Splendor Class

The Splendor-class destroyers were designed to replace the Miranda class. After the first successful tests of the USS Tanganyika a starship engineer team at Copernicus Shipyards, Luna, started to work out a concept for the Splendor class, using the basic components of the Tanganyika class. When simulations showed excellent results, Starfleet Headquarters approved of the project and ordered three prototypes. Splendor-class ships have fewer science labs and sensor equipment and less room for shuttlecraft. Yet, they are more maneuverable and more durable than Tanganyika-class ships.

The four prototypes fulfilled all expectations at first. However, after a disastrous impulse reactor breach on the USS Splendor that killed 14 crew members, the ships were temporarily removed from service in 2342. The investigation of the accident remained inconclusive. Microfractures due to material impurities were suspected as the root cause but no definite evidence was found. The three subsequent ships were fitted with extended security systems and commissioned five years later. At that time their concept was already obsolete. Not having a multi-purpose deflector dish, their sensing capability was limited, and the efficiency of their power systems was lower than of the most recent designs. Since the old Miranda-class ships had been substantially upgraded in the meantime, giving them a remaining lifetime of at least 20 years, the Splendor class was not required any more, and after seven ships the project was stopped.

Almost 10 years after the accident on the Splendor, an expert team at the Advanced Materials Institute in Hawking City discovered the true reason for the reactor explosion. The inner shell of the reaction chamber had been weakened using a Romulan device that the scientists nicknamed a "quantum disruptor". It may forever remain a mystery how the device could be smuggled aboard the ship.

 

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Datasheet

 

Credits

Thanks to s1gun for the refinement and to Conner Bentley for the 3D model.

 

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