The Constellation class was authorised in May 2280 by Commodore Gihlan'T'Aehn of Taulihna IV. The Constellation class starship design came about due to a number of factors including the weaknesses of the earlier Constitution class design and the continual delays on Project Excelsior. The Constellation class starship is built around the word survivability. In short, the Constitution class starships were not surviving their 5-year missions because the wonders, mysteries and threats out there were just too powerful for a design that was then thirty years old. What was devised was a new class of starship that was built using already-available Constitution class parts from the refit design and building it into a starship with multiple redundancies. The Constellation class has four warp nacelles and four impulse drive units. This allows the starship to take more damage before these vital systems are disabled.

Batch One Constellation class - [Notes taken from Rick Sternbach's article].

Name	Starship Registry	Notes	Author's Notes
Constellation	1974	Prototype. Launched 15/6/2284.	Finished testing in 2293 at Starbase 24.
Hathaway	2593	Second vessel commissioned. Launched 2285.
Stargazer	2893	Launched 23rd April 2285. Nov 2285 certified warp 8. 2286 crewed and ready.	Captain Donald Capello was her first captain. Operated solo 2303 -2311. Sets new endurance records. Picards future command.
Valkyrie	2590	Delayed launch as partial magnetic containment failure during construction.	Stored at the Fleet Museum, Luna, after Voyager-era, alongside USS Stargazer. Both mothballed serviceable.
Gettysburg	3890	Fifth vessel, named for the famous decisive American Civil War battle.	Admiral Mark Jamieson's future command.
Magellan	3069	Sixth vessel.
Victory	9754	Named in honour of Nelsons flagship at Trafalgar.
Gihlan	9761	Renamed from Houbolt in honour of her designer.	Admiral Gihlan'T'Aehn died of a rare genetic condition. USS Gihlan was named in honour as the eighth and final member of batch one.

Author's Notes: It is only with the discovery of Rick Sternbach's article in January 2003 Star Trek: The Magazine that caused a major rewriting of the Constellation class section of my website - especially in light of the NCC Registry numbers. Finally definitive design details and a cutaway have been provided, enabling a fleshed out history for the Starfleet's primary deep space vessel design for the first half of the 24^th Century.

U.S.S. Montrose, N.C.C. 6236, was launched on Stardate 9555.5 (Earth year 2293) from Copernicus Orbital Fleet Yards, Luna. She is the second vessel of the second batch of the successful Constellation class Star Cruiser, designed to engage in deep space missions surpassing the five years designated for such missions so far. The term 'Star Cruiser' was coined for this class of starship - they can truly operate away from starbases for years. Her motto 'Astra Ditat Rosa Decorat' means 'The stars enrich and the rose adorns'.

A large portion of the Constellation class design is for supplies and resources for keeping the vessel going in the absence of resupply venues. The reduced crew size for a vessel of this size reflects the need for sustainability away from home waters. The Montrose has 5 shuttlecraft and 5 shuttlepods aboard. She has a maximum durability of ten years away from Starbase or Spacedock. 100 photon torpedo/probe compliment. The Montrose is in the typical 2290s configuration for Federation starships, minus the combined tactical station behind the Conn and minus the improved Master situation display. Tactical is split between two rearward-facing consoles flanking the Master Situation console. Many improvements have been made to the class since the launch of N.X. 1974 in 2284, and many more have been made since the launch of the Montrose.

Crew: 535 [Maximum: 600]

Officers: 45

N.C.O.'s: 490

Cruising Warp: 6.

Maximum warp: 8.

Height: 86m.

Width: 175m.

Length: 310m.

Phasers: 12 Turrets.

Torpedo Launchers: 3 [2 Foward, 1 Aft].

Torpedo Compliment: 100.

Warp Engines: MARA

Impulse Engines: Standard

Computer System: DCLD - Duotronic Computer Library Database [Author's Note: Later upgraded to LCARS]

Expected Duration: 100 Years

Time Between Resupply: 3 Years

Time Between Refits: 5 Years

Shuttlecraft: 5 [Various types]

Starship primary mission: Planetary and Deep-Space Exploration.

Designation: Heavy Cruiser



Primary Hull
This consists of 15 decks that can be summarised thus:

1 Main Bridge, Ready Room, Observation Lounge

2 Senior Officers Quarters, Junior Officers Quarters

3 Executive Mess, Junior Officers Quarters, Crew Quarters

4 Crew Quarters, Stellar Cartography, Main Computer

5 Transporter room, Dorsal Phaser Batteries, Aft Crew Lounge, Impulse Reaction System, Torpedo Bay, Main Deflector

6 Cargo, Laboratories

7 Main Engineering, Engineering Computer, Shuttle Control

8 Arboretum

9 Sickbay, Cargo

10 Shuttlebay, Shuttle Storage, Cargo

11 Environmental Systems

12 Ventral Phaser Batteries

13 Turbolift Storage

14 Antimatter Storage, Antimatter Generator

15 Sensor Pallets


Batch Two Constellation class

Name	Starship Registry	Notes	Author's Notes
Diana	1981	Launched 2291.	First vessel of the second batch.
Javelin	3723	Launched 2291.	Named for the Avro Javelin fighter, a design that never had to fire a shot in anger.
Cochise	4811	Launched 2292.	Later seen in Stargazer novels.
Houbolt	6205	Launched 2292.	Second vessel of this class to be assigned this name.
Montrose	6236	Launched from Copernicus Yards stardate 9555.5 [2293].	Hawkins' first major deep space assignment.
Halifax	6330	Sixth vessel.	Named both for the towns in Canada and West Yorkshire, England, as well as the Canadian frigate.
Tromp	6341	Seventh vessel.	Named for the long dynasty of Dutch naval vessels.
Cavalier	6354	Eighth vessel.	Named for the sole remaining WWII Royal Navy destroyer.
Dreadnought	7745	Ninth vessel. Named for the 1906 Royal Navy battleship.	Named for a class 50 diesel railway locomotive and the first British nuclear submarine, as well as the revolutionary 1906 battleship.
Gibraltar		From Stargazer novels.
Antares		Perhaps most used name in Starfleet.	Name from Stargazer novels.

Authors Notes: Constellation class construction is still ongoing, with one or two units delivered from Copernicus Fleet Yards every year. Rick Sternbach's article has led me to number the batch two Constellation class vessels with 5-digit registrations, with the exception of the first few members - following a talk with Starship Spotter author Alex Rosenzweig.

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