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 imagination to fill in the gaps. In today’s episode, we’re looking at the “The Original Series” version of the Crossfield Class, to better understand its place in Star Trek History.
Not being able to resist a great 3D Model, and always willing to have my imagination sparked by one of them, this episode is truly just a bit of my imagination being poured out in this episode like Klingon Blood Wine at a Klingon Party as of course, there isn’t a lot of information available on this version of the class.
As a result, all information re-laid 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’s begin.
In an attempt to create various starship classes in the Constitution Classes style, Starfleet’s Starship Design Team would come up with the Crossfield Class, a Starship design, Starfleet Command would reject.
However, when a pair of young scientists approached the organization with a brand new way of travel throughout the Galaxy, the Crossfield Class would end up with 2 new leases on its life.
The Constitution Class had been a complete success. So much so, that Starfleet Officers, crew members and Federation Citizen alike, all looked to this shiny new class as the Future of both Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets.
Starfleet for its part, took immediate notice of how the class had captured Hearts and Minds everywhere, and set its design teams the task of making new starship classes to replace the old aesthetic current held within the fleet.
One of these classes was the Crossfield Class. A radical departure from the regular design of its starships, the Crossfield Class got nods of approval for the unconventional thinking. Designed to be a completely Scientific Vessel Class, the Crossfield Class was to hold all the latest in Starfleet Scientific equipment as well as an offensive arsenal comparable to that of the Constitution Class.
But when it came time to approve the Class, Starfleet Declined, as they felt the design was simply too radical for the Federations Public.
Unbeknownst to the Crossfield Classes designers, a pair of young Starfleet Scientists named Paul Stamets and Straal, were presenting a project that they had been working on since 2244, the Displacement Activated Spore Drive Hub.
Known as the Spore drive for short, the 2 young geniuses believed they may have discovered an entirely new way to travel the stars using what was known as the Mycelial Network.
To say Starfleet Command was intrigued by the project would be a complete understatement. And after a short time, Stamets and Straal got the full approval and backing of the Admiralty.
For this new project, however, they’d need a new starship class to hold the Spore Drive. And after extensive research into all classes, both existent and non-existent, the pair would choose the Crossfield Class, having its designers update the class for the Spore Drive use.
Once the new plans were approved, Starfleet Command would order 3 Starships of the Class constructed.
2 of them, the USS Discovery and the USS Glenn would be of the Spore Drive altered Configurations, while the third, the classes namesake, the USS Crossfield, would be constructed according to the original plans, to allow for standard testing of that once rejected design.
And by 2256, the USS Crossfield would be born. Sitting at a length of approximately 330 meters, the USS Crossfield would be designed to be operated by 320 Officers and Crew Members.
Its warp drive would also be a slightly updated version of that used on the Constitution Class. As result, the USS Crossfield would have a cruising speed of Warp factor 6.5 and an emergency maximum speed of Warp Factor 9.
Tactically, these ship’s armaments were comparable to that of the Constitution Class, but also contained 1 additional Torpedo Launcher, making a total of 2 forward launchers and 1 aft.
Shielding for this class was also standard to that of the time, but thanks to several newly invented components included in the design, the USS Crossfield’s shields could be easily reconfigured for a variety of external factors.
1 large shuttlebay, located in the after section of the secondary hull, would be included in this design.
Much larger than the standard Shuttlebays included in most designs, the USS Crossfield would contain a large array of auxiliary vehicles, all radically redesigned again for various scientific mission profiles.
Unlike the Constitution Class, however, the USS Crossfield would contain a shuttlebay forcefield system, which allowed exit and entrance to the bay, without any loss of atmosphere.
Several new holographic emitters systems would also be included in this class. This would allow for extensive scientific modelling to occur aboard the ship, as well as the latest tactical training simulations to engage the crew.
Launched in mid-2256, the USS Crossfield did experience several issues during its shakedown cruise.
The largest issue is with the Holographic Systems. Though they functioned well and exactly as intended, the holo systems tended to interfere with the starship’s other internal systems, causing massive failures throughout the starship, whenever those systems were engaged.
These same issues were experienced by the Constitution Class as well, leading to the holographic system being removed from the class.
In the case of the USS Crossfield, however, the problem would be solved by simply creating a minicomputer core to handle all the ship’s holographic needs. And even today’s starship designs continue to employ a separate holographic core.
After all the issues were fixed, testing of the Crossfield proved it to be a solid and worthy design, and as Starfleet waited to see if her sister starship design would prove itself just as worthy, the organization put the Crossfield Classes production plans on hold.
With the destruction of the USS Glenn and the eventual success of the Spore Drive by the USS Discovery, Starfleet finally began to make plans to build more vessels of the Discovery Version to augment their fleet.
However, shortly after these plans had begun, the USS Discovery would simply vanish, believed destroyed during the Klingon Federation War. With the war going so badly for the Federation, plans for more Crossfield Class Vessels were once again put on hold.
Eventually, the USS Discovery would reappear and end the war with the Klingon Empire, and yet again Starfleet would begin to consider building more of the class, but they had a major issue to contend with first.
You see, the Spore Drive required a human host to navigate through the Mycelial Network, and this required genetic modification of said human, a situation forbidden by Federation Law.
So, until another solution could be found for this problem, the Crossfield Classes plans would again be put on indefinite hold.
The entire Crossfield Class question would finally be solved when the USS Discovery was reported destroyed by Captain Pike and his Crew during a conflict with Control.
In addition, with no scientists left to make heads nor tails of the entire Spore Drive System, Starfleet Command would abandon Classify and bury the entire project, never to see the light of day again.
Meanwhile, the USS Crossfield was still wowing Starfleet with its performance, and so, Starfleet Command would order an additional 12 Vessels of the Class to be Constructed as its first wave in new Scientific Starships.
These vessels would be constructed, and perform just as well as their mother starship had, but times were changing for both Starfleet and the Federation.
With further breakthroughs in Technologies leading to the Constitution Class Refit and Miranda Class designs, Starfleet would decide to abandon its plans for any classes not in the Constitution Class Refit aesthetics, and several out of the box designs like the Oberth and Constellation Class would begin to make their debut on the Galactic Stage.
For a short time, Starfleet Command considered refitting the Crossfield Class to its new standards. Did slightly modify several of the Crossfield Class Starships increasing their life span within the fleet.
But by 2290, with the Excelsior Class now the golden child of Starfleet, and its designers planning several new classes based on the Excelsior Class design, it would be decided to decommission the Crossfield Class once and for all.
A radical departure from Starfleet tried and true designs, the Crossfield Class has become a mostly forgotten Design of the 23rd Century. A truly unfortunate end, to such a well-performing and amazing design.
Perhaps at some point in the far distant future, Starfleet will reconsider and reevaluate the design and its place on the galactic stage.
But for now, the Crossfield Class, even if forgotten, has earned its rightful place in Starfleet History…
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