Head Canon: The History of the Federation Class Dreadnought

Federation Class

Dreadnought class starship

History

2259

In 2259 a group of engineers from the Starfleet Corps of Engineers and strategists from Starfleet Tactical led by then Captain Jose Mendez introduced a proposal to the Federation Council for a new, more powerful, more heavily armed starship class, to serve as both a heavy combat vessel and a standard-bearer for Starfleet. The ship would be faster and much more heavily armed than anything that came before, even the jewel of the fleet, the Constitution Class. Many on the Federation Council were skeptical, the very idea of a dreadnought, essentially a battleship, being antithetical to Starfleet and the Federations core ideals. Within the ranks of Starfleet many officers who had served in the recently concluded Federation-Klingon war supported building the new ship while others, including Captains Pike and Wesley, Commodore Paris and Admiral April were strongly opposed to the dreadnought class ships, siding with the majority of the Federation Council in seeing them as too powerful and too aggressive for an organization mainly focused on peacekeeping and exploration.




2261

After nearly 2 years of debate in February 2261 the Federation Council would finally vote to approve the class with stipulations. Specifically, the vessels armaments would be limited to no more than 5 phaser banks and no more than 3 photon torpedo launchers. In addition, the ships were to be built in small build batches, no more than 3-4 ships at a time, with each batch needing the approval of the council and the Federation President. Also the number of ships of the class to be built would be limited to no more than 20 in total. Development began in April 2261 on the now named Federation Class starships at San Francisco shipyards, Earth and simultaneously at Starfleet R&D beta facility at Luna. One of the biggest hurdles initially was the incorporation of the third warp nacelle, intended to both increase warp speed and allow the saucer section to operate in an emergency as a warp capable lifeboat (once separated from the secondary hull). This was ultimately overcome by the incorporation of the latest version of Dr. Richard Daystrom’s duotronic S/Coms computer systems and an experimental dual computer core system. The Federation Class would be the first Starfleet ship to utilize such a computer system, a system that would become much more common in the 24th century with the advent of Isolinear computer systems to replace duotronics.


2262

In January 2262 construction began on the first 4 ships at San Francisco shipyards, Earth and Copernicus yards, Luna, with two ships being constructed at each facility.


2263

The class ship USS Federation NX-2100 (post shakedown NCC-2100) launched from San Francisco Yards in May 2263, followed a month later by sister ships USS Star League NCC-2101 (also from San Francisco Yards) and USS Alliance NCC-2103 and USS Entente NCC-2120 (both from Copernicus Yards). Following shakedowns all four ships would be assigned to sector command flag officers operating out of key bases near the Klingon neutral zone.


2266

On stardate 1709.4 (2266) the Romulans reemerged on the galactic stage, ending over a century of isolation with an attack which destroyed several Federation outposts along the Neutral Zone. In light of this new threat, and with intelligence operatives in the Klingon Empire delivering news of a possible renewed hostility toward the Federation, the Federation Council, somewhat reluctantly, agreed to authorize the construction of a second batch of four Federation class ships, to be stationed at starbases near the Romulan Neutral Zone. Construction on the second batch began on stardate 2404.5.


2267

On stardate 3045.6 the Gorn attacked and destroyed the outpost on Cestus III. Nearly 2 months later, on stardate 3198.4 failed negotiations with the Klingons led to a battle and very nearly the outbreak of war over the planet Organia, strategically located in a disputed area of space along the neutral zone. The war was averted only by the intervention of the non-corporeal Organians, and their forced truce between the two sides. The forced truce, and the subsequent Organian Peace Treaty led the Federation council to reconsider the Federation class dreadnought, now seeing it as impractical at a time of tense peace. Ultimately it was decided by almost unanimous council vote to cancel the second batch of Federation class ships currently under construction. Several council members also pointed out that the planned deployment of such heavily armed ships at starbases in close proximity to Romulan space could be seen as provocative by the Romulan Empire. All four partial spaceframes would be disassembled and their materials reallocated to other projects. For the remainder of the decade the first batch of ships would serve mostly as testbeds for new experimental technologies that would be later be implemented into newer ship classes.


2275

Seeing the absolute success of the constitution class refit program and the fleet modernization initiative as a whole, Starfleet commander-chief Admiral Heichiro Nogura with the blessing of the council gave the order to place all four Federation class ships in drydock to undergo full refits, to bring them up to modern standards. The refits would last for approximately 16 months, with all four ships relaunching the following year.


2276

Following their respective relaunches all four ships were put through extensive trials to determine the extent of the improvements gained by the upgrades. Surprisingly, the increase in warp speed over the refit Constitution class was only marginal, much to the disappointment of the Starfleet brass. It was subsequently found that the third nacelle was more useful for stabilizing the warp field and being used to balance usage with the other two. This would lead to the principle of active and inactive nacelles (also known as warp coasting) used on the Constellation class ships, then still on the drawing board. For the next 17 years the Federation class ships would serve as banner bearers and as flagships for senior sector command admirals, rarely leaving the sector to which they were assigned.


2285

The increase in tensions with the Klingon Empire in the wake of the Genesis incident led to all four Federation class ships being brought up to full battle readiness and placed on hot standby, should hostilities break out. Fortunately for both sides these worries turned out to be unfounded, and the ships were stood down and returned to their normal assignments.


2293

On stardate 9521.6 the Klingon moon Praxis exploded, resulting in the pollution of the atmosphere of Qo’nos. The Klingon Empire was abruptly forced to abandon their historic hostility with the Federation and seek peace. In light of the historic peace with the Federations longtime adversary, and in accordance with the disarmament provisions of the first Khitomer accords which specified that the Federation no longer field any ships classed exclusively as battleships and that neither side field any ships classified as dreadnoughts, as well as having the newer and much more capable Excelsior Class ships now in full production, the Federation Class ships were recalled to Earth and decommissioned. The ships would be placed in mothballs and sent to a Federation surplus yard for storage.



Later lives/Fates

USS Federation

The USS Federation would be acquired by the Fleet Museum in 2330. It would be removed from the surplus yard and towed to the fleet museum facility at Athan Prime, where it would receive a partial restoration (its warp drive, shields and weapons already having been dismantled would not be restored for obvious reasons). The USS Federation would be placed on rotating display at the museum.


USS Star League

In the late days of 2366 the Borg began an invasion of Federation space, an event that would culminate in the Battle of Wolf 359. In the hasty buildup of the fleet in response to the Borg threat a group from the Starfleet Corps of Engineers began surveying surplus yards to determine if any of the decommissioned ships could feasibly be reactivated and made ready in time for the battle. The USS Star League was one of 3 ships pulled from retirement, quickly readied for battle and added to the fleet. The USS Star League would fight in the battle of Wolf 359, entering the fray alongside USS Ahwahnee and USS Chekov. Upon opening fire on the Borg Cube the trio of ships would quickly come under attack themselves. The Star League was almost immediately hit by a salvo of Borg plasma weapons, which combined with Borg cutting beams tore the vessel apart. The pieces of the broken hulk remain at the site of the battle.


USS Alliance

With the outbreak of war with the Dominion in 2374 the need for massive numbers of ships to counter the Cardassian/Dominion fleet led Starfleet once again to scour the surplus yards in search of viable older ships to bolster fleet numbers. This would result in the USS Alliance and USS Entente being reactivated, hastily rearmed and sent to the front lines. The USS Alliance was assigned to the seventh fleet, where it would meet its end along with 97 other ships at the battle of Tyra.


USS Entente

The USS Entente would also see service in the Dominion War. It was assigned to the eighth fleet, where it would see action in several smaller engagements, as well as being tasked with protecting cargo convoys near the front lines. The ship would see combat in the Kalandra offensive, as well as in the Second Battle of Chin’toka, during which the Entente would be destroyed when a Breen energy dampening weapon struck the ship, causing a warp core breach.


Ships:

First batch launched 2263

USS Federation NCC-2100 decommissioned, in the fleet museum, 2330
USS Star League NCC-2101 decommissioned, destroyed at the Battle of Wolf 359, 2367
USS Alliance NCC-2103 decommissioned, destroyed at the Battle of Tyra, 2374
USS Entente NCC-2120 decommissioned, destroyed at the Second Battle of Chin’toka, 2375


Second batch (construction started 2266, cancelled 2267)

USS Concordance NCC-2105
USS Unification NCC-2112
[unnamed]* NCC-2113
[unnamed]* NCC-2118

*NCC-2113 and NCC-2118 were never assigned names before construction on the second batch was cancelled




The following now declassified data has been pulled from the Starfleet historical records:

Federation Class ship assignments as of stardate 5052.9


Ship                        Assigned Base                         Flag Officer

USS Federation      Starbase 12, Deneva sector   Commodore Rhodes

USS Star League   Starbase 11, Benecia sector   Commodore Stone



USS Alliance          Starbase 2, Betreka sector     Commodore Strickland

USS Entente          Starbase 24, Orion sector       Commodore Probert





This my head canon history for the Federation Class Dreadnought first seen in Franz Joseph's Starfleet Technical Manual. That's the TOS era ship with three nacelles. I've incorporated names and elements from both TOS and Discovery/SNW. I tried to weave a narrative that fits within not only the established canon lore of that era but also but also the political climate depicted in the shows/movies (DSC's Klingon war, Romulans and Gorn in TOS, Genesis and Klingons in the movies).