Guide:Boyden

Boyden
Class Overview
Category	cargo drone
Operational	2184-2220
Constructed	108
Dimensions
Length	62.6 m
Beam	31.0 m
Height	39.5 m
Mass	40,350 tons (unloaded)
Performance
Cruise Speed	w 2
Max Speed	w 3
Endurance	10 years
Complement
Crew	none
Tactical Systems
Shields	1-layer conformal forcefield 2x navigational deflector emitters (bow)
Transporters	none
Auxiliary Craft	none
Historical
Ships of Note	SS Bethesda (NCC-G036)
Canonicity
Design	SFC
Name	SFC
History	SFC

In the 2179 mandate, Starfleet was given a general overseer role in the newly organized Federation, including duties of defense, research, charting and maintenance of space lanes, Federation-wide law enforcement and support of civilian space traffic. It was obvious that warships and science vessels alone would not suffice for such a broad mission description. A wide variety of civilian vessels was drafted for support and maintenance roles, but some specific mission types were ill handled by such unsophisticated or perhaps excessively sophisticated equipment. A major problem was fast transportation of supplies, spares, fuel and valuables for extended Starfleet operations.

The time was not yet ripe for the fielding of fast, light warp transports. Advanced warp technology was only adaptable to moderately large vessels, too few of which existed for all the supply and support needs of the Fleet. Only a handful of class Y freighters suited for warp three upgrading were in Starfleet possession, rather than the hundreds of vessels needed, and further production of the model was deemed unwise. Solutions were sought elsewhere, including the realm of unmanned cargo drones. Thus far, these drones had only utilized impulse or low-warp technology, and were not fielded by Starfleet in quantity. In 2180, the situation was changed by a request for proposals for a medium-warp unmanned cargo vessel for Starfleet use.

A relatively lightly laden Boyden drone hauls a subspace telescope antenna, shepherded by a Drexler frigate. Such attention was reserved for priority shipments only. Whether this antenna structure qualified is a matter of opinion. As a scientific instrument, it undoubtedly was crude and outdated even back in the 2190s, as Vulcans would have pointed out. Yet a likely use was in a forward military listening outpost, a field of Starfleet operations where Vulcan opinion weighed little.

Warp propulsion was the major bottleneck in the development program, since the high performance of typical modern systems came at the cost of complexity incompatible with unmanned operations. Finally, in 2183, Gulliver GPF Industries was able to perfect an automated warp drive system utilizing a floating-core rotary fusion reactor, deuterium-tritium fuel and very short, simple and maintenance-free plasma conduitry. A fuel incompatible with the standard Fleet deuterium was bound to cause logistics problems, but pure deuterium fusion was deemed too risky due to the higher temperatures and compressions needed. Warp coils were purpose-built for the design, increasing costs but improving reliability in this special application.

Overall hull shape was then dictated by utilitarian concerns. A boxy primary spaceframe mounted the three identical nacelles one down, two to the upper sides, the reactor bulging from between them, and fuel bubbles flanking the reactor housing. Impulse nozzles were located at centerhull stern, for a clear thrust vector while pushing external loads. Internal cargo handling machinery was located on the primary hull bow, from where small containers, bulk cargo, gases or liquids could be transferred to the cargo area. External loads could be slung on a bow mooring spine, similar in diameter to the Vanguard one.

The drone obviously looked nothing like the Starfleet defense or exploration designs of the time, save perhaps for its warp nacelles. Still, it immediately found a place in the hearts of Logistics Command personnel, and 56 units were ordered initially. A selection of swappable cargo hold modules for the carriage of differing cargo types was also purchased, although ‘backward compatibility’ was promised for the major container types used by earlier manned transports. A second batch of the same size was ordered in 2184, when the first original-batch units were delivered. Service name Boyden was adopted for the drone series, and NCC numbers ranged from Q012 to Q119 (later G012-G119); the new ships more than doubled Starfleet’s warp cargo drone complement.

This major acquisition program was one of the earliest UFP Starfleet efforts to produce non-military spacecraft, and as such was expected to run into some troubles. Initial cost overruns were quickly covered by savings from the replacing of manned craft with Boyden drones. However, the unmanned and undefended vessels easily fell into pirate hands if left unguarded – so some manned craft were always tied down to Boyden operations. Also, the AI programs piloting the drones did not perform quite as flawlessly as simulations had indicated, and only the Mk 6 version of the program was deemed reliable enough to allow the drones to run crowded space lanes unguided. Spaceport approach and departure was naturally always under full remote control.

Based on operational experiences, Starfleet chose convoying as the preferred mode of operating these craft. Destroyers or frigates were assigned to escort one to four Boydens at a time through pirate-infested regions; remote control units for the drones were installed on the escorts for contingencies. The flexibility of the drones still made these convoys more practical in supply duty than dedicated manned transports (which would have to have been escorted by manned defense ships as well). The Boydens served with distinction until 2220; some 25 units were lost, 14 to pirates, and some 120 shipments were ransacked, but more than eleven thousand shipments reached their destinations more or less safely.

The emergence of compact warp technology in the next century diminished the need for cargo drones somewhat. The follow-on design of Sherman class was still a valuable part of Starfleet inventory, and benefited from AI advances. Its delayed introduction in 2224 left a slight gap between drone generations, as the stopgap drones of Namaskaar and Webb classes were never produced in sufficient quantity. Thus, the retiring of USS Bethesda (NCC-G036), the last of the Boydens, in 2220 was accompanied with a definite sense of loss. Currently, no examples of the drones survive in surplus depots or museums, but the epic Robinsonade ‘Stardrifter’ by K. Wickly has immortalized the (fictional) USS Hooper of this class, as well as her single hapless occupant, Impulse Technician 3rd Class Gary Boone, in the minds of countless generations of young readers.

Gallery

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