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Apart from the Armstrong class, the only new cruiser-sized design to emerge during the Romulan War was the Christopher class light cruiser, a totally new class featuring no Triton or Enterprise components. Built for speed and endurance, the ship was optimized from the beginning for extremely mobile warfare, and would act as the spearhead of a new tactical approach. The cruisers would no longer prey on the frustratingly elusive Romulan carrier groups, but would perform deep strikes against fixed installations, moving the war to the Romulan turf for the first time. A key requirement to this approach was the increase in scoutship quality and quantity, which had already given UESF its first major victory in 2159. But only with the new long range cruisers could such strikes be mounted with any certainty of success.


It was only a year into the fighting in the Romulan War that [[Earth]] truly understood the futility of ‘qualitative high ground’ against the endless ranks of agile and bold Rihannsu attack craft. Certainly the best of [[UESF]] vessels held their own against the enemy, but at a price Earth could not afford to pay. Resources dedicated to completing the heavy cruiser construction programs meant a lower total of hulls completed, a lower number of planets protected. In [[2157]], heated and anguished debate at UESF Command eventually resulted in a compromise known as the “seventy per cent deal”. That much funds would be released per each subsequent cruiser keel, in relation to the high-performing ''[[Enterprise]]'' class.
Every lesson learned from Marshall and Cavalry destroyers was applied here, from the omission of particle beam weaponry to the use of heavy frontal armor and provision of room for up-to-date subspace/graviton shield generators. In fact, USS Warren E. Christopher (NCL-2000) should basically be considered a heavy destroyer instead of a true cruiser. Quickly joined by no less than 17 sisters, the ship nevertheless soon proved her worth as an independent, high endurance fighting platform worthy of the cruiser designation.  


Eight months of concurrent design, development and construction produced the first UESF war cruiser. The '''''Armstrong''''' class merged attributes from both the tightly tuned ''Enterprises'' and the incredibly robust ''[[Marshall]]'' heavy destroyers. Warp five propulsion was still a design criterion, and the advanced dilithium regulator technology of the ''Enterprise'' class was adopted without hesitation. Improvements introduced with the PA-1C engines concentrated on survivability and maintainability. Six - rather than four - spoked guards on the ramscoops and plasma diffusers gave the armored nacelles a menacing look. Rather than be mounted on separate horizontal booms, the pylons attached to a single broad structure that still carried in duplicate all the PA-1 elements. Plasma rechargers now vented port and starboard rather than up, and the IMRF crystal was ventrally rather than dorsally exposed, but internal differences between the angular ''Armstrong'' hull and the rounded ''Enterprise'' booms were minimal. The ventrally accessed shuttlebay was only slightly less lavishly equipped than its ''Enterprise'' counterpart; dorsal gunports mounted the same aft-firing Type A phased particle cannon. Only aft-firing torpedo tubes were omitted from the design.
The primary hull of the Christopher was a two-part structure reminiscent of an alligator head: a rounded upper section housed three decks of command, control and communications functions and habitat space, while the smaller lower ‘jaw’ housed twin missile tubes with magazines for at most fourteen heavy 900 mm fusion or photonic missiles each. A pair of 95,000 ton PA-4 warp engines on sturdy pylons sprouting from a boxy secondary hull represented traditional thinking and gave the ship a rather conventional cruiser silhouette. Tried and proven construction techniques could be used, for it was not the hull that was significant in the new cruiser. Nor was the integrated weapons system unconventional: in addition to a single warp torpedo tube and two tubes for sublight missiles, there were two gigawatt-class, warp-accelerated main lasers to provide primary firepower, with four smaller lasers for close-in protection.  


[[Image:.jpg|left|300px|thumb|A joint attack on a Romulan ‘U-15’ (''Vriha'') class cruiser by ''USS Tereshkova'' and ''USS Union'' offers effortless comparison of ''Armstrong'' and ''Enterprise'' design features. Most noteworthy from this angle is the omission of primary hull impulse nozzles and aft missile and torpedo tubes from the former.]]
What made a difference was the combination of a high endurance powerplant, a superb inertial navigation system and a separate major computer dedicated completely to the task of long-duration warp navigation. While two Cavalries or one Marshall might pump out equal missile, torpedo or laser firepower, the destroyers could not compete in the range of combat operations. At a cruise speed of full warp three, some ten lightyears could be spanned in a single combat sortie – twenty, if the ships were stripped of some weaponry, crew and equipment, and given extra fuel.


The forward hull was trimmed down from its full saucer form. As laboratory spaces and cargo holds were discarded, the bows were bifurcated into two heavily armored prongs, with the paired missile and torpedo launchers in the deep gap in between. The main role of the remaining bows was to house the forward-firing phase cannon, two Type A and one Type B per bow section, as well as the twin navigational deflector arrays on the outer flanks. A combat crew of 23 officers and 175 men served the classic cruiser mission, although accommodated in more spartan conditions than their ''Enterprise'' equivalents. Many specialists still tended to scientific instrumentation, even if now in pursuit of tactical intelligence rather than abstract knowledge. Ground combat and boarding specialists were also regularly embarked. With considerable risk but noticeable success, the single Mk I transporter platform was employed for boarding action.
Due to their superior speed and range, the Christophers seldom operated in concert with other ship types, although complex ambushes were at times performed jointly with modern destroyers. USS Chester W. Nimitz and USS Raymond Spruance took the place of their fallen namesakes of Messier class, while others received names honoring various lost destroyers. The names proved good omens, for not a single Christopher was lost while idle on Earthbase orbit or flying into a Romulan ambush. Eight cruisers nevertheless perished in attack sorties, in battles that may have been uneven but in which the initiative at last was on the Earth side.


Some adjustments were made to the weapons and sensor suite from the fourth vessel onwards, in response to mounting wartime experiences. Aft phase cannon and forward secondary batteries were replaced by high-power lasers, and the missile tubes were sealed off. By [[2160]], these changes had been effected on the original triplet of cruisers as well, although there never was anything approaching a common standard of equipment in the ''Armstrong'' force. Rather, new gear was installed as soon as it became available, and each cruiser for example came to carry a different shield generator. Maintenance in such circumstances called for a great deal of specialization. Then again, as the vessels were tasked with penetration sorties of extreme range, there seldom was any crew rotation that would have diluted the ship-specific expertise of the engineering teams. The crews spoke of themselves as being “married to their ships”, a situation quite unfamiliar to the armed forces of the preceding century Earth, although commonplace enough in the mercantile fleet.
[[Image:.jpg|left|300px|thumb|As two Cavalry destroyers launch their missiles at more distant targets, light cruiser Anaconda (NCL-2008) plunges directly into a swarm of enemy missile boats at Nimbus in 2160. While the Christophers were never designed to fight against small craft the way the older cruisers were forced to do, the Anaconda more than held her own in the engagement; superior UESF fire control was beginning to turn the tables against the Romulans and making their small craft less of a threat to Earth fighting vessels.]]


[[Image:.jpg|left|300px|thumb|Forward replenishment from a ''[[Hercules]]'' transport places the ''Lorelei'' (NCA-254) of ''Helena'' class and the ''Kerry'' (NCA-245) of ''Armstrong'' class conveniently parallel for size comparison. UESF’s ‘war cruisers’ efficiently and elegantly served their purpose in the Romulan War. Their compact configuration enabled sufficient numbers to be built, but predictably proved unsuited for peacetime operations. Especially the ''Helenas'' were far too small to accommodate research gear.]]
The greatest hour of the Christopher class came in 2160, when a flotilla of seven specially configured light cruisers, stripped of the torpedo launcher, some consumables and most crew and carrying a mixture of heavy anti-ship and anti-surface missiles and a maximal fuel load, penetrated Romulan defenses with a daring uninterrupted warp run of 52 days. Despite the immense problems of coordination due to complete sensor and communications silence while in warp drive, the cruisers arrived at the Cheron system in perfect formation with only minor systems damage to one vessel. Local defenses responded with deadly force, and the UESF flotilla lost two cruisers in quick succession. Still, the surviving cruisers fired their missiles with precision at the frontline command center spotted four months earlier by a Doppler scout.


Concurrently with early ''Armstrong'' adjustments came a decision to downscale the design one more step. The more affordable ''Helena'' light cruisers mounted the same powerplant and warp propulsion system, but dropped two primary cannon, all missile tubes and one of the torpedo tubes to allow for an even more compact hull. Warp nacelles were brought closer to each other, without major effects on speed but an increase in cruise power consumption; combined with reduced fuel tanks, this gave 25% lower overall endurance. Impulse systems were greatly compacted as well, although the result was greater agility and acceleration for the smaller cruiser. While the ''Armstrong'' class ship names honored early Earth spacefarers, a classic martial theme of successful historical war vessels of cruiser type was applied on the ten ''Helenas'' ultimately completed.
Near-simultaneously, six other strikes of this type were carried out against other Romulan installations located in the recent months, featuring mixed fleets of Christophers and Enterprises. Two were never heard of again, but the remaining four all scored devastating hits on their targets. Yet none was more important than the battle at Cheron: unbeknownst to the crews, the ships had managed to destroy the hub of the entire Romulan subspace communications network in sectors 23 through 28. The utter confusion into which the Romulan command structure had been thrown would have meant easy victory for Earth. The only way for the Romulans to protect their frontline bases would have been to permanently deploy their fleets inside the respective systems. Instead of risking total loss of both bases and ships, the Romulans decided to throw the game. A request for truce was sent out in October 12, 2160.


One of the most famed victories for the ''Armstrong'' fleet came at  Hydra, a distant battlefield where Admiral Larson in late [[2159]] managed to amass his tattered and dispersed cruisers into a powerful unit that decimated its Rihannsu counterpart and opened a temporary second front against the Romulan Star Empire. Low on munitions, fuel and supplies, the five ''Armstrongs'' and two ''Enterprises'' still had to fight their way back to human-held space. In a controversial move, Larson decided to leave behind the ''Titov'' and the ''Kerry'' along with two hundred crew, in order to stock the rest of the fleet with sufficient dilithium for a voyage home; the crucial resource had become a grave strategic liability that dangerously hobbled the deep space maneuvers of the UESF.
* * *


The fleet made it safely back to Earth, and a year later, light cruiser ''Piranha'' and the transport vessel ''Roy Malcolm'' were dispatched to pick up the castaways. Their daring rescue mission was for nought, however: the two cruisers could no longer be located. Only in light of the much later discovery of debilitating radiation in the system could a plausible theory of their fate be formulated. In all likelihood, the vessels had attempted to leave the deathtrap system at sublight, only to succumb to the radiation effects while underway. Even with contemporary sensors, attempts to find the derelicts have proven fruitless, and it is suspected that an initial desperate homeward course has resulted in them currently coasting through Romulan space.
Surviving Christopher units continued operations beyond the onset of peace. Since local space was quite saturated with war surplus vessels, and since the victorious Federation had few challengers, there was little interest in developing an antimatter-powered successor design. Yet the deep space capabilities of the Christophers were not as useful in peacetime duty as one might assume, as there was no room or power to be spared for research gear. No permanent laboratory spaces were ever installed aboard the vessels, nor did the sensor suites receive the advanced short range planetary survey instruments of the Enterprises. The light cruisers mainly attained fame in early pirate hunts, and served admirably in enforcing Federation law and order across the former dominions of the UFP signature members.


Humans would only return to  Hydra a century later – but there would be no Romulan presence there either, the Neutral Zone having been drawn in accordance with the outcome of the historic battle. An equally lasting imprint from the events was Starfleet’s decision to abandon dilithium in future power applications, a move also suggested by the dwindling reserves of the precious substance and the failure modes encountered on dilithium-equipped vessels.
When the time for retirement came in 2182, four Christopher vessels including the original class ship were still active. All were sold forward to existing and hoped-for allies in the coreward direction.  
 
***
 
Turning the ''Armstrongs'' into peacetime explorers was somewhat counter-intuitively easier going than the conversion of ''Enterprise'' units. Mainly this was due to the fact that the ''Armstrong'' production run had reached twelve hulls and ample spares. There also was a lesser degree of damage and fatigue on the ''Armstrong'' war survivors. Four vessels (or 4.7, if one counted the remaining essentially spaceworthy two-thirds of the ''McCandless'') were available for continued service in UFP Starfleet colors. Only minor “swords to plowshares” adjustments were initially performed, such as installing a general purpose laboratory, extending the medical facilities, and reconfiguring sensors for survey duty. These were quite sufficient for letting the ships score several scientific victories on par with those of the ''Enterprise''. Much of the space within 100 ly of Earth still remained unknown to humans, or their new allies, few of which had the interest or the hardware to perform competing surveys of meaningful scope.
 
The exploration careers of the ''Armstrongs'' were cut short, however: as early as [[2169]], a refit of wholly different scope was effected on two of the vessels, and the other three retired, when dilithium regulators were declared too risky for use. ''USS Tereshkova'' and ''USS Glenn'' stand apart as the only Starfleet vessels ever to be modified from dilithium focusing to the lower-performing forcefield antimatter feed constriction. Both soldiered on at a reduced top speed of warp 4.1 until early [[2203]]. Loss of the former to unknown causes in the line of duty resulted in withdrawing of the latter from deep space duty as well. The ''Glenn'' still remains in near-operational condition at [[Cait]], preserved as a museum piece after half a century of sublight system patrol at 15 Lyncis.
 
Of the seven ''Helena'' war survivors, the fatigued ''Emden'' was immediately scrapped in [[2161]]. As most large cruisers at the time were undergoing overhauls or refitting for peacetime duty, the distinct honor of carrying the Federation flag befell the humble ''Parakeet''. The ''Lorelei'' would pick up the heroic ''Cavalier'' survivors in early [[2162]]; the ''Aurora'', ''Mistral'' and ''Rio Negro'' would again go to war the following year, and be lost to the Tarn. Recalled from deep space by the dilithium decree, the ''Parakeet'' would finally be stricken in [[2174]], along with the less well known sister ship ''Algerie''.


==Notes==
==Notes==

Revision as of 21:34, 11 January 2014

InsertAltTextHere
Armstrong/Helena
Class Overview
Category Cruiser/Light Cruiser
Operational 2158 - 2203
Constructed 22 total
  • 12 (Armstrong cruisers)
  • 10 (Helena light cruisers)
Dimensions
Length
  • 207.1 m (Armstrong)
  • 186.0 m (Helena)
Beam
  • 132.6 m (Armstrong)
  • 107.2 m (Helena)
Height
  • 33.1 m (Armstrong)
  • 27.9 m (Helena)
Mass
  • 238,800 tons (Armstrong)
  • 217,100 tons (Helena)
Performance
Cruise Speed w 3
Max Speed
  • w 5.0 (original)
  • w 4.1 (Armstrong refit 2169)
Endurance
  • 4 years (Armstrong)
  • 3 years (Helena)
Complement
Officers
  • 23 (Armstrong)
  • 20 (Helena)
Enlisted
  • 78 (Armstrong)
  • 60 (Helena)
Troops
  • 97 (Armstrong Romulan War standard)
  • 102 (Helena Romulan War standard)


Tactical Systems
Beam Weapons

Armstrong original

  • 6xPC-10a phase cannons
  • 2xPC-10b phase cannons

Armstrong (2159-60 refit)

  • 4xPC-10a phase cannons
  • 4xSchawlow 1.07 Plus Class lasers

Helena original

  • 4xPC-10a phase cannons
  • 2xPC-10b phase cannons

Helena (2159-60 refit)

  • 4xPC-10a phase cannons
  • 2xSchawlow 1.07 Plus Class lasers
Missile Weapons

Armstrong original

  • 4x spatial torpedo launchers (70 torpedoes)

Armstrong (2159-60 refit)

  • 2x spatial torpedo launchers (70 torpedoes)

Helena original

  • 1x spatial torpedo launcher (30 torpedoes)

Helena (2159-60 refit)

  • 4x spatial torpedo launchers (70 torpedoes)
Shields
  • 2x Navigational deflectors at bow
  • Polarizable armor on hull and nacelles
  • 1-layer subspace/graviton forcefield bubble
Laboratories
  • 1 signals intelligence (Armstrong original)
  • 1 GP, 1 medical (Armstrong 2164 refit)
Transporters
  • 1 1-pad, Mk-I
Auxiliary Craft
  • 4 spatial pods (Armstrong original)
  • 3 spatial pods (Helena)
  • 2 atmospheric shuttlepods (Armstrong 2164 refit)
  • 4 spatial pods (Armstrong 2164 refit)
Historical
Ships of Note * USS Glenn (NCA-242/NCC-08)
  • USS Tereshkova (NCA-243/NCC-09)
  • USS Lorelei (NCA-254/NCC-14)
  • USS Parakeet (NCA-256/NCC-15)
Canonicity
Design FASA Romulan War Sourcebook
Name LUG, SFC
History FASA, LUG, SFC



Apart from the Armstrong class, the only new cruiser-sized design to emerge during the Romulan War was the Christopher class light cruiser, a totally new class featuring no Triton or Enterprise components. Built for speed and endurance, the ship was optimized from the beginning for extremely mobile warfare, and would act as the spearhead of a new tactical approach. The cruisers would no longer prey on the frustratingly elusive Romulan carrier groups, but would perform deep strikes against fixed installations, moving the war to the Romulan turf for the first time. A key requirement to this approach was the increase in scoutship quality and quantity, which had already given UESF its first major victory in 2159. But only with the new long range cruisers could such strikes be mounted with any certainty of success.

Every lesson learned from Marshall and Cavalry destroyers was applied here, from the omission of particle beam weaponry to the use of heavy frontal armor and provision of room for up-to-date subspace/graviton shield generators. In fact, USS Warren E. Christopher (NCL-2000) should basically be considered a heavy destroyer instead of a true cruiser. Quickly joined by no less than 17 sisters, the ship nevertheless soon proved her worth as an independent, high endurance fighting platform worthy of the cruiser designation.

The primary hull of the Christopher was a two-part structure reminiscent of an alligator head: a rounded upper section housed three decks of command, control and communications functions and habitat space, while the smaller lower ‘jaw’ housed twin missile tubes with magazines for at most fourteen heavy 900 mm fusion or photonic missiles each. A pair of 95,000 ton PA-4 warp engines on sturdy pylons sprouting from a boxy secondary hull represented traditional thinking and gave the ship a rather conventional cruiser silhouette. Tried and proven construction techniques could be used, for it was not the hull that was significant in the new cruiser. Nor was the integrated weapons system unconventional: in addition to a single warp torpedo tube and two tubes for sublight missiles, there were two gigawatt-class, warp-accelerated main lasers to provide primary firepower, with four smaller lasers for close-in protection.

What made a difference was the combination of a high endurance powerplant, a superb inertial navigation system and a separate major computer dedicated completely to the task of long-duration warp navigation. While two Cavalries or one Marshall might pump out equal missile, torpedo or laser firepower, the destroyers could not compete in the range of combat operations. At a cruise speed of full warp three, some ten lightyears could be spanned in a single combat sortie – twenty, if the ships were stripped of some weaponry, crew and equipment, and given extra fuel.

Due to their superior speed and range, the Christophers seldom operated in concert with other ship types, although complex ambushes were at times performed jointly with modern destroyers. USS Chester W. Nimitz and USS Raymond Spruance took the place of their fallen namesakes of Messier class, while others received names honoring various lost destroyers. The names proved good omens, for not a single Christopher was lost while idle on Earthbase orbit or flying into a Romulan ambush. Eight cruisers nevertheless perished in attack sorties, in battles that may have been uneven but in which the initiative at last was on the Earth side.

File:.jpg
As two Cavalry destroyers launch their missiles at more distant targets, light cruiser Anaconda (NCL-2008) plunges directly into a swarm of enemy missile boats at Nimbus in 2160. While the Christophers were never designed to fight against small craft the way the older cruisers were forced to do, the Anaconda more than held her own in the engagement; superior UESF fire control was beginning to turn the tables against the Romulans and making their small craft less of a threat to Earth fighting vessels.

The greatest hour of the Christopher class came in 2160, when a flotilla of seven specially configured light cruisers, stripped of the torpedo launcher, some consumables and most crew and carrying a mixture of heavy anti-ship and anti-surface missiles and a maximal fuel load, penetrated Romulan defenses with a daring uninterrupted warp run of 52 days. Despite the immense problems of coordination due to complete sensor and communications silence while in warp drive, the cruisers arrived at the Cheron system in perfect formation with only minor systems damage to one vessel. Local defenses responded with deadly force, and the UESF flotilla lost two cruisers in quick succession. Still, the surviving cruisers fired their missiles with precision at the frontline command center spotted four months earlier by a Doppler scout.

Near-simultaneously, six other strikes of this type were carried out against other Romulan installations located in the recent months, featuring mixed fleets of Christophers and Enterprises. Two were never heard of again, but the remaining four all scored devastating hits on their targets. Yet none was more important than the battle at Cheron: unbeknownst to the crews, the ships had managed to destroy the hub of the entire Romulan subspace communications network in sectors 23 through 28. The utter confusion into which the Romulan command structure had been thrown would have meant easy victory for Earth. The only way for the Romulans to protect their frontline bases would have been to permanently deploy their fleets inside the respective systems. Instead of risking total loss of both bases and ships, the Romulans decided to throw the game. A request for truce was sent out in October 12, 2160.

  • * *

Surviving Christopher units continued operations beyond the onset of peace. Since local space was quite saturated with war surplus vessels, and since the victorious Federation had few challengers, there was little interest in developing an antimatter-powered successor design. Yet the deep space capabilities of the Christophers were not as useful in peacetime duty as one might assume, as there was no room or power to be spared for research gear. No permanent laboratory spaces were ever installed aboard the vessels, nor did the sensor suites receive the advanced short range planetary survey instruments of the Enterprises. The light cruisers mainly attained fame in early pirate hunts, and served admirably in enforcing Federation law and order across the former dominions of the UFP signature members.

When the time for retirement came in 2182, four Christopher vessels including the original class ship were still active. All were sold forward to existing and hoped-for allies in the coreward direction.

Notes

  • The sidebar diverges from the text, in that photonic/photon torpedoes had not yet been developed by 2159. Instead all tubes are for spatial torpedoes, with the numbers reduced during the war to accommodate better defensive capabilities.
  • Check out the Vance Schematic site [maybe this one?] for a good stand-in for this class. Also the FASA Romulan War Sourcebook, though I suspect any images will not match text.
  • Some commissioned ship names attributed to the Armstrong/Helena classes are:
    • Guide:
Armstrong-class
Armstrong (NCA-242/NCC-08)
Tereshkova (NCA-243/NCC-09)
Kerry
McCandless
Glenn
Titov
Helena-class
Helena
Emden
Lorelei (NCA-254/NCC-14)
Aurora
Parakeet (NCA-256/NCC-15)
Mistral
Rio Negro
Algerie
    • Recommended RPG Ships:
Armstrong-class
Armstrong (NCA-242/NCC-08)
Tereshkova (NCA-243/NCC-09)
Kerry
McCandless
Glenn
Titov
Aldrin
Collins
Shepherd
Gagarin
Lovell
Leonov
Helena-class
Helena
Emden
Lorelei (NCA-254/NCC-14)
Aurora
Parakeet (NCA-256/NCC-15)
Mistral
Rio Negro
Algerie
Monitor
Santisma Trinidad


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