Guide:Portsmith/Bedford

[[|Starboard|250px|Portsmith class escort]]
Portsmith
Class Overview
Category	escort
Operational	2246-2263
Constructed	155 Portsmith escort: 92 (xxxx-xxxx) Bedford escort: 62 (xxxx-xxxx)
Dimensions
Length	Portsmith: 158.0 m Bedford: 142.6 m
Beam	Portsmith: 50.1 m Bedford: 48.7 m
Height	Portsmith: 58.4 m Portsmith: 71.2 m (command variant w/ antenna) Bedford: 48.7 m
Mass	Portsmith: 130,000 mt Portsmith: 131,600 mt (command variant) Bedford: 128,500 mt
Performance
Max Speed	w 5.0
Endurance	1 year
Complement
Officers	10
Enlisted	Portsmith: 84 Bedford: 73
Tactical Systems
Beam Weapons	Portsmith 2x 1.6 GW laser emitters (dorsal aft hull p/s) 2x 1.6 GW laser emitters (ventral aft hull p/s) Bedford 1x 1.6 GW laser emitter (command tower) 2x 1.6 GW laser emitters (ventral aft hull p/s)
Shields	1-layer globular forcefield navigational deflectors (bow)
Transporters	1x GP (3-pad); Mk II
Historical
Ships of Note	USS Bedford (NCC-E592) USS Portsmith (NCC-E500)
Canonicity
Design	Spaceflight Chronology
Name	Spaceflight Chronology
History	Spaceflight Chronology, Timo

Not two weeks had passed since the Klingon intrusion at Axanar when Star Fleet issued a set of instructions and orders to all commercial traffic in the region. At first, all flight plans would be subjected to Star Fleet review; within sixty days, convoy was to be established, with escort provided under Star Fleet control. Actual combat units would not be available in sufficient numbers for such a massive undertaking, as Axanar offered Klingon raiders access to some of the highest-volume spacelanes in the entire Federation. Instead, Star Fleet would perform "handover escort" in the style of the old Romulan conflict, and would only provide select convoys with duly armed protection. Others would have to fend for themselves—but Starfleet also intended to provide them with the means to do so.

Among the directives of the Convoy Act was a requisition order for two hundred medium freighters for immediate conversion to escort vessels. Preferred types were Rigelian Noljottu and Rekul general cargo ships, sturdy bottlelike designs with good warp performance and solid handling. Fleet yards would add combat shield generators, scabbed-on targeting sensors, and an array of directed energy weapons. Select units would be assigned convoy command duty and be provided with a subspace surveillance antenna.

The Bedford conversion diverged rather minimally from the original freighter, a design already familiar to Star Fleet’s Earth branch from the 22nd century when leased examples of the class had been used for early interstellar exploration and exploitation. The command tower hidden from view here would display the most add-ons, including subspace antenna blades and a ball turret for a 130/1.6 laser. The corresponding ventral gondola is a detachable liaison craft, a relic of pre-transporter days. The pennant number here specifies the convoy rather than the individual destroyer escort; the logistics of convoy in the most hectic years of the Klingon conflict had little room for subtlety.

Within a month, nineteen Noljottu freighters had been converted to Portsmith escort destroyers, armed with four medium lasers each. Two went under conversion to command ships, with a dorsal antenna boom, lateral sensor, and communications antenna clusters, and a cluster of independently pressurized C3I modules within the main holds. Twenty-three of the somewhat smaller Rekuls had become Bedford escorts, with just three laser emitters, some extra communications gear, and the capacity for berthing small combat craft.

Crews of slightly less than a hundred would operate these vessels in zones of convoy. Half would be mercantile personnel dedicated to keeping the ships moving, while the other half would consist of Star Fleet-trained gunners and a fleet liaison officer, two fire control officers, and two sensor specialists. A command-configured Portsmith would in addition feature civilian staff for the Convoy Commodore, plus an additional fleet officer in charge of communications. Crewing was on volunteer basis, and quickly became a coveted assignment for young officers.

This dorsal double schematic of USS Goochland (NCC-E321) showcases the alterations that turned a transport hull into a C3I-augmented Portsmith escort destroyer. Firepower is provided by four staggered laser turrets on the aft hull. Advance warning of enemy movements comes from the dorsal subspace array rigged on tapering pylons amidships; convoy coordination requires an extensive antenna array with one medium and two low frequency blades to starboard, with a sensor pylon to port. Internal holds are filled with combat shield generators and command facilities. Nevertheless, the transport retains the hexagonal cargo doors now blocked by the surveillance array plus the large-diameter docking port near the bow.

The Portsmiths and Bedfords were at first intended to be a stopgap measure as Star Fleet prepared a series of dedicated escorts. However, doctrinal planning was soon thrown into chaos: fleet primary combatants found few targets of classic military nature, and instead became entangled in hunts of small intruding enemy formations. Reliability of local defenses was questionable in light of the Axanari betrayal; reprisal flotillas and planetary counterattack task forces had to be improvised in response to the guile of Klingon surprise attacks at unpredictable targets. There were no resources to waste for developing a dedicated convoy protection type just yet, not until Star Fleet could reestablish something resembling lines of battle. Between 2246 and 2250, the converted merchantmen were the primary type of escort for commerce in the ill-defined battle zone.

The nature of the conflict ultimately degenerated to a series of uncoordinated punches and counterpunches, and the convoys found themselves safe from systematic hunting. Random raids by stray Klingon captains hungry for glory were an ever-present threat, though. There was to be no rest for the escorts until the late fifties, well past the expulsion of primary Klingon military forces from Federation space.

Once the deep raiders were evicted from their forward bases, though, Star Fleet could again establish a border guard and a tripwire defense, allowing the vectoring in of deadly primary combatants whenever a Klingon adventurer threatened the lines of commerce. The usefulness of the Portsmiths and Bedfords was at an end practically overnight when Admiral Kkorhetza’s forces in May 2250 limped back to their side of the prewar border. Of the 92 and 63 vessels, respectively, 86 and 54 had survived the conflict. Just 24 and 3 survived its end, seeing some limited service on lawless sectors important to Federation commerce. The last Portsmith was retired from escort service in 2263, converted back to a Fleet support vessel.

Notes

• I'm moving the conversion year of the ships up by five (to 2241), since the reason for the escorts is directly tied to the Axanar conflict.

Alt Sources

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• Back to the Table of Contents
• Corvettes, Couriers, Escorts, Perimeter Ships & Light Scouts
• Appendix A: Of Ship Statistics
• Appendix B: Glossary
• Appendix C: Star Fleet Organization - General Outline
• Appendix D: Abbreviations From Outside