Guide:Christopher
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| Christopher | |
|---|---|
| Class Overview | |
| Category | Light Cruiser |
| Operational | 2158 - 2182 |
| Constructed | 18 |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 182.2 m |
| Beam | 102.0 m |
| Height | 33.0 m |
| Mass | 215,200 tons |
| Performance | |
| Cruise Speed | w 3 |
| Max Speed | w 5.9 |
| Endurance |
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| Complement | |
| Officers | 16 |
| Enlisted | 145
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| Tactical Systems | |
| Beam Weapons |
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| Missile Weapons |
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| Shields |
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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 | Timo |
| Name | Starfleet: Year One (Friedman, MJ) |
| History | Guide, Starfleet: Year One (MJ Friedman), ST Enterprise: The Romulan War (Michael A. Martin)
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Background: Hobbyist's Guide
Parallel with the Achilles class, another new cruiser-sized design emerged as a response to the Romulan War. The Christopher light cruiser was a totally new class featuring no Triton or Enterprise components. Built for speed and endurance, the ship was optimized from the beginning for extremely mobile warfare and would act as the spearhead of a new tactical approach. The cruisers would no longer prey on the frustratingly elusive Romulan carrier groups, but would perform deep strikes against fixed installations, moving the war to the Romulan turf for the first time. A key requirement to this approach would be an increase in scoutship quality and quantity, which had already given the UESF its first major victory in 2159. But only with the new long range cruisers could such strikes be mounted with any certainty of success.
Every lesson learned from Cavalry, Marshall, and Minuteman destroyers was applied here, from the omission of particle beam weaponry to the use of heavy frontal armor and provision of room for up-to-date subspace/graviton shield generators. In fact, in terms of design and equipment, USS Warren E. Christopher (NCL-2000) could well be considered a destroyer instead of a true cruiser. Quickly joined by no less than 17 sisters, the ship nevertheless soon proved her worth as an independent, high endurance fighting platform worthy of the more prestigious designation.
The primary hull of the Christopher was a two-part structure reminiscent of an alligator head: a rounded triangle of an upper section housed three decks of C3I functions and habitat space, with a command superstructure atop, while the smaller lower "jaw" housed twin missile tubes with magazines for at most fourteen heavy 900 mm fusion or photonic missiles each, plus a single warp torpedo tube at the very bottom. A pair of 95,000-ton PA-4 warp engines on sturdy pylons sprouting at shallow dihedral from a bulbous secondary hull represented traditional thinking and gave the ship a silhouette somewhere between the classic prewar cruiser and destroyer. Tried and proven construction techniques could be used, for it was not the hull that was significant in the new cruiser. Nor was the integrated weapons system unconventional: in addition to the launchers, there were two gigawatt-class, warp-accelerated main lasers to provide primary firepower, with four smaller lasers for close-in protection.
What made a difference was the combination of a high endurance powerplant, a superb inertial navigation system, and a separate major computer dedicated completely to the task of long-duration warp navigation. While two Cavalries or one Marshall might pump out equal missile, torpedo, or laser firepower, the destroyers could not compete in the range of combat operations. At a cruise speed of full warp three, some twenty lightyears could be spanned in a single combat sortie—forty, if the ships were stripped of some weaponry, crew, and equipment and given extra fuel. And the actual attack runs could be performed at dash speeds up to warp 5.9, leaving most adversaries standing still.
Due to their superior speed and range, the Christophers seldom operated in concert with other ship types, although complex ambushes were at times performed jointly with modern destroyers. USS Chester W. Nimitz and USS Raymond Spruance took the place of their fallen namesakes of Messier class, while others received names honoring various lost destroyers. The names proved good omens, for not a single Christopher was lost while idle on Earthbase orbit or flying into a Romulan ambush. Eight cruisers nevertheless perished in attack sorties, in battles that may have been uneven but in which the initiative at last was on the Earth side.
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The greatest hour of the Christopher class came in 2160, when a flotilla of seven specially-configured light cruisers, stripped of some consumables and most crew and carrying a mixture of heavy anti-ship and anti-surface missiles and a maximal fuel load, penetrated Romulan defenses with a daring uninterrupted warp run of 52 days. Despite the immense problems of coordination due to complete sensor and communications silence while in warp drive, the cruisers arrived at the 83 Leonis system in perfect formation with only minor systems damage to one vessel. Enemy capital ships in the region had been lured away by a massive feint involving several Enterprise units in one of the most extensive military maneuvers in the entire war. Local defenses at Cheron still responded with deadly force and the UESF flotilla lost two of the light cruisers in quick succession. Still, the surviving cruisers fired their missiles with precision at the frontline command center spotted four months earlier by a Doppler scout. Elements of the feint force joined in on an easy kill of the remaining facilities.
Six other strikes of this type against other recently unveiled Romulan installations exploited the strategic-scale feint, featuring mixed fleets of Christophers, Thofsins, and Phindas and omitting all slower types. Two were never heard of again, but the remaining four all scored devastating hits on their targets. Yet none was more important than the battle at Cheron: unbeknownst to the crews, the ships had managed to destroy the hub of the entire Romulan subspace communications network in sectors 23 through 28. The utter confusion into which the Romulan command structure had been thrown would have meant easy victory for Earth. The only way for the Romulans to protect their frontline bases now would have been to position their fleets inside the respective systems, without the option of strategic mobility. Instead of risking total loss of both bases and ships, the Romulans decided to throw the game. A request for truce was sent out in October 12, 2160.
Surviving Christopher units continued operations beyond the onset of peace. Since local space was quite saturated with war surplus vessels and since the victorious Federation had few challengers, there was little interest in developing a direct successor design. Yet the deep space capabilities of the Christophers were not as useful in peacetime duty as one might assume, as there was no room or power to be spared for research gear. No permanent laboratory spaces were ever installed aboard the vessels nor did the sensor suites receive the advanced short-range planetary survey instruments of the Enterprises. The light cruisers mainly attained fame in early pirate hunts and served admirably in enforcing Federation law and order across the former dominions of the UFP signature members. When the time for retirement came in 2182, four Christopher vessels, including the original class ship, were still active. All were sold forward to existing and hoped-for allies in the coreward direction.
Gallery
Star Fleet Registry
- USS Christopher (NCC-28)
- USS (NCC-65)
- USS (NCC-121)
- USS Anaconda (NCC-153)
- USS (NCC-181)
- USS (NCC-246)
- USS (NCC-248)
- USS (NCC-325)
- USS (NCC-334)
- USS (NCC-350)
Notes
- Some commissioned ship names attributed to the Christopher class are:
- Beta-canon:
- USS Maverick
- USS Yellowjacket
- The prefix "USS" has been changed to "UESS" for ships of the United Earth Starfleet.
- Eight Christophers were lost during the war, so it is assumed ten transferred to the UFP Star Fleet (with four still operational at class decommissioning).