Hello all, Ric here and welcome to another look at a Starfleet ship, one that is a staple
of their working armada but one that proved to be surprisingly variable in the roles it
could undertake, the Nebula-class cruiser.
Behind the scenes, the nebula class was created initially as a kitbash of the Galaxy class
to act simply as background debris for the Best of Both worlds, devastated fleet of Wolf
359, the vessel was then fleshed out into a full design for later use as an active ship,
retroactively inserting itself into Trek history as a vessel that existed before the Galaxy
class.
These initial Nebula class ships actually featured four nacelles although the placement
varied with two smaller ones on the rear then moved to atop the saucer, where the mission
pod would later affix.
The new models was designed by Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda and built by Greg Jein and
originally the vessel was supposed to have larger windows, giving it a smaller size than
its final outcome.
This did not come to pass, as the saucer remained the same size as the Galaxy class, so the
scale was increased elsewhere to match, and the sensor pod was added to balance the ship
out more, however it still did not look streamlined enough, leading to the revamped weapons pod
seen more commonly from then on.
The rapidity of production of the ship led to several small design parts being absent,
like the lack of impulse engines, so a workaround explanation was added to its design that it
had covered impulse drives for stealth purposes, and any emissions would be released elsewhere.
Additionally this was not considered a big issue as impulse drive effectively incorporates
lightweight warp technology to move, just at sunlight speeds, and that does not produce
conventional thrust.
The lore of Star Trek borrows and reflects the design process of the model, as is common.
The Galaxy class starship began early designs in 2343, with the prototype USS Galaxy launching
in 2357, the same year as the launch of the USS Nebula.
The Nebula class was envisioned as an exploration cruiser, with a focus on scientific and data
accumulation, much like the later Luna class.
Borrowing heavily from the lengthy design period of the Galaxy class, it pretty much
compiled the design styles and technology at play within the future all-rounder, just
on a more compact and less powerful build.
This is why its design shares the saucer shape and scale, nacelle size, deflector system
and engineering hull, albeit in a different configuration.
It drew heavily from its contemporary project and funnily enough, was completed before the
Galaxy class line entered production.
The USS Nebula appears to have had the registry NX-60000, but it has also been listed under
several other registries, including NCC-60147 so I assume when it was commissioned properly,
it was reregistered.
Right away, the most identifiable feature of the Nebula is the mission pod on the back
that can be removed and replaced with differing ones, depending on the mission profile required,
something that Starfleet had experimented with before on the Miranda class with its
roll-bar attachment and variations.
There are early appearances of the Nebula class with both this oval sensor pod and with
extra nacelles, suggesting these were the earliest mission pods.
The extra nacelles were probably to supplement its own warp drive for either further range,
or faster speeds, but these soon vanished from the lines with future models, suggesting
they became superfluous to the Nebula’s existing systems.
The sensor pod however would remain and provided incredible acuity and range, making the Nebula
class ideal for survey missions and more clandestinely, listening and eavesdropping operations and
communication interception.
This saw them deployed on a variety of scientific missions to collect data, but also sent into
zones of interest so Starfleet could listen out and gather intelligence.
Considering the stealth based impulse drive system (which dampened emissions, making it
harder to detect at long range), such sneaky situations were planned and not merely an
afterthought.
While the primary construction facility was the ASDB Integration Facility at Utopia Planitia,
the warp cores were made by the Yoyodyne division and construction of other Nebula class ships
was handled at the 40 Eridani A Starfleet Construction Yard and the San Francisco Fleet
Yards between 2363 to 2367.
The ship was 442.23 metres long, 318.11 metres wide and 130.43 metres tall with a mass of
3,309,000 tons.
It had 21 decks, (not including the mission pod) and a crew of 750 officers with the ability
to house 130 guests.
This shows that it did have operational capacity as a transport vessel, or to entertain gatherings,
afterall why not?
It was a rather large vessel and a general rule the Starfleet operates by is that the
bigger the ship, the more variable its roles can be.
It had an emergency evacuation capacity of 9,800 people and was capable of emergency
saucer separation, although it was pre-Galaxy which means it probably required a Starbase
to reattach it.
At launch, the vessel had a maximum warp of 9.3 although its warp core was the 1500+ Yoyodyne
division core, which was arguably capable of much more with the right treatment.
By height of its production, the warp limit had increased to 9.5 as a maximum speed, while
9.6 could be achieved with engine burn out after 12 hours, rivalling the Galaxy class,
although some reports have them even reaching 9.9.
Presumably this is pushing the Nebula well beyond its safe theoretical maximums.
The Nebula class would see some more attention visited upon it with the build up to the Dominion
War when ships were called back for a quick refit.
The advantage of the mission pod was that overhauling them to be combat-ready was a
quick process once a new weapons platform had been designed.
Starfleet, ever being reluctant to make any tool for war that could not also serve another
purpose, opted for a torpedo platform that could also launch a myriad of sensor probes.
This maintained its original function somewhat as a sensor platform, just now with an array
of far-reaching probes in place of the optimised and powerful sensor disc.
This new attachment became standard issue and most Nebula classes were called back to
have this added, outfitting them for battle.
The Nebula itself had 2 torpedo launchers, one fore and one aft, but this pod gave it
another 2 at least, as well as a much larger reserve of projectiles.
It had 8 of the standard type-10 variety phaser strips and this gave it an effective weapons
range of 300,000 kilometres.
In 2374, the Nebula was also a testbed for Starfleet’s new Point Defense Phaser system,
which was a fully automated, low power phaser system that was designed purely to target
and bring down incoming projectiles.
The auxiliary craft included 12 shuttles of medium to large size, 6 shuttlepods and 4
workerbees for maintenance.
So the Nebula class is a vessel that served its role well and had a handful of tasks and
profiles that it could accommodate.
Unparalleled at surveys, it always had a military application too which became more apparent
in the Dominion War.
Eventually this design appears to have been phased out, considering its mission profile
is replicated by the Luna class, which also borrows elements of its design, and the later
Sutherland class, which is an overall upgrade of the Nebula.
It is safe to say then, that the Nebula has likely ended production in favour of these
newer ships, but nonetheless stood out in its era as a commendable vessel and solid
backbone for Starfleet’s exploratory arm.
I’ve been Ric and I’ll see you later for another lore breakdown video so until then,
thanks again and goodbye!