Hello all, Ric here, doing a breakdown video on the California class starship, introduced
primarily as the main vessel of Star Trek Lower Decks.
There is quite a bit to get into so let’s get in to it.
In real life, from the start, the design of the California class was to create a vessel
that was not going to be a hero ship of Star Trek.
The series was already settled to be a lighter comedy that would follow the crew of a ship
that did not see prestigious assignments and both the crew and the vessel itself were to
be the unseen but necessary busy work that keeps the Federation running.
The vessel was designed from scratch to match that premise and retroactively slid into the
continuity of the series to fit alongside vessels of the 24th century, around the TNG
era and just after it.
The two biggest influences into the design therefore were its contemporary Galaxy class,
which would have been entering service at the same time, and the Miranda class, which
was pretty much relegated to the workhorse role by this point in its life.
The ship ended up incorporating design elements from the Galaxy class, but in a sort of stripped
back and bare-bones fashion.
The flair and design was taken away from the saucer section and deflector dish and what
was left was a utilitarian look that appeared as if the design phase finished when its function
was achieved.
No bells, no frills, no grand impression.
Even the pylons were left as basically their support frame encased in the hull, no smoothing
or tapering necessary and the same can be seen on the saucer section where you can visibly
see the individual decks at points instead of them being hidden with recessed widows
and under a curving hull.
The same goes for the nacelles which follow this design aesthetic.
Internally it followed the design style of the TNG era vessels too, but again, like a
stripped back and bare bones version of them, with squarer corridors and consoles, no wooden
panelling and harsher but functional lighting.
The reason the class was called the California class was because the idea was to simply name
the line after towns in california, be they large, small or whatever suggesting not all
starships need illustrious legacies and names.
The California class began being drawn up in the early 2360s as a vessel that was not
to undertake exploratory missions, nor patrol and defence, but the bureaucratic and logistics
endeavours of Starfleet.
While other vessels were created to delve into the unknown, establish contact with new
civilizations and expand the knowledge of the Federation of Planets, some ships needed
to be there to maintain and follow up in the footsteps of these high profile missions.
While there were ships such as the Miranda class and Excelsior that had long since fallen
from their position as top of the line starships, now fulfilling these roles, Starfleet still
deigned to work on a new vessel specifically for this purpose.
Such a craft would not need to operate beyond known space and was not expected to encounter
too many hazards, being primarily there to deposit engineering teams and engage in the
construction and fabrication of new infrastructure.
Such missions were usually in the ballpark of supply runs, colony establishments and
second contact.
Second contact was basically when the Federation dispatched a vessel to continue the work set
up after an official first contact, setting up communications lines to the Federation,
introductions to aspects of the UFP and so on.
These missions were not particularly demanding in the traditional sense, with often scheduling
and administration being the bigger tenants to adhere to.
Which honestly, is way more relatable.
In a pretty unique feature, the ships of the california class would be decorated in livery
of the three departments, reflecting further specialisations within the ship line and this
decoration often varied from vessel to vessel.
Science oriented ships would be there to provide medical relief and personnel while red command
ships would be more to deliver ambassadors and VIPs.
By 2382 there were 32 California class starships in existence operating throughout Federation
space.
Now, the engine room’s position being so far from the saucer section was a design choice
that not only gives the vessel a slightly ungainly look, but also a practical one in
universe.
The warp core system that the California used was rather large and powerful for its smaller,
bare-bones frame.
Kind of like the Defiant was, however unlike the Defiant which received all the time and
care it needed and a specialised warp core, the Cali was a quicker and more slapdash job.
The overpowered core therefore was placed further away from the main area of the ship
in case of emergencies and instabilities while feeding straight to the nacelles.
It looks like a vulnerability but again, this ship is not supposed to meet that many hazards.
The scale of the California class seems a bit debatable and several figures have been
given by external sources from 794 metres long to . A tweet in response to this query
gave the length as 535.2 metres long and 121.3 tall which seems accurate to what is shown
in comparison to other ships, which is surprisingly still larger than I thought, although you
can clearly see the saucer is 3 decks at the rim.
It had 20 habitable decks from what I can find, although most of these, 13 of them,
were located in the saucer section, while the others were in the stardrive engineering
section.
Only a couple were located within the long pylons, which were mostly empty containing
primarily the diagonal turbolifts for running between the two areas.
There were no families on board and its crew complement was around 300.
The California class had a strong warp core as mentioned and a large engineering that
exposed more of the core for maintenance than the Galaxy class.
The core itself was located between the nacelles in the stardrive section which also house
the deflector dish array.
However, despite its scale, it could only muster a velocity of warp 8, although it could
exceed this, pushing slightly beyond although the engine stress was extreme and had to be
shutdown after a short time.
At impulse speeds, the California was more manoeuvrable than its size suggested, giving
it a reputation as a surprisingly nimble ship despite its slower speeds.
With the strength of that warp core, it is curious why its warp factor was so low, but
then again, in the 2360s, just pushing up against warp 9 standard for Starfleet with
Galaxy classes being capable of 9.6.
In terms of armanets, it was… fine.
I guess.
It had 4 phaser strips which does not seem like a lot, but they were positioned to provide
adequate coverage and two fore-facing photon torpedo launchers, with some versions having
two rear facing as well.
Its deflector shielding was also decent and featured a rapid regeneration supplied by
a dedicated isolinear core, making it tougher than it was dangerous.
While not exactly capable of delivering a beating, it could certainly take one and considering
its crew mostly consisted of onboard engineers and scientists, a lot of damage could be repaired
quicker than on other ships, a point of pride among teams on this class.
Its secondary craft were located in the two shuttlebays which covered two decks on the
rear of the saucer and held around 8 shuttles.
There was a third bay on the drive section too.
California's that were expected to do a lot of ground work often housed specialised shuttle
craft such as the Argo which contained ground vehicles for deployment and there was a captain’s
yacht below the saucer.
In 2381 the USS Cerritos was taken in for refits after suffering damage and the class
was mostly unchanged, although it had some very minor cosmetic alterations and the addition
of more visible torpedo launchers akin to the Sovereign overhauls but nothing extreme
as Constitution class changes.
This shows that the line really had no plans for a major overhaul or upgrades with additional
systems only being added as a point of convenience during a needed refit.
The California class overall is a perfectly fine vessel that does not stand out in any
particular respect except perhaps that it performs better than it was designed to with
care and attention.
The warp core in particular can be coaxed into behaving to live up to its full potential
and this pretty much sums up the class.
At its best days, it can match ships beyond its class, but most of the time, it just needs
to coast by and get the job done on time.
Reliability over exceptionalism.
Without playing down the vital role these ships play, the biggest benefit they provide
is freeing up the dedicated explorers to continue their exploration by picking up the slack
in their footsteps.
The cali class is not the only such ship line to have this duty, but it is one of the few
that was designed specifically for this role and in that regard, yes it stands at the head
of its field.
Thanks for watching this video breakdown of the California class, the not-hero hero ship
of Lower Decks, I’ve been Ric and I’ll see you next time for another video, until
then goodbye!