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INSIGNIA CLASS STARSHIP...The frontlines of the new federation



Type: Cruiser Commissioned: 2377
Production:
6 per year Design and Production Facility: South Hampton Starfleet Yards, Earth Unit Run:
USS Insignia
USS Apres
USS Avatar
USS Bolong
USS Bei-Jing
USS Canada
USS Catara
USS Defembunker
USS Iceburg-B
USS Mei-Lon
USS Nepean
USS Sudbury
USS Wayfarer-A
USS Washington-B
USS Zeplin
Six more under construction

Mass: 3,950,000, 000 tons
Crew:
500
Propulsion:
One cochrane warp core feeding two warp nacelles; two subatomic unified energy impulse engines
Armament:
5x Type XII Phaser arrays
6x Type 10 Rapid Fire Torpedo Tubes
800x Quantum Torpedoes

Defense Systems:
(8,950,580 Terra Jules maximum output)
Ablative Armor
Matrix Heavy Duranium/Tritanium hull

Warp Capabilities:
Cruise- 8.3
Max- 9.975
Emergency- 9.991

Hull Life:
170 years Refit Cycle: Minor: 5 years
Standard: 15 years
Major: 40 years
Dimensions: Length: 680m
Width: 350 m
Height: 130 m
Decks: 20

Shuttle Compliment:

shuttle bays:
1
shuttles: 2 Type-9 Personal Shuttles, 2 Type-10 Shuttles
 



 
With the Galaxy class beginning to age Starfleet decided to introduce a new heavy explorer type vessel, and that was the Insignia class. Yet another proposed Sovereign, the Insignia began construction the year after the Dominion War. Built with the most up to date technology and weapons systems the Insignia class was built to have a longer refit cycle then most ships. Its main purpose is to go on long missions and have the equipment and weapons to make sure it stayed in one piece. With new Shield Capacitor systems and AI computer interfaces the ship was and is a piece of art. All it’s weapons systems and propulsion are also top grade with installments the most top-rated systems.

As Starfleet finished the plans for the Insignia class tensions between the Breen and Starfleet rose so they decide to build the ship with more firepower then first expected. Fitting it with every new and powerful weapon Starfleet had, but also had to leave enough room for the crew. This was accomplished by increasing the deck number from 16 to 22, making it a much larger ship, the full equivalent of the Sovereign herself.
As the prototype U.S.S. Insignia was launched relations UFP and her enemies lowered and the Insignia was allowed to begin trial runs in peace.

The Insignia Class Starship project was an endeavor which started in idle theorization and ended in a chaotic rush for completion. When the delightfully vague memo from Starfleet Command proposing the project arrived at the ASDB division of the Utopia Planitia Yards facility, not much notice was taken. The memo was classified as low priority, and required only mainly theoretical work to be done on a possible design for the next, say, twenty years or so. The Insignia Class was planned to be the next great class of starship, after the Galaxy Class and the developing Sovereign Class had served their day in the limelight.

The Galaxy Class starship, just completed by Utopia, was projected at the time to serve as the main class of starship for at least the next twenty years, with the Sovereign class planned to supercede that. In fact, a design team was not even assembled for the Insignia, and the 'Theoretical Research' of the project was relegated to technical staff being briefed to doodle in their spare time if they could. There was more time dedicated in those first few months to getting the Project banner right than to actual research. And so the ominous "Insignia" project, as well as a few other minor starship projects relegated to the same priority, dwindled on - for the next couple of years, that is.

Starfleet's luck started to change for the worst around the beginning of 2365. The advent of contact being made by the starship Enterprise with a vehemently domineering hive-like race known as the Borg furrowed the brows of a few prominent Starfleet Admirals, including Admiral JP Hanson. The ship that had encountered the single Borg vessel was severely damaged by the encounter - and that ship was of the Galaxy Class. Starfleet knew they would be in serious trouble if not even the strongest of their ships would be able to defend itself in the event that the Borg incurred itself on the Federation and signs pointed to that event becoming a reality in at least the next ten years. Accordingly, Hanson and others brought forward the design schedule of many research projects which would form almost a new breed of starship - the most notable of these being the Defiant Class.

However the Insignia Project received orders only to formalize its research more and the research phase schedule was cut back to ten years. The Insignia Class seemed just too big a task to undertake at the time. Yet a design team had now been formed, and theoretical models were surprisingly drawn up within the next year. The Borg caught the Federation terrifyingly off guard in late 2366. Starfleet's last stand at the Wolf system resulted in devastating casualties. The loss of 11 000 personnel, not to mention the destruction of 39 starships, literally crippled and numbed the Federation. The painful but necessary task of repopulating the fleet and redeploying what resources they still had got bitterly underway.
 


Starfleet resources had to be spread thin across the Federation and it's outer colonies, some sectors of which had to be left totally devoid of Fleet assistance. Starship fabrication was not fairing well either. Of the twenty starship frames brought out of storage, four were deemed to have a chance of being space worthy within the next ten months - and one of these starship frames had not even been brought into production - the Bradbury. Research phases of starship classes such as the Akira, Steamrunner, and Norway were hurriedly completed by the middle of 2367, and the misfortune-laden production process was begun. The spaceframe building of the Sovereign Class was also hurried along. Insignia Class was shocked into top priority by Starfleet, and much to Utopia Planitia's objections, the first space worthy vehicle was ordered to be made ready by 2375.

Chaos ruled for the next two years in the newly designated Insignia Class division. Technicians painstakingly tried to feed data into the computer from notes they had scribbled a year before. The four theoretical models that had been previously completed had been left in a static state once the computer had deemed them theoretically capable of warp flight - once real life technology caught up in about twenty years. Major overhauls were made, and after much testing and revamping, the four possible designs for the Insignia Class was submitted to Starfleet in record time.

2369: ASDB breathed a sigh of relief when Starfleet Command chose Concept No. 3, this being because it was the only one that had passed over 75% of the computer's Space flight tests (ASDB had lied about the rest).

This particular design called for multiple replaceable mission modules to be in place as well as the newly developed concept of variable warp field geometry, pioneered by the Intrepid Class research division. The 40% reduction in internal volume over the Galaxy class meant that the ships would be much easier to fabricate en mass. Insignia Class' research into new materials meant a much stronger spaceframe and hull could be built in, which was not available to the other classes as their first test ships neared completion. Also, the mission specific modules were developed further so that they were able to be replaced in a matter of hours, allowing the Insignia to have a wider range of mission profiles than ever before, suiting the far reaching changes in political climate throughout the Alpha quadrant and beyond.

This all added to make the Insignia Class a large, robust multi-mission workhorse with an unprojected lifetime, ready for any circumstance.

Production began in earnest, and for the first time in the Insignia's history, things seemed to be running worryingly smoothly.2372: Sadly, things soon got back to "normal". Starfleet had another serving added to its already overloaded plate of worries: the Dominion. The starship Odyssey, a Galaxy Class vessel, was destroyed hands down by three Dominion Jem Hadar fighters in the Delta Quadrant. The Dominion were a clear and immediate threat to the Federation, and like the Borg, they were coming... Soon. 

2375: With a few teething problems, Utopia Planitia had been able to finish building three Insignia Class space frames, with a fourth on the way. But actual internal and external fabrication of these had hardly begun. Even though they would be ready within the next three years - two years before they were planned to be finished - Starfleet now needed them sooner. They were deemed as too essential an element to be left out of Starfleet's tactical arsenal when the inevitable confrontation with the Dominion occurred. In order to bide more time, Utopia Ship Yards, on behalf of Captain Sisko pulled the aborted Defiant Class project out of mothballs and submitted the Defiant test vehicle for Starfleet's disposal. Starfleet finally submitted to allowing the Yards eighteen months to complete the first batch of Insignia Class vessels. 

Mid 2376: The first Insignia Class vessel was classed as space worthy and the USS Insignia NX-79101 officially was launched in a rushed ceremony at McKinley Earth Station and was then hurried out to patrol the Cardassian border. However the other two needed a further six month's work due to sabotage by unknown agents. Starfleet could do little but concede this, and security was upped at Utopia Planitia to ensure completion. February 2377: "Space worthy or not" (ordered Admiral Hanson), the starships Fantasy and Lennox were commissioned and launched in a combined ceremony at Earth. The USS Pioneer, from the fourth initial spaceframe, followed shortly after that in March. The lessons learned with the first four vessels made fabrication much easier, and as further recourses become available the manufacture of five further ships will take place in the next year.

DECK LAYOUT
 

1 Bridge Conference Lounge Captain's Ready Room
2 Executive Quarters (Guest & Diplomats) Senior Officers Quarters Primary Lateral Array Escape Pods, Nursery
3 Officers Quarters Recreation Area Coordinating Lateral Array
4 Junior Officers Quarters Officers Quarters Main Computer Cores (Decks 4-10) Power Distribution Nodes For Each Module Connection Latches For Each Module
5 Arboretum Computer Support Personnel Transporters numbers 1 & 2 Main Computer Cores, Level 2 Two Level Cargo Bay, Level 1 Smaller Cargo Storage Control Officer, Science Labs 1- 4 Stellar Cartography, Level 1 Science Control Medical Laboratories, Medical Supply/Storage Nursery Additional Officers Quarters (2 blocks) Gymnasium, Holodecks 2 and 3 Crew Lounge / Bar  Weapons Locker Tactical Briefing Room, Survival Gear Storage Auxiliary Power Fusion Reactors Auxiliary Engineering Equipment Storage Cargo Storage Ship to Space Cargo Bay Cargo Processing
6 Junior Officers Quarters Officers Quarters Main Computer Cores, Level 3 Two Level Cargo Bay, Level 2 Storage Lockers Security Control Science Support  Stellar Cartography, Level 2 Sensor Systems Emergency Triage Centers Emergency Med-bay, Emergency Med-bay Transporter Room Additional Officers Quarters (2 Blocks) Crew Storage Lockers (2) Emergency Rations Storage Hydroponics Bay, Level 1 Hydroponics Control Pressure Suit Storage Ship to Space Airlock Hatches Volatile Substances Storage (Zero-G Environment)
7 Junior Officers Quarters Life Support Medical Laboratories Mass Transporter #1 Emergency Transporters (3) Field Generators (3) Main Impulse Engines Main Computer Cores, Level 4 Semi-independent power/life-support systems Science Library Computer Science Storage Science Lounge Doctor's Lounge Medical Library Computer, Storage Morgue Escape Pods (2 Blocks) Crew Lounge Life Support Subsystems, Mess Hall Hydroponics Bay, Level 2 Emergency Transporter Rooms Escape Pods, Power Distribution Nodes - Fusion Reactor / Ship Future Expansion
8 Main Sickbay Counselor’s Office Escape Pods Main Holodeck Deuterium Fill Ports Umbilical Connectors Main Computer Cores, Level 5
9 Torpedo Storage Torpedo Launchers Large Holodecks (2) Large Holodecks (2) Deuterium Tanks Main Computer Cores, Level 6
10 Escape Pods Officers Quarters Maintenance Holosuites (5) Holosuites (5) Deuterium Injection Reactors Main Computer Cores, Level 7
11 Officers Quarters Field Generators (3)
12 Main (Aft) Shuttlebay Secondary Computer Core (Decks 12-18) Long Range Sensors (Decks 12 thru 18)
13 Graviton Polarity Source Generators (4) Power Distribution Waste Management Secondary Computer Core, Level 2 Long Range Sensors
14 Personnel Transporter #4 Engineering Support Labs Environment Support Secondary Computer Core, Level 3 Long Range Sensors, Level 3
15 Main Engineering (Upper Level) Emergency Transporters (3) Secondary Computer Core, Level 4 Long Range Sensors, Level 4
16 Main Engineering (Lower Level) Matter/Anti-Matter Reaction Chamber Access Hatch to Starbase (When docked) Secondary Computer Core, Level 5 Long Range Sensors, Level 5
17 Aft Torpedo Launchers Aft Torpedo Storage Deflector Control Systems Secondary Computer Core, Level 6 Long Range Sensors, Level 6
18 Ship's Brig Anti-matter Storage Field Generators (3)  Mass Transporter #2 Secondary Computer Core, Level 7 Long Range Sensors, Level 7
19 Antimatter Injectors
20 Antimatter Storage Antimatter Generators

**Credit goes to the hardworking souls of the site USS Miranda, this information was taken from there.**