Spartan Class Heavy Rescue

NOTE:  You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.

Rewrites: Checked on November 12, 2021, but nothing major was needed.

I had been following with a lot of interest the production of a movie that would have been called "Star Trek: Axanar", which would have covered the time of the Federation/Klingon war that occurs between the ENT era and the TOS era.  Sound familiar?  Unfortunately, the guy producing this movie got a little too over zealous in his endeavor and attracted the attention of CBS & Paramount who basically sued him into submission.  They then went on to produce thier own series and told a rather botched story arc of the same time period.

Anyway... I am trying to avoid getting on my soap box.  LOL.

There were some neat ship designs to come out of Axanar that led nicely into some ship designs that make appearances in the Star Trek (2009) movie.  All those twin engineering hulled ships got me thinking and after many hours of consulting and planning, I produced a compact, yet tough little ship.

This is that ships's story...


Actually... before we begin that story, let us take a quick side trip and I present to you a link to the "trailer" called "Prelude To Axanar" which was serving as the spring board to crowdfund the movie that never was.

And now I return you to our regularly scheduled program...

In Universe Story:

USS Soteria (NCC-18769)

Spartan Class Heavy Rescue

1:2500 Scale AMT Kitbash

There is a saying among the high command at Starfleet, and it says, "When all hope is lost, send in a Spartan." There is another saying among those familiar with the Spartan line of ships that says, "Spartans dare go where angels fear to tread."

 

 

 

 

Designer Name: Patrick M. Dougherty Sr.

Dimensions
Length: 243.75 meters
Width: 150 meters
Height: 81.25 meters
Specifications
Decks: 24
Crew: 550
Speed: Cruise: warp 6 / Maximum: warp 8
Armaments: 6 Dual Emitter Phaser Banks, 2 phaser cannons, 8 torpedo launchers
Defenses: Deflector Shields
Auxiliary craft: 6 Workbees, 6 Sphinx Workpods, 8 Shuttlecraft, 2 Shuttlepods

First, I'd like to share some facts that came into play while naming her. A Spartan was a Greek warrior from Sparta known for thier ferocious and fearless fighting ability. Soteria was the Greek goddess or spirit of safety and deliverance from harm. The registry number is a combination of the identification number (187) of a local (to me) firehouse and the unit number (69) of their own heavy rescue firetruck.

The Spartan Class is a descendant of the USS Hermes (NCC-1540) carrier from the 4 Years Klingon War and the Newton class assault ship. 

 

USS Hermes

 

USS Newton

The class was intended to be a complete overhaul of those designs but the idea was scrapped when the Dakota class carrier was commissioned. Starfleet engineers then looked at this redesign to be used as a potential hospital ship, but that idea was again scrapped when the Hippocrates class hospital ship was commissioned.

It was eventually realized that this design was perfect to serve as a heavy rescue vessel due to her construction.

The dual navigational deflectors and twin impulse engines on the secondary hull allow her to plow through debris fields like a 20th century bulldozer.

The navigational deflectors that would have been on the primary hull have been replaced with more sensor assemblies to help aid her in finding survivors.

The ship sports two warp reactors, one in each of the secondary hulls, hence the need for the quad nacelles. Typically only one warp core will be fully active, the other in warm standby, serving as a backup generator for assisting disabled ships. 

The crews that serve on Spartans are as fearless as thier ship's class name. Like the firefighter's of the 20th century, they have been trained to deal with all sorts of dangerous situations.

There were four ships of this class built by Starfleet. That was the limit as Starfleet found them to be very expensive to build and maintain. USS Leonidas (NCC-18760) was the first ship to be built and also the only one to have been retired. During the time of the Dominion battles, she was on a mission to rescue survivors after one particularly devastating battle. During her rescue maneuvers, she was suddenly attacked by Jem'Hadar fighters. The Leonidas finished her rescue operations while holding off the attackers and then began her retreat. She found herself being quickly overrun and severely damaged. While they were being pursued through the debris field, the captain ordered that one of the secondary hulls be jettisoned and self destructed. The resulting warp core explosion destroyed the attackers and allowed the Leonidas to make her escape, thus saving her remaining crew and the people they had rescued from the battle scene. Unfortunately, Starfleet deemed her to costly to repair and decommissioned her to be used as parts for her three surviving sisters.


The USS Soteria (NCC-18769) has seen her fair share of dangerous missions as well over her long carrier. During the Dominion War, she was also seriously damaged, but thanks to the influx of extra parts from the scrapping of the Leonidas, she is was able to be repaired and returned to service. She is still on active duty.

Real World Notes:

Parts Used: AMT Miranda Primary Hull and Roll Bar, 2 AMT Enterprise Refit Secondary Hulls and 4 Nacelles

This ship is probably one of my most favorite builds and makes me the most proud. It started as an idea I got after watching Star Trek: Prelude to Axanar and just started flowing from that idea. A lot of thought, conversations and work went into her build.  At one point, I even got the Star Trek Modelers Group involved in helping me with some of the design ideas.

As always, I hope you found this article useful and informative.  If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to comment below.

So for now, "Live long and prosper!!!"



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