhead deep into the bowels of an enemy ship, ignoring shielding and hull armor by virtue of its sheer speed and inertia. No particle beam weapons were incorporated into the design, although there were some early plans of mounting twin 160 GW phase cannon of Kovaris type atop the primary hull. Concerns of significant overweight halted these plans of quadruple armament. The energy sources for both systems would have been equally bulky and complex; and while the antimatter tanks of the torpedo loader were potentially more dangerous than the auxiliary fusion reactor required for a phase cannon, the risks were considered worth taking. Ultimately, the plasma cannon were removed as well, leaving close-in defense solely to shields.
A single total conversion powerplant with its support gear was fitted in a keel-like assembly at the rear of the primary hull. Directly behind the compartment on Deck 7 was the impulse engine with three nozzles, using fusion exhaust deuterium-helium for propellant as usual. Flanking the engineering keel were the Pleshun PB-25 nacelles, with tapering aft segments and relatively conservative spool coils. The engines were fed plasma through long support pylons, jutting from Deck 7 but angled down to meet the nacelles at the level of Deck 8. On the forward surface of the engineering section was a parabolic navigational deflector and sensor beam projector of a new design. This device, initially lacking from the competing Saladins, featured combined subspace fields, shields and tractor beams for more complete protection from high-impulse/warp debris, as well as for long range, FTL sensing of forward sector threats and targets. Three secondary deflectors of a more traditional type were mounted on the saucer bow.
Despite the multiple cruiser-like features and their associated major crew requirements, facilities like fire control and crew quarters were much more primitive and smaller in size. This made the destroyers rather unpopular ships to serve aboard. Partial relief came from the omission of all research equipment, including laboratory spaces. Shuttle stowage was also minimized; just two work pods were typically carried in the service bays. In a tactical half-measure, Tycho fighter kits were adopted for these as soon as they became available.
Similar standards of equipment were available on the Saladin project initially, leaving the two types fighting neck to neck. The most important advantage of the Detroyat design lay in her warp field configuration. The total conversion powerplant could squeeze a cruise speed of warp factor four out of the engines, and an impressive ultimate top speed of warp 5.2 proved correct Star Fleet’s decision to avoid the major investment in solid-state warp coils. In addition, warp maneuverability was superb, enabling full use of the rather guidance-limited torpedoes. Combined maneuvers of Detroyats with various other destroyers and cruisers at the Procyon firing range established the optimal firing ranges for the different types of torpedo, laser and particle beam armament, and revealed their comparative strengths and weaknesses. In one-on-one engagements, the Detroyats invariably triumphed, even against cruisers carrying heavy phase cannon.
Had the Klingon-Federation conflict ever reached the scope feared by Star Fleet strategists, these ships would undoubtedly have been invaluable to the Federation forces. They clearly had a ‘threshold weapon’ status – a Klingon opponent would simply have to take these ships into account when planning for an invasion, and dedicate part of his forces to crippling the destroyers. However, the high cost of these ships slowed down acquisition so that only ten ships out of the planned 26 were completed. Competing designs emerged, e.g. from the Icarus battle cruiser lineage, the final Apache batch of which was configured specifically for the heavy destroyer mission and greatly resembled the Detroyats.
Parallel to the Apache acquisition, a refit of the Detroyats was funded in 2230. The heavy torpedo launchers were replaced by the Selenia Mk 1 medium system, with twin tubes and with magazines for up to 40 shots.* The more obvious change, from PB-25 to the almost twice as large and more powerful PB-27, was to be followed by the installation of dilithium power, but the less than disastrous solution to the Axanar crisis led to the abandoning of most destroyer programs at their early stages, and ultimately ended the story of the Detroyat class as well.
In the thirties and forties, the heavy destroyers still served in the niche between the regular destroyers and the battle cruisers, with ‘century’ registries from NCC-1100 to NCC-1109 allocated. It could be argued that such a registry range was still very appropriate for a de facto ‘light battle cruiser’, as Star Fleet had inserted the Proxima and Icarus classes in the same numbering slot. In practice, the selection of these numbers was more or less random, and not even permanent: the concept of mission-specific registry ranges would soon be dropped for good, whereas SF Intelligence now believed in the obfuscation of true Star Fleet strength by misleading registry numbers and other identity-concealing trickery. Some success could be verified through signals intelligence. For example a major Klingon offensive at Zibal was held back in 2236 because of the perceived proximity of four squadrons of destroyers, or some 26 starships. Apart from a deliberately oversized tender group, ships actually present were limited to half a squadron of Saladins and Detroyats each; a fictional Kovaris formation had also been stationed in the system by Star Fleet, but the Klingons apparently added another in their analysis.
Instead of upgrading the Detroyats to dilithium standard, Star Fleet gradually replaced them with the more advanced and marginally less expensive Larson destroyers in frontline duties. The engine systems of the Detroyats were still sound if somewhat difficult to maintain, and the adequate cruise performance and endurance prompted the adoption of the ships for deep space escort duty in the early 2250s when no other assignments could be found. Still, by 2255, all Detroyats were already set for decommissioning.
One ship was saved by a Star Fleet R&D decree: USS Resolution (NCC-1101) was adopted as a testbed for the fully dilithium-compatible Surya class of frigates. This frigate family actually ended up inheriting the heavy escort role of the Detroyats – a perfect example of a revolutionary design being eaten by its children. In an unexpected gesture of mercy, the other nine original destroyers were converted to special sensor platform role; their torpedo armament was deactivated and their fire control equipment changed into signal processing systems. Their new role, as the Miramar sub-class heavy scout, in intercepting Klingon transmissions and observing Klingon scanner and weapon system emissions from a distance proved almost as significant as their original combatant role. Star Fleet was so satisfied with the results that the development of dedicated signal intelligence platforms was initiated, ultimately leading to the Soyuz and Endurance class ‘survey frigates’. On the other hand, the story of Star Fleet heavy destroyers was declared ended with the Detroyat class, having been found an evolutionary dead end.
Currently, even the Fleet Museum maintains no examples of the Detroyat class. Out of the original batch, just USS Niantic (NCC-1105) was lost in action, going missing in 2267 on the hunting grounds of a planet-eating alien device. Her sigint sisters were retired and scrapped between 2282 and 2291 as Endurance and later Bragg vessels took over their role.
However, a group of starship enthusiasts managed to salvage the major components of USS Miramar (NCC-1102) and refurbished her as a navigating and piloting schoolship for their Starship Society, marking the first time a Star Fleet vessel capable of breaking the warp four barrier was resold to a civilian user. In all fairness, it has to be admitted that the Society was not allowed to restart the warp powerplant, and the ship only utilized her impulse engines in her new role. The Miramar still sails once or twice a year out of the Arborian Spacedock, now refitted with a mock torpedo launcher and laser cannon and redecorated to her full 2220s glory (save for the heavy Arborian black oak pool table and three matching armchairs which still reside in the old torpedo magazine, reserved for Society Elder use).
* Even though the Selenia launcher in the 2220s was dubbed a ‘heavy’ weapon, this work systematically follows the practice introduced in 2271, where weapons of this caliber are know as ‘medium’ systems. Actual ‘heavy’ weapons by current standards would be first introduced in the 2280s, while ‘light’ systems would remain comparable from the 2220s to the 2370s. The introduction of mini- and micro-torpedoes has further muddled the waters during the past century. Yet the remarkable degree of standardization in Star Fleet torpedo weaponry warrants the continued use of this simplistic-sounding, now five-tiered system.
Gallery
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Detroyat, original configuration, bow plan -
Dorsal plan -
2230 upgrade, starboard plan -
Bow plan -
Dorsal plan -
Stern plan -
Ventral plan -
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"Early Doors": A newly upgraded USS Detroyat departs drydock -
"Archer's Lead" -
"Battle of Cait": fleet action against the Kzinti -
USS Niantic entering orbit -
"Nebulous Material" -
USS Detroyat being escorted USS Enterprise for decommissioning
External Sources
- Vintage Starships: "2255 – Detroyat": includes 3D viewer
Notes
- When discussing the development competition with the Saladin class, the text differs from the sidebar on the original Detroyat's maximum speed (w 5.7 v. 5.2). As the original (prototype?) of the Saladin had a max speed of w 5.1, I'm changing the text here to match the sidebar.
- The final year for decommissioning of the Miramar class heavy scouts is changed in the text from 2290 to 2291, to match the sidebar.
- The sidebar's date of 2234 for the warp speed increase is changed to match the 2230 refit date of the text.