Monday, July 27, 2020

Watchtower Class


Starbase Alpha, aka Alpha Sky

Class 
Watchtower (Upgraded)

Type 
Deep space colony support facility and supply manufacture/staging outpost

Dimensions 
Diameter: 849 m
Core Height: 921 m
Overall Height: 970 m
Decks: 263
Mass: 973,000 metric tons

Accommodation
Officers: 350
Enlisted: 1,650
Total Crew: 2,000
Civilian Capacity: 1,200
Emergency Capacity: 61,500

Reactor System
3 x heavy antimatter reactor
3 x auxiliary fusion reactor

Computer System
Primary computer core
Secondary core computer
LCARS operating system
Bio-neural circuit primary relay system
Isolinear circuit auxiliary relay system

Transporter Systems
6 x Industrial Cargo Transporters
6 x 1-person Voice-Destination Entry Transporters
12 x 6-person Manned Personnel Transporters
16 x 22-person Manned Emergency Transporters

Armament
16 x Type-XIII phaser arrays
12 x Burst-fire torpedo launchers

Defensive Systems
High-Capacity Deflector Shield System
Light Duranium/Tritanium Single Hull
12 Centimeters Ablative Armor
Low-level Structural Integrity Field

Docking Facilities
12 x Starship Docking Ports
4 x Interior Starship Docking Bays
8 x Shuttle/Small Craft Docking Bays

Support Craft
1 x Arrow-class Runabout
20 x Type-8 Shuttles
20 x Type-9 Shuttles
10 x Type-11 Shuttles
10 x Danube-class Runabouts
128 x 15-person Rescue Capsules
30 x Sphinx Workpods
25 x Workbees

Notes
1.) The above specifications are specific to the base repurposed for installation over Alpha Luna in the Psychonia System. Other Watchtower-class starbases remaining in service across Federation space may have retained their original design parameters.

2.) Some of the specifications for the Watchtower-class starbase are taken from the information foldout included with the first novel of the Star Trek: Vanguard series. Adjustments have been made based on speculation and for storyline purposes. For instance, I don't know if the given height of 921 meters includes the communications transmitter rod at the top and the full extended length of the sensor dish at the bottom; for the purposes of this document it does not, and I have assigned a combined total of 49 meters to both, for an overall height of 970 meters.

3.) In the BtS universe, the Watchtower-class was purposefully designed to be more of a stop-and-go facility than a major starport, its primary function being that of an orbital support and defense platform for surface-based facilities on colony worlds far from the Federation core. The secondary purpose is the manufacture of standard replenishable supplies for passing starships.

4.) The interior starship docking bays could fit a vessel the size of a Constitution-class starship for extended repair, but just barely, based on diagrams I have seen. The original Connie was 289 meters long and 72.6 in height, so in order for it to not be touching the inside bulkheads, I have estimated a distance of 325 meters from the hull to the turbolift/machinery stack in the middle of the base and a height of 125 meters. This means that the only modern ships that will fit would have to be small scouts and surveyors.