Guide:Aden
| |
| Aden | |
|---|---|
| Class Overview | |
| Category | light scoutcraft / support cutter |
| Operational | 2253 - 2279
|
| Constructed | 57
|
| Dimensions | |
| Length |
|
| Beam |
|
| Height |
|
| Mass |
|
| Performance | |
| Max Speed |
|
| Endurance |
|
| Complement | |
| Crew | 1-3
|
| Cargo | 250 mt |
| Tactical Systems | |
| Shields |
|
| Canonicity | |
| Design | TAS: "More Tribbles, More Troubles" |
| Name | Timo |
| History | Timo
|
Background: Hobbyist's Guide
As Starfleet Resources Division in 2250 launched its major dilithium-searching endeavor, funds were allocated on all aspects of prospecting. Development of the Sulek and Velikovski prospecting vessels was just one element of the program. In addition, Starfleet hired experts and consults, analyzed and integrated extant mineraological data, developed new types of sensors, organized a prospecting support infrastructure complete with a system of permits and grants – and purchased a number of civilian vessels. Among these were dormitory and depot ships for mining communities, light transports for coversion to assay use, and existing low performance prospector vessels.
A starcraft type widely used by prospectors in the 2250s-2280s was something of an antithesis to the Sulek class. The Cirian Vey family of scoutcraft was neither Starfleet-designed nor optimized for endurance and internal volume. Rather, the various models of this Centauran design featured economical GT/T 237 or 247 warp engines and a basic fusion powerplant for short range operations, carried a powerful sensor cluster at the bow, and required only a single pilot for efficient surveys of asteroid swarms, moons and other potential sources of mineral wealth.
The basic configuration was common to all Cirian Veys. An egg-shaped forward hull housed the single combined control and habitat cabin with an adjoining hygiene space and underfloor machinery spaces. Also underfloor were the tripod or quadrupod landing gear and the gravitic lift engine or engines. Aft of the cabin, the ‘egg’ was elongated into a tail containing the fusion reactor and the relatively pedestrian impulse engine. Fuel tanks for deuterium extended into two aerodynamic strakes flanking the aft body; a tritium tank was mounted centrally. Short pylons held the lightweight cigarlike nacelles above the aft hull.
Access to the cabin was through a ramp below the tail, practical for surface forays but rather awkward for dockings. Compatibility with other spacecraft wasn’t one of the strong suites of the Cirian Vey family in any case. Only relatively large ships could hope to carry the scoutcraft aboard, and such vessels were not standard prospector hardware. The refueling, recharging, and maintenance access ports for the scouts were arranged for easy ground access, not clustered for the needs of a starship hangar refueling arm.
Despite these incompatibilities, Starfleet felt the design met its requirements. An initial purchase of 23 Model L resource scouts under the Aden class designation in 2253 was followed by Fleet production of improved variants. The Malaka class introduced a three-meter hull plug and a military-standard fusion powerplant, and could carry 5 tons more sensor gear. The improvements proved largely superfluous, though, and did not compensate for the added costs. A further off-the-shelf purchase of 30 somewhat larger Model V craft as the Reval class was a cost-effective move that met Resources Division needs and concluded the first stage of the prospecting project.
Out of the 62 Malakas built, some thirty were in 2267-68 configured as hybrid resource/sigint scouts, capable of both mapping planets and monitoring certain key transmission types. Three-person crews were sent to mingle with prospecting parties and to keep watch on competing Klingon survey teams. The original Adens were modified as well. Some became range support vessels for Starfleet’s various weapon and sensor testing areas. Others were used in starbase perimeter patrol, employing special scanners or soot dispensers to ferret out any cloaked vessels that might lie in ambush whenever a starship deployed from the base.
In the end, though, the Cirian Vey variants still were clumsy, slow and short-ranged craft that utterly lacked growth potential. They were practical only in the sense of being commercially available at a reasonable cost; even then, only the dilithium prospecting program prompted Starfleet to purchase them. At other times, scoutcraft procurement has not involved commercial purchases; instead, the civilian market often has benefited from Starfleet R&D performed on scoutcraft-sized vehicles.
The last Reval resource scouts were paid off in the late 2279, and briefly replaced by early Messina scouts in the dilithium-hunting role. A thorough core space resource mapping completed by Darwin light surveyors in the 2290s ended Starfleet’s need for light prospecting vehicles, however. In the 24th century, vehicles in the shuttlecraft category handle the other, less demanding aspects of Aden or Reval operations with ease.
Gallery
Notes
References