Antares Class Scout
Image and original design by Paul C. Cargile. Used with his permission.
USS Antares
The Antares class scout was created as one of many new ships to suppliment the new Constitution class heavy cruiser. The Antares ended up getting off the drawing boards and into field testing first, and as such, was put into the field almost five years before the Constitution. Some on the Federation Council, however, questioned why this ship was rushed out so quickly, as if it had waited only a couple more years, the Antares class could have taken advantage of Richard Daystroms Duotronic computer system which was being developed at the time. But, at the time, Starfleet decided that a new scout design was more important than taking advantage of Duotronics.
Unlike some of the other scouts built around the time of the Constitution class cruiser, the Antares was fitted with an almost full sized hangar deck, allowing it to carry almost as many shuttles as the Constitution class. This increased its usefullness with the advent of more different types of mission specific shuttles at the time, such as the aquatic shuttlecraft. These extra shuttles allowed the Antares class to be sent on more extensive exploration missions than most scouts of the time.
In addition to its military uses as a scout, the Antares class was also built for other more civil support roles, such as transports, where the large shuttlebay came into its own. This role was also used heavily once transporters were routinely outfitted on starships. These transport ships were affixed with the NAR designation rather than the NCC designation of most military starships.
Specifications:
- Dimensions:
- Length: 257.9 meters
- Height: 59 meters
- Width: 127.1 meters
- Compliment:
- Officers: 50
- Crew: 250
- Propulsion:
- Warp: 2 matter/antimatter powered 4th generation warp drive nacelles
- Max Warp: 7
- Cruise: 5.5
- Impulse: 2 fusion impulse drives
- Weaponry:
- 8 dual mode laser/particle beam banks w/ 2 emitters per bank (2 fore, 2 aft, 2 starboard, 2 port)
- 2 Foreward missile tubes (Eventually fitted with photon torpedoes)
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