USS Argo Starship Library

Design Overview

The Ambassador class was developed during the 2320s, to spearhead the newest generation of Starfleet exploration vessel. Not only was the ship the largest ever conceived by the ASDB - grossing a 54% increase in mass over the Excelsior - but by far the most advanced. Several innovative new features were included in the new design, most notably in the diplomatic and scientific areas, reflecting the generally peaceful, positive outlook which pervaded the 2320s. The Ambassadors were equipped with elaborate conference facilities and guest accommodations, the most lavish ever on a starship. Many of these areas were capable of maintaining a wide range of environments, a vital prerequisite for a vessel which would spend a great deal of its life dealing with nonstandard life forms. These facilities allowed her to host a much wider range of diplomatic functions than the more cramped Excelsior class, although it did lead to the class being dubbed "space hotels" in some quarters.
The scientific facilities of the class were equally well-equipped. The ships sported the most powerful mobile sensor arrays of their time, including eighteen modular sensor pallets for mission-specific equipment. Twenty-eight large dedicated laboratory facilities were included in the ship, along with facilities to convert three of the cargo bays to hold extra scientific equipment if necessary. This gave the Ambassador an estimated 450% increase in research capabilities over an Excelsior-class vessel.
While the Ambassadors' tactical systems were always considered secondary to its exploratory capacity, the craft nonetheless featured a marked improvement in firepower over any ship that had come before. The class was the first to incorporate phaser arrays instead of the turret phasers carried by previous designs. This measure greatly increased the ability of the Ambassador class to fire sustained beams, and greatly reduced the weapons' recharge and cooldown times. The use of an independent power system for every group of ten emitter segments in the array also tripled the survivability of the array compared to a turret, along with benefits to the reaction time, thermal management, beam collimation and firepower. Overall, the phaser arrays of the Ambassador are over 65% more effective than turreted banks of similar capacity. The class also pioneered the concept of burst-fired photon torpedoes; although fitted with the same number of launchers as the Excelsior class, the Ambassador's ability to fire five torpedoes at a time from each tube effectively gave her ten tubes in place of two. Additionally, the class pioneered the concept of the so-called bubble shield; previously, the defensive barriers could not be projected more than a few meters from the hull; the Ambassador's shields formed a spheroid shell encompassing the ship and allowing for greater net strength than the hull-conformal models.
However, for all its innovations, the Ambassador faced a rocky service career. The first ships to be produced suffered from a number of flaws which had in development appeared minor, but in service at times proved disastrous. For example, the ships were notoriously slow; due to the ships' unprecedented mass and irregular SIF configuration, the Ambassadors' maximum acceleration was a languid 10,000 m/s^-2, meaning it would take the ship more than two hours to reach the "full impulse" velocity of .25 c. Furthermore, the shuttle- and cargo bays on the ship proved too small for the requirements of such a large vessel on deep-space missions; vessels assisting with colony establishment or emergency evacuations easily fell prone to serious overcrowding, despite the ships' large size. Most seriously was a structural problem focused on the connecting dorsal between the saucer and stardrive sections of the ship; the design engineers, having considered building a ship the size of the Ambassador to be impossible until a few years before the project's approval, simply did not anticipate a minor conflict between the hull configuration and the structural integrity field. A modification to the SIF was thought to correct the problem; however a disastrous accident in which the USS Organia was nearly destroyed convinced Starfleet that a more permanent solution would have to be found, or production of the class, already suspended, would have to be halted immediately.
The result was a five-year redesign project which involved many of the Ambassador's original designers, as well as senior engineers from six Ambassador-class starships in active service. Eventually, the project resulted in a series of seemingly minor modifications, which nonetheless completely corrected the design flaws. First, the engineering hull's aft end was widened to allow the aft shuttlebay to be enlarged, and a third holding bay was added to the underside of the engineering hull. The additional cargo space and shuttle compliment, combined with a redesign of the main shuttlebay in the saucer, actually gave the refitted Ambassadors a shuttle compliment comparable to a dedicated carrier, although some thought cargo space was still somewhat limited. The impulse engine was also completely replaced in favor of a newer model which increased the ship's net acceleration by over 30%; while still relatively slow, this was a marked improvement.
The structural weakness was corrected simply by shifting the entire saucer section back by six meters, eliminating the weakness in the original SIF configuration, and doing away with the original modification entirely without further difficulties. The warp nacelles were also shifted back in order to maintain minimum safe distance from the saucer. Additionally, this refit allowed the Ambassadors to preview certain technological advancements which were due to appear on the next class of starship; the bussard collectors, for example, were fitted with caps on the top and bottom of the inlet surfaces, allowing for a more controlled flow into the collectors and increasing their efficiency by 12%, and the deflector dish was modified to allow heightened compatibility with the sensor suite, and to provide additional protection at high-warp speeds. Finally, more sophisticated sensor systems were installed in the main sensor dome on the saucer section underside, allowing for sensor range and sensitivity to be increased by over 20%. The layout of the lifeboats within the saucer section was also modified to allow increased evacuation speed in an emergency.
The modifications were quickly approved by the ASDB, which was eager to get series production back on track. All Ambassadors in production were reconfigured to the new design, and the vessels in service were overhauled as quickly as possible, with the first, the USS Yamaguchi, being relaunched in 2345. The only ship never to be refitted was the USS Enterprise-C, which, under the command of Captain Rachel Garrett, was also the first Ambassador to be lost, destroyed while defending a Klingon outpost from attack by the Romulans. While all personnel on board were recorded lost, the action did help to secure a lasting peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. The ship's destruction came some six months before it was due to return to Spacedock for modification.
The USS Ambassador was launched in 2330 and commissioned in 2332. Series production was halted for six years in 2339 pending review. When production resumed, the class was already threatened with becoming outdated, and the ships were soon to be overshadowed by the development of the even larger Galaxy class. From a design standpoint, the Ambassadors are viewed as an important stepping stone towards the Galaxy, a sort of operational testbed for many of the technologies incorporated on the Galaxy, with the latter being the true finished product. As a class in itself, the Ambassador still holds a prominant diplomatic function, however the ships never assumed the sort of flagship role accredited to vessels such as the Constitution, Excelsior, or Galaxy. The last Ambassador was launched in 2357.

General Information

Category Unit Run Time Between Resupply Time Between Refit Expected Service Lifetime

Explorer 58 (47 in service) 5 Terran Years 8 Terran Years 120 Terran Years

Dimensions

Length Beam Depth Mass Crew Capacity

526 m 320 m 125 m 2,350,000 metric tons 3500

Crew Compliment (Standard)

Officers Enlisted Crew Marines Civilians Total

150 550 100 200 800

Armament

Ten Type-IX Phaser Arrays -- maximum output 30,000 TW

Two burst-fire torpedo launchers (1 forward, 1 aft)

+350 torpedoes (200 photon MK-VI, 100 quantum Mk-I, 40 Hellfire Mk-I, 10 tricobalt devices)

Defensive Systems

High-capacity deflector shield, total capacity 2,025,000 TJ
Duranium/Tritanium double hull + 7 cm high-density armor
standard-level structural integrity field

Warp Systems

Standard Core Output Maximum Core Output Maximum Cruise Speed Maximum Safe Speed Maximum Speed

8.86 x 10⁶ TW (Cruise Mode) 7.14 x 10¹² TW Warp 8.60 Warp 8.80 (36 hrs.) Warp 9.30 (8 hrs.)

Impulse Systems

Primary Fusion Output Secondary Fusion Output Impulse Engine Output Impulse Engine Tolerance Maximum Accelleration

6.2 EJ/hr 2.4 EJ/hr 8.330 MeV/sec 13.192 MeV/sec 75,000 m/sec^-2

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Design Overview
The Ambassador class was developed during the 2320s, to spearhead the newest generation of Starfleet exploration vessel. Not only was the ship the largest ever conceived by the ASDB - grossing a 54% increase in mass over the Excelsior - but by far the most advanced. Several innovative new features were included in the new design, most notably in the diplomatic and scientific areas, reflecting the generally peaceful, positive outlook which pervaded the 2320s. The Ambassadors were equipped with elaborate conference facilities and guest accommodations, the most lavish ever on a starship. Many of these areas were capable of maintaining a wide range of environments, a vital prerequisite for a vessel which would spend a great deal of its life dealing with nonstandard life forms. These facilities allowed her to host a much wider range of diplomatic functions than the more cramped Excelsior class, although it did lead to the class being dubbed "space hotels" in some quarters. The scientific facilities of the class were equally well-equipped. The ships sported the most powerful mobile sensor arrays of their time, including eighteen modular sensor pallets for mission-specific equipment. Twenty-eight large dedicated laboratory facilities were included in the ship, along with facilities to convert three of the cargo bays to hold extra scientific equipment if necessary. This gave the Ambassador an estimated 450% increase in research capabilities over an Excelsior-class vessel. While the Ambassadors' tactical systems were always considered secondary to its exploratory capacity, the craft nonetheless featured a marked improvement in firepower over any ship that had come before. The class was the first to incorporate phaser arrays instead of the turret phasers carried by previous designs. This measure greatly increased the ability of the Ambassador class to fire sustained beams, and greatly reduced the weapons' recharge and cooldown times. The use of an independent power system for every group of ten emitter segments in the array also tripled the survivability of the array compared to a turret, along with benefits to the reaction time, thermal management, beam collimation and firepower. Overall, the phaser arrays of the Ambassador are over 65% more effective than turreted banks of similar capacity. The class also pioneered the concept of burst-fired photon torpedoes; although fitted with the same number of launchers as the Excelsior class, the Ambassador's ability to fire five torpedoes at a time from each tube effectively gave her ten tubes in place of two. Additionally, the class pioneered the concept of the so-called bubble shield; previously, the defensive barriers could not be projected more than a few meters from the hull; the Ambassador's shields formed a spheroid shell encompassing the ship and allowing for greater net strength than the hull-conformal models. However, for all its innovations, the Ambassador faced a rocky service career. The first ships to be produced suffered from a number of flaws which had in development appeared minor, but in service at times proved disastrous. For example, the ships were notoriously slow; due to the ships' unprecedented mass and irregular SIF configuration, the Ambassadors' maximum acceleration was a languid 10,000 m/s^-2, meaning it would take the ship more than two hours to reach the "full impulse" velocity of .25 c. Furthermore, the shuttle- and cargo bays on the ship proved too small for the requirements of such a large vessel on deep-space missions; vessels assisting with colony establishment or emergency evacuations easily fell prone to serious overcrowding, despite the ships' large size. Most seriously was a structural problem focused on the connecting dorsal between the saucer and stardrive sections of the ship; the design engineers, having considered building a ship the size of the Ambassador to be impossible until a few years before the project's approval, simply did not anticipate a minor conflict between the hull configuration and the structural integrity field. A modification to the SIF was thought to correct the problem; however a disastrous accident in which the USS Organia was nearly destroyed convinced Starfleet that a more permanent solution would have to be found, or production of the class, already suspended, would have to be halted immediately. The result was a five-year redesign project which involved many of the Ambassador's original designers, as well as senior engineers from six Ambassador-class starships in active service. Eventually, the project resulted in a series of seemingly minor modifications, which nonetheless completely corrected the design flaws. First, the engineering hull's aft end was widened to allow the aft shuttlebay to be enlarged, and a third holding bay was added to the underside of the engineering hull. The additional cargo space and shuttle compliment, combined with a redesign of the main shuttlebay in the saucer, actually gave the refitted Ambassadors a shuttle compliment comparable to a dedicated carrier, although some thought cargo space was still somewhat limited. The impulse engine was also completely replaced in favor of a newer model which increased the ship's net acceleration by over 30%; while still relatively slow, this was a marked improvement. The structural weakness was corrected simply by shifting the entire saucer section back by six meters, eliminating the weakness in the original SIF configuration, and doing away with the original modification entirely without further difficulties. The warp nacelles were also shifted back in order to maintain minimum safe distance from the saucer. Additionally, this refit allowed the Ambassadors to preview certain technological advancements which were due to appear on the next class of starship; the bussard collectors, for example, were fitted with caps on the top and bottom of the inlet surfaces, allowing for a more controlled flow into the collectors and increasing their efficiency by 12%, and the deflector dish was modified to allow heightened compatibility with the sensor suite, and to provide additional protection at high-warp speeds. Finally, more sophisticated sensor systems were installed in the main sensor dome on the saucer section underside, allowing for sensor range and sensitivity to be increased by over 20%. The layout of the lifeboats within the saucer section was also modified to allow increased evacuation speed in an emergency. The modifications were quickly approved by the ASDB, which was eager to get series production back on track. All Ambassadors in production were reconfigured to the new design, and the vessels in service were overhauled as quickly as possible, with the first, the USS Yamaguchi, being relaunched in 2345. The only ship never to be refitted was the USS Enterprise-C, which, under the command of Captain Rachel Garrett, was also the first Ambassador to be lost, destroyed while defending a Klingon outpost from attack by the Romulans. While all personnel on board were recorded lost, the action did help to secure a lasting peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. The ship's destruction came some six months before it was due to return to Spacedock for modification. The USS Ambassador was launched in 2330 and commissioned in 2332. Series production was halted for six years in 2339 pending review. When production resumed, the class was already threatened with becoming outdated, and the ships were soon to be overshadowed by the development of the even larger Galaxy class. From a design standpoint, the Ambassadors are viewed as an important stepping stone towards the Galaxy, a sort of operational testbed for many of the technologies incorporated on the Galaxy, with the latter being the true finished product. As a class in itself, the Ambassador still holds a prominant diplomatic function, however the ships never assumed the sort of flagship role accredited to vessels such as the Constitution, Excelsior, or Galaxy. The last Ambassador was launched in 2357.



General Information
Category	Unit Run	Time Between Resupply	Time Between Refit	Expected Service Lifetime
Explorer	58 (47 in service)	5 Terran Years	8 Terran Years	120 Terran Years

Dimensions
Length	Beam	Depth	Mass	Crew Capacity
526 m	320 m	125 m	2,350,000 metric tons	3500

Crew Compliment (Standard)
Officers	Enlisted Crew	Marines	Civilians	Total
150	550	100	200	800

Armament
Ten Type-IX Phaser Arrays -- maximum output 30,000 TW Two burst-fire torpedo launchers (1 forward, 1 aft) +350 torpedoes (200 photon MK-VI, 100 quantum Mk-I, 40 Hellfire Mk-I, 10 tricobalt devices)

Defensive Systems
High-capacity deflector shield, total capacity 2,025,000 TJ Duranium/Tritanium double hull + 7 cm high-density armor standard-level structural integrity field

Warp Systems
Standard Core Output	Maximum Core Output	Maximum Cruise Speed	Maximum Safe Speed	Maximum Speed
8.86 x 10⁶ TW (Cruise Mode)	7.14 x 10¹² TW	Warp 8.60	Warp 8.80 (36 hrs.)	Warp 9.30 (8 hrs.)

Impulse Systems
Primary Fusion Output	Secondary Fusion Output	Impulse Engine Output	Impulse Engine Tolerance	Maximum Accelleration
6.2 EJ/hr	2.4 EJ/hr	8.330 MeV/sec	13.192 MeV/sec	75,000 m/sec^-2

Ambassador Class Design Specifications