Guide:Yorktown

Yorktown
Class Overview
Category	battle cruiser
Operational	2160 - 2177
Constructed	1
Dimensions
Length	236.1 m
Beam	120.1 m
Height	38.0 m
Mass	345,000 tons
Performance
Cruise Speed	w 3
Max Speed	w 4.9
Endurance	4 years
Complement
Officers	82
Enlisted	270
Tactical Systems
Beam Weapons	2x laser emitters (1.0 GW) (dorsal primary hull) 2x laser emitters (1.0 GW) (ventral primary hull) 4x Type K phased particle cannon (1.0 TW) (dorsal primary hull) 4x Type K phased particle cannon (1.0 TW) (ventral primary hull) 4x plasma cannon (2.0 GW) (dorsal primary hull) 4x plasma cannon (2.0 GW) (ventral primary hull) 8x Type K phased particle cannon (1.0 TW) (ventral secondary hull) 8x plasma cannon (2.0 GW) (secondary hull)
Missile Weapons	4x fwd missile tubes (w/80 fusion or photonic missiles or other ordnance) (ventral primary hull) 2x fwd torpedo tubes (w/40 photonic torpedoes) (ventral primary hull)
Shields	7-layer graviton/subspace globular forcefield Navigational deflector (secondary hull bow) Polarizable armor (hull & nacelles)
Transporters	2 GP (3-pad); Mk I
Auxiliary Craft	2 shuttlepods 20 defensive fightercraft
Historical
Ships of Note	USS Yorktown
Canonicity
Design	ST:Legacy computer game
Name	ST:Legacy computer game
History	SFC, own

For the purpose of boring through Romulan defenses, the UESF began in 2158 to build three large battle cruisers, with several more in planning. Based on existing Earth and Andorian technology taken to extreme proportions, the third-of-a-million-ton ships would carry hundreds of photonic warhead missiles and torpedoes, be protected by dozens of self-defense fightercraft and layers of laser, plasma and forcefield defenses, and fly at nearly warp five to the Romulan homeworlds, untouched by the perimeter defenses of the still expanding Romulan empire.

Starfleet’s initial bid for the role was the Yorktown, an application of Enterprise and Poseidon technologies and hull components on a grander scale. The saucer as such was actually of slightly smaller diameter than those of the predecessor cruisers, and one deck flatter on both dorsal and ventral superstructure. Yet joining it was a massive tubular structure, an entire second hull a hundred meters long, that would shelter the fightercraft contingent in a stern hangar. The bow of the secondary hull would house an annihilation powerplant twice as large as the Enterprise original, and also accommodate the ship’s navigational deflector. The impulse engines of the vessel would be located in the juncture of her warp engine pylons, in a well armored neck structure where all primary power leads would be concentrated for citadel protection.

This would liberate virtually all the room in the primary hull for an unprecedented offensive and defensive armament. A row of six launch tubes on the underside was to spit out a combination of high speed anti-ship photonic torpedoes and the fusion missiles that would vaporize Romulan fortifications and industries. Eight 700-gigajoule particle cannon would complete the bombardment, while four heavy 150 nm lasers and eight rapid-fire plasma cannon kept enemy vessels at bay. Further bombardment cannon would be installed on the lower sides of the secondary hull, along with additional defensive plasma guns.

The Yorktown demonstrates her giant, 135 m PA-1 engine nacelles to advantage. Unfortunately, the engines were unable to provide the tactically required speed for the juggernaut, leaving her outclassed in the very role she was designed for. She excelled in all other roles, however, and would spawn the highly successful Horizon class a few decades later.

There was a fatal shortcoming in the balance of offensive and defensive weapons, however. Cruiser engagements in 2158 and 2159 proved that the Romulan forces could mount an impregnable defense against the heaviest Starfleet penetrators if they could amass sufficient numbers of cruisers and destroyers of their own. Home system defenses could be expected to feature this threshold number of vessels at all times, unless a major strategic feint could be effected. Key to success thus lay not in firepower alone, but in the ability to push it past enemy formations without an exchange of fire. High dash speed, equal at least to that of the superfast Christopher light cruisers, would be a strategic necessity.

This the drive system could not provide, not even with the high output, dilithium-focus reactor that kept throwing dangerous tantrums at the warp trials of USS Yorktown. The inaugural battle cruiser was doomed to fight her battles against Rihannsu deep space fleets, in violent cruiser actions, never getting the chance to rain destruction on key enemy bases or production facilities. A challenger with at least one full warp factor over the Yorktown would be needed to carry the torch, hopefully to the powder cellars of the enemy.

Yet the war would soon end, in a very different fashion from the one envisioned. The Yorktown would continue to serve, now under different masters with different goals. She would never achieve fame or receive breakthrough technologies – yet eventually, she would serve as the template for the next great leap in starship construction, inspiring the Horizon class of heavy cruisers.

Gallery

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  "Aiding the Good Cause"
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  "Wartime Exchange"

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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: Starfleet Organization - General Outline
• Appendix D: Abbreviations From Outside