Hello and welcome to another episode of Truth OR Myth Beta Canon, a Star Trek web series that dives into the history of any given topic using Beta Canon sources and my own imagination to fill in the gaps. In today’s episode, we’re taking a look at the Dreadnought Class of Starfleet Starships, as first seen in Franz Joseph’s Starfleet Technical Manual, to better understand its place in Star Trek History.
And as always, Because this IS a Beta Canon video, all information relaid should pretty much be taken with a grain of stardust, and only considered a little bit of Star Trek Fun! And so, with all that out of the way, let us begin.
Created during one of Starfleet Command’s Golden Ages of Starship designs, the Dreadnought Class would be created with one purpose in mind, the defend the United Federation of Planets from any outside threat.
The early 2240s saw an explosion of new starship designs overtake the Federation. With Starfleet Command’s launch of the Constitution Class, many other classes similar in style would begin to supplant the older starships designs that had served Starfleet so well for decades, and by the early 2250’s the success of these various classes would lead Starfleet to make a bold choice that it had never made before, to build an entire class of starship designed solely for battle.
Both the Klingon and Romulan Empires had been quiet during the past 80 or so years, but Starfleet’s current command council felt that that particular situation, was probably a temporary one. Furthermore, should 1 or both of these powerful enemies rear their warlike heads in the Federation’s direction once again, Starfleet wanted to be ready for them this time.
Telling their best designers to use the Constitution Class as their starting point, Starfleet Command would then place several stipulations of what this starship class needed to be able to accomplish.
First, it should be much faster than any starship Starfleet Currently had… Second, it should be at least twice as powerful and Third, it should be extremely well-armed, more so than again, its mother class, the Constitution Class. With those directives, Starfleet Command waited to see what its best and brightest could come up with, and they weren’t disappointed.
Sitting at a length of approximately 320 meters, the Dreadnought Class was designed to be operated by 500 officers and crew members, the design would also include a 3rd Nacelle mounted to the starships saucer section. The reason for this was 2 fold, With the addition of the 3rd Nacelle, the Dreadnought Class was able to focus its warp field far more tightly, meaning faster velocity.
Also, should the starship become severely damaged in battle, the Saucer section itself could detach from the Secondary hull and either flee at warp to safety, by utilizing an emergency warp core housed in the primary hull or continue fighting without the added bulk of the Engineering Section, and, in fact, Starfleet’s Engineers were even able to design a bulked-up version of the standard warp core used in the Constitution Class to provide almost twice as much power for this starship design.
The Dreadnought Class would have a standard cruising speed of Warp Factor 8, and an emergency speed of Warp 10 for 6 hours at a stretch.
5 Phaser Banks with 2 emitters each, would provide the Dreadnought Class with 360 degrees of target acquisition. A dual Photon Torpedo launcher would be included in the classes forward section, while a single launcher would be included in its aft section.
One feature which also made this class stand apart from most other classes in Starfleet was the location of its main bridge. Instead of being housed at the top of the Saucer Section on deck 1, in the Dreadnought Class, the Main Bridge would be located in the Center of the Saucer Section on Deck 7. This guaranteed the maximum protection that the starship could offer for its command centre.
The Dreadnought Class would also include several specially designed dish arrays, alongside its standard Navigation Deflector. On either side of the main deflector were 2 additional smaller sensor array dishes, for highly detailed and accurate target analysis during battle.
The rear of this class would contain another large dish, this time designed for ultra-fast communications, This allowed the Dreadnought Class to act as command starships during a prolonged battle or possible war effort.
The Shuttle Bay would also be relocated in the Dreadnought Class, moving to the front of the Secondary Hull just above the Deflector Dish. This was done to allow the Starship to protect the Bay much more effectively with its main batteries that were located at the front of the starship. This class would include several standard shuttlecraft along with new, highly experimental, fighter shuttles.
Most other systems of this class remained the same as her Constitution Counterpart, except that all systems included an addition back up to the main, auxiliary and emergency backups already housed within its hull.
Starfleet Command was completely impressed by the design and immediately presented the design to the Federation Council, to get their approval to begin construction. Much to the dismay of Starfleet Command, the design was rejected.
The Federation Council, though also impressed by the design, felt that creating a warship such as the Dreadnought Class would not be advantageous to their Peaceful Exploration of the Galaxy reputation, and since neither the Klingon nor Romulan Empires had bothered the federation in almost a century, they felt no need to bring this starship class to life.
Starfleet completely disagreed with the Councils decision, and after a long drawn-out debate on the topic, was forced to accept defeat, at least for the time being.
The early to mid-2250s was a time most Federation Historians Call “the time the giants began to awaken,” as, on May 11, 2256, The Battle of the Binary Stars would see the Klingon Empire re-emerge against the Federation with a vengeance.
With all-out war declared, the United Federation of Planets were not prepared for just how powerful their old foe had become. This war lasted approximately 1 year, but the casualties and loss of starships on the Federations side were tremendous, as a result, Starfleet Command would spend the next 5 years building its fleet up once again. Using many of the designs introduced during the Constitution Classes launch to replace those vessels that had been destroyed.
Then in late 2262, Starfleet Command once again approached the Federation Council with its proposal for the Dreadnought Class. This time the council was all ears.
Using the Federation/ Klingon war as a clear example as to why Starfleet needed to develop its own warship classes, along with Starfleet Intelligence that the Romulan Star Empire was developing its own new warships with highly classified technology, the federation granted permission for Starfleet to begin to develop and build the Dreadnought Class.
Pulling out the old blueprints, Starfleet’s Design Engineers would begin the process of updating the design to include newer components and technology that had been developed after these initial blueprints had been completed, and in mid-2263, The first Dreadnought Class starship, the USS Federation, named after the organization she would be sworn to protect, began her construction.
It was a long and slow process, however, as Starfleet wanted this class to be perfect in its intended role and as such, wanted many of its defensive and offensive systems completely redesigned to achieve their goals.
But by late 2265, the USS Federation would be launched on her shakedown cruise performing above and beyond Starfleet Commands expectations, the dreadnought Class would prove to be the extreme powerhouse with teeth that Starfleet Command believed they needed… But the rest of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants weren’t so sure. After their defeat in the first Federation Klingon War, the Klingon Empire had made very little advancement technology-wise.
Where Starfleet had done everything it could to make sure it would be prepared for another war with the Klingons, the empire saw Starfleet as soft and felt their enemy organization was far too primitive to ever be a real threat, and although they launched the D7 Battlecruiser and a few other designs, they were mostly based on technology the Empire had been using for almost 50 years.
However, then they began receiving reports of the Dreadnought Class, a warship that could outgun and outfight even the best of the Klingon Battlecruisers, and this made the Empire Concerned.
Meanwhile, The Romulan Star Empire had also emerged back on the Galactic Stage, having a new starship, known as the Bird of Prey, go toe to toe with the Constitution Class USS Enterprise under the Command of Captain James T. Kirk, and their newest starship failed horribly against the Federation Starship, being destroyed before it could return home.
So when the Tal Shiar began to deliver news of this new Battleship, which was at least twice as powerful as the Constitution Class, Both Empires lodged formal protests with the Federation Council.
Construction on additional Dreadnought Class starships was put on temporary hold, while the Council debated the matter.
This time however, Starfleet would win the day, as the aggressive natures of both Empires showed that Starfleet needed to be able to protect the Federation, though one concession would be made in the 2 empires favors. That being that Starfleet Command would only be allowed to construct 24 vessels of the class at a maximum.
Many Federation Historians also believe that the Dreadnought Class would be one of the factors that would eventually bring the Klingon and Romulan Empires together in a short alliance in 2268.
Nevertheless, the Dreadnought Class would become one of the wisest additions to Starfleet, with the fear of this class alone forcing both the Klingon and Romulan Empires to attempt to gain the upper hand before either declared war again on the Federation. And when the Constitution Class underwent its refit and upgrade, so to did the Dreadnought Class, but by 2295, with the Excelsior Class proving far more powerful than this ageing starship design, and the Federation and Klingon Empires engaged in Peace Talks, the decision would be made to decommission the class altogether.
And the federations first attempt at a true warship design would fade into obscurity.
Though none of this starship class was ever included in the Fleet Museum, it never the less played an important and vital role for both Starfleet and the Federation.
And although the class thankfully never had to fight in a war, it did prove itself as an effective war deterrent, and this fact alone, has earned the Dreadnought Class it’s place, in Starfleet History…
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Thanks again for watching, live long, and prosper…
