Scifi-Shipyards on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/scifi-shipyards/art/USS-Excelsior-at-warp-627666697Scifi-Shipyards

Deviation Actions

Scifi-Shipyards's avatar

USS Excelsior at warp!

Published:
9.4K Views

Description

Background Story:
The first ship of this class was actually built up from the remains of the wrecked USS Vengeance, after it crashed into San Francisco in 2259. Starfleet was still fairly low on ships after the fleet decimation at Vulcan by the Romulan Narada attack and although they were not in the business of manufacturing warships, the Vengeance proved that her spaceframe and abilities were simply too valuable to discard. The wreck was painstakingly removed from it's resting place and each piece was carefully examined for usable parts. A year later, when the salvage operation was complete, Starfleet was able to reuse approximately 65% of the ship (the bulk of this comprised of the saucer section) which was alone, a true testimony to the durability of the design. 

When the newly reconstructed vessel was finally completed, it became apparent that very little of the original ship had made it through without some kind of modification. Gone was the large tactical 'hole' in the saucer section. This had now been filled in with crew quarters and science labs. Gone were the heavy port and starboard weapons bays, filled with attack drones. In fact, much of the secondary hull was completely redesigned, whilst keeping a similar profile to that of it's predecessor. The new ship would be retrofitted for long range exploration rather than warfare. The ship was renamed the USS Ascendant and retained the size of the Vengeance and it's advanced warp capabilities.

However, perhaps due to the fact that the ship was essentially a rebuild, the Ascendant was plagued with problems. The new antimatter matrix took a long time to initialise. The advanced warp drive was only able to provide short 'mid-warp boosts' - perfect for pursuit of an enemy vessel but not long range exploration. The ship also required an extensive maintenance schedule which further limited it's range. Whilst it wasn't the revolutionary ship that Starfleet had hoped for, the construction of the Ascendant proved that the design certainly had merit...

The designers were eager to apply the lessons they had learnt whilst constructing the Ascendant, and the next ship slated for construction was the USS Excelsior.
This time she was built entirely from scratch and as such, the designers had a chance to improve upon the warp capabilities of the previous ships. This necessitated the complete redesign of the warp nacelles , so now, instead of only being able to utilize a short 'mid warp' boost, the Excelsior was finally able to achieve higher speeds for longer periods. As the ship was naturally simpler to construct this time around, this enabled improvements to be applied across the board. When the Excelsior was launched, she had the size, speed and power to go further into deep space than any vessel had attempted before. This, coupled with her vastly improved endurance rate, finally made her the realisation of Starfleet's dreams of the 'Great Experiment' and the ideal deep space explorer.


NOTE: This ship is now available to purchase as a miniature from my Shapeways store!  www.shapeways.com/shops/calami…
Image size
1920x800px 431.97 KB
© 2016 - 2024 Scifi-Shipyards
Comments17
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
DocWolph's avatar

I'm glad I was not the only person to think about this. However, the Vengeance Class was a "black project", not unlike say the SR-71 or the Zumwalt destroyer, a secret project to develop and utilize advanced technologies. Adm. Marcus could never just hide such a ship from Starfleet and the Federation's "bean counters". They had to know where the material and manpower was going at the very least.


Anyway, after "Into Darkness' The Vengeance class was outed and revealed to be a secret project. While it was never stated outright, the ship was developed in preparation for a possible (Adm Marcus thought almost a dead certainty) war with the Klingons. "Better safe than sorry." Starfleet Intelligence and what few, if indirect, diplomatic ties to the Klingon Empire did give credence that war was a very near certainty. Preparations were deemed required.


The Vengeance was a wreck. But the plans remained as it was not meant to be the only ship. Only the first. While the unadulterated plans are retained under the tightest secrecy and classification, a scaled back version of the ship was built. It retained the Vengeance Class' advanced warp drive, shields, and most of the weapons hard points though most of the weapons were downgraded of normal specifications. However, if "the solid waste excrement hit the oscillating air flow modulator", those weapons could be given the full "Vengeance" up-arming. This was the basis for the new Excelsior-Class.


Several layouts are known for this ship including a full military layout for combat shuttles, fighters, and Marine barracks. The one ship built to this spec is still known as the USS Vengeance. The remaining ships are the more generalized layouts of science, exploration, and softer duties.


No one will publicly say Adm Marcus was a saint. But no one will ever say he was wrong. The Excelsior Class held the line against the Klingons and most aggressors for over 150 years. In 2301 a Military spec Excelsior Class was launched so named The USS Alexander Marcus.


On the bridge of that ship, the plaque says simply, "Admiral Alexander Marcus was right."