Constitution-III Class

History

When the USS Titan was pulled into spaceport, suffering from heavy damage as a result of recent actions by Starfleet Captain William Riker, the original intent was to begin a complete refit of the starship. As work began, the realization was that the starship had suffered such excessive damage, that it was necessary to rebuild most of the spaceframe, leading to a discussion of whether or not to scrap the vessel entirely. 

At the same time, a need for a new era of starship that would allow for future exploration with an established frame. Following the successes of the Sagan, Pathfinder, Ross, and Reliant programs, the team was recommended to look at mothballed ships to see if they could find a design that worked. One engineer mislabelled the USS Titan, NCC-2575, as a Constitution-II and requested that ship. Only after it arrived in spacedock, and was discovered to be a Shangri-La class, along with the irony of the mistake, did the team decide to keep the ship and begin work immediately. 

The USS Titan (NCC-80102) and USS Titan (NCC-2575) were placed into a shared drydock, where the teams began looking to see what pieces of technology could be shared across the two. The gutting of 2575 took nearly a year, during which time significant alterations were made as they went, to adapt the new systems to the existing ship. The nacelles were the first part, with the existing nacelle casing adapted to fit 80102’s nacelle components. From there the team could work backwards to the engineering station, to find how to properly integrate and equip the warp core into the design. At the same time, another team began reskinning the ship in modern armor and weapons, to allow it to be able to pack a punch. The saucer section during this time began to take on a new appearance, while keeping the distinctive profile of the original. 

A problem was caught, part way through the hull rebuild, that the impulse engines from 80102 would not be significant enough to power the ship. A team from Daystrom brought forward modern impulse engines, which when placed inside the large frames for 2575, resulting in the single highest power-to-sub-light geometry in the fleet. This would go on to become the defining feature of this new class of ship. 

Where the Luna class that 80102 was part of had been built following a series of conflicts and had to function as a combat ship, the new vessel was instead supposed to fill the role of a scientific exploration vessel, with combat capabilities as a secondary focus. It was designated as a Long Range Exploration Vessel, with its combat designation being only that of a Light Cruiser. This resulted in lower levels of weapons compared to ships of similar size and tonnage of the era. 

Completed in late 2396, the prototype was originally called the USS Shangri-La, while she underwent space trials to make sure all the systems were completed. Once she was approved for active Service, she was re-designated the USS Titan once more, with the registry NCC-80102-A, in reference to the great work done by the previous two USS Titan’s before it. 

Officially designated the Constitution-III in honour of the mistake by the engineer, and it’s intended role as a modern take on the Constitution of antiquity, it is affectionately referred to many as the Neo-Constitution, a name used internally by the engineers during the rebuild, and the name that had been derived for future ships based on its design.