Guide:2370-2375 - Invasion!

2370-2375 - Invasion!

The latter part of the 24th century saw the eruption of borderland troubles that would prompt a full-fledged separatist movement within the UFP. This coincided with two major shifts in interstellar power – the arrival of the Borg who severely tested both Earth and Romulan defenses, and the opening of the Bajoran wormhole which revealed the Gamma Quadrant superpower Dominion. Both of these threats challenged the Star Fleet mobile defense doctrine, as the Borg transwarp drive and the wormhole gave the enemy a crucial speed advantage in the deployment of forces.

The emergence of the Dominion threat prompted both Cardassians and Klingons to step up their activity in the region, soon involving the Romulans as well. For the Klingon Empire, elimination of one of the players seemed a perfect way to rekindle the flames of fighting passion and to test the troops and weapons in battle after a long period of dormancy. In 2372, Chancellor Gowron decided to lead his forces against Cardassia, which he suspected of having fallen under Dominion influence. His ambitious and outrageous plan was to strike directly at the core of the Union, through the Bajoran sector so conveniently cleared of Cardassian defenses by the Federation two decades earlier. Although the invasion was aborted for political reasons, it still achieved most of its strategic goals: the Klingon fighting machine once again was a force to be reckoned, and the Houses and factions were now solidly allied behind Gowron’s lead.

The ranks of the Federation were less solid. The tumultuous times would force Star Fleet to adopt an almost fanatically military posture after a period of complacent supremacy. So alien was this militaristic mindset to many Star Fleeters that common sense and logic was often swept aside. Politicians fortified behind the clauses and moments of the Prime Directive, leading the UFP into unhealthy isolationism. Some Star Fleet leaders overreacted to the point of attempting military coup – fortunately, the tradition had weakened in the intervening hundred years so that the coup leaders were just a faint afterimage of the likes of Rittenhouse, Cartwright and Drake. Still, at the end of the period, the Federation seemed to be at the brink of destruction both from inside and from outside, and the only hope was of the latter threat unifying the forces against the former.

An unfortunate conflict between the Federation and the Klingon Empire in early 2373 proved a crucial turning point. Instigated by the Dominion Founders, it at first seemed to weaken both combatants and pave way for a Dominion invasion. However, the successful triggering of this war apparently also hastened the invasion plans, so that the main Dominion offensive began long before the UFP and Klingon forces had significantly hurt each other. Even though the Dominion managed to establish a well-fortified beachhead in Cardassian space, the UFP-Klingon front solidified against them. And a crucial judgment error by the Dominion allowed Star Fleet to mine shut the vital wormhole connection for a critical three-month period, forcing the deadly Jem’Hadar forces to the defensive for the initial stages of the war.

Still, Star Fleet was hard pressed to mobilize its forces in time. Although recalling of ships had been begun in early 2371 already, the Fleet reached fighting strength only in late 2373. Had the Klingons not chosen to side with the UFP, the situation would have looked grim indeed. Yet the Dominion war of 2373-75 must be seen as the finest hour of Star Fleet so far – so many things went right despite the cards being heavily stacked against Star Fleet. Coordinated operations of fleets of up to 600 vessels proceeded far more smoothly than anticipated, even if larger fleets were virtually uncontrollable in battle. Logistics problems could be overcome with minimal activation of Class 4 or 5 resources. Incredible feats of intelligence gathering and covert operations were performed against the far superior Dominion sensor capability. And the defensive lines of the core region held even after the devastating antispinward plunge of the Jem’Hadar – an attack unparalleled in the history of the quadrant, one that in effect severed the UFP, Klingon and Romulan forces from each other and caused key UFP worlds like Betazed, Benzar and Bolarus to fall one after another. It is truly a miracle that the entire defensive network of the UFP did not collapse in the critical months of early 2374.

In the map of the war theater of 2374, the true extent of the Dominion assault is revealed. The Dominion quickly retreated from the easy pickings of spinward resource bases, both to appease the Breen and to redirect forces for an antispinward plunge. This maneuver was not made towards the UFP core as expected, but out through the DMZ, past Betazed and Aldebaran, and corewards through Regulus and Kaleb to Romulan space, which the Dominion forces were free to utilize until late 2374. The insane plunge through UFP heartland severed the Federation supply lines and brought Benzar and Bolarus to their knees; eventually, even Betazed fell. Only the October 2374 declaration of war by the Romulan Star Empire saved Vulcan from falling as well.

Ships designed in response to the conflict were few, since even in two years only so much R&D can be performed. Mostly, Star Fleet’s technological response consisted of major upgrades to existing shielding systems, for resilience against the phased polaron weaponry preferred by the Jem’Hadar. Yet for example quantum torpedo technology was fielded for the first time, and light torpedo launchers proliferated across Star Fleet’s arsenal of small craft.

2370-2375 - The Ships

• Nova class surveyors/multipurpose platforms (2370- )
• Philadelphia class light cruisers/anti-Borg platforms (2372- )
• Prometheus class cruisers (2374- )
• Iwo Jima class assault ships (2375- )
• Typhon class strike carrier/mobile outpost (2375- )
• Curiosity class heavy cruiser (2376- )
• Merian class multipurpose platform (2377- )
• Luna class science/reconnaissance cruiser (2377- )

Updated to April/May 2016 version

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• Back to the Table of Contents
• Back to Part I: Starships and Other Large Vessels
• Appendix A: Of Ship Statistics
• Appendix B: Glossary
• Appendix C: Star Fleet Organization - General Outline
• Appendix D: Abbreviations From Outside