Starfleet Academy Starship Thread

[Dukhat]

Did they really talk about her as an old ship, though? I always got the impression that the idea was that the Cerritos just wasn’t necessarily the most top-of-the-line, premium, high-end ship of the fleet. Your basic, average, support vessel. Compared to more prestigious frontline explorers it might be undergunned, not as fast and somewhat smaller. It’s not fancy, but it’s charming.

But also, the registry might give an indication when a ship was commissioned, which might be recently, but it doesn’t necessarily tell you anything about how old the ship class may be. Design-wise I always felt the Cerritos was meant to evoke the era of the Ambassador class, on its way to the elegance of the Galaxy class, but not quite as organic yet. So the California class might have been around for a while, but the Cerritos could still be more recent.

I remember reading somewhere that the basis of the California class design was 'a ship that might have been introduced in TNG's 5th season,' or something like that. So with that info, and the general design of the ship itself inside and out, indicates that it's not all that old. McMahon did make a comment that these support ships have 'always been around,' but I don't think he literally meant the California class specifically, just random support ships.

One problem that cropped up registry-wise is that the USS Rubidoux NCC-12109, with already too low of a registry, was replaced by the brand-new USS Solvang NCC-12101, a registry even lower than the ship it replaced. Luckily this was the only instance of this.

Also, the design of the California class could have it potentially be a ship built during the Lost Era, after the Ambassador class but before the Galaxy family (Nebula, New Orleans, Challenger, Springfield, Cheyenne, Olympic, Galaxy.) Unfortunately it also shares design elements with the Parliament class, which is a post-TNG design, reinforcing the 'TNG 5th season ship' idea more.

Another bit of weirdness was that Mariner referred to a Steamrunner/Saberrunner class ship as an 'old tub,' which makes zero sense since that ship would have been much newer than any TNG-era ship.

I got the impression the California's were to the Galaxy what the Oberth was to the Connie?

Not quite. The Oberths were science vessels, not second-contact support ships.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

The Cerritos falls victim to this. 75567 makes it a newer construction than Voyager but the characters talk about it like it's the Stargazer. It may be an older class but they act like the Cerritos itself is ancient and barely held together.

I never got the vibe the cerritos was considered old. Just that it was considered a lower class of vessel than the Sovereign or Parliament classes. Also,The Cerritos, like the Stargazer was an underpowered and overburdened workhorse,

 

[Detached Nacelle]

If I am misremembering I apologise but I recall numerous complaints about the Cerritos needing to be stitched back together and Rutherford saying "we've got a lot of lightyears out of the old girl"

 

[StarTrek1701]

I hope they do show more of the ship flying in space from an outside view.
Yeah the inside s fantastically nice but I want to see the ship do some wonders and hopefully become a fan favorite.

 

[Arvis Tadjik]

Definitely need more time with the ship in action. I was also perplexed why the Athena only fired torpedoes to counter the PM mines they were under attack from and didn't also use phasers, but that's just me.

 

[Noname Given]

I vote for Boothby Class

He already has a Boulder with his name on it on the SFA campus.

 

[Fateor]

Definitely need more time with the ship in action. I was also perplexed why the Athena only fired torpedoes to counter the PM mines they were under attack from and didn't also use phasers, but that's just me.

Maybe they don't have phasers?

I mean, it would be stupid, but it matches up with what we saw on screen.

 

[Arvis Tadjik]

Maybe they don't have phasers?

I mean, it would be stupid...

Exactly lol

Regardless, for my version I put the phaser hardpoints on the triangular bits that are set on the top and bottom of the inner and outer saucer at the 45' angles.

 

[Janewaysson]

Have we guessed a length yet?

 

[Arvis Tadjik]

Have we guessed a length yet?

I ran a comparison of Michael's orthographic drawings of the Athena and compared them to my ship the Wanderer II, which is 759.5m long (similar to the Crossfield Refit). I came up with an estimate in the 725m to 740m range with the Athena having in the range of ~30 decks (my Wanderer II has 22 decks and the Crossfield Refit has ~18 decks).

But honestly, until we get actual stats for the ship we probably won't have an exact answer.

Although, now that I look at that screenshot again … could also only be about 30 decks. I don’t know …

View attachment 51178

So by matching up the deck heights on the saucer rims between the Athena and my Wanderer II (which is about the same length as the Crossfield Refit at 759.5m), this is what I got for scale/size.

Still a rather long/flat ship, but definitely not crazy big tbh.

 

[Janewaysson]

Nice!

 

[Arvis Tadjik]

@djzzd, if it’s just the Athena blueprints that Arvis Tadjik used as a starting off point for his design you’re after, they are freely available here. However, I should probably do an updated version at some point, since these were made before the show premiered.

I think the only real update your blueprints might need is in the length of the "feathers" at the back along with the nacelles. In some of the shots of the ship from above they look like they're pretty long, though that could also just be forced perspective at play. I honestly don't think we'll get a "real" look at the dimensions of the ship unless they (A) release them as part of the show's material (B) the ship is released to STO and we can get an actual look at it (wouldn't be until after the season is over + about 6 months...) or (C) Fanhome does a release as part of the Starships Collection, which is probably the furthest thing away since they already have their line-up for this year planned out.

 

[Tuskin38]

Saw this on facebook

 

[Michael]

I think the only real update your blueprints might need is in the length of the "feathers" at the back along with the nacelles. In some of the shots of the ship from above they look like they're pretty long, though that could also just be forced perspective at play. I honestly don't think we'll get a "real" look at the dimensions of the ship unless they (A) release them as part of the show's material (B) the ship is released to STO and we can get an actual look at it (wouldn't be until after the season is over + about 6 months...) or (C) Fanhome does a release as part of the Starships Collection, which is probably the furthest thing away since they already have their line-up for this year planned out.

Agreed, they definitely do look longer in a number of shots we’ve seen. But also, when I put my diagram next to a background graphic we got in the premiere, it looks like they are actually quite a bit longer …



But for me personally the biggest mystery remains the exact configuration of the nacelles; for some reason I still can’t really wrap my head around how they work. I’ve been keeping my eyes open at background graphics on the bridge possibly showing the nacelles as a separate diagram, but so far no luck. There is this one diagram that keep reappearing, which might be the warp core, though …

Saw this on facebook

The saucer ring with those angled spines definitely creates the look of a laurel wreath, yeah. Looked at from the top, the ship really looks like a two-dimensional graphic of a Starfleet delta in a circle, surrounded by a wreath, with wings hanging to the sides.

 

[Arvis Tadjik]

Agreed, they definitely do look longer in a number of shots we’ve seen. But also, when I put my diagram next to a background graphic we got in the premiere, it looks like they are actually quite a bit longer …

Yeah, those are actually WAY longer than I had originally thought lol

But for me personally the biggest mystery remains the exact configuration of the nacelles; for some reason I still can’t really wrap my head around how they work. I’ve been keeping my eyes open at background graphics on the bridge possibly showing the nacelles as a separate diagram, but so far no luck. There is this one diagram that keep reappearing, which might be the warp core, though …

I have to agree that that graphic is likely the warp core components of the ship.

The nacelles are a bit of a stumper. It's easy to tell that the bottom of the nacelles are angled to different degrees on the inner and outer faces, but what really boggles me is how the top of the nacelles transition upward to the bussard collectors. For the life of me I couldn't wrap my head around how that transition works since the transition is smooth but the lower portion of the nacelles are hard angles... Make it make sense! LOL

I'm definitely going to rebuild the wings and nacelles of my model to match the increased length of the feathers (since we know the nacelles are just short of the feathers in length) and try my hand a second time at building the nacelles. I think the nacelles are going to be an exercise in "close enough but not quite" unless we get some more detailed graphics.

 

[Tuskin38]

One of the ship's in Ake's quarters is an upside down Nimitz lol

Jörg Hillebrand (@gaghyogi49.bsky.social)

Thanks to #StarfleetAcademy's "Vitus Reflux", we can now clearly identify the "mystery" Starfleet starship model in Nahla Ake's office: It's an upside down Nimitz-class ship (like the USS Europa). :-)

bsky.app

 

[KirkusOveractus]

Speaking of starships in the series, does anyone think we'll see a glimpse of the I.S.S. Enterprise? I mean, it was taken back to Starfleet in DSC, wasn't it?

The writers of DSC created so many unfired Chekhov's Guns to fill an arsenal, however...

 

[valkyrie013]

One of the ship's in Ake's quarters is an upside down Nimitz lol

Jörg Hillebrand (@gaghyogi49.bsky.social)

Thanks to #StarfleetAcademy's "Vitus Reflux", we can now clearly identify the "mystery" Starfleet starship model in Nahla Ake's office: It's an upside down Nimitz-class ship (like the USS Europa). :-)

bsky.app

There's also an Excelsior, but it looks like a wooden model, and time has taken it toll

 

[Enterprise1701]

The Cerritos falls victim to this. 75567 makes it a newer construction than Voyager but the characters talk about it like it's the Stargazer. It may be an older class but they act like the Cerritos itself is ancient and barely held together.

What makes it even worse is that the Handbook (which I assume must have had showrunner input) puts the Cerritos as a 2371 launch! Why does it have parts falling off in season 1? There isn't even any evidence the Cerritos fought on the frontlines in the recent Dominion War!

 

[NCC-73515]

Speaking of starships in the series, does anyone think we'll see a glimpse of the I.S.S. Enterprise? I mean, it was taken back to Starfleet in DSC, wasn't it?

The writers of DSC created so many unfired Chekhov's Guns to fill an arsenal, however...

I'm sure it will, why else would they have teased it