And for fun, here's another proposal in in-verse document style. Thoughts?
The reason why the part about the Excelsior-B is collapsed is definitely not because I was too lazy to write it.
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Fleet Design Document 2318-028408(S)<D>
An Excelsior Future (Summary) <Draft>
A Feasibility Study and Analysis of Proposed Excelsior Refits.
Fleet Design, Fleet 2330, Excelsior, Project Excalibur, Refit, [12 Additional Tags]
Commander William Solberg, Group 15 "Lathriss Analysis"
[7 Additional Contributors]
SECRET // NEPTUNE-BLUE // NOFORN
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With the serial construction of the
Ambassador and
Enterprise in Utopia Planitia, the Excelsior class's forty year reign as the Federation's flagship Explorer is over. However, the Excelsior platform, suitably upgraded and modified, can continue to serve the Federation for at least another fifty years.
[-] Key Points
- The Excelsior possesses a unprecedented capacity for upgrades, due to its large frame and warp core
- New builds of the hypothetical Excelsior-B refit will be cost ineffective relative to the Ambassador and other proposed ship designs
- The Project Excalibur subclass is cost-effective for new builds, and will fill the critical superheavy cruiser gap, countering Cardassian and Horizon heavy cruisers
- The Excelsior is a suitable platform for new high-capacity auxiliary classes
[-] Introduction
Starfleet faces many challenges in planning ship building - interstellar high-capability ships are expensive, requiring substantial amounts of berth time, crew, and strategic resources. Although Starfleet's strategic resource allocation has significantly increased since the start of the 2300s as a result of a large expansion campaign, and increased member resource contribution, responsibilities have also increased, stretching fleet resources thin. Current Starfleet doctrine and fleet composition planning relies on a core of heavy explorers handling diplomatic, scientific, and medical tasks, a role currently fulfilled by the Excelsiors.
In 2274, the USS
Enterprise-B finished construction with the conventional Excelsior Block Ib warp core. Since then, nearly two dozen more have been completed, despite the expense. Each Excelsior-A requires 800 highly trained crew members, four years of build time, 230 units of Bulk Strategic Resources, and 160 units of Special Strategic Resources. Although further refits with new and updated technology will increase capabilities, new design capabilities will also increase, making further construction to this standard uneconomical.
[+] Excelsior-B
[-] Project Excalibur
The original intended role for the Excelsior was to serve exclusively as Explorer Corps exploration ships. As a result, the Excelsior is equipped with an extensive scientific, medical, and diplomatic suite. The Excelsior 2315 refit improved all three of those, as well as updating the phaser emitters, torpedo launchers, and shield emitters. However, with increasing tensions with the Cardassian Union, and with a potential conflict with the Horizon brewing, it is logical and prudent to prepare a new superheavy cruiser to counter both the Kaldar-bis and any Horizon cruiser designs.
Project Excalibur is a proposed Excelsior subclass utilizing modern technology and elimination of the now-unnecessary Five Year Mission capability to reduce the Excelsior's cost, in terms of crew and resources, and to provide an answer to modern cruisers. This standard will not be applied to existing ships; instead, it will exist in parallel with the proposed Excelsior-B refit.
Under the SDB-ONE capability rating system, it has a score of C8 S6 H5 L7 P5 D6, with a build time of three years, a reduced crew complement of 200 officers, 200 enlisted, and 200 technicians, and a reduced Strategic Resource cost of 230 Bulk and 130 Special. This cost reduction is in line with the Constitution-B's reduced cost relative to the Constitution-A.
[Detailed Specifications are located in Ship Specifications Document SDB-2317-024400]
Although it retains much of the expense of the Excelsior frame, it also retains its high upgradability. Using current technological advancement projections, Project Excalibur will be an economical build option for at least another generation, and remain a viable deployment option until the 2370s.
