Guide:Baker
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| Baker | |
|---|---|
| Class Overview | |
| Category | light exploratory cruiser / destroyer |
| Operational | 2268 - 2328 |
| Constructed | 27 total: |
| Dimensions | |
| Length |
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| Beam | 96.0 m |
| Height |
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| Mass |
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| Performance | |
| Cruise Speed |
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| Max Speed |
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| Endurance |
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| Complement | |
| Officers | 36 |
| Enlisted |
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| Passengers | 30 researchers (Flt I) |
| Cargo | Flt I: misson-configured external module |
| Tactical Systems | |
| Beam Weapons | Flt I
Flt II, Flt III
|
| Missile Weapons | Flt II
Flt III
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| Shields |
|
| Laboratories | Flt I: 4x (varying configs) Flts II, III: none |
| Transporters |
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| Auxiliary Craft | Flt I
Flt II, Flt III
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| Historical | |
| Ships of Note |
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| Canonicity | |
| Design | FASA, Brad R. Torgersen, TOS comic: "Action of the Tiger" |
| Name | FASA |
| History | FASA, TOS comic: "Action of the Tiger"
|
Background: Hobbyist's Guide
When the Bader exploratory cruiser construction program was aborted for lack of military scouting potential in the late 2260s, Star Fleet lost an economical way of boosting its sagging exploration capabilities. Restarting of the program during the Organian peace would not have restored the economy of the concept, as the costs in reproducing the tooling alone would have outweighed the advantages of reusing the existing design. Rather, Star Fleet had to seek savings in classic cutbacks, this quite literally meaning a reduction in the dimensions of the exploratory cruiser to be constructed in Bader’s stead.
Star Fleet’s first purpose-built exploratory light cruiser (or light exploratory cruiser, as the designation soon would be formalized) was to utilize relatively few preexisting elements. The command superstructure on the saucer hull was more or less standard stock, save for two navigational deflector dishes taking the place of bow quarters on decks 2 and 3. However, the saucer itself was constructed to only 96 m diameter, featuring just basic accommodation and support functions, plus two twin banks of bow phasers with excellent fields of fire.
A boxy hull extension astern served a dual role. The lower decks were dedicated to engineering, housing the main powerplant and antimatter stores. The upper half was home to four laboratories, lateral sensor berths, and a relatively capacious shuttle hangar with hinged dorsal doors. The number of transporter units was increased as well, with two six-pad systems in the saucer and two more plus a cargo unit in the aft extension.
For a rare once, a separate IMRF assembly was carried, paired with the nozzle systems of the FID-2 impulse engine. Two PB-45 warp engines, despite showing their age, gave cruiser performance in all respects. The lion’s share of mission gear was to be carried between them, on a ventral grapple in Bader style, and normally consisted of a flattened cylinder with sensor arrays at both ends and equipment bays in the middle. If need be, the lithe explorer could instead carry a hangar pod for a fuller arsenal of survey craft, or heavy single-sensor modules of varying types, thus undertaking special missions for which the comparable, if propulsively inferior, Keith and T’Pari units were unsuited.
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The 2268 launch of the inaugural vessel appeared to justify all the doctrinal and engineering shortcuts applied on this stopgap type. Delivery was on schedule, on budget, and met the technological specifications of the time. Nine further units soon followed USS Baker (NCC-1290) to mapping missions in border regions now theoretically safe from Klingon harassment.
The illusion of peace wasn’t quite shattered yet by a 2270 act of aggression against USS Bakker (NCC-1296). A criminal endeavor at Starbase 6 saw the temporarily idled research vessel used as a getaway vehicle. The audacious theft might have resembled various Klingon Imperial Intelligence coups of the recent past, but was quickly established to have been the work of petty criminals instead. Swift law enforcement action by Klingon cruisers deprived Star Fleet of the petite explorer, but the act had no lasting diplomatic consequences either way.
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Forces driving for re-escalation existed independently of such events. A refitting craze gripped Star Fleet at the introduction of linear excitation warp propulsion technology and suddenly every existing platform was seen as a potential basis for a superfast, multipurpose combatant. The remaining flock of light exploratory cruisers was in 2270 deemed to be behind the times on all three aspects of the designation: more substantial armament, protection, and propulsion was called for; exploration had to give way to defensive duties; and the proper moniker for a vessel of this size would from now on be destroyer. USS Knutson (NCC-1298) got the misfortune of trailblazing the conversion. She received the Setchuen LN-40 warp engine, one of the less successful attempts at a PB-45 successor, and had her aft hull stretched to accommodate the associated powerplant. An accordingly increased number of lateral sensor berths was to compensate for all the survey assets lost with cutting off the ventral mission pod.
The actual mission gear Star Fleet hoped to fit aboard was unrelated to survey duty. Paired torpedo launchers were to turn the Knutson into the twin-engined counterpart to the projected Charger single-nacelle light destroyers. The better endurance and accommodations of the Knutson were lost in the conversion process, as the torpedo system took up a lot of room at the lower bow, and the outer hull equipment cavities and consumables tanks were reappropriated for extra shield conduitry and a double-wall structure of somewhat dubious protective worth.
The Knutson experiment was followed with series production of a slightly different model, with a more potent Mk 9 "Common Claw" torpedo launcher rather than the Mk 14 of the Chargers. The class ship spearheaded the modification, a telltale sign of the unhurried schedule of the refitting project: there were more capable destroyer types under consideration already, and the Bakers rode largely on inertia now. Two production contracts were completed by first refitting the eight remaining survey designs and then adding seventeen newbuilds; the first was was completed by 2276, the second by 2282. Setchuen sized its casting of LN-40 coils to fit this procurement program, and then discontinued the type.
In frontline use, the Bakers initially added to the confusing multitude of single-nacelle destroyer designs. Their range of applicability was greater than that of the Chargers and few were tasked with escort duty. Instead, border starbases enjoyed the rotation of offensive half-squadrons of Bakers, led by modern scouts of appropriate warp performance when available. No dedicated squadron leader design was created out of Baker; and indeed the type would have been somewhat undersized for housing squadron command gear. Rather, the manageable dimensions encouraged mass production, and the Baker eventually became the only late 23rd century destroyer type to be procured to the strength of three full combat squadrons.
At the turn of the century, the class was still at full fighting strength, despite the alarmingly dwindling supply of LN-40 spares—the Khitomer-imposed retirement of Makin and Kolm-An assault transports had alleviated that problem somewhat, even though their LN-40A wasn’t completely compatible with the earlier model. In contrast, the single-nacelled destroyers of the Klingon conflict were disappearing from around the Bakers, class by class. Moreover, their replacements represented obvious Baker thinking, only now through a priori deliberation: the Polaris heavy destroyers were twin-engined light cruisers by design and destroyers only by relative performance, while the humbler spaceframes of the Hardin destroyers packed firepower hitherto undreamt of. With such a splendid heritage, the Baker class could well be declared the winner of the messy and confused destroyer race, despite the lack of decisive combat engagements or stories of outstanding heroism.
Gallery
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Flight I light exploratory cruiser -
With example module -
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module -
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Flight II's USS Knutson destroyer (NCC-1298) -
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Flight III destroyer -
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Gallery
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class evolution
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Notes
- Timo had no "Mk II". As there is no logical reason to skip flights, I've adapted the article so that all "Mk III Bakers are now Flight IIs and "Mk IVs" are Flight IIIs.
- The text differs significantly from the sidebar regarding the construction of the Flight III newbuilds: 2276 vs 2286; 2282 vs 2297. I'm deferring to the text (after changing the use of "flotilla" to something a bit more industrial).
- I've decided Setchuen produced the LN-40 for a year (i.e., 2283) following the completion of the final Flight III, before discontinuing it.
Alt Sources
- STSTCSOLDA
- Vintage Starships: "2267 – Baker": includes 3D viewer