GALLIPOLI-CLASS HEAVY CARRIER
Class:
With the terrible losses of the Dominion War it was decided that a dedicated marine transport was needed.
Traditionally marines have been transported by fleet starships or converted cargo transports, neither of which are designed for the highly dangerous task of landing troops in a combat zone. While troop carrier classes have existed, they have been relatively few and far between.
One of the few exceptions to this would be the Normandy class super carrier. These ships were only made in small numbers and none were still in use by the Dominion war.
The only recent vessel to incorporate any dedicated marine landing facilities was the Courageous class shuttle carrier, an excellent vessel that proved invaluable during the invasion of Cardassia; single handedly landing half a division of troops.
While the Courageous was considered a success, its colossal tactical systems proved to be somewhat wasted as the ship had to remain largely stationary while launching and landing fighters and troop transports. This limited its weapons during much of the fighting.
This plus the sheer cost of the Courageous prompted the ASDB, in conjunction with Marine R&D; to design a vessel primarily for landing marines in combat, and so the Gallipoli class was born.
Classification:
The USS Gallipoli is classed as a Marine Landing Craft but due to its built in flexibility the Gallipoli class can easily be converted into a shuttle carrier.
Design:
Originally the Gallipoli class was designed to be a stripped down Courageous class, removing much of its tactical systems. But once work began, the Courageous’s hull shape proved impractical for a large shuttle carrier.
The Dominion war brought to light the tactical flaws of many Federation starships. As most starships are designed for exploration or diplomacy rather than combat, they often found themselves out classed. One of the few classes to go against this trend was the Nebula class.
The Nebula class is an excellent vessel that has been an integral part of the fleet for 25 years. Its modular design means it can perform equally well in tactical, exploration and S.W.A.C roles. It was in its tactical role that the Nebular found widespread use during the Dominion War serving in every fleet in the Federation.
The Gallipoli’s designers saw the potential in these vessels, rather than building new ships from scratch they planned to do major refits to these already proven, and constructed, Nebula class ships. As with the Courageous, the Nebula’s secondary hull was not suitable for a shuttle carrier and would need to be replaced but the saucer section, nacelles and pod tower are unchanged. Though the external structure of these sections remains largely the same almost all of the internal systems have been upgraded.
The only major change to the Nebula primary hull is the placement of its deflector dish. As the Gallipoli’s secondary hull is in line with the saucer there is no room for a forward mounted deflector dish. So designers incorporated the deflector into the nose of the saucer section.
When designing the secondary hull it was decided a simpler shape was required. Traditional designs have the hulls and nacelles connected by pylons or struts, these limit the internal space and create structural week points. Starships such as the Steamrunner showed that incorporating aspects of the ship directly into the primary hull not only increases the designs structural integrity but increases the efficiency of the shield and warp bubble as well.
To this end, the Gallipoli’s secondary hull is directly integrated into the saucer section. This design has been used successfully in the past with ships such as the Archangel and Dakota classes. Due to the age of these vessels only the basic shape was used in the Gallipoli design and even then significant changes were made. The nacelles are partially imbedded in the underside of the secondary hull and 3rd nacelle has been removed and replaced with a command pod on a shorter tower, reducing the ship’s cross-section.
The Gallipoli is required to carry an entire Brigade, at least 2000 marines, their vehicles and transports. To achieve this it has a very large secondary hull; this gives the ship it’s required space but also makes the Gallipoli a very long vessel, one of the biggest the Federation has ever produced.
The USS Gallipoli, the first of her class, is configured to carry a combined arms brigade over 2000 men and 70 tanks. The Gallipoli lands these troops in 3 separate waves, a battalion at a time, in over 60 transports, escorted by nearly 50 air superiority and ground attack fighters.
This array of craft launch from 16 separate hanger bays, positioned in two rows, spanning the side and rear of the ship. These hanger bays are large enough to carry any craft used by the SFMC including the T-8 Albatross, a key requirement for the design.
Despite the size of the ship the secondary hull is largely taken up by the equipment, transports and fighters of the Marines and their escort pilots stationed on board. With the exception of main engineering and the CIC, the rest of the ship’s facilities, such as the bridge, mess, sick bay, training and recreational facilities and living quarters are all located in the saucer section.
To achieve this, much of the legendary comforts of the Nebula class have been removed. The offices, both fleet and marine, retain the original quarters but enlisted marines are housed in what are essentially barracks, not unlike those found on board Defiant class starships. While not the most comfortable of accommodation marines are accustomed to sleeping in barracks.
Most of the ship’s systems have been replaced the engines, computers, weapons and shields have all been upgraded to the same systems found on the Galaxy Mk2. Starfleet refused to authorize a purely military vessel so the Gallipoli is fitted with the same scientific compliment as the Steamrunner class vessels.
Tactical:
The tactical systems on the Gallipoli class are quite unique for a ship of its size. During the invasion of Cardassia the primary threat faced by the Courageous were enemy fighter and attack craft pursuing and engaging returning friendly craft, not other starships.
As a result, the Gallipoli’s tactical systems are designed to combat this threat. It has 4 type XII phaser arrays and these are it’s only “ship to ship” weapons. The rest of its armaments consist of 30 type Va phaser arrays. These are modified versions of the phasers mounted on shuttles or fighter craft. Their high rate of fire and ability to track individual targets, make them perfect for engaging fighters and other small targets.
The decision to remove all torpedo launchers from this design has been quite controversial, but its designers say that this vessel is meant to be part of a fleet with escorts tasked to protect it from other capital ships and ultimately a few torpedo launchers would be futile
What the class lacks in offensive weaponry, it more than makes up with defensive systems. Once the Gallipoli begins deploying its transports, it has to remain largely stationary during the entire engagement as fighters and transports take-off and land repeatedly.
Because of this it needs to be able to withstand devastating amounts of punishment and continue to operate. To this end, the Gallipoli is equipped with ablative hull armour and the FSS shield system
Engineering:
The Gallipoli class is fitted with the new LF-43 warp drive. This allows the Gallipoli to keep pace with the rest of the ships in its fleet and the extra power provided by this engine helps to power its many systems during combat.
For sub-light travel it is equipped with FIG-4 impulse engines. While these engines are normally found on smaller vessels such as the Akira class, they have a good straight-line speed which allows the Gallipoli to get into position quickly; as it remains largely stationary during combat it’s lack of maneuverability makes little difference.
Computer System:
The M-16 Isolinear III computer system was chosen for the Gallipoli. After it’s excellent performance on ships such as the Intrepid and Sovereign class it was decided that the extra performance offered by this computer would be perfect for the Gallipoli.
A new computer system, the AEGIS Mk 8, was developed for the Gallipoli. This was essentially a modified version of the Mk 7 used in the Galaxy Mk2. Using the Mk 7 as a base Marine R&D developed a computer system that would not only track the large numbers of craft launching and fighting around the ship but also the units fighting on the planet below. All this information is then relayed back to the Gallipoli’s CIC, located in the ship’s command pod, giving the marine commanding officers a complete overview of the battle field.
Development and Construction history:
Once Starfleet authorized the construction of a prototype work on the Gallipoli began. Unlike the rest of the planed ships of the class the Gallipoli was not constructed from an existing nebula class vessel but from an incomplete Nebula hull still in dry-dock at the San Francisco Fleet Yards.
Constructions began in June of 2376 and she launched 6 months later, commissioned the USS Gallipoli. The refit process ran smoothly as most of the construction crew had worked on the refit of the USS Galaxy which has almost identical systems. Once launched, the Gallipoli underwent it’s shakedown cruise which it successfully completed in December 2377.
After this it was placed on active duty where it has performed extremely well in training exercises, minor skirmishes and emergency relief efforts. It has even undertaken colonizing missions, where it’s open spaces and large amount of transports, proved perfect for this type of work.
The Gallipoli was considered an unmitigated success. Using already proven technology from the Galaxy Mk2, meant it had very few teething problems during its shakedown and Starfleet estimates using existing nebula hulls will reduced the construction cost by roughly 40% per vessel.
The next ship of this class will be the USS Genesis. Originally a Galaxy Mk2 class, she suffered heavy damage to her secondary hull during a recent engagement with Talarian pirates. While the damage to her hull was extensive much of the internal systems remained intact. So rather than repair the vessel it was decided to refit her as most of the internal components of the Galaxy Mk2 are identical to those of the Gallipoli. The USS Genesis has recently entered dry-dock and should be completed within the next 6 months.
Despite the success of the design it is not certain how many more ships will be refited. The Federation has never been comfortable with purely military vessels and as the quadrant settles down for a long peace, it is likely that resources will be allocated to the large exploratory cruisers.
Current specifications for the Gallipoli class
Displacement 4,730,000 m
Overall length 693.60m
Overall draft 195.76m
Overall beam 452.73m
Propulsion: 2 LF-43 Mod 1 energised-energised antimatter warp drive units
2 FIG-4 subatomic unified energy impulse units
QASR-2 particle beam maneuvering thrusters
“trentis IV” pulsed laser reaction control system
Velocity: Warp 7 standard cursing speed
Warp 9.5 maximum cursing speed
Warp 9.9+ Maximum attainable velocity
Duration: Mission Specific
Compliment: (rapid response force configuration)
50 Officers
250 Enlisted crew
2016 Marines
Embarkation craft (rapid response force configuration)
48 T17 Loon Tactical Transport Craft
16 T39 Pelican Medium Transport Craft
28 A-18 Firebolt Close Air Support Craft
20 F-82 Phantasm Superiority Craft
3 Type 11 Personal Shuttlecraft
Navigation: RAV / ISHAK Mod 3 Warp Celestial Guidance
Computers: M-16 Bio-Neural Gel Pack-Isolinear III with LCARS 2.5 / E.V.E interface software
AEGIS Mk 8 Mod 1 fleet fire Control system
Phasers: 4 type XII Collimated Phaser array
30 type Va Phaser array
Missile: N/A
Defenses: FSS shield system
Life support: MM6 modular Gravity Unit
AL4 Life support System
