Hello all, Ric here looking at a recently introduced ship into the Star Trek Canon,
the Pathfinder class, one of which bears the registry name of the USS Voyager NCC-74656-B.
This class was first seen in Star Trek online and entered service then in 2410,
but as with several other ships imported from the game, the Prime timeline iteration sees its
introduction a little earlier, at least being in concept or planning by 2401. It’s sole appearance
so far was on a LCARS display as background image, so it could be a currently active vessel,
or one scheduled to be launched in the coming years, but it replaces the Voyager-A which was
active in 2383, suggesting that its prior ship had up to 18 years as its lifespan.
The Pathfinder class was created for Star Trek Online and one of the first ships that began
to truly establish the 25th century style of starfleet that game would then continue with.
It was created from concept to model by Thomas Marrone in 2014 and received an updated overhaul
consisting of minor tweaks in 2021. It maintained many elements in line with the
Intrepid class that inspired it, as an alternate skin to that preexisting science vessel, such as
the secondary deflector array, variable nacelle positions and overall profile of the neck-less,
speedier concept that the intrepid had. As with many of the designs in Star Trek,
its design process in real life is reflected in its in-universe life too,
considering the Pathfinder is the early 25th century replacer for the Intrepid class starship,
to take over that ship’s role as a “Long-Range Science Vessel” or LRSV. This means that it was
made to travel into the unexplored, minimising travel times with its incredible speeds before
engaging in long-time detailed exploration and returning once more to share in its discoveries.
The lore of Star Trek Online might require some reworking to make it fit into the earlier
timeline, but the basic premise still works. Development began on this ship prior to 2401
and was fuelled primarily by the developments and advancements made by the USS Voyager NCC-74656
when it returned from the Delta Quadrant in 2378, bringing with it 7 years of technology
and scans from the Federation’s crew with the “most-first contacts” achieved as well as some
technology from an alternate future of 2404. This was under the umbrella of Operation
Delta Rising and the Four Quadrant Strategy, the former was a marked endeavour to reach
out on the connections forged by Voyager several decades earlier, and the latter
was an exploration initiative heavily tied to the events of the game, so I’ll touch on that later.
These are roughly analogous to Project Full Circle of the Splinter Timeline of the books.
So integral was Voyager to the Pathfinder’s existence,
that the class was named for the project helmed by Admiral Owen Paris and developed by Reginald
Barclay that aided in that ship’s return. The main focus here is that Janeway’s
Voyager was pulled in for analysis and overhaul considering its long mission and decommissioned by
2383 with Admiral Janeway overseeing new methods of propulsion such as the Slipstream and Protostar
drives in that year, seeing the production of both the USS Dauntless and Protostar respectively.
Meanwhile, many of the other technologies from Voyager were compiled into a new design in 2401,
the Pathfinder class. This included new era bioneural technology and an early Ablative Field
Projector that was a lighter weight version of the alternate deployable ablative armour seen in 2404.
It was said that the elements at play within the Pathfinder class were extensively tested
on a precursor Voyager until they were working perfectly and the Pathfinder is the result of
those trials. The USS Pathfinder NCC-97600 was developed alongside 12 other sister ships, one
of which must have been the Voyager-B. The ship was 431.4 metres long, 158.8 wide and 62.7 tall,
making it about 25% larger than the Intrepid class, but still a smaller vessel in this era
of Starfleet. Its mass was 751,910 metric tons and it had a crew complement of 166.
It had an auxiliary craft complement of 5 shuttlecraft and one aeroshuttle docked to the
underside of its saucer section, as the intrepid did, in fact it appears to be the same model.
The sensor systems were again, top of the line befitting its role as an explorer with 14 Omniwave
passive Sensor matrices and 20 DYN-90 Multiband Linear Sensor suites. These sensors would serve
well in a combat capacity by gathering data and analysing auxiliary systems quickly, creating
optimised firing patterns. The ship not only had great eyes, but it was also very stealthy,
a by-product of its scientific roles. Considering the hazards it could encounter, the Pathfinder had
a complex EM dampening ability, reducing its noise and detectability making it both fast and quiet.
This also made it a good intelligence vessel. Its saucer had a secondary deflector array,
paired with the main deflector dish which has a rather unique design, similar to the Dauntless.
In prior models, the dedicated deflector over the sensor arrays aided in clarity,
so it probably serves a similar function here. The warp core was a D’Shalla Industries Class 12
M/ARC warp core granting it ample power for its myriad of systems, and while incredibly
efficient and capable of warp 9.99 easily, it was not the most “powerful” in the fleet. It
had 2 HeliosCorp Hyper Impulse Engines of Model 32b which granted it the manoeuvrability and
sublight speeds famed from its predecessor, but outclassed by the Constitution Mark 3,
which had the highest sublight ratio for its size. However, the Pathfinder was supplied with a Rigel
Labs X06 Quantum Slipstream Field Projector, a slipstream drive devised based on the reverse
engineered tech of the false USS Dauntless and prototyped on Janeway’s flagship of the same name.
Additionally, we can see that the RCS thrusters appear to also have been replaced
with smaller impulse drives, meaning that even at manoeuvring thrust only, the ship was nimble,
although I assume it had older RCS thrusters too. It had two modular mission bays on the underside
of the secondary hull which when built were empty and could be refitted with little hassle to fill
several roles needed. This included extra cargo bays, barracks for additional troops or crew,
mission specific science labs, or even additional hangars that could house Runabouts.
It was armed with 13 Mark XII Phaser Arrays, and 4 Variable payload torpedo launchers,
one fore and 3 rear I believe. There was also the creation of the Trialblazer subtype later
on in the Pathfinder’s lifespan which had its streamlined angles broken up by grafted on
platforms and additional weaponry. This was at the behest of admirals who noted the potential in the
pathfinder as a combat vessel and many of these were not only phaser placements, but actually
exotic particle generators that could be used in both battle or experimentation out in the field.
This built on the Pathfinder’s role as a smart toolkit.
When it was launched, the USS Pathfinder NCC-97600 was assigned to the 403rd survey squadron,
one of several implemented to explore beyond known Federation space and push the frontiers
of Starfleet forwards. In the lore or Star Trek Online, this was in response to the
reactivation of the Iconian Gateway network and part of Starfleet’s plan to capitalise
on the grander reach this potentially granted them, with the goals of establishing a sensor
network in those regions before evaluating new civilisations for potential first contact and
locating other colony sites. Who knows if this will occur in the canon of the Prime timeline?
Nevertheless, the Pathfinder has emerged into the continuity of the shows and this is everything I
know on this new long range science vessel. It is literally there to be an updated and new intrepid
class, but incorporating the developments of its predecessors after 23 years of ironing out
the kinks in those innovations. The evolution of Starfleet has never been more present than
in this class and now it stands ready to continue that legacy, lancing into the unknown to chart,
uncover and mark the road for those who would follow; a Pathfinder.
Thanks for watching this breakdown on the Pathfinder class, its a ship design I always
liked but never really delved into deeply and I was pretty glad with what I uncovered here, it
addresses the potential advancements that Voyager should have brought into play when it returned to
the Alpha Quadrant and for that alone, I liked it. Plus I really love the random blue glows it has,
makes it look all sciencey to me. Thanks again, I’ve been Ric and until next time, goodbye!