SOVEREIGN CLASS HEAVY CRUISER

The latest in a long, proud lineage of multimission explorers—of which the Constitution, Ambassador and Galaxy classes also belong—the Sovereign class was launched in 2372. Originally, the Sovereign was conceived as a dedicated warship—a variant of the Ambassador class intended for use against the Klingon Defense Force in the tumultuous period just prior to the Battle of Narendra III in 2344. As time went on and new threats presented themselves, so too was the Sovereign’s mission profile subtly altered. In the late 2360’s, it became yet another part of Starfleet’s overall anti-Borg strategy. In 2371, the design and mission profile of Sovereign was altered for the last time. At that time, much of the technology behind the Sovereign was based on the Galaxy class—a poor performer not only against the Borg, but also the Dominion who had recently emerged as an equally sinister threat. Technology developed for and employed on other classes was extensively used—most notably bio-neural computer and Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH) technology from the Intrepid class along with ablative armor, quantum torpedos and an auto-modulating deflector shield system from the Defiant. The Warp Propulsion System was based partially on that of the Intrepid—a high speed, energy-efficient design which eliminated damage to subspace, while Phaser technology was upgraded significantly—the Sovereign becoming the first class to be equipped with the new Type XII emitters. After the prototype Sovereign (CHX/CH 73811), the Enterprise (CH 1701-E) was the second ship of the line to be launched, responsible for thwarting a Borg Invasion in 2372 as well as a planned strike on Earth by the Reman terrorist Shinzon, during the short lived Romulan coup in 2378.

Sovereign class ships saw limited front-line service during the Dominion War, being utilized only in major engagements. This was despite the fact the class was comprehensively armed—equipped with 16 Type XII Phaser Emitters and 6 MK IV Torpedo Launchers. In the war’s aftermath, they participated heavily in rebuilding efforts across the Federation and began to be deployed, along with the Luna and Intrepid classes, on extended exploratory and scientific missions in the Gamma Quadrant. In 2381, the Sovereign, Enterprise and Atlas participated heavily during the Borg’s final incursion—the Atlas in particular, suffering severe damage while defending Vulcan. With the Galaxy II class having ended production in 2379, the Sovereign (and Intrepid) class began to enter service in larger numbers, soon becoming a fleet mainstay.

Class Classification Service Number Active Length Beam Height Decks

Sovereign Heavy Cruiser 2372- 84 680m 240m 87m 29

Mass Compliment

3,500,000 metric tons 700

Armament Defense Systems

16 Type XII Phaser Emitters 6 MK IV Torpedo Launchers Auto-Modulating Deflector Shield System total capacity 5,737,000 TerraJoules Heavy Duranium/Tritianium Double Hull plus 10cm High Density Armor

Editor’s Annotations The Sovereign class is pretty much the endpoint for canon ship designs and a springboard for where a plethora of non-canon/fan-based designs have emerged. Most of the class history is based on text from the Daystrom Institute Technical Library. However, I don’t quite buy into the whole notion relations between the Federation and Klingons had significantly degraded in the 50yr period between the signing of the Khitomer Accords & Battle of Narendra III. That the Borg & Dominion having a heavy influence on the latter half of the development process is more plausible and accepted somewhat throughout various fandom camps. ST: Nemesis presents a problem, in that the Sovereign appears to have ‘bulked up’ in a manner similar to the Galaxy class at the beginning of the Dominion War. DITL along with Ex Astris Scientia provide detailed explanations of the changes and the former even goes so far as to split the Sovereign into basic and upgraded versions. I can understand the need to do so with the Galaxy class as it did have some deficiencies that needed to be addressed, but I don’t quite care for what the designer (John Eaves)/filmmakers did with the Sovereign. Using the Dominion as the impetus for the changes works—but only to a point as the class was never shown as a participant on screen and only marginally in print. Instead of using them as an excuse to bulk up the ship’s armament to the point of absurdity, I’ve instead used them as an impetus to introduce larger and larger designs into the fleet that keep things balanced somewhat (the Essex class being a prime example). So what you see here is a compromise between the two versions (basic/uprated) presented at DITL, influenced by my own personal preferences.

Bibliography Visuals—Unknown/Paul Trenkler-Matthew Christou-Robert Wilde Design—John Eaves Text—Based on information presented by the Daystrom Institute Technical Library Schematics—Gustavo Castillo/Doug Drexler

Additional Information Here I just wanted to present some additional links to information regarding the design of and changes to the Sovereign class. Sovereign Changes (Daystrom Institute Technical Library) Sovereign Class Variations (Ex Astris Scientia) The Evolutions of the USS Midway CV-41 and the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E (John Eaves)