San Francisco Class (2154)

 

History

The Charter of the United Federation of Planets from 2161 called for the immediate formation of Starfleet for the Federation's common space programs. The member planets obliged themselves to contribute a variety of starships that the new Starfleet would assign to the exploration of space, defense of the Federation, to humanitarian and diplomatic missions. Although the reconstruction program of the United Earth Space Navy (UESN) had just begun after the losses of the Romulan War, Earth volunteered to provide the bulk of the ships for the new Starfleet. The UESN was effectively reduced to a defense force of the Sol system and its colonies and kept only a number of smaller ships to that end.

Among the many vessels that the United Earth (UE) transferred to Starfleet were most ships of the San Francisco class, although their speed and range of operation were limited. The UE, however, couldn't afford being picky in pursuing its goal of taking over a lead role in the new Starfleet. Interestingly, the UESN had named the lead ship for San Francisco, the city where its headquarters was located and the future site of Federation Starfleet, so there is also a symbolic meaning in providing Starfleet with a San Francisco class.

The design was one of the few real warship types predating the Romulan War. The prototype UES San Francisco CL-37 had just been completed when hostilities began. During the following years 23 more ships were rushed into service. Their endurance and firepower being limited, San Francisco-class ships didn't take part in the major battles of the war, but were used for planetary defense and as escorts.

The bow section of the San Francisco-class, including the bridge, the mess hall and the main weapons bay could be detached in case of an emergency, however, it was not built for re-integration. The main power source was a PFR-3 fusion reactor. The ships were armed with a twin pulse laser cannon in the bow and one in the stern and eight Spider atomic missiles. 14 of the 17 surviving ships were given Starfleet registries in 2161, with NDC-prefixes instead of the NCC-numbers of the capital ships. Like many other fusion-powered ships, they became obsolete after the appearance of the M/ARA, and they were retired until 2178.

 

Depictions

 

Data

Class specifications
Ship type: Frigate
Length: 81m
Width: 45m
Height: 14m
Crew complement: 48
Max. speed: Warp 2.4
Commissioned ships
USS San Francisco NDC-28
USS Independence NDC-29
USS Potemkin NDC-30
USS Hermes NDC-31
USS Bombay NDC-32
USS Hood NDC-53
USS Endeavour NDC-54
USS Mars NDC-55
USS Intrepid NDC-56
USS London NDC-57
USS Arizona NDC-58
USS Eagle NDC-59
USS Sirius NDC-60
USS Carthage NDC-61

 

Credits

Thanks to Justin Hackman for his 3D model.

 


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