Medical ships are a staple of the galaxy and of course, with the inauguration of Starfleet, they were produced and have been a common sight in the Federation since then. In the 2360’s the Hope and Nightingale classes, Starfleets staple since the early 2200’s was beginning to look a bit antiquated, with comparably slow warp drive and limited range, she was not quite up to the task in hand and Starfleet gave their designers a new brief, to replace the Hope and Nightingale, both of which fulfilled substantially different roles, with a new class, the Olympic. The brief was challenging, the ship had to be capable of high warp, whilst also providing large hospital facilities, emergency evacuation capability and emergency medical support, in essence it had to be both a Rapid Reaction Medical Ship and a Hospital all rolled into one.

The design briefs were completed and submitted in 2363 and in the end, the Olympic class was chosen as the primary design and immediately put into development. With vast and highly varied medical facilities, high warp capability and excellent transport and evacuation rate, the Olympics’ only possible downside was her comparatively weak tactical ability, originally mounted with the bare minimum of weapons and shields the Olympics’ lack of defensive ability would prove to be a major problem during the next few years of her operation. The first prototype rolled off of the production line and after an extremely painless shakedown period, the class went into full time production, with an initial production run of 15 Olympic class vessels scheduled, the class looked like it had a long a vibrant history ahead of her.

It was however, during the 2nd Federation-Klingon War and the Dominion War which immediately followed it that the Olympic classes defensive weaknesses began to become a real problem. At that time there were 72 in service with the Federation and they were rushed into the combat areas to extricate casualties, under the erroneous impression that they would not be attacked whilst on humanitarian duty. Neither the Klingons, nor later the Dominion however operated under the same assumption and over a three year period, 31 of the 72 Olympic class vessels in service were lost to enemy action, despite a decision to assign escorts to the Olympic.

In the end, Starfleet’s answer was to refit the Olympic to improve her combat systems, with upgraded shields, weapons systems. Arguably the defensive upgrades may have made the Olympic more of a target to hostile vessels, however the trade off for protection is considered more than viable.

In 2380, the Olympic was refitted with brand new Warp drives, Computer Cores and processing systems as well as a major overhaul of her tactical and sensor systems, improving their efficiency and decreasing their size, to enable the fitting of a handful of extra weapons systems and improved sensor resolution and communications range. The Olympic will in theory enjoy many more years of service with Starfleet thanks to these upgrades and has a bright future.

NB: The “Bubble” Section, refers to the large spherical Primary hull of an Olympic class vessel.

Specifications

Category Medical Cruiser
Duration 60 years
Resupply 1 year
Refit 5 years
Personnel
Officers 93
Crew 279
Marines 0
Passengers 50
Speed
Cruising Speed Warp 7
Maximum Speed Warp 9.5
Emergency Speed Warp 9.9 (for 8 hours)
Dimensions
Length 330.5m
Width 155.6m
Height 96m
Decks 24
Auxiliary Craft
Shuttlebays 2
Runabouts Danube Runabout: 2
Dynasty Scout: 1
Shuttles Type 10 Shuttle: 6
Type 11 Shuttle: 4
Transports Wyvern Hopper: 8
Armament
External Defensive Systems Point Defense Batteries: 6
Shielding Systems Auto-Modulating Shields
Metaphasic Shielding
Standard Shielding System
Phasers Type IX Array: 2
Type VIII Array: 6

Deck Listing

Deck Description
1 Bridge, Captain’s Ready Room, Weapons Locker, Communications Array
2 Forward Sensor Array, XO’s Office, CoB’s Office, Observation Lounge, Senior Officer’s Quarters
3 Crew Quarters, Holodecks 5-8, Mess Hall, Gymnasium, Arboretum, Intelligence Centre, Diplomatic Facilities, Transporter Rooms 1+2, Airlock 1, Security Station, VIP/Guest Quarters
4 Crew Quarters, Holodecks 1-4, Lounge, Mess Hall, Child Care Facilities, Bubble Environmental Control
5 Crew Quarters, Shuttlebay 1 Upper Level
6 Crew Quarters, Shuttlebay 2 Lower Level, Security Centre, CTSO’s Office, Armoury, Transporter Room 3
7 Chief Science Officer’s Office, Science Labs 1-6, Astrometrics, Holo-lab 1-4, Medical Labs 1-6, Medical Isolation Labs 1-2, Astrometric Sensor Array
8 Primary Hull: Cargo Bays 1-6, Cargo Transporters 1-6
Secondary Hull: Engineering Level One, Computer Core Level 1, Operations Centre, Chief Operations Officer’s Office
9 Primary Hull: Cargo Bays 7-12, Cargo Transporters 7-16, Industrial Replicators 1-4, Deuterium Storage Tanks
Secondary Hull: Engineering Level Two, Computer Core Level 2, Warp Nacelle Access, Impulse Engines, Anti-matter storage pods
10 Primary Hull: Medical Supply Storage Bays 1-5, Cargo Transporters 17-22
Secondary Hull: Engineering Level Three, Computer Core Level 3, Chief Engineer’s Office, Structural Integrity Field Generators, Shield Generators
11 Primary Hull: Shuttlebay 2, Emergency Triage Centre, Transporter Rooms 7-14
Secondary Hull: Shuttlebay, Chief Flight Control Officer’s Office
12 Primary Hull: Shuttlebay, Emergency Triage Centre, Transporter Rooms 15-21
Secondary Hull: Shuttlebay
13 Primary Hull: Emergency Triage Centre, Transporter Rooms 22-28
Secondary Hull: Shuttle Maintenance, Surgical Bays 1-6, Surgical Recovery Ward 1
14 Primary Hull: Surgical Bays 7-20
Secondary Hull: Surgical Recovery Wards 2+3, Intensive Care Ward 1
15 Primary Hull: Intensive Care Ward 2, Isolation Bays 1-4, Isolation Bay Environmental Sub-systems
Secondary Hull: General Purpose Wards 1-4
16 Primary Hull: Deflector Control, Lower Sensor Array, Secondary Communications Array, Waste Reclamation
Secondary Hull: Hospital Wards 5-8, Chief Medical Officer’s Office
17 Secondary Triage Centre, Transporter Rooms 29-35, Intensive Care Ward 3
18 Secondary Triage Centre, Transporter Rooms 36-42, Intensive Care Ward 4
19 Specialist Medical Officer’s Offices and Treatment Rooms, Maternity Ward, Neonatal Care Ward, Pediatrics Wards 1-2, Dental Offices
20 General Purpose Wards 5-9, On call Rooms
21 General Purpose Wards 10-16, On call Rooms
22 General Purpose Wards 17-24, On call Rooms
23 Medical Supply Storage 6-10, Cargo Transporters 23-28, General Purpose Wards 25-28
24 Morgue, Cold Storage Bays 1-4

Ships of the Line

  • USS Banting
  • USS Fleming
  • USS Hippocrates
  • USS Nightingale
  • USS Jenner
  • USS McCoy