Cutlass class
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One of the critical strategic problems faced by Starfleet Command, if the Federation was going to win the Dominion War, was that the Federation forces were being spread too thin. Between defending the Federation territory from and trying to go on the offensive against the Dominion, in addition to keeping a wary eye on the Romulans, Starfleet found it had too many obligations and too few resources. Capital ships such as the Galaxy and Nebula class ships, or even ones as small as a Defiant Class, were too expensive and used up too many resources to continually rebuild the fleet.
A new ship of revolutionary design would be required. Ship designers of Utopia Planitia were up to the challenge. They not only designed a totally new class of ship, the Achilles; they designed and built it in less than two years. By adapting current anti-Borg designs to the new threat, they developed a ship with revolutionary features that would enable the Achilles to fulfill the role as long-range cruiser with firepower nearly equal to a Sovereign Class cruiser. This was accomplished with the new micro-torpedoes arranged in a 'phalanx' array allows an astoundingly high rate of fire that could cripple any Dominion ship. With the arrangement of the phalanx system, the Achilles can protect itself against the strike fighters defending Ketracel-White facilities, while still maintaining its focus on destroying the target.
The prototype, deployed for field testing in the closing weeks of the war, performed admirably, destroying two key facilities on its single mission behind enemy lines. It also accounted for two full Cardassian fighter wings, as well as nearly a score of Jem'Hadar strike cruisers in its mission, the best record of any single ship in the war. However successful, a number of problems were identified and the Achilles was returned to Utopia Planitia at the end of the war for refitting. The remainder of her hull was filled out with the non-warfare facilities that were called for in her original design, including a basic science department, multipurpose holodecks and upgraded ship-wide holo-emitters, and she was retasked for system patrol and deep-space exploration, then moved out for further field testing.
Notable Ships of This Class
- USS Cutlass: prototype
- USS :
Specifications
- Type: Carrier
- Accommodation: 1,275 Personnel
- Length: 612 Meters
- Height: 67 Meters
- Beam: 372 Meters
- Mass: 1,295,410 Tonnes
- Maximum Warp factor: 9.99+
- Weapons: 8 x Type VIII Phaser arrays