Guide:Leonardo / Rogge / Carbonare
.png)
| |
| Leonardo / Rogge / Carbonare | |
|---|---|
| Class Overview | |
| Category | "light transport" / corsair |
| Operational | 2268 - 2307
|
| Constructed | 180 total: |
| Dimensions | |
| Length |
|
| Beam | 30.2 m |
| Height | 17.8 m |
| Mass |
|
| Performance | |
| Cruise Speed | w 3.0 |
| Max Speed | w 4.5 |
| Endurance | 5 months |
| Complement | |
| Officers | 3 total:
|
| Enlisted |
|
| Tactical Systems | |
| Beam Weapons |
|
| Shields | 1-layer globular forcefield |
| Transporters |
|
| Historical | |
| Ships of Note |
|
| Canonicity | |
| Design | SRC |
| Name | SRC |
| History | Timo
|
Background: Hobbyist's Guide
Certain aspects of Star Fleet covert operations have always bordered on the illegal. While there is little evidence that SF Intelligence played anything but a loyalist role in the coup attempts of 2270, 2293 and 2372, several operations have involved gross violation of the sovereignty and rights of targeted political entities or persons, both within and outside the UFP. Still, strict safeguards supposedly are in place to prohibit SFI from participating in assassinations, kidnappings, mind altering, and torture, which are standard procedure for many other intelligence agencies. In light of this, it is rather curious that Star Fleet in the late 2260s would have mandated operations amounting to piracy. Yet from the 24th century viewpoint, there are few other ways to describe the corsair operations that took place during the Organian peace.
As soon as SFI realized what disastrous effects the peace would have on its ability to directly gather intelligence on the Klingon Empire, arrangements were made to start gathering it in a more circumspect manner. The Empire was far from independent economically. Even though scores of conquered planets and subject races labored to keep the highly centralized core of the Empire fed and armed, trade relationships and bilateral pacts with outsiders were equally vital to the survival of the Empire and the stability of the seat of the Chancellor. They were also the Empire’s greatest weakness, and SFI was determined to exploit it.
In order to infiltrate the flow of traffic to and from the Empire, SFI needed inconspicuous vessels crewed by reliable agents. It soon became evident that the latter could not be drafted from within the Empire, which was at the peak of its expansionist period and thus also of its self-assurance. On November 23rd, 2267, an alternative approach was taken: operatives deployed from corvette USS Lyra (NCC-723) surprised the crew of Barolian transport Ditima and commandeered her into the Empire, using her regular cargo run to H’atoria and back as a cover for signals intelligence gathering and covert mapping. The crew was released from custody two weeks later, suffering from amnesia—whether due to drugs, telepathic manipulation, or generous payment, records do not tell.
Obviously, such foolhardy operations could not continue without significant risk of politically disastrous exposure. Yet the commandeering of mercantile vessels was a potent weapon by itself, and the undeniable success of the Ditima raid seemed to prove that Organians would turn a blind eye on such a practice. The Empire certainly was in no position to condemn privateering, being an active practitioner of the art itself. Star Fleet was far less experienced, yet an immediate effort was begun to give fleet forces the necessary skills and hardware for "commerce interception operations".
A prime requirement was the fielding of a vehicle capable of carrying a boarding party of thirty and deploying it via warp transporters to a mercantile vessel traveling at speeds up to warp 4. Stealth was essential, yet even more so was affordability: raiding hordes numbering in the hundreds would guarantee victory better than a small silver bullet fleet. The Thornycroft and Hiemdahr-Gan yards were contacted by SF Logistics Command for production of some 150 "small craft" of externally relatively inconspicuous design for undisclosed transport duties. These 86.4 m vessels would be propelled by two semi-recessed WD-1 solid state warp engines and a complex Kostas vectoring impulse assembly of surprising power, and for unspecified reasons also mounted a General Systems B-12 heavy tractor beam emitter astern. They would carry some thirty "passengers" and their "baggage" under the supervision of an operating crew of ten. Four independently-acting two-pad transporter units immediately adjacent to the central passenger compartment would be standard equipment. The crew spaces and command facilities at the bow would primarily be accessed via lateral docking ports, but a docking tube equipped with versatile "emergency" power tools could also be deployed dorsally, from the aft end of the passenger area.
Two lower decks would feature spacious lateral cargo and equipment holds, with planetfall ramps deploying between the drooping warp engine cowlings. A central access corridor would connect the aft engineering spaces to the forward sensor and power distribution rooms. Landing legs and gravitic engines would cater for planetary landings and takeoffs. A rather unconventional requirement was set for the ability to completely depower the ship within two minutes of planetfall and to include numerous external storage compartments for rapidly deployable protective covers.
Thornycroft was happy to deploy the first eight craft, from USS Leonardo (NCC-R025) through to USS Bonnano (NCC-R032), in just four months. It was equally happy to receive payment disproportionate to the engineering effort, and disinterested in asking unnecessary questions. Logistics Command received nearly forty of the craft within 2268, and operations began in late September of that year, although under the authority of a different Star Fleet branch.
Several questions about the Leonardo class still remain open as of this writing. Official performance figures have never been published, for example. And although the mass of the WD-1 engines is known to be 80,000 tons apiece, exact structural mass and mission load for the craft remain a matter of guesswork. These technical details are still easier to come by than records of Leonardo operations. While Star Fleet never engaged in full-scale privateering operations against the Klingon Empire, a dozen cases of commandeering are documented from the late 2260s, and sporadic records throughout the 2270s total some fifty incidents. Little in the way of details can be found, however, beyond dates and vessel names. Apparently, the operations did produce desired results, as Star Fleet continued Leonardo procurement until 2274, and ordered the evolved, LN-80C-engined Rogge and Carbonare subclasses in 2281 and 2289, respectively.
The total number of these "small craft" fluctuated between 200 and 300 during the Organian impasse, featuring a motley collection of civilian purchases in addition to the purpose-built craft. Star Fleet consistently referred to the vessels as light transports until the 2289 Jatyin-Rockefeller incident, in which a raid against a supposed topaline transport turned into a bloodbath. As an open state of war existed between the UFP and the Empire at that point, even from the UFP viewpoint, Star Fleet was found fully justified in eliminating the transport crew of twenty and freeing the true cargo of some sixty Orions. The status of the cargo as "slaves" was challenged somewhat when the Orions killed seven of their liberators, then demanded extradition back to the Empire. The public and the media thereafter commonly referred to the Rockefeller and her sisters as "corsairs", overdramatizing several aspects of the incident.
In reality, privateering was but a minor part of the "corsair" mission profile in the 2280s. The vessel type was found quite ideal for a number of special operations applications and saw extensive service in operative insertion and extraction missions. On the other hand, these missions only involved a small part of the corsair fleet. The activity status of the rest followed the temperature changes of cold war, never quite reaching the all-time high of 2269 again. Production of Carbonare units continued until 2294, and supposedly some Pakokku transports were also modified for high-end corsair duties.
Peace with the Klingons spelled an end for privateering. The other duties of the corsairs kept the ship type busy for nearly another fifteen years, yet only a few dozen vessels stayed in active service. The rest remained in inactive reserves till 2302, when sales to civilian and foreign military operators began. The latter were soon discontinued, when the morals of weapon sales were brought to general review. It took longer for Star Fleet to decide that privateering was in fact contrary to Federation law, even during declared wars. Perhaps driving the decision was the pragmatic fact that neither the Romulan nor Cardassian foes were as vulnerable to this type of warfare as the Klingons had been. Or perhaps it was realized that the Federation was at the greatest risk of all in this respect, were the tables ever to be turned.
Gallery
Notes
- I extrapolated a final production run of the Rogge subclass to 2285.
Alt Sources
References