Guide:Garneau

Garneau
Class Overview
Category	light surveyor / light supply / light tug / salvage tug
Operational	2267 - Garneau light science scouts/light surveyors: 2267 - 2279 Lena light supply ships: 2267 - 2302 Darwin light science scouts/light surveyors: 2277 - xxxx Fjon light supply ships: xxxx - xxxx Fisher light tugs: xxxx - xxxx Clarke light supply ships: xxxx - xxxx Todega deep space salvage tugs: xxxx - xxxx Schmidt deep space salvage tugs: xxxx - xxxx
Constructed	xxx total: Garneau: 12 (2267 - 2269) Lena: 18 (2267 - 2270) Darwin: 23 (2277 - 2286) Fjon: 21 (xxxx - xxxx) Fisher: 93 (xxxx - xxxx) Clarke: 23 (xxxx - xxxx) Todega: 50 (xxxx - xxxx) Schmidt: 40 (xxxx - xxxx)
Dimensions
Length	Garneau, Lena, Darwin, Fisher, Clarke: 80.0 m Todega: 101.3 m Fjon: 104.2 m
Beam	88.9 m
Height	Garneau, Lena, Darwin, Fjon: 12.6 m Fisher: 21.4 m Todega: 35.6 m Schmidt: 44.6 m
Mass	Garneau, Lena, Darwin: 102,000 mt Fisher: 109,500 mt Clarke: 211,000 mt Fjon: 120,300 mt Todega: 210,000 mt Schmidt: 214,300 mt
Performance
Cruise Speed	original: w 4.0 post-2318 subclasses: W 4.0 Clarke: W 5.0
Max Speed	original: w 7.0 post-2318 subclasses: W 7.1 Clarke: W 7.9
Endurance	6 months
Complement
Officers	surveyor: 3
Enlisted	surveyor: 19
Passengers	surveyor: 2 - 4 scientists
Tactical Systems
Beam Weapons	Garneau, Lena, Fisher, Clarke, Todega: none Fjon, Darwin: 1x (or 2x) phaser V emitter(s) (bow)
Missile Weapons	none
Shields	1-layer forcefield 1x navigational deflector (bow)
Laboratories	Garneau: 2x planetary survey 2x geology Darwin: 1x planetary survey 1x astrophysics 1x cartography 1x geology Lena, Fjon, Fisher, Clarke, Todega, Schmidt: none
Transporters	Garneau: 1x GP (6-pad), Mk III Lena: 1x GP (6-pad), Mk III 1x cargo, Mk III after 2279: all systems Mk IV after 2287: most systems Mk V (Darwin, Asmodeus, Fisher, Clarke, Todega, Schmidt, Fjon) after 2320: most systems Mk VI
Auxiliary Craft	none
Historical
Ships of Note	USS Darwin (NCC-652) USS Garneau (NCC-641)
Canonicity
Design	SFP, Federation Starship Recognition Chart (Aridas Sofia, Todd Guenther)
Name	FASA, SFP, Federation Starship Recognition Chart, Timo
History	Federation Starship Recognition Chart, Timo

Background: Hobbyist's Guide

From the very beginning of the Oberth design project, there was an intention to produce a lightweight passenger/utility version with fuel tanks mounted directly inside the primary hull—essentially an Oberth sans the ventral pod. Civilian organizations were ready to accept the inevitable diminishing of range and endurance resulting from this reconfiguration; Star Fleet in turn hoped to compensate by adopting a more economic operating speed. A ship with a comfortable cruising speed of warp four would still perform better than the majority of comparable civilian designs of the era. Commonality with existing Star Fleet equipment would be a major plus for Exploration Command: sensor pallets and research modules could be shared with the Oberths for missions of planetary and stellar survey.

By 2267, this study had turned into a family of low-cost Class Two vessels, the first of which was a light surveyor dubbed Garneau class. The moving of the antimatter pods and deuterium tankage into the main hull took up some 56% of the primary hull internal volume formerly available for accommodation and research facilities. Yet, space was left for somewhat uncomfortably housing a crew of 15-40, as well as for four standard laboratory modules and sixteen sensor berths—contrasting with the eight modules and 32 berths of a typical podded Oberth. Weaponry and associated systems were omitted and the impulse system slightly down-scaled. Otherwise, changes were minimal: essentially, all it took to change an Oberth into a Garneau was to remove the ventral pod and its attachment points and cut a 120 m3 opening into the saucer to install the fuel tanks and to replace the bow airlock/hangar with a navigational deflector array.

Translating the simple design into an operational success was equally effortless. Some 34 Garneaus were rapidly constructed, mainly at Centaurian shipyards, and sent to dilithium-hunting and mapping missions within Federation-controlled but poorly explored space. Many ships sailed out with only one or two laboratories installed, carrying minimal crews, although the full complement would have been two general planetary sciences labs, two geology and mineralogy labs, and some 25 crew and scientists. Most were operated by civilian research and industrial organizations, even if in pursuit of Star Fleet goals, and carried NAR registries. Towards the end of the 2270s, the dozen originally under Star Fleet registry (NCC-641-651) were also sold to commercial concerns; the eye of storm between decreasing piracy and increasing Klingon tensions lured resource hunters back into the business and the Garneau was the ideal platform for serious prospecting.

The Star Fleet surveyor replacement program was economical and efficient, rather than fast and ambitious. Darwin (NCC-652) light surveyors were improved Garneaus with light weaponry and more advanced computer systems and warp engines. Some two dozen were built between 2277 and 2286, but it was soon found out that survey missions in nearby space were no longer of crucial interest. Longer-range surveys in turn required full-sized Oberth ships, of which several new batches were built. The by-then rather decrepit Garneaus were retired and replaced by the Darwins, which were then sent to map the resources of UFP core regions to high resolution. The mapping program was so efficient that to this day, no further mineral survey in the area has been needed.

In addition to the surveyors, 18 ships were originally completed without the wiring needed for the laboratories and many of the sensors. Instead, they were configured for simple supply duties and maintenance of subspace communication relays. A medium cargo transporter was installed for ease of supply operations. The Lena (NCC-5028) subclass of 2267 was an economic success as well, although the extreme fatigue placed on the small ships forced almost all of them to be scrapped in the 2290s. None were operated by civilians and the hopes of selling the supply variant to civilian enterprises were squashed by the introduction of a highly economical Klingon-originated design commercially known as the Tong'Duj class. While somewhat larger than the Lena, its acquisition cost was one-fifth of that of the Federation design, and operating costs only 1.2 times those of the Lena subclass. Several variants were quickly fielded, saturating the market despite UFP attempts at placing import restrictions. Between the Antares and Tong'Duj variants, little in the way of civilian market was found for Star Fleet-designed light or medium transports in the late 23rd century—and sales have been sluggish in the 24th century as well. Star Fleet’s tendency to over-engineer its ships for every possible contingency seems to generally overprice them out of civilian markets altogether.

A more involving modification reintroduced the support pylons of the Oberths, this time lacking the plasma conduitry and instead reinforced to carry high structural loads. Extra fuel tanks were installed semi-internally and the resulting Fisher (NCC-F900) light tugs were sent to replace the aging Ohio light tugs in Star Fleet service. The ships would haul single cargo pods or, sometimes, trains of empty or near-empty pods. The subclass of 93 was the most successful of all the Oberth spinoffs, and eased the workload on heavier tug designs significantly. The vessels were not decommissioned until the 2330s, by which time the standard cylindrar cargo pod had more or less been retired from all but Star Fleet use anyway. No direct successor design was thus needed for the Fishers.

The next step was a demonstration of the so-far theoretical procedure of conversion between podded and unpodded hull configurations. The Darwin was in 2293 equipped with a standard survey pod, her antimatter bunker relocated, and her interiors reworked to what amounted to showpiece standard. The resulting vessel was renamed to thematically match the Oberth subclass, becoming USS Thagard. The conversion process, performed largely on manufacturer expense, was a technological success and resulted in a celebrated starship, but saw no further operational applications.

Also in the early 2290s, two further variants under the general Garneau umbrella were introduced. First, the Fisher design was in 2292 hastily modified for military use in anticipation of a Klingon offensive, departing rather radically from the original Garneau aims. Some 62 Fisher hulls were finished to the Asmodeus light corvette configuration; the variant is described in Section II of this work.

In 2293-2298, another 21 ships of Darwin descent were pressed to light supply duty. The Fjon (NCC-5063) subclass was to replace the fatigued Lena vessels, joining the heavier Pakokku (NCC-5046) and Krasnoyarsk (NCC-2350) supply ships in the effort of supporting Star Fleet across its suddenly increased regions of responsibility. To keep up with the growth, the Fjons were given a stretch: their cargo holds were enlarged significantly by extending Deck 4 aft by almost 40 meters, then up so that it faired smoothly with the saucer hull. The resulting two and a half decks of cargo space were given a large, single-piece dorsal loading door. The new spaces to both sides of engineering systems on Decks 2 and 3 were fitted as workshops and the rim of Deck 3 on the saucer was modified as well, eliminating the side docking ports and introducing a bow phaser bank. With the ability to carry almost four times the original cargo load, significant supercargo for crew rotation, and tooling for basic in situ repairs, the Fjons gained practical frontline tender capabilities.

USS Anholt of Fjon class shows off her expanded lines, corresponding to an empty mass increase of some 20,000 tons.

The official maximum speed of warp 7 was regularly exceeded to meet the demanding schedules and the manufacturer limit was reset at the significantly faster warp 7.1 on the new scale in 2319, after the multiphasic breakthrough. None of the Fjons ever received multiphasic retuning, however; their engines kept pushing what internal diagnostics programs still defined as "warp 10+". The last Fjons were retired in 2329, and again replaced by higher-endurance Oberth derivatives, of Eyre subclass.

Some sources postulate a third 2290s subclass, the so-called "corsair" special operations vessel. Certain discrepancies between observed Fjon production numbers and Star Fleet documentation suggest that up to eight such vessels might have been completed, with either Lena or Fjon spaceframes but undisclosed special capabilities. Subclass name Greer, mentioned in several documents, may in fact be unrelated to this project, yet is believed to apply at least to a vessel of similar mission profile and general capabilities. While Star Fleet has confirmed the existence of other types of corsairs, such as the 2250s-70s Leonardo and Carbonare classes, major gaps still exist in records pertaining to 2280s-90s Star Fleet special operations.

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The following century brought about a major change in the Garneau configuration, even if the basic subclass design was retained: double nacelles were installed on both sides for more malleable warp fields. Three subclasses utilized this configuration.

The Clarke supply ship was the simplest of the four-nacellers. Basically, she carried Lena internal gear, but with expanded fuel tanks, passenger quarters, a communications room, and a maximum security stowage facility built into the cargo holds. "Doubled-up" WD-3F engines on both sides increased cruise speed to modern warp 5 and allowed for dashes up to warp 7.9 in the courier missions that the ships were sometimes called to perform.

The so-called Todega deep space tug became the most popular light salvage vessel of the next five decades. Her impulse engines were doubled in power and in the number of nozzles, and a tractor beam and IMRF enveloping generator was suspended on the ventral pylons. The class possessed the capacity to tractor-tow ships up to Excelsior size at low warp speeds, yet Star Fleet only ordered the design in modest numbers. Its ambitions were set at greater speeds, ranges, and survivability offered by the Mediterranean class medium tugs. Two Fleet-operated Todegas were lost in deep space assignments during the border wars, one to a containment failure in the starship she was trying to recover, one to high speed debris in a post-battle wreckage field. There was some talk about arming the ships for the war zone, but the level of protection offered would have been minimal. No phasers were ever fitted, nor would there have been hardpoints, targeting systems, or even sufficient spare power for them.

The final four-nacelled variant was the Schmidt class salvage tug, adding even greater impulse muscle in the form of a dorsally-carried propulsion pod. The ventral tractoring system featured more compact field-enveloping generators, and a dedicated autopilot/datalink facilitated use of multiple tugs in the towing of the large modern starships, much in the fashion of the civilian ""superconvoy" operations.

Currently, none of the lightweight two-nacelled Oberth variants remain in Star Fleet service. A handful of Todega and Schmidt salvage vessels is kept in active service and larger numbers in reserve. Many civilian organizations still operate Fisher tugs, mainly for in-system cargo ops. Overall, the ships have been replaced in all Fleet roles by heavy Oberth derivatives, and they, in turn, by more modern, custom-built designs like the Nova class. Some consider the time ripe for the introduction of a new standardized lightweight starship family similar to the Garneau one, however, and major starship design agencies regularly pitch ideas to Star Fleet. At the moment, there is no definite Star Fleet requirement for such a family, but a major review of operational requirements is due after the analysis work on the Dominion conflict is completed. New economic realities stemming from adoption of replication technology may make it unnecessary or unwise to rely on a family of common-component ships.

Gallery

Other Images

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  Garneau, Lena, & Darwin subclasses
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  Fjon, light supply
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  Fisher, tug components
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  Clarke, light supply
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  Todega, deep space salvage tug
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  Schmidt, deep space salvage tug
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Notes

• Pre-creation of the article, this is what I've uncovered/decided, based on my reading of the Oberth and Garneau entries:
  • The Garneau, Lena, & Darwin subclasses all share the same external features (and dimensions).
  • Only one dozen Garneaus were constructed for Star Fleet; the other 22 were acquired by civilian concerns (presumably scientific organizations). The final operational year is 2279, as defined by the term "[t]owards the end of the 2270s]]".

• Darwin light surveyors complete a thorough core space resource mapping in the 2290s, ending Star Fleet’s need for light prospecting vehicles.

• I decided the Lenas were fully decommissioned by 2302, with the arbitrary year of 2297 marking the start of the process.

References

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