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Mauretania Class

When Starfleet was founded in 2161, several outdated and often battle-damaged fusion-powered warships were rebuilt to serve as transport ships. Starfleet Command soon recognized that these vessels were too slow and had a too short range for the demands of the new united fleet with its extended range of operation. Moreover, in many cases the former cruiser-type ships wound up as overcrewed and also oversized, and the possible cargo spaces deep inside the ships were not directly accessible.

This is why Starfleet's first standard transport, the Mauretania class, was developed. The design was facilitated and accelerated by reusing many construction principles of the San Francisco class. Weapons appeared to be dispensable. Many other components were simplified with respect to the San Francisco class, so that eventually merely the external shape remained similar. The internal arrangement of the small crew section remained essentially the same as on the San Francisco. The bulky mid-ship section, on the other hand, was converted to cargo bays. The two upper decks were designed to hold general cargo that came in various shapes, such as food, medical supplies, equipment and spare parts. The lower half of the section was for bulk cargo in standard containers and was accessible through large sliding doors on the ventral side. The Mauretania class was approved for any kind of cargo expect for fuel, other chemicals and explosives. If necessary the ship could carry troops as well.

The most innovative change, however, was that the Mauretania used a matter/antimatter reactor (M/ARA) as the main power source. The M/ARA was located at the intersection between the mid and the aft section, leaving essentially the whole latter section as a huge fuel tank. The Mauretania-class ships achieved Warp 2.4, which was significantly faster than previous transport ships of this size. Nevertheless, owing to their obsolete basic construction, no more than eight of them were ever built in two batches, instead of the originally ordered six batches and 26 ships. The last ship of this class was decommissioned already in 2205. After their Starfleet service most of the remaining ships were purchased by individuals or companies and used until the mid-23rd century.

Gallery

Preliminary three-view schematics
(ca. 1996)

Revised and more detailed version

Datasheet

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