Inspired by the Franklin from Star Trek Beyond, I wanted to take a crack at further fleshing out those Earth Starfleet days. I've got it in mind that the MACO's operated their own strike craft for all kinds of missions. These ships are much more spartan then any of the Earth Starfleet ships we saw during Enterprise. They're purpose built to go out into space, attack a target, and come back. Whether that target is a ship, or dropping MACO commandos behind enemy lines, or doing recon. Crew compliment is very modest. Just enough officers and crew to run the ship, and then a strike team of MACOs. She's only two decks high right now. I'm still fleshing out details, but the bits to either side of the main buldge on top are the living quarters, the center area is the "Command Deck" which is a combination bridge and strategic planning area. I'm thinking no more than three pulse cannon mounts, and maybe two forward spatial torpedo launchers. Enough room for a MACO swift-strike shuttle. In a way, for her time, this could be the Star Trek equivalent to Mass Effect's Normandy. Still working out shapes and getting a good flow of design down, but I thought i'd share and see if anyone has any thoughts on it.
Generally like it, what did you see as her dimensions? And I want to ask about "operated exclusively by M.A.C.O forces," does this mean the officers and crew operating the ship (separate from the strike team) are also MACOs? The ship is entirely disconnected from Starfleet, a possibility I like the sound of.
It's interesting. I like the look of it quite a lot but in my mind a purely military assault vessel would look more like the Defiant, just a main hull with some engines and guns strapped to it. I really like the overall design/shape of the ship.
She's about just over half the length of the NX-01 from tip-to-tip. Basically half everything of the NX-01. I don't have precise numbers yet though, I still need to fine tune the shapes. The entire upper section is actually bigger than I intended when I lay it along side a properly scaled NX-01. Yeah they are MACO ships in totality. Built by whoever they contracted specifically for their purpose. Crewed by MACO pilots, officers, and engineers. To keep things efficient and streamlined, I imagine members of the strike group acting as members of the ships crew when going from home base to the objective. Yeah, my thinking is they were watching the drawing boards for modern starfleet ships coming out. The Intrepid/NV type, The Franklin, The NX/Warp 5 Project, and they basically adopted "what works" and tossed out all the flair and anything related to extensive science and exploration. She's got eyes, engines, guns, and the means to drop troops into a fight. Facilities for the crew are limited to a mess hall, and a training area for PT and weapons. Taking a little inspiration from the S.S. Aurora/Vengeance I want to have all the vital stuff protect-able via shrouds. So the warp coils, deflector, and bussards will all have plating, panels, and hatches that close over them when they're not in immediate use. I'm going to redo the way I have the shuttle bay, I think. I'm gonna switch-a-roo so that shuttles are launched and retried from the bow instead of the stern.
I like that mindset of using what works and makes sense with how experimental Earth tech still was in this era. And I like that it's a small ship. For some reason I'd always thought the NX-01 was only as big as the NCC-1701's saucer section until "In a Mirror Darkly" so it's cool to see something similar to that idea.
Personally, I hate that idea. Look up the Littoral Combat Ships USS Freedom (LCS-1) and USS Independence (LCS-2). They have a ship's crew of 50 & 43, plus mission crew of 98 & 35, respectively. The LCS seems to be the modern equivalent of what you're trying to create here. I think a ship's crew of 35 is about right for what you're planning, but the MACO strike team should be a separate unit. Its size would depend on the type of mission capability you want them to have. Look at modern units: Army Special Forces (aka Green Beret) operational detachments are 12-man units; Navy SEALS Team platoons have 40 men; and standard Army / Marine infantry companies run 80-150 personnel. If it were my design, I'd trim the crew back to about 20-25, give or take, and have a strike unit of 24 (two 12-man teams) plus any mission specialists as needed for specific operations. I would consider removing the shuttle and make the ship able to land on planets (and take off again). I would also think it's too small to be of much use in a standard space combat situation against real warships, but it should have some weaponry to keep the enemy honest.
I like it! I designed a SF marine ship for tng, a while ago, very different than this, but the mission is roughly the same Very cool stuff bro!
"Got my eye on you..." Funny you should mention the LCS's because that was one of my inspirations as well! I am thinking two MACO strike teams is about right, actually. "Port" and "Starboard" assault teams that have their own landing craft on stand by. That does make more sense. If I go into far greater detail, I really do not want the ships crew to feel as if it's really separate from the MACO's themselves. They would all basically be trained within the same structure and be utterly separate from Starfleet personnel. (Their own uniforms, more Navy in nature than the semi-NASA influence of Starfleet.) I thought about having it be a self-landing and lifting ship, but decided against it given what we "learned" in Star Trek Beyond about ships of the era. I don't think her impulse engines have the juice to handle take off without assistance. As far as combat, yeah. I decided to cut out torpedoes entirely. She's armed with about a half dozen pulse-plasma cannons. Similar to what NX-01 used in Broken Bow, but probably with a little more kick. Probably used more as point defense to deflect incoming enemy projectile weapons, more than as an offensive weapon. They could be upgraded later in their life with phase-cannons, and may have when the Romulan War really kicked off. They'd rarely operate alone in any case. Their reactors aren't nearly as powerful as something like the NX-01. It's one of those ideas that I think crops up every now and again. I like it because it offers the possibility for different ideas in design. Got a planetary sensor array on the bottom. The dish is already mounted into the front of the primary hull, I just have the cowl covering it for now because it's ugly. On the underside you can see two flanking launch bay hatches. They are positioned directly under the MACO barracks on the upper side of the ship. So units can rapidly deploy from the armories above into the shuttle pods for their missions. Reworked engine configuration. Five pulse cannon mounts/hatches are in place here. Completely re-scaled the ship to better match what I had in mind. Keep in mind that if the NX-01 is an aircraft carrier of her day, then this ship would be a submarine. Very tight quarters. No turbo-lifts. Bonus shot. Dish exposed. No real detail yet, but the idea is at least in place. The dish sits right in front of the engine room, which then runs conduits to the aft of the saucer, where it will meet up with one of the NX-type accelerators and then split off to the impulse engines and finally pushed off from their into the warp nacelles. Since these ships are designed for very short mission profiles, they tend to run the engines "hotter" than Starfleet would. This gives them a greater maneuverability. I'm thinking three more pulse cannons on the bottom. One after, and two fore.