Federation Guardian-Class Courier/Fast Response Ship...

[Rusty0918]

Well, I don't think this would be suited for deep space assignments. I could easily see this being a yacht design or perhaps some tactical runabout.

 

[Sgt_G]

Memory Alpha website says the Defiant was 170 meters long by 135 meters wide, five decks thick, with a crew of fifty, give or take. This thing is about 15% bigger and possibly six decks thick. I'm still not buying that you can run the ship with only 30 crewmen,

But run two twelve hour shifts and you've got 18

You can't keep that up for very long. Trust me, been there, done that. After two weeks of 12-hour shift, people are burnt out and safety goes out the window. If this is a SHORT RANGE ship and not meant for long deep-space patrols, going out for only a couple-few weeks at a time, then, yeah, you can run it with two shifts.

Especially with cross skilling. Bridge crew should be pretty interchangeable

Yes, you can and should have people trained to do more than one job. But for the most part, they can only to one job at a time. You can't have your helmsman also fixing the engines or manning the weapons. He's got to fly the ship. It'd be hard enough to fly the ship and work the sensors at the same time. Yes, you can have a cook trained to shoot the guns (or perhaps a gunner who can cook). That makes sense. On a small warship, I'd be willing to cut the bridge crew to three or even two. Pilot (in command) also works comms, while co-pilot does navigation and sensors. Civilian freighters absolutely do this.

By the way, all that aside, I forgot to say: I do really like the design of the ship.

 

[Commodore_Sarvour]

They were aaaaaaaaaaaaaaalll over the place with sizing/scaling the Defiant, the first 2-3 years after its debut... early estimates put it between 110 and 150 meters long.... Eventually RPGs & Tech Manuals gave us 168 & 170 meters, one of which is cannon; hang on, i am still waking up.............
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Defiant_class
"
Size
According to Hutzel, during the early development stages of the ship, the Defiant was to be "a new hot battleship that would really set a new standard for an action ship in the series. First, there was lots of talk like 'How big is the Defiant?' Well, we'll make it really small and really powerful, that it would be so powerful and scary, nobody would mess with it." (USS Defiant, DS9 Season 3 DVD special features)

According to Doug Drexler, "The size of the Defiant was a hot potato from day one. Rick Berman wanted a small pocket battleship (a couple times longer than a runabout, with the girth of a regular starship), Gary wanted at least 500' [152.4 m]." [5](X)

The scale of the CGI mesh, according to a post in the newsgroup nntp://alt.tv.star-trek.ds9, by DS9 Visual Effects Supervisor David Stipes, was 560 feet (170.7 meters), the length used when he blocked shots in DS9. This was also the size established in the DS9 Technical Manual.

The original MSD that appeared in "The Search, Part I" actually depicted an early concept design and did not represent the final iteration. was later replaced with an accurate MSD in such episodes as "Shattered Mirror", although it was used on displays until the end of Deep Space Nine. Drexler, who was responsible for creating the ship's MSD, rationalized "a 420′ [128.0 m] Defiant." [6](X)

For further analysis on the Defiant's scaling, visit the "Defiant Problems" link at Ex Astris Scientia below."

"Technical Manual
The following details and specifications comes exclusively from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual:

Specifications

• Production Base: ASDB Integration Facility, Antares Fleet Yards, Antares IV
• Type: Escort (officially); Warship (unofficially) (DS9: "The Search, Part I")
• Accommodation: 40 officers and crew; 150 personal evacuation limit
• Power Plant: One 1,500 plus Cochrane warp core feeding two nacelles; two impulse modules
• Dimensions: Length, 170.68 meters; beam, 134.11 meters; height: 30.1 meters
• Mass: 355,000 metric tons
• Performance: Warp 9.982 for 12 hours
• Armament: Four pulse phaser cannons; two torpedo launchers"

So, even after all these years, they have not Officially Canonized the 170.68 meters length, but strongly lean to it...
But it IS CANON that they call it a Battleship... Fascinating...

https://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/defiant-problems.htm
Um, daaaaaaang! They were so crazy, scaling it both ways! 50 meters??? WTFFork?!?
So, decision was made to be 170m -ish later in production, but continued to scale it inconsistently, so the majority of the screen evidence supports a ship of 100 to 120 meters, rarely ever supporting a larger ship, and the hull design was never changed from its original 120 meter draft.
LAZY AF...

Phew! Sorry i rambled on a bit, just putting it out there. My brain is mostly awake now!
I like your design, and i am totally fine with the size being in the 200 meter ballpark. I really liked seeing the Excelsior-style radiator fins!
I am looking forward to whatever you work out for its final stats! Great job so far!

edit: seems Sgt_G & i had similar thinking here! LOL!

 

[Go-Captain]

I'm still not buying that you can run the ship with only 30 crewmen,

Automation advances over time, and it is more realistic given a Defiant style ship would not be cruising around for more than a year before heading home. Most of its support staff could be at base, where it gets most of its maintenance done, short of major work requiring a dry dock. One group of support staff, with well timed mission overlap, could run maintenance on multiple ships of that type.

 

[Atolm]

Gentlemen, this thread has gotten more attention than it deserves... Thanks

 

[publiusr]

You don’t see enough lozenge type spacecraft

 

[Commodore_Sarvour]

You don’t see enough lozenge type spacecraft

2022 (or 2024?) Khaaaaaan's Deathstar Prius!