DOCKYARD

REVIEW
THE JOURNAL OF THE ADVANCED STARSHIP DESIGN BUREAU

VOLUME THREE
ISSUE ONE
JANUARY 2326

The Ambassador Class

Cruiser: Starfleets New
Super Explorer.

DOCKYARD REVIEW
JANUARY 2326

HARD COPY PRINTOUT

GROUP HEADQUARTERS

Advanced Starship Design Bureau

Sol III Orbital Repair and Construction Facility (SpaceDock)
In Orbit Over the San Francisco Metroplex
State of California
United States of America
Terra - Sol System
DIRECTOR

Rear Admiral Harvey Postlethwaite

COORDINATOR

Captain Laguna Milano

TECHNICAL STAFF

Commander Estoril Monza

Lieutenant Commander Giles Silverstone
COVER ART

Cover - Eric Peterson (http://wolf359a.anet-stl.com/)

COMPUTER MESHES

Ambassador - Peter Savin and Tachy (www.Scifi-Art.com)

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1002

CONTENTS
AUTHOR

CAPT Jenna Steele

TITLE

PRINTOUT

Comment

1004

The Ambassador Class Heavy Cruiser

1005

ENTER THE FORUM

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Review are subject to
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COVER
ILLUSTRATION
A top-view of the U.S.S.
Enterprise (CH1701-C),
the latest Ambassador
Class Heavy Cruiser to
enter Starfleet service.
These vessels are
expected to combine the
best features of the
Enterprise and Excelsior
Classes.

The opinions or assertions in the articles here are the personal ones of the authors
and should not be construed as official. They do not necessarily reflect the views of
the Advanced Starship Design Bureau or the publishers of Dockyard Review.
This publication incorporates data and scanned images taken from other various
works relating to the Star Trek seroes and movies. This publication is intended for
recreational and informational purposes and is published on a not-for-profit and
free-distribution basis. The inclusion of this data and imagery is not intended to be a
violation of the copyrights and trademarks of the original works publishers and
authors.

1003

Comment

1004

The Ambassador Class Heavy

Cruiser
A Capable Replacement for the Excelsior Class
By:

Captain Jenna Steele

Advanced Starship Design Bureau
Commanding Officer - U.S.S. Horatio (CH 10532)
Ambassador Class Starship Development Project

When work began in 2283, the Excelsior class battleships were to be the premiere multi-mission platform
for the start of the 24th century. The Koller Uti K27 transwarp drive was to allow these vessels to attain phenomenal
speeds and the extensive tactical suite carried about would allow them to prove a formidable deterrent to the
new Klingon Z-24 and Romulan Z-1 battleships.
Alas, the K27 drive proved to be far more capable in simulation than in real life. Two years of additional
development and testing were performed before the drive was considered a failure, and the Excelsior was returned
to the yard to be fitted with the new Leeding Energies LN-72 drive. The ship was relaunched in 2289 and remains
in service to this day. The large size of the Excelsiors made them a highly-flexible platform and so far four dozen
ships have been built.
As successful as the class has been, Starfleet wanted an even larger vessel to allow for longer-duration
missions. In 2310, Leeding Energies began development of the LF-10 warp drive, designed to provide much of
the benefits transwarp was to have offered. Alas, the drive system was so large that it would not be able to be
mounted on either the Excelsior or Ingram classes, which were the largest vessels of their time. Also, additional
system advances had been discovered, none of which could be easily fitted to the Excelsior / Ingram.
The ASDB commisioned a new starship development project in 2325 to begin to bring all these new
technologies together in a vessel that was expected to replace the Excelsior class. As it was expected to serve on
the edge of Federation space and be at the forefront of first-contact missions, the new project was named
Ambassador.
GENERAL APPEARANCE

The Ambassador class draws heavily on the Enterprise and Excelsior classes in its design, and the family
similarities are quite noticeable. The vessel is huge, massing almost three times the mass of the Excelsior.
PROPULSION AND POWER SYSTEMS

The LF-10 drive system is the first in a new generation of high-performance drive units from Leeding
Energies. They allowed a top end of Warp 9.5 and a sustained maximum cruising speed of Warp 9.
Due to the massive displacement of the vessel, existing impulse drive systems would not be adequate.
Instead of developing an entirely new drive system, Chiokis Drives added a space-time driver coil to its FIG-2
series of drives to create the FIG-3. The coil allows the entire mass of the ship to be lowered to a point within the
operational capabilities of the FIG-2.
TACTICAL SYSTEMS

In 2315, HiBeam Energies developed the first collimated phaser emitter unit. By 2318 they had linked
them together to form the phaser strip. A quantum improvement over the turret-based systems before it in both
power and flexibility, the Ambassador was the first class to be fitted with the new system. Twelve strips were
fitted, offering the ship omni-directional fields of fire, along with one forward-firing and one rearward-firing

1005

Mk 75 photon torpedo launcher.

Charlottes Shields, Inc. new FSP shield systems energy dissipation rates were a full 25% greater than
their FSO system used in the latest Excelsior class ships. The Ambassador class is the first installation for this unit.
COMPUTER SYSTEM

The first of the Duotronic IV computer systems was the Daystrom M-9, fitted on the Enterprise (II) and
Excelsior classes in 2284. The M-12 Duotronic V is the latest iteration of this tried and true system, designed to
handle the new technologies incorporated in the Ambassador class.
SHIPS FACILITIES
The Ambassador class sets new standards for luxury aboard a Federation starship. Cabin sizes are a full
25% larger than those on the Excelsior, and the ship can comfortably fit its crew of 700, as well as up to 1200
passangers.
DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION HISTORY

The Ambassador Class SDP was finalized in 2319 and the keel of the first vessel was laid in 2320.
Construction took five years, exceptional considering the new technologies incorporated. The USS Ambassador
(CH 10521) was launched in June of 2325. The Ambassador is currently undergoing an extensive two year testing
program to validate the design. Funds to complete eight new vessels have been added. One of these is expected
to carry the name Enterprise, as the current Excelsior variant is scheduled to leave service within the ten-year
construction period set for the next eight vessels.
CONCLUSION

Though the ship looks impressive, it is also far more expensive to build and maintain than the Excelsior
class, which remains an excellent starship platform. Nonetheless, it is expected that the Ambassador class will
slowly replace the Excelsiors as the latter are retired.

Captain Steele served on the Ambassador class Starship Development Project. She was the former
Commanding Officer of the Excelsior class battleship Repulse (BB 2544) before accepting her current
position with the ASDB. She will become the Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. Horatio.

1006

1007

Ambassador Class Heavy Cruiser

Displacement
Overall Length
Overall Draft
Overall Beam
Propulsion:

Velocity:

Duration:
Complement:

Embarked Craft:

Navigation:
Computers:
Phasers:
Missiles:
Defense:
Life Support:

1008

2,340,000 mt
526 m
125 m
320 m
Two LF-10 Mod 1 energized-energized antimatter warp drive units
(System Contractor: Leeding Energies, Sydney, Earth)
Two FIG-3 subatomic unified energy impulse units
(System Contractor: Kloratis Drives, Tellar)
QASR-2 particle beam maneuvering thrusters
(System Contractor: Scarbak Propulsion Systems, Earth)
Trentis III pulsed laser reaction control system
(System Contractor: Orage Ijek, Aksajak, Andor)
Warp 6.0
Standard Cruising Speed
Warp 9.0
Maximum Cruising Speed
Warp 9.5
Maximum Attainable Velocity
5 years, standard
115
Officers
585
Enlisted Crew
0
Passengers (Normal Up to 500 maximum)
700
Total Crew (Standard)
2
Type 6 Personnel Shuttle
2
Type 7 Personnel Shuttle
1
Type 9A Cargo Shuttle
4
Type 16 Shuttlepod
RAV / ISHAK Mod 3 Warp Celestial Guidance
(System Contractor: Tlixis Ramab RRB, Coridan III)
M-12 Duotronic IV
(System Contractor: Daystrom Computer Systems, Luna)
12 Type IX Collimated Phaser Array
(System Contractor: HiBeam Energies, Earth)
2 Mk 75 Photon Torpedo Launchers
(System Contractor: Skat-Rar Weapon Systems, Andor)
FSP Primary Force Field
(System Contractor: Charlotte Shields, Earth)
NAG2 Modular Gravity Unit
(System Contractor: New Amsterdam Gravitics, New Amsterdam, Alpha III)
AL2 Life Support System
(System Contractor: AAlakon Landiss, Divallax, Andor)