Guide:Ohio
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| Ohio | |
|---|---|
| Class Overview | |
| Category | light fleet tug |
| Operational | |
| Constructed | Total: 183 |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 109.0 m |
| Beam | 57.4 m |
| Height | 68.2 m |
| Mass |
|
| Performance | |
| Cruise Speed | w 5 |
| Tow Speed | w 5 |
| Max Speed | w 6.2 |
| Endurance | 2 years |
| Complement | |
| Officers | 4 |
| Enlisted |
|
| Cargo | 120,000 mt |
| Tactical Systems | |
| Shields |
|
| Transporters | 1x general purpose (4-pad), Mk II |
| Historical | |
| Ships of Note |
|
| Canonicity | |
| Design | David George: Serpents Among the Ruins, own |
| Name | own |
| History | LUG, own
|
A rapid expansion of the operational theater for Star Fleet’s defensive and exploratory arms soon followed the introduction of Project Starship technology. As usual, logistics were slow to follow the expansion. Initially, Star Fleet could rely on the independence of its deep space vessels and expect them to operate out of existing bases. Sooner or later, major investments would have to be made on infrastructure, though: new starbases would have to be built, the comm networks expanded, and more and faster tenders and transports fielded. This time, there would be no fallback option of buying support services from older, better established UFP member species – even the Vulcans had not traveled this far before.
The Aakenn heavy high speed transports provided only a partial solution. Despite the performance of these vessels, Star Fleet was neither ready nor willing to abandon the use of standard cylindrar cargo pods, which were incompatible with the Aakenn concept. The whole idea behind these containers had been to alleviate the demands placed on the ship herself, by providing key services and features in the cargo pod instead. A vessel the size and complexity of the Ptolemy class was far from the ideal container hauler, and indeed performed the task only as a secondary or tertiary mission. Meeting the challenges of the expanded theater of operations and taking proper advantage of the container concept called for a significantly smaller design. Yet the mercantile tugs of the day lacked speed and range. Up-engining and militarizing the likes of the common Chariot or Dubuque classes would have been technologically demanding and financially near-prohibitive.
Despite the inescapable facts of the situation, it took until 2250 for Star Fleet to actually set a Staff Requirement (226/2250/14d) for a fast tug-type transport. The primary goal was for a tug capable of hauling a single standard cargo pod at warp five, with minimum cost and crew, yet with endurance in excess of one year. Such a vessel would significantly reduce the burden on heavy tugs of Ptolemy descent, yet be quite sufficient for most Fleet support work. As no auxiliary craft capacity was specified, the tug would not be an ideal colony resupply vehicle – moving cargo from a container to a planetary surface by site-to-site transporting was not a feasible technique in the 2250s, even though theoretically possible. Most supply missions would have to be performed to locations equipped with proper orbital cargo handling stations.
By early 2251, the basic structure for the tug had been chosen. A saucer some 57 meters across and two decks thick would suffice as the primary hull. Topped by a tiny Class 5 bridge and furnished for accommodating 37 crew and some 250 tons of internal water-equivalent cargo, the structure was not the most spacious or comfortable starship hull imaginable. Yet omission of all weaponry and associated targeting and power systems markedly increased onboard space over, say, the Capella multipurpose support vessels of comparable dimensions. Shielding was minimal, comprising an Avondale GS-50 ‘Gekko’ generator for conformal one-layer combat shields plus an XFD field-biasing coil for stretching the protection across the cargo container. Computing capacity was strictly limited to the basics of navigation and propulsion management, so that even the standard UESPA survey packages had to come equipped with their own data processing and storage systems.
The aft rim of the saucer was dented in the middle by a towing fixture that featured full umbilical connections and passageways for ship-to-container interfacing. Port and starboard, two impulse pods fired past a container in tow; at their forward ends, there were twin navigational deflector dishes for protection at fully loaded trim, backed up by a single auxiliary unit at the center of the bow.
Atop the hull, a single pylon held a PB-35E nacelle almost flush to the container dorsal surface, for an ideal cylindrar monolobe warp field. The RMR-220 military standard matter/antimatter powerplant required few components within the hull, save for fuel tanks. The thick nacelle pylon was used for housing venting and cooling systems for the plasma feed.
The February 2251 launch of USS Ohio (NCC-F550) was followed by series production of the type on light starship yards that a few years earlier had been upgraded for perimeter ship production and then idled again. Up to 168 units were produced by 2255, on 21 separate construction yards. A further 149 units were completed by and for civilian enterprises, minus the shield generator and military communications systems. Star Fleet also ordered fifteen ships of the tug design permanently integrated with a cargo module of a special type, with pressurized workshops and fabricators at the bow and an enclosed repair dock comprising some 80% of the container volume aft. Work pods and waldoes were carried in abundance aboard these Hephaestus tenders, specializing in frontline repairs of small and medium vessels.
The Treaty Exploration Zones quickly swallowed up the entire production run, leaving the Fleet still starved for light towship resources. At this point, Star Fleet could have opted for further procurement of the Ohio type, but chose to introduce a double-capacity, twin-nacelle type instead. With twin engines also came higher deployment speed without load, making the investment in this Mo’Kal class a more advantageous one than at first might seem.
Ohio class operations moved farther and farther away from home in the 2270s, as piracy near the core worlds was finally brought under control and civilian commerce there could again flow in relative safety. Few civilian entrepreneurs ventured into the 200 ly zone of new starbase and outpost construction, though – it was left to Star Fleet tugs to ply the semi-secured routes there and back. The unarmed Ohios suffered surprisingly few losses on these outmarches, with only USS Montana (NCC-F663) going missing near Izar. Equally surprising was the 2279 loss of SS Dakota (NDF-8302) to Romulan forces in a rare raid across the RNZ. The crew was saved by the light cruiser Hunley in a grisly real-life enactment of the famed Star Fleet Academy no-win scenario.
The basic and robust spaceframe and propulsion systems of the Ohios warranted no major upgrades or refits during the thirty years of active operations. Navigation software kept evolving, though, and for once the programmers had to stay within the limits of hardware already running at full capacity. This did not result in an unqualified success story, but at least the numerous navigation mishaps involving the light tugs did not translate into costly accidents, either. To compensate for the somewhat lacking navaids, the ships did receive modern communication gear in the early 2270s, and a new sensor package was in the planning when the decision in 2287 came to retire the class.
Some old Ohio tugs still serve in civilian transport role across the Federation, hauling internal cargo only. Crew requirements have typically been reduced to a dozen, but true competitiveness in personnel expenses would require further automation, negating the financial advantages. While the single-nacelle small freighter configuration remains popular in the civilian world, Star Fleet has not utilized it for tugships after the 2280s.
Gallery
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Notes
- If the Staff Requirement was released in 2250 and the basic structure determined in "early 2251", and the USS Ohio was underway by February of 2251, then the prototype must have been anticipated by the builder in order for construction to start immediately, with the Ohio selected as the prototype.
- The civilian versions of this ship were produced after the initial Star Fleet order was completed in 2255, per the use of "further".
- The construction period of the Hephaestus tenders is inferred.
- The rescue of the crew of the SS Dakota is determined to be in 2279 because it is in a paragraph detailing events of the 2270s, but at the end because of the presence of a young Lieutenant John Harriman.