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Hannibal Class

The Hannibal-class escort was a competitive design to the Defiant and was largely developed in parallel to it. While the ablative hull armor and the type of armament (pulse phasers and quantum torpedoes) are common to both classes, the Hannibal makes use of overall more conservative design principles. The feature that most noticeably sets the design apart from the Defiant are the separate nacelles. Furthermore, the Hannibal class is not only heavily armed, but also has a medical and scientific department and considerable freight or equipment capacity, all of which are not available on the Defiant. In 2368, when the plans for the Hannibal prototype were ready, Starfleet decided in favor of the more progressive Defiant design, which promised a better performance especially in brief but heavy battle situations as they were expected after the first Borg incursion.

When the Dominion imposed a more imminent threat than the Borg, the plans of the Hannibal were reviewed and approved of with minor changes and improvements that were difficult to implement on the Defiant, which was already in series production. Construction of the USS Hannibal was pushed through very quickly, and was completed in 2372. The most significant change was that the Hannibal received a shuttlebay in the aft section, whereas the original plans only included a hatch in the bottom for a single shuttlecraft. In addition to the ablative armor, the ships are coated with a novel active hull layer that can disperse up to 95% of incident sensor rays. The coating is therefore equivalent to a cloaking device, until the ship is in visual range. This complies with the Treaty of Algeron. Hannibal-class ships are currently the fastest vessels of Starfleet besides the Intrepid class and Prometheus class. They were introduced too late to play a major role in the battles of the Dominion War. It has been decided, however, that their construction will continue, and that they will be securing the borders of the Federation together with ships of the Defiant class, Sovereign class and dedicated scout vessels.

Gallery

Preliminary three-view schematics
(ca. 1996)

Sketch with suggested modifications
(created by Michael Chandler)

Defiant-ish design study

Revised and more detailed version

Datasheet

Credits

Thanks to Michael Chandler for several tips how to refine the design.

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