Guide:Lincoln
| |
| Lincoln | |
|---|---|
| Class Overview | |
| Category | frigate |
| Operational | 2207-2238 |
| Constructed | 10 |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 129.0 m |
| Beam | 70.0 m |
| Height | 22.2 m |
| Mass | 118,500 tons |
| Performance | |
| Cruise Speed | w 3 |
| Max Speed | w 4.9 |
| Endurance | 1 year |
| Complement | |
| Officers | 10 |
| Enlisted | 38
|
| Tactical Systems | |
| Beam Weapons |
|
| Missile Weapons |
|
| Shields |
|
| Laboratories | 1 GP (select ships) |
| Transporters | Original:
2227 refit:
|
| Auxiliary Craft | 2x light shuttles |
| Historical | |
| Ships of Note |
|
| Canonicity | |
| Design | Bernd Schneider and Masao Okazaki |
| Name | LUG |
| History | LUG
|
The somewhat exotic approach taken with the Mann class light cruisers did not find immediate
favor elsewhere. During the idle years of the first decade of the 23rd century, Star Fleet had to ponder
the procurement of various secondary and support units, including destroyers and frigates. Modest
updating of the Placido class into the Trent sufficed for the first requirement. The matching Drexler
frigates were too outdated for like treatment, though. With some reluctance, Star Fleet in 2203
initiated the development of a replacement design, refusing to adopt the Mann design philosophy
quite yet and going instead for a minimal upscaling of the half-century-old predecessor.
The Lincoln class embodied Star Fleet’s classic idea of the frigate as an errand ship – operating where larger vessels could not be bothered to go, bringing additional sensors, analysis systems or firepower to situations normally handled by local light units, and shoring up the battle lines where dedicated combat types were in short supply. The design also followed the Drexler lead in featuring a detachable forward hull, although this time for emergency rather than operational use. Armament was mostly contained in the cylindrar secondary hull, and included a potent photonic torpedo tube firing past the bottom of the forward command section and a heavy phase cannon mounted atop the stern section.
Another feature now included in the secondary hull was a shuttlebay of practical size. To accommodate this facility, the hull was doubled in length vis-á-vis the Drexler, to some 70 meters without the impulse block astern. It was also flattened somewhat to create advantageous surfaces for the ventral space doors of the shuttlebay, and for the dorsal phase cannon mount. Beam was retained at 26 meters, excluding RCS rings at both ends and two PB-12 nacelles of 73 m length on lateral, swept pylons. Between the pylons sat the 20:1 intermix ratio antimatter/fusion reactor, with a prominent dorsal access panel and a pair of ventral antimatter pod ejection hatches. Clustered around this were workshops and either a small general purpose laboratory or, more commonly, a holding area for captives or valuables; the upper decks held accommodation, the lower ones various crew utilities.
Connecting the two hulls was a tube some six meters in diameter and twelve in length. Emergency separation would leave the tube attached to the secondary hull, bringing to play two sets of reaction engines at the lower corners of the command section. Controlled planetfall would also involve laterally emerging stabilizing wings and a belly landing; additional evacuation capacity would be provided by the two light shuttles carried, or by inflatable lifepods deployed from the shuttlebay. The undivided ship could also in theory ease herself down to a planet more or less intact, or make brief dips into atmospheres, but there was scant reason for doing so. A three-pad transporter was provided for tactical surface forays and logistics, and a cargo unit was later added adjacent to the shuttlebay.
This was to be the last time when the frigate would be a vessel inferior to the destroyer in dimensions or performance – not because of a changing definition of the respective roles of the mission classes, but because of the disproportionately growing practical demands on the former type in comparison with the latter. The return of the Klingon threat in 2209 cut short an order for thirty-five Lincoln frigates, at just six units built and four nearing completion. In their place emerged a new breed of troubleshooters and patrollers, as the Burke class deep space frigates was executed in light cruiser dimensions and loaded with weapons and systems to surpass any destroyer in performance. The ten Lincolns remained in local patrol duty till the 2230s.
Some sixty units of Lincoln design -but omitting the torpedo tube and replacing the phase cannon with a tractor beam- were instead completed for traffic control and customs use by the civilian sector. The surviving Star Fleet Lincolns were transferred to the Federation Customs Service as well, eventually meeting their Drexler predecessors in a curious family reunion. The class name San Francisco was sometimes applied on the high endurance cutters after the oldest surviving original frigate; the Drexlers in turn went by the name Masterson after a radical engine upgrade.
The last revenue cutters were scrapped in the 2260s when various modern corvette designs in their turn began their second careers as law enforcement vessels.
Notes
- Lincoln has a NCC number that was arbitrarily assigned.
Gallery
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Lincoln class frigate
bow view -
dorsal view
