Constellation Class

Starfleet Databanks of Ships

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Constellation Class

The Constellation class of starship is less a technological advance than a reworked rehashed offshoot of the Miranda Class. The saucer is essentially a Miranda's with added decks and other scant modifications -- none of which should practically be revered to as "improvements." The warp drive system supports four Constitution Modification warp nacelles rotated 90 degrees to outboard and two reactors; a brute force improvement over the Miranda, but its components are the same stock pieces used in the Constitution Modification and the Miranda class. Basically, the Constellation class was constructed from components that Starfleet engineers already had "on the shelf," which accounts for the Constellations' quick R&D time and easy serviceability. While maintenance is relatively simple due to the availability of components, it is required quite often due to the patchwork design of this class. Even though the Constellations have their problems, they have their strong points, too. The addition of an extra warp core allowed for safer deep-space exploration than its twin-engined counterparts. The extra warp power also allowed more power to be drawn from the engines and diverted to defensive systems, which made the Constellations formidable warships for their day. That day is now over, however. The Constellation owes its limited success to brute force, not any engineering marvels.

U.S.S. Constellation, NCC-1974