Hello and Welcome to Truth OR Myth. A Star Trek web series that speaks only the truth, or canon, to dispel all the myths about the topic at hand. In today’s episode, we’re taking a look at the Ambassador Class, to better understand this amazing Starfleet Starship Design.
A Revolutionary Evolutionary design from what Starfleet was to what it would eventually become, the Ambassador Class melded Form and function to create an amazingly beautiful design that would usher in a new era of Starfleet Exploration.
Starfleet was old, By the late 2320s Starfleet had been exploring the Galaxy in their same, but reliable starship designs, wearing the same uniforms for almost 50 years with very little change.
Though skirmishes still occurred, in General Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets was getting used to an Era of peace and prosperity.
Negotiations with the Klingon Empire were continuing and even the Romulan Star Empire had become less aggressive to it’s Federation Neighbors.
And so to hedge its bets, Starfleet began to design a new class of Starship, a larger design that would take over the exploration duties that had been assigned to ageing Excelsior Class of Starships, and so the Ambassador Class was born.
Sitting at approximately 525 meters in length and with 33 decks, the Ambassador Class was crewed be 700 Officers and Men. Classified as a Heavy Cruiser, though undergoing many design changes before the class was finalized, this class contained 10 Phaser Arrays and 2 Photon Torpedo Launchers.
Though Torpedoes and the Launcher Technology had not changed much since it’s initial conceptions, this class would introduce Phaser strips. These strips allowed for more accurate targeting and increased phaser arc coverage.
Shields and Defensive systems were standard for the time.
With the redefinition of the Warp Scale, this class would also take full advantage of the newly available Warp Technology. At a maximum emergency warp speed of warp factor 9.4, this class was the fastest class of starship not outdone until the launch of the Galaxy Class in the mid-2360s.
Increased power availability due to the new warp core technology allowed this ship to last far longer in a firefight than any previous starship design.
Many aspects of the design of this class harked back to earlier ages in Starfleet history. One need only look at the Excelsior Style Pylons or the Constitution Class Refit Deflector Dish to see that. But one thing that was completely redesigned was the Saucer Section.
To increase internal available space, the saucer section would now contain a large slope up to the midsection where the bridge module was located.
Another change with this class was the addition of exposed escape pods all along the primary hull as well as a few on the secondary hull. These pods could be easily launched during an emergency evacuation, or if necessary could be just as easily re-integrated back into ships hull.
The main bridge was located on Deck 1 as was the traditional position for the bridge that Starfleet established. The Captain was seated in the command chair at the centre of the bridge while Helm Control and navigation were combined into one console to the Captains right. To the captains left was the Operations console. This console would also control all tactical systems during a red alert.
These consoles were touch screen and resembled those used aboard the Excelsior Class for the past 3 decades. Behind the captain on a raised platform stood 3 consoles which included Engineering and the Science Station.
One of the new revolutionary bridge designs this Bridge module took advantage of the advancements in computer technology to streamline the bridge designed and allowed far fewer consoles to control many more systems at one time. Access to the Bridge was gained by 2 turbolifts 1 on each side of the Helm and Ops consoles.
In front of the Helm and Ops was a free-standing console that could be configured for mission specific duties. In front of that console was the main viewscreen.
The ships primary colour palette was Greys, Beiges, Greens and Blues. Due to the increase in available space, crew quarters, sickbay, scientific laboratories and recreational facilities were more spacious in design and the most advanced Starfleet had to offer. The main Shuttle bay, located on Deck 27, was also the largest shuttlebay ever constructed to this point in Starfleet Design History. This allowed for far larger crafts to dock with the ship and be repaired if necessary.
With the Excelsior Class USS Enterprise NCC-1701-B, ageing Starfleet decided the Next Enterprise would be an Ambassador Class and made plans to make this decision a reality.
At launch, command of the Enterprise C would be given to Captain Rachel Garrett, marking the first time an Enterprise would be Captained by a female Starfleet officer.
Time and Time again the Enterprise C would prove herself a worthy successor to the name Enterprise. But in 2344, the Enterprise would be destroyed during a Battle with the Romulan Star Empire.
During the 2340s Starfleet was still in negotiations with the Klingon Empire. These Negotiation having started over 20 years prior with the Destruction of the Klingon Moon Praxis, were dragging and many in the Federation believed that peace would never be cemented between the 2 great powers.
That would all change in 2344 when the Enterprise would receive a distress call from the Klingon Colony on Narendra 3. Deciding to respond to the call, the Enterprise raced to the system to find it under attack by 4 Romulan Warbirds. The Enterprise responded to the attack and attempted to defend the colony, but ultimately was unsuccessful.
She was destroyed, but the Klingon Empire, seeing the honour in the ship and crew valiantly fighting a hopeless cause in an attempt to save the lives of a race they once called their enemy, abruptly changed their views of the Federation and a peace accord was cemented between the 2 Governments who now would call each other allies.
What wasn’t known then, but would be later discovered in the year 2368, was that the Enterprise C had actually travelled through time during the battle to the year 2366. Where their escape had actually altered the timeline.
In this timeline peace with the Klingon Empire had not been achieved and in fact, Starfleet was in the middle of an all-out war with the empire, a war they were losing.
To fix the timeline, The Enterprise C, with the help of the Battleship Enterprise D, returned to the battle of Narendra III and the timeline was restored.
However, while in the future timeline, Tasha Yar, an officer who had been killed without cause in the original timeline but was alive and well during the altered one, was sent back with the Enterprise C and subsequently captured after the Enterprises Destruction.
A Romulan General, who had fallen in love with her took Yar as his consort and together they had a child named Sela.
Once the Romulan General had begun to trust Yar, Yar made an escape attempt but was caught when Sela screamed at the fact that her mother was taking her from her father and her life within the Empire.
Due to this, and many other acts of Loyalty by Sela would see her rise in the Romulan Ranks quite quickly to the point in which she would be involved in MANY secret operations.
This temporal paradox caused by Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the altered timeline would cause many repercussions for the Federation and the lasting effect of this paradox is still unknown…
The Ambassador Class would receive refits and upgrades all throughout her history in Starfleet. And would be involved in many military engagements including the Battle at Wolf 359 and was a part of the fleet sent to ensure the Romulans were not interfering in the Klingon Civil War.
As such this class would remain in service and continue to further the interests of the United Federation of Planets with both beauty and grace…
Thank you for watching today’s episode of Truth OR Myth. What do you think of the Ambassador Class? Well leave a comment below, and don’t forget to like the video and subscribe to the channel hitting that little bell icon so you won’t miss a single video we release.
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Thanks again for watching, live long and prosper…
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