Guide:Vanguard

Vanguard
Class Overview
Category	Fast Transport
Operational	Vanguard fast transport: 2144 - 2180 Ganymede drone transport: 2185 - 2215
Constructed	32 total: Vanguard: 32 (built 2144 - 21xx) Ganymede: 22 (max) (modified Vanguards 2185 - 21xx)
Dimensions
Length	141.1 m 260.0 m (w/1 Type IV container & bow fuel tanks) 320.0 m (w/2 Type IV containers)
Beam	98.7 m
Height	98.7 m
Mass	50,000 mt
Performance
Cruise Speed	w 2
Max Speed	w 2.75 (unloaded) w 2.0 (loaded)
Endurance	2 years
Complement
Officers	6 (standard) none (drone conversion)
Enlisted	88 (standard) none (drone conversion)
Passengers	1,000 (optional)
Cargo	50,000 mt (fwd holds) 120,000 mt (2x Type IV containers)
Tactical Systems
Beam Weapons	4x plasma cannon (2.0 GW) in 2 twin banks (dorsal & ventral impulse engine mounts)
Shields	electromagnetic shield (21 T) reflective armor (parts of fwd hull) polarizable armor (command sail & midhull) (refitted to select ships after 2153) navigational deflectors (port & stbd, inside warp ring)
Auxiliary Craft	2x spatial shuttlepods
Historical
Ships of Note	UESS Atlas (FV-304) UESS/USS Ganymede (FV-310/NCC-F83/NCC-Gxx) UESS Titan (FV-309) UESS/USS Vanguard (NCC-F72)
Canonicity
Design	Starflight Chronology
Name	Starflight Chronology
History	Starflight Chronology

Background: The Hobbyist's Guide

To meet the heavy transportation needs created by the rampant expansion of Earth’s sphere of influence, the UESF needed something more substantive than the modular freighters so far built. In May 2142, the recently-instated Fleet Logistics Division launched the acquisition of a large warp transport capable of warp three when empty and warp two when the specified 300,000 cubic meter cargo volume was loaded to capacity. To provide this cargo volume, the ship was to accommodate multiple containers of a new military standard, comprising a 65 m x 40 m cylinder midsection and hemispherical endcaps and featuring unpressurized, pressurized, fluid, and general goods configurations.

Several terrestrial shipbuilders offered growth models of their cargo tugs. Grapples for the new type of container could easily be introduced and the tonnage requirements could be met or exceeded, as well. The desired warp performance remained elusive, though. To keep the load moving at such speeds, the tug would basically have to be all engine, almost as gargantuan in size and mass as her fully-laden cargo container. Highly-tuned propulsion systems were proposed by CWD, Westinghouse, and SEMP, but none could be guaranteed to withstand the rigors of a multi-month cruise to the frontier at the speeds involved. Finally, Starfleet turned to the Vulcans for obtaining the rights to a ring-element warp engine in the desired size and performance range.

The tug put together by Dalian GIS was not quite as elegant as a Vulcan engineer might have sculpted her, but got the job done. A conical midbody housed the mammoth reactor for generating power to the 25,000 ton warp ring, which in turn supported a quartet of impulse assemblies on its outer surface. The cargo containers were to be rigged immediately astern, the first held in a circular grappling ring mounted on an open trusswork. Instead of being provided with a grapple of its own, the optional second container could be docked directly onto the aft end of the first, thanks to the exceptionally sturdy construction of the vessels and their docking adapters. Internal stowage was also available, though, in the form of plate-covered (if unpressurized) hold space in the forward part of the main hull. This volume could be flexibly configured for various cargo types or provided with pressurized compartments for the carrying of passengers (or, in practice, troops; up to a thousand could also be towed in specialized containers in wartime discomfort). Finally, fuel tanks similar to those of a Y class rig could be clustered in the bow, eight being a possible load but just three to four being more usual. With a full fuel load, the tug had an admirable operational range of 100 lightyears.

The ring drive technology combined reliability with high energy throughput and allowed for operations under heavy load. The main drawback was lack of maneuverability, with asymmetric loads posing a secondary cause for concern for the fine-tuned, highly axis-symmetric warp field. The new military container was the perfect match for the design, as the cargo train concept imposed matching maneuverability limitations while ensuring symmetric loading. The sort of careful, inflexible scheduling that was required for successful shipping with these unprecedentedly large cylinder vessels was not the commercial sector’s cup of tea, though, and the ECS placed no orders for tugs of this type. Thus, the UESF Logistics Division could fine-tune its properties to exactly meet its frontier needs, and placed a series of orders for an eventual 32 deep space tugs of Vanguard class.

For the first decade of Vanguard operations, Earth’s ambitions did not extend beyond 20 lightyears from the home system and the UESF ran very few operations on the outer rim. In the Romulan War, the ships—in turn—often traveled lightly loaded in order to maintain maximum warp. Quick hops from outpost to outpost were at times performed with internal cargo only or with light cargo rigged onto the bow grapples next to fuel tanks. Traveling from Earth to war zone starbases at full load would still have taken several months or years. Yet trips like this were rare, as the cargo traffic between the battlefront and the large Earth colonies or Vulcan or Andorian holdings near it was strategically the most important task for the class.

The rather large military crew of 94 could thus ride in relative comfort, despite the limited accommodation volume. Main berthing was beneath the command sail that jutted out of the side of the cone hull. Various other pressurized compartments and corridors snaked through the spaceframe, providing access to engineering and cargo handling functions, bow and stern docking tubes, and auxiliary craft berths. The propulsion ring also held two defensive plasma cannon stations, one on the top impulse assembly, another on the bottom one. An often carried additional feature was a large subspace communications dish, typically bolstered by a variety of realspace EM antennas, depending on the theater of operations and the role of the transports there. Extensive UESPA survey packages were also frequently carried and a number of specialists dedicated to their operation. At times, the vessels were summoned to act as command posts in addition to their usual role as convoy flagships and tenders; a special module for this purpose, containing an antenna farm and a spherical pressurized command center, could be accommodated in the aft container grapple.

The freighter being loaded here, UESS Titan (FV-309), displays a typical paint scheme of the war years. Flat gray on the warp ring replaces the earlier light gray/blue patterns on titanium brown and even the three fuel tanks held in the bow truss are in war paint. The only patches of color are provided by the red-glowing impulse engines, running hot as the ship remains on alert during loading. The shade of gray was a carefully weighed compromise between low albedo and low absorptivity, in an era when optical lasers and visual sighting systems still were important elements in space warfare. Tradition dictated that color for later Starfleet thermocoat paints as well, even when the tactical rationale was gone.

Soon after the commissioning of the first Vanguards, the class also suffered its first losses, as UESS Atlas (FV-304) fell prey to a covert Romulan attack, a possible test run of the remote capture techniques the enemy would later practice. Convoying the ships and adding cruiser protection allowed the continuation of operations beyond the outset of open war, but tied down interstellar-capable warships to escort duty. Still, the Vanguards were essential in providing supplies to the UESF elements operating a hundred lightyears away from home.

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The class was withdrawn from duty two decades after the war; several classes unrelated to the design were introduced to fulfill UFP Star Fleet heavy transportation requirements. The old tugs still had plenty of potential as cargo drones, however, thanks to their very stable and reliable engines and simple flight controls that could easily be slaved to onboard computers and external commands. Technologies and operating practices from the recently introduced dedicated Boyden drones were smoothly translated to the project, guaranteeing operational success and considerable service longevity. The drone conversions were considered a class of their own, with the NCC-F registries changed to the NCC-G range, and generally referred to by the name of the first tug converted, USS Ganymede (formerly FV-310 and NCC-F83).

The Vanguard design lineage was continued in the civilian sector for a while, until the introduction of affordable medium-load, high-warp transports. These advances led to the transformation of transports in the Vanguard size range: the tug and container rig concept was abandoned for the time being and heavy tugs changed from from primary cargo vessels to specialized long-range carriers of oversize loads. There was no market for the obsolete Vanguard derivatives and all vessels of this type were scrapped before the 2280s. Structurally similar Vulcan types remain commercial successes throughout the quadrant, however.

Gallery

• 
  A Vanguard with containers
• 
  A Vanguard with the command post module

Star Fleet Registry

Vanguard subclass

• NCC-F01
• NCC-F03
• NCC-F05
• NCC-F08
• NCC-F10
• NCC-F13
• NCC-F16
• NCC-F33
• NCC-F37
• NCC-F39
• NCC-F44
• NCC-F54
• NCC-F56
• NCC-F57
• NCC-F60
• NCC-F71
• USS Vanguard (NCC-F72)
• USS Ganymede (NCC-F83)
• NCC-F84
• NCC-F86
• NCC-F99
• NCC-F114

Ganymede subclass

• USS Ganymede (NCC-Gxx)

+ other modified Vanguard subclass ships

Notes

• The prefix "USS" has been changed to "UESS" for ships of the United Earth Starfleet.

• Timo's wording is confusing: he suggests the class never served in the UFP Star Fleet by saying "never [received] NCC registries" and suggesting their service role was instead filled by later designs. However, in his data specs for the class (the infobox on the wiki), he indicates they served until 2180, which is generally referencing service years and he refers to a drone with the commissioned prefix "USS", operating with a NCC-Q registry. I've decided to remove the statement about never receiving NCC registries. Additionally, I interpret that penultimate paragraph to suggest the crewed vessels continued on until 2180 and then were modified as drones, recommissioned back into Star Fleet service in 2185 as the Ganymede class and continued on until class retirement in 2215. I've also amended the statement to indicated their crewed registries were in the NCC-F range and then converted to the NCC-G range as drones, with 22 ships originally transferred to Star Fleet.

• UESS Titan was not transferred to the UFP Star Fleet.

• The infoxbox term "max" for the Ganymedes references that up to 22 were modified, as that is how many Vanguards entered UFP Star Fleet service; by 2185, they may have been fewer in number.

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• Back to the Table of Contents
• Back to "Into The Romulan War"
• Appendix A: Of Ship Statistics
• Appendix B: Glossary
• Appendix C: Star Fleet Organization - General Outline
• Appendix D: Abbreviations From Outside