Guide:Makin

Makin
Class Overview
Category	assault ship
Operational	2268 - 2299
Constructed	68 (xxxx - xxxx)
Dimensions
Length	252.2 m
Beam	125.2 m
Height	60.9 m
Mass	612,200 mt
Performance
Cruise Speed	w 5.0
Max Speed	w 7.0
Endurance	2 years
Complement
Officers	7
Enlisted	31
Troops	1,800 ;
Cargo	30,000 mt:; 9x heavy tanks; 32x light support vehicles;
Tactical Systems
Beam Weapons	; 4x phaser V emitters (twin banks) (dorsal primary hull); 4x phaser V emitters (twin banks) (ventral primary hull); ;
Shields	; 1-layer forcefield; nav deflector (fwd secondary hull); 2x aux nav deflectors (fwd primary hull);
Transporters	; 4x general purpose (6-pad); Mk III; 6x assault (20-pad); Mk III; 2x emergency evac (22-pad); Mk III; 6x cargo; Mk III;
Auxiliary Craft	2x assault barges
Historical
Ships of Note	; USS Gelves; USS Makin (NCC-2320); USS Nassau; USS Pisagua; USS Sir Galahad (NCC-2330);
Canonicity
Design	ST:ID (FASA, Brad R. Torgersen)
Name	FASA
History	FASA, Timo ;

Background: Hobbyist's Guide

An aft view of *USS Gelves*, showing off the wide landing deck and, between the two barges, offering a glimpse of the vast vehicle hangars beneath. Note also the rare LN-40 engines, slightly smaller and less capable but not sufficiently cheaper than the LN-64 series to be practical in the logistics role. The enlarged LN-41 of the tug/tender fleet would represent a better balance of these characteristics.

One of the many support and logistics type programs that got halted in mid-stride was Star Fleet’s effort to give its planetary assault fleets the same sort of flexibility that its cruiser-based primary combat force already enjoyed. A fast assault transport had been designed in parallel with the Chandley and Coventry assault frigates, similarly utilizing a full starship hull but skimping on propulsion to afford decisive numbers to be built. There had been initial momentum behind the program: the saucer for the prototype ship, USS Makin (NX-2320), had come courtesy of the earliest Organian cutbacks on frigate production, and a whale of a secondary hull was mated to it during 2268 already. Yet the political convenience of the truce and the expenses of finding a modern alternative to the outdated PB-45 warp propulsion system worked towards a common outcome: the first five vessels otherwise completed were left to languish for several years, only running occasional impulse trials.

Purchasing of the largely untried Setchuen LN-40, ultimately in the customized LN-40A version with an added field attenuator endcap, finally allowed Star Fleet to complete the sixth vessel, USS Sir Galahad (NX-2330), into a capable mixture of fast transport and credible self-defense combatant in 2274. The bloated secondary hull ovoid of 55 m width and 161 meter length could accommodate on its fifteen decks some eighteen hundred tightly packed Marines and their vehicles, relying largely on six assault transporters for delivering them to their meeting with the enemy. For series production, the manufacturer adopted a modern primary hull configuration that closely resembled the Daran frigate hulls, with twin RST 1220 impulse units. Two phaser berths on each saucer surface, to port and starboard, were fitted with FH-2 twin emitters, and the option existed for adding more weapons on various primary and secondary hull berths. The primary hull wasn’t provided with the originally planned ventral combat sensors, however; instead, there was a multi-element surface scanning array, and a rudimentary datalink allowed for modern formation-wide coordination of defensive fire.

In bow view, these assault transports of *Makin* class look deceptively like *Excelsior* heavy cruisers. A *Makin* could beam down her full brigade of 1,800 marines, 9 heavy tanks, and 32 light support vehicles in 25 minutes, slightly less rapidly than a *Continent* class vessel. However, when forced to rely on direct physical delivery, she was severely handicapped in comparison with her heavier stablemate. A tactically viable loading of the two available assault barges would mean very piecemeal delivery of the vehicles, spreading it across at least twelve sorties per barge.

Predictably, after being brought up to 2270s standards, the Makin class gained a 55% increase in unit price, largely due to the R&D expenses of the LN-40A engine. Sixty-eight ships were still funded to completion, allowing Star Fleet to deploy well-equipped surface combat units to riskier spots than had been possible with stock transports such as Cochrane colonizers, and in greater numbers than by the specialist Whirlwind assault ships. Direct frontline insertion of troops was still out of the question, however, since increasing shield activity in surface engagements had by then rendered the transporter-based delivery method impractical. Thus the two TBL-7 assault barges stored in the wide-door shuttlebay saw extensive use, and arrangements were made to ship more barges aboard other starships such as through-deck carriers to give flexibility to the landing operations.

One of the vessels was lost in action: the Nassau was cut open by a swarm of Klingon-associated attack craft while trying to evacuate Tyson III in 2278, with significant loss of life. The Pisagua was eventually utilized in a crew training role, her spacious accommodations providing for both starship operating crew and Marine piloting and deck handling crew trainees. Training, rather than combat, was typical for most of the other vessels as well: they wore out their engines and spaceframes in hauling troops in wargames or from garrison to garrison. The fatigued Makins were finally idled by Khitomer limitations and quietly scrapped during the following decade, being too expensive to be operated in a pure logistics role. For the final two decades of the Klingon crisis, they had kept alive the art of the dedicated assault transport; beyond this point, emphasis would once again move towards barge-based delivery from a vessel of a more conventional transport configuration, such as the Phobos and London classes described in later entries.