The Oberth class was created early into Starfleet’s golden era of exploration,
the loose unofficial term for a period of time from the late 23rd century to roughly 2360s.
It was this time that exemplified the Federation’s mantras of exploration, cooperation and innovation
with the UFP expanding ever outwards in unity drawing on its myriad of cultures to support
it. During this era, there were conflicts, of course, but with the Romulans retreating behind
the Neutral Zone and the Khitomer Accords managing the Klingon-Federation aggressions,
Starfleet was able to focus down on its scientific endeavours and put aside warfare development.
Some would go on to see the Federation as complacent during this time, and you can kind
of see why, it became standard practice to allow families of officers to live aboard starships, and
even entire civilian structures on the later ships of the era. The Oberth was a product of this time,
a small science vessel, designed for light survey and cartography missions, but with little thought
given to defence and even certain detrimental elements to its design. However, it’s easy to
focus on its shortcomings, but its strengths were the reason the ship design persisted
for around a century, despite its issues. As mentioned, the design originated in the 2280s,
some say as early as the 50s, although this is unlikely. The Constitution Refit had given
that vessel a new and final lease on life, the Excelsior was pioneering the new era of deep space
exploration as the poster ship of Starfleet, and the miranda was stepping into the role
of patrol and workhorse. There was an opening in the fleet for a dedicated science ship that would
be deployed on missions where a full Excelsior or Constitution would be an inefficient use of
resources. The Oberth would fulfil this role and to its credit, its specialisations would serve
it well. It was also a fraction the size of most other Starfleet vessels and had a far smaller crew
complement, but additionally could be operated by only 5 people. This made the vessel ideal for
all sorts of survey missions into known regions, following in the wake of the charted frontiers of
those deep space ships that expanded the horizon. It would even see use as a civilian craft,
being assigned to other Federation agencies outside of Starfleet for scientific purposes.
The first of its line was the USS Oberth NCC-602. The ship was only 120 metres long, 63 wide and 34
tall across 11 to 13 decks, depending on the level of cargo capacity used in the secondary hull.
As mentioned, its crew was usually around that of 80 people, although its maximum appears to be
closer to 100. However, the vessel could make use of extensive automation to run with only a crew
of 5, this is similar to the older ships like the USS Archer, that only needed 3 people to operate.
This was perfectly acceptable for the sort of survey missions or studies it was expected to
undertake as it was not to really venture far away from Starfleet territory for long periods.
It’s sensor systems were incredibly large for a ship of its size, with a large section of the
secondary hull dedicated to these systems, while cargo rooms, deflector array and a shuttlebay
made up the largest rooms down there. Typically the hanger housed 2 shuttlepods. Additionally,
the secondary hull contained laboratories and other facilities for whatever its mission profile
was, including astrometrics, fabrication, hydroponics or other such specialised rooms.
The secondary hull was connected by two pylons to the saucer section, and a turbo
lift ran down these arms. Unlike most turbolifts however, these ones were spherical in shape and
smaller to fit within this small space. From some official schematics, we can see that there was
decks-space in these pylons, although I cannot imagine much more than storage in this area,
its slanted scale makes it an awkward crawlspace. The saucer section contained the bridge,
engineering and crew quarters as well as the impulse drive and warp core. By the
end of its lifetime, the Oberth class had a rather nifty core for its size,
actually rivalling the Galaxy class in terms of speed, if nowhere near its power levels. It
was capable of a cruise speed of warp 6 and a maximum of 9.6 for 6 hours, so it could really
move. Which is just as well because its armaments were very light. It had 4 type four phaser arrays
and a single photon torpedo launcher, that was more of a probe launcher, considering it did
not have a high complement of torpedoes, if any. Additionally, its deflector shielding was very
advanced, but again, not very powerful. This is because the shielding was adaptable and developed
to weather and protect this small craft from all sorts of natural hazards that it might encounter,
such as gravitational shear and various radiations. It could not deflect major
impacts or energy weapons as well as it simply did not have the power to draw on, but again,
that was not its purpose. Should the Oberth encounter an interesting collapsing star,
then they could get closer and record more than most Federation vessels. However should
they come under attack, they were expected to power up their warp core and flee, not engage.
Unfortunately, their mission profile and their speed means that they are often close to UFP
installations and therefore within summonable range in emergencies, bringing them into conflict
against forces like the Borg several times when really they have no business being there,
unless they are to record data. In addition to their shielding the interior
bulkheads were laced with Victurium alloy, which was a powerful insulator, again to protect
against natural hazards, but this also prevented transporter locks unless aided by other internal
systems. Not great for emergency evacuations. There were also numerous bulkheads all over
the vessel that could be vented into space, presumably to avoid some form of contamination
should something like the be encountered or to facilitate spacewalks in emergencies. Systems
like this however do add to the infamy of an Oberth being somewhat of a deathtrap.
Despite these issues, the vessel did perform well in the fields it was supposed to serve in,
with it being small enough even for atmospheric flight and its multitude of labs, sensors and
scientific equipment allowing it to survey and scan as well as any of Starfleet’s larger ships,
despite it being a fraction of the size. As time went on however, the design was only
partially updated, with the aforementioned engine improvements, and the eventual swapping of turrets
to phaser strips. But technology moved on and soon the Oberth found itself adopting other duties such
as extensive use from the Corp of Engineers to test out new technologies in its labs,
before being relegated to transport and courier duties due to its decent speeds.
Oberth class ships were still being manufactured in the year 2363, and were still in service by
2381 when the line was being gradually replaced by the more capable Nova class.
The active construction of new Oberths seems to have ended around the time of the Dominion War.
The Oberth class is not a tough ship and numerous unforeseen issues did arise with its design
however it cannot be denied that for a planetary survey ship, or if a dull sector still needs
charting, a supernova need observing, or an irradiated nebula exploring, the Oberth class
is genuinely a good option to send. Problems arise however if the Oberth ends up out of
its depth and unable to flee, and it really has no place in large scale battles, even in emergencies.
Thanks for watching this lore breakdown on the Oberth class, its unfortunate that about the
only times we see them, they are in trouble, but then again, there is not tale to be told about
the many such ships that successfully completed their 2 month long survey of the Tau Ceti system,
but where do you think the majority of Starfleet’s maps came from? Someone had to chart them and they
were probably on an Oberth. Until it exploded. I’ve been Ric, thanks again and goodbye!