Guide:Achernar

Achernar
Class Overview
Category	heavy cruiser
Operational	2260-2295
Constructed	13 3 Star Fleet heavy cruisers 10 export variants
Dimensions
Length	289.0 m
Beam	127.1 m
Height	72.6 m
Mass	690,000 tons
Performance
Cruise Speed	w 6
Max Speed	w 8.3 (Star Fleet) w 8.0 (export variants)
Endurance	5 years
Complement
Officers	43 (Star Fleet) varies (foreign use)
Enlisted	387 (Star Fleet) varies (foreign use)
Tactical Systems
Beam Weapons	Standard Star Fleet weapons fit 6 phaser VII emitters in 3 twin banks, port/stbd of bridge and fwd of ventral sensor array 1 phaser VI emitter on ventral secondary hull (installed after 2292) Standard export weapons fit 6 phaser VII emitters in 3 twin banks, port/stbd of bridge and fwd of ventral sensor array
Missile Weapons	Standard Star Fleet weapons fit 2 fwd heavy torpedo tubes w/ 80 torps on dorsal primary hull Standard export weapons fit 2 fwd heavy torpedo tubes w/ 160 torps on dorsal primary hull
Shields	1-layer conformal forcefield 1x primary navigational deflector (fwd secondary hull) Auxiliary navigational deflectors (fwd primary hull)
Laboratories	Standard Star Fleet 2 GP, 2 planetary sciences, 1 astrophysics, 1 life sciences Standard export 3 GP
Transporters	Standard Star Fleet 4 GP (6-pad), 3 emergency evacuation (22-pad), 1 cargo; Mk III Standard export 4 GP (6-pad), 3 emergency evacuation (22-pad), 1 cargo; Mk II Standard Star Fleet post-2274 4 GP (6-pad), 3 emergency evacuation (22-pad), 1 cargo; Mk IV
Auxiliary Craft	4 medium and 2 heavy or special operations shuttles and 2 shuttlepods, 4 work pods; various tactical craft
Historical
Ships of Note	USS Achernar / John Muir (NCC-1732)
Canonicity
Design	TMP, ST3, Franz Joseph
Name	, ST6
History	own

USS Sol watching over traffic at the Luna Defense Perimeter in the aftermath of the Probe visit. En route from Vega when the Probe arrived, the Sol was saved from neutralizing and reached Earth in time to re-establish order amidst the swarming refugee and aid vessels. For the first two days of the restoration operation, Star Fleet was unable to deploy any other space assets apart from small craft, and the capabilities of the Sol were stretched to their limits. The versatile cruiser proved her mettle many times over, wiping out any doubts Star Fleet might have had about a limited-application vessel of heavy cruiser size.

In the 2260s, as tensions with the Klingon Empire were reaching a breaking point, Star Fleet once again considered equipping its allies with relatively modern ships and weaponry. To ease the strain on the primary frontiers of the cold war, capital ships of decisive strength would have to begin patrols on the flanks of disputed space, in areas where Star Fleet bases were few and where local players like the Andesians or the Elasi had a strong foothold. While several such allies had proven unreliable during the last round of weapons exports, a brief round of negotiations and inspection tours by Federation Council Special Committees was enough to guarantee the delivery of warships to six non-member political entities.

Several destroyers and some frigates could easily be lend-leased to the allies, but no large cruisers in the proper performance niche were available: the old Baton Rouge variants were too decrepit for this use, the Constitution variants too advanced and too employed, and the remaining Horizon-era vessels of course little more than gutted hulls. A customized design was clearly needed, and Star Fleet teetered between three principal choices: reopening the Amchitka production lines (and presumably also somehow upgunning the obsolete design), devising a downgraded Surya variant (even though the suitable dockyards were still tied up with Star Fleet’s own acquisition and maintenance programs), or using the Constitution structure as the starting point for a significantly simplified and exportable starship. The latter came to be the preferred export model, when Star Fleet realized that it already possessed the know-how and detailed plans of building a low performance, Constitution-configuration starship out of existing hull components – not to mention several leftover Horizon secondary hulls and an idled production line for destroyer saucers. Ships resembling the initial Constitution prototypes could now be easily manufactured: the old problems of warp performance fine-tuning could be ignored and a brute force approach taken instead.

What transformed these cut-and-paste starships into practical fighting machines was the PB-47 warp engine. Although originally intended for frigates, the modern engine had a malleable field and an inherent robustness for greater power levels, and thus gave adequate performance on the export cruisers as well. The PB-47 mod 3 units, in concert with the slightly underpowered Saladin-type SBE impulse engines and a battery of six RIN-6 phaser VII emitters and two Racal ‘Awalt’ Mk 3 torpedo tubes, allowed the ships to fight effectively from warp as well as from sublight speeds. Increased magazine capacity and modern loaders brought the torpedo firepower of these vessels to a respectable cruiser level, despite the low number of tubes. Amidship phasers were also eventually applied on all Star Fleet Achernars. In turn, laboratories were virtually omitted from the design, and the space was used for enlarged ship’s stores, versatile auxiliary command facilities and a secondary sickbay. Auxiliary craft capacity was also significantly greater than in other Constitution derivatives, as the engineering arrangements left additional usable volume in the secondary hull. In essence, the ships could double as auxiliary carriers for local defense or assault needs.

In peacetime, the specialized facilities of the ships were put to different use. The Achernars were efficient machines for colonial support duties, thanks to their enlarged cargo holds. They could also carry and deploy large numbers of standard and special-environment craft for planetary exploration purposes, compensating for their shortcomings in other exploration modes like independent sensory analysis. The modern PB-47 warp engines proved an economical choice for colonial supply runs or local patrol circuits. Optimized for intense maneuvering, their acceleration curves were commendable, even though they offered endurance and top speed somewhat inferior to the PB-32 system when mounted on heavy cruisers.

Original plans were scaled for a remarkable maximum of 68 vessels, but such a great number of buyers never materialized. Noncommittal astronomical names were initially selected for the 13 ships completed out of remaining Horizon and Archon spaceframes, even though the buyers usually renamed the vessels at delivery. USS Achernar spearheaded the early production batch intended for export customers, ranging from the trusted Andesian Guardianship of the ‘southeast passage’ (2 units) to the distant Xindi Control in deep Alpha (4 units). As a deal for selling three ships to the Ktarians fell through, causing feelings of embitterment on both sides, USS Astrad, USS Alfr and USS Xanthii were adopted for use in Star Fleet proper and given improved transporter and computer systems. Serving in the TacFleet special military response force alongside the advanced Victory subclass, the three ships proved elemental in defending against the Xindi incursion from a long-neglected section of the lower coreward Federation border in the early 2270s.

Several other export ships were also gradually reabsorbed into the fleet, in some cases receiving new and more nationalistic names in the process. This practice was begun in 2269, when the formerly Xindi-operated XXS Naxu Thain, XXS Tezanha and XXS Sathiyaxa were reacquired and renamed USS John F. Kennedy, USS Tao Feng and USS Surak, respectively. USS Achernar herself became USS John Muir after her return from the Rigel front. Somewhat ironically, USS Sol never wavered, despite being reassigned from Gamma Hydra to Lya to eventual (and fitting) Quadrant Zero defense in the colors of the 3rd Fleet.

While the export customers were largely satisfied with the type, the UFP Council soon realized that proliferation of such technology to nations not abiding to the Prime Directive could have disastrous effects. Under the leadership of the newly elected President of the UFP Kenneth Wescott, the Council took on a highly cautious approach towards all military aid. As the Klingon threat receded somewhat after Organia, a gradual campaign of buying back the ships was begun. By 2271, Star Fleet once again was in possession of eleven of the thirteen ships, and plans were made for upgrading them into something more useful. While this project, described later under the Constitution refit entry, proved something of a failure and was aborted after only four converted hulls, the Achernars did perform sterling service in a purely defensive role until the Khitomer cutbacks. None were lost in battle, and the remaining two export ships were recovered intact as well. All ships were removed from service in an orderly manned at the very end of their projected lifetimes; by 2295, the secondary hull of USS Coromandel (NCC-1744, ex-Ekkhaia, ex-Sirius), formerly of the Southern Cross (NCC-1376), had enjoyed some ninety years of colorful service.

Gallery

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  Achernar (2265)
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Notes

• USS Sol (NCC-1744) was the last Achernar and scrapped shortly after the last Coventry.

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