Of Starfleet’s many designs, a few stand out as being landmark classes that endured
not only decades, but centuries of service.
The two most commonly cited are the Excelsior class, and the Miranda, both of which are
two of the longest lived designs, being created in the 23rd century and seeing service well
into the late 24th.
The original design was created for the film Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan.
The hijacked USS Reliant was to be the centrepiece for a battle scene and originally the vessel
was supposed to be another Constitution class, however it was decided to break up that classic
silhouette to visually differentiate the vessels in their murky fight scenes.
The vessel was designed by Joe Jennings, Mike Minor and Lee Cole and was technically one
of the earliest alternate designs introduced into Starfleet so there had to be strong design
callbacks to the Enterprise.
This is true for the hull colouration, nacelles and saucer shape, and originally the vessel
was flipped, with the nacelles above the hull.
When the model was constructed at ILM, it was made at a smaller scale than the Enterprise
model and would go on to be reused in several other miranda class appearances.
The Miranda class was created to be an antagonist for the Enterprise but additionally it was
always considered a survey vessel, to be a workhorse and not as heavily armed as the
Constitution class.
This is true of its canon depiction too, however there was some steps added lore.
Now, as a preface, there has been a popularised design for a TOS era Miranda class and while
it is not canon, its is often retroactively folded into the design origin in universe
for fleet variety and the added history it brings.
I’ll include it here but technically it might not actually be canonical.
The Miranda class began its life in Starfleet design bureaus in the early 2260s in response
to the escalating tensions with the Klingon Empire once more.
Having just passed through a serious year long skirmish with the Klingon Empire, Starfleet
had to rebuild its forces and when it did so, its line included designs that could go
toe-to-toe with the latest Klingon innovations from the newly unified Klingon Defense Force,
ships like the D7 battlecruiser.
The first ships came out in 2264 with this mission profile in mind, powerful light cruisers
that lacked the multi-role effectiveness of the constitution.
Internally they were far more condensed vessels too than the relatively spacious alternatives
of the era.
However, with the Treaty of Organia coming into effect in 2267, the need for such combat
ready vessels declined and the Miranda line was revamped by 2274.
This was to capitalise off of the back of the Constitution refit program and the two
shared many similarities in technology.
This refit is the origin of Miranda as we know her and she had some declawing done.
Firstly the extensive tactical systems were scaled back and replaced with additional sensor
systems and the role went from a patrol and combat ship to a survey vessel.
It was in this overhaul that the distinctive “roll bar” was added.
Not every Miranda featured such a device but it was through this addition that the line
would become more adaptable, with several variations coming into existence during its
lifetime and even a separate class entirely.
Starfleet would bookmark this sort of development for use when they began to design other ships
such as the Nebula class later on.
With the removal of the torpedo launcher from the saucer section, the ship still needed
a launcher of some form, so that was added to the roll bar with both forwards and rear
facing tubes.
As was standard for Starfleet vessels, this was suitable for probes and for torpedoes.
Phaser Cannons were added to the rollbar too on some designs, for added armament.
After all, the Miranda may now be classified as a survey ship, but it began as a battleship
of sorts.
Additionally, the rear facing hangers remained, originally for troop deployment via landing
craft, they now acted as the perfect launch point for small survey fleets of auxiliary
craft.
The Miranda’s new mission profile was now a survey vessel with far higher sensor acuity
than it originally had as well as the ability to specialise in planetary scans.
However, it was built as a skirmisher and as such, at its core, could still handle patrol
and other hazardous missions.
This role was later mirrored in the Centaur class and reversed with the 24th century Titan,
which began as a science vessel but proved a capable patrol boat.
The Miranda was developed at the Advanced Starship Design Bureau facility at Starbase
134 over Rigel 6.
When the line entered production however they were primarily constructed at the Copernicus
Shipyard at Luna and the High Imperial Fleet Complex of Andoria.
The initial USS Miranda NX-1800 and the Prospero NCC-1801 were the first two vessels commissioned
of the original Miranda configuration, with the Reliant NCC-1864 being one of the earliest
to be commissioned under the new schematics.
The ship was 237 metres long, 142 wide and a reserved 58 metres tall covering 11 decks.
It had a mass of 150,000 tons and a crew of anywhere between 200 to 360, with the lower
end being more common.
Their emergency evacuation capacity however was only up to 500 personnel due to the utilisation
of space.
Now, because of the extreme length of time this class of vessel was in service, its statistics
are all over the place with vessels becoming even more varied as time went on, persisting
over the change of warp scales in the early 24th century.
By the end of its lifespan, the Miranda had a maximum warp factor of 9.2 with shutdown
after 12 hours and a cruising speed of around warp 6 in the new scale.
But its older scale saw it cruise at warp 7, which is slower than its final form, yeah…
The core itself was a vertical one post 2270 and by the end of its life it was a 1500 cochrane
core, putting it on par with the Centaur class, but nowhere near as efficient.
The same can be said of its armaments which have also varied in time.
Now this video focuses primarily on the canon appearances of the Miranda class, so I won’t
be discussing the TOS version here.
But the miranda itself had no inbuilt torpedo launchers as previously discussed, nor phaser
cannons.
Instead it operated 6 type 7 phaser banks around the saucer section.
However with the addition of the rollbar, this was augmented to have 4 torpedo launchers
(2 fore, 2 aft) and 2 additional phaser cannons which packed a higher yield blast.
Additionally, some Miranda class vessels saw the addition of a secondary deflector array
atop the rollbar to supplement the main one, which was concealed beneath the hull.
Its twin shuttle bays were expanded to fit 4 shuttlecraft with an additional 2 pods and
12 workerbees.
The variation of the Miranda design over time led there to be several different terms for
a multitude of specialty functions.
The USS Saratoga, in 2367, for example was a version that had no roll bar but did feature
the addition of long-range sensor pods to the sides, amplifying its effectiveness as
a survey vessel.
It did however, have photon torpedo launchers incorporated back into its frame somewhere.
The Soyuz variation was an extensive alteration of the Miranda class that looked very similar
to the original design however its changes were far more than cosmetic with a number
of internal alterations being made, earning it a moniker as a separate classification
of ship.
Essentially it was a call back to the original purpose of the Miranda class as a patrol vessel
with a heavier payload of weaponry and several more sensor pods added to the sides.
The aft was also extended to add extra decks and facilities culminating in a new design.
This is also something that Starfleet would continue to do, with vessels like the Sagan
and Eschelon class bearing strong similarities and functioning in different roles with the
fleet by the 25th century.
Overall the Miranda is pretty much defined by its longevity with most of its variations
owing to this factor.
Internally there was a great variety in things like bridge layout and with the only commonality
being that they were more compact vessels.
This can simply be attributed to the Miranda being designed as a combat ship, and therefore
effort was put into making it as sturdy as possible.
The modularity created by its rollbar attachment and additional alterations mean that the vessel
continued to act to fulfil roles within the fleet around both survey and patrol functions
for over 100 years.
Even with the emergence of the Centaur class, the Miranda continued to thrive and when you
encountered such a vessel, it could be a relic of the late 2270s or even a brand new vessel.
However by the time of the Dominion War, the class was really showing its age and reaching
the limits of what was possible, so it was eventually phased out.
Few other class can claim to have such a distinguished collective career than the Miranda class and
for decades, while not the most prestigious ship in the Federation, this smaller cruiser
was the backbone of many operations.
Thanks for watching this breakdown on the Miranda class cruiser, there was a ton of
lore to narrow down due to this vessel’s age in and out of universe but I hope I did
a good job.
I’ve been RIc, thanks again and goodbye!