Kitty Hawk class
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- Class and Type: Kitty Hawk-Class Cruiser
- Commissioning Date: 2231
Intended to expand Starfleet's exploratory capabilities and replace aging Venture- and Armstrong-class vessels, the Kitty Hawk-class Cruiser was designed along accepted Starfleet shipbuilding guidelines. The main structure, the saucer section, had a mostly cylindrical Engineering hull attached to it, aft ventral (though the connecting interhull was much shorter than on a Constitution-class Explorer). The nacelle pylons projected outward and slightly ventrally from the forward end of the Engineering hull, almost making it look as if the ship was "skating" through space on its nacelles. (A few wits at Starfleet Command jokingly referred to this ship as the "Brinker" class.)
During the lifetime of the Kitty Hawk Development Project, its engineers and scientists developed several new systems for incorporation into the vessel. These included the Mark II food processor (a welcome expansion over the much more limited Mark I), and Mark VI industrial fabricator, and Mark 3.67A warp nacelles (allowing the ship to attain the heretofore impossible Sustainable and Maximum velocities of 5.5 and 7.0, respectively). (Other engineers, building on the Project's work, developed additional new and improved systems throughout the 2230s, many of which were retrofitted into various Kitty Hawks as time and resources allowed.)
Noteworthy Vessels/service records/encounters:
- USS Kitty Hawk: NCC-1552, prototype, catalogued Alpha Quadrant nebulae (2231-36), assigned to patrol the spinward sections of the Federation's rimward border (2237-2242), helped defeat the Klingon forces at the Battle of Sidron XII (2243);
- USS Lindbergh: NCC-1581, lost under unknown circumstances while responding to mysterious distress signal emanating from the Zeta Perseid system (2239);
- USS Earhart: NCC-1583, crippled while saving the Helgrom IV colony from Klingon raiders (2242), partially rebuilt for use as a training craft by Academy cadets (2347);
- USS Boeing: NCC-1588, crew apparently slain by unknown virus (2238), found floating derelict by the USS Enterprise (2247).