Hello all!
Ric here with another breakdown on a class of starship, from before the Federation was
a thing, this time, looking at the Intrepid class.
Not that one.
There is very little in canon to cover about this class, however it is from the era of
the NX-01 and even predates that vessel, meaning that it is a sub warp 5 ship.
Behind the scenes, it was created based on John Eaves’ NX class after that ship had
been settled and parts of it were rearranged based on rough sketches, in much the same
way many background models for the next generation were created from kitbashes.
The Intrepid type was modelled at Eden FX from Pierre Drolet and Robert Bonchune and
the design was simply known as the “Half Saucer” design and it was named from apocrypha
at a later date.
Originally they, and several others were made for the episode “the Expanse” to be a
part of the Earth’s local defence fleet and needed to be identifiably different in
silhouette from the NX-01 Enterprise.
Relatively little design iteration was done to change the vessel from its initial sketch
to model, but it certainly fit the bill as a design that was clearly Earth Starfleet,
but completely different in look to the Enterprise.
Its in universe origins precede the launch of the NX-01, although it was developed alongside
that project as effectively a stand in.
The NX project was showing great promise and the first of the line, the Enterprise was
clearly going to function, but at the end of the day, it was still a prototype and testbed.
What Starfleet needed, as much as the next step, was a stable and proven spine upon which
to build its fleet.
Classified as a Light Cruiser, the initial roles of the vessel represented the ambitions
of the United Earth, in that it was more concerned with local defence and patrolling to and from
its limited colony worlds than exploration.
However this would not always be the case.
After the Romulan War, the Intrepid class was overhauled, most notably its warp core
which was replaced with the warp 5 engine after its long testing from the aforementioned
NX project.
Equipped now with the ability to head further out, the Intrepid class saw itself becoming
utilised as an exploratory vessel in the same vein as the NX class, although not quite as
well equipped.
It was created at the San Francisco shipyards in conjunction with the Baikonur Orbital Cosmodrome
and the Lake Armstrong construction field on Luna.
One of the project goals was to simply create a vessel that was less resource intensive
than the NX, but could still capitalise on the advancements that that project unlocked,
which it did.
Cherry picking from those technologies, let the Intrepid class be easier to produce, keeping
the sensor systems, while forfeiting the warp 5 engine and so on.
This does mean that the Intrepid class had fewer redundancies than the NX class, so it
could not take a beating The development of the class was put on hold
during the completion of the NX-01, however development resumed in the face of the Xindi
threat with the SS Intrepid launching in 2153 out of its own prototype stage.
There is a bit of confusion if this vessel actually launched before the Enterprise or
after, but considering it's not a warp 5 engine, I would suggest it was at least designed before.
In fact, while the NX class was shelved with the formation of the Federation, the Intrepid
was granted yet another lease on life when another line of them was commissioned for
2165.
The Intrepid was 165 metes long, and 137 wide making it smaller than the NX and it was 7
decks tall and classified as a light cruiser.
It’s crew complement was only around 50 and had a mass of around 40,000 metric tons.
At its initial launch, it could cruise at warp 2 and had a maximum of warp 3.5, putting
it on par with the other vessels of Starfleet’s time.
After the Romulan War, the line was overhauled with the warp 5 core added and the refinements
drawn from its experimentation.
At this time, its cruise was now rated at 4 and its top speed was 5.6.
The fins on the nacelles serve a dual purpose to radiate heat and radiation away from the
nacelles as well as work in conjunction with the warp field governor to stabilise the field.
In terms of armaments, it had 8 phase cannon emplacements and 2 fore torpedo launchers.
As with Starfleet tech, they began as spatial torpedoes and were replaced with photonic
warheads, the precursor to photon torpedoes.
Initially, they too lacked the shielding technology and relied on polarised hull plating but its
post-UFP lines were equipped with deflector shielding.
Its primary sensor systems were located either side of the main deflector and soon they had
tractor beams added.
The Federation models operated with Vulcan computer cores, as were the newer sensors
systems.
Like the NX class, the Intrepid was equipped with 2 OTV type K42 shuttlepods and it had
two cargo bays at the rear of the saucer.
Other than that, space was rather compact on board, even more so than the NX.
The Intrepid is an interesting design.
It shares a lot in conjunction with the NX class, in fact I advise against a drinking
game where you take a swig everytime I say NX.
But there was so much being poured into the warp 5 program that it was only natural for
Starfleet to want to syphon some of that research into its other lines as they were being made.
I suspect the initial Intrepid was launched and being prototyped just before the launch
of the Enterprise, only entering true service after the attention was off that iconic vessel.
While initially patrolling, this was down to the Xindi and Romulan threats, and after
the resolution of the Earth-Romulan War, the Intrepid got to serving in a new role, as
a pathfinder vessel with good eyes and a decent engine.
If you wanted to find later era contemporaries for it, you could say that the Lunar class
sort of fulfils this same role.
The 24th century intrepid however is a lot faster and a designated deep space scout and
exploration vessel, while this early version could not travel as fast as the fastest in
the fleet, during the 22nd century.
But Starfleet had yet to even fully explore its nearby systems, so these smaller pioneering
vessels were more than adequate in that role.
Thanks for watching this breakdown of the Intrepid class starship.
Not that one.
I’ve been Ric and I’ll see you later for another video.
Until then, thanks again and goodbye!