Federation Carpathia-class Diplomatic Transport

Carpathia-class Diplomatic Transport

Overview:

The Carpathia-class starship went from diplomatic incident to diplomatic transport before it flew a single mission.

In 2318, Utopia Planitia designed a long-endurance patrol monitor based upon their 98-meter saucer module and Cutter-class warp engines. It was one of the smallest vessels ever designed with Starfleet’s iconic saucer-engineering hull-twin nacelle arrangement. This new monitor would be an ideal replacement for the deteriorating Okinawa-class border patrol frigates. A test squadron of seven ships was ordered by Starfleet Operations. Commodore Jensen, a squadron commander posted near Klingon space, famously boasted that this new design would “easily defeat a Klingon Bird-of-Prey.”

The Klingon Empire was not impressed by his remark.

All Federation diplomats were expelled from the Khitomer Diplomatic Center. The Chancellor openly expressed disappointment and frustration to the Federation President. Several heads of major Klingon houses advocated to shift resources away from their pollution cleanup and back to military construction. A diplomatic crew led by Curzon Dax was able to restore the peace. Commodore Jensen resigned in disgrace, and most of his “pet” programs were suspended indefinitely. Utopia Planitia’s facilities at McKinley Station were stuck with seven nearly-complete ships that no longer had a purpose.

It was Ambassador Dax himself who suggested that the ships be redesignated and repurposed instead of scrapped. Starfleet assigned them directly to their dedicated Federation Council Support Group as diplomatic transports and courier vessels, and declared that would only be used deep within the Federation interior. Most of their offensive and defensive capabilities were removed in favor of expanded passenger amenities. Each ship is crewed by 58 Starfleet personnel (who have additional certification for diplomatic missions).

As of 2382, six of the original seven remained in service with the Federation Council. A seventh, the SS Servia, was redeployed to Cygnia Minor for Federation Merchant Marine Academy cadet training cruises.

Specifications:
Entered Service: 2318
Active Ships: 7
Endurance: 2 months
Length: 202 meters
Beam: 98 meters
Complement: 58 crew

Designer’s Notes:

Personally, I think smaller ships make sense for most Starfleet missions.

In my mind, the post TNG- and Lower Decks- era should really only have one Galaxy-class equivalent and a few Luna-class equivalents for every forty or fifty Nova-class or Saber-class ships in the fleet. Paramount’s designers seem to disagree with me. So, I’m shifting that idea back to the Lost Era, and building an assortment of small, specialized, 98-meter-wide cutters to augment the much larger (but much rarer, in my mind) Ambassador-class exploration cruisers.

For this one--the idea was exactly what I described in the fluff. I’ve always loved the little TMP-era Okinawa frigates from the old PC games, and this is my attempt at an equivalent that would have launched alongside the Ambassador-class.

This model is built using components from CaptainMojo’s excellent parts kits. Most components have been stretched, skewed, flipped, and otherwise transformed.

Part Kits Used:

• Niagara-class (saucer and warp nacelles, heavily modified)
• Miranda-class (bridge decks and nacelle interfaces)
• Excelsior-class (impulse engines)
• FASA Battleship Indomitable-class (secondary hull, heavily modified)
• Springfield-class (warp pylons are from its ventral pod mounts)

I hope you find some use for this ship!