Odyssey class

The starship was the largest Starfleet vessel ever constructed, entering service in 2409 at the height of the Third Federation-Klingon War.

History
First conceptualized in 2404, the Odyssey-class was conceptually an extension of the design lineage of a large multirole cruiser. Due to its size and power it was classified as a dreadnought. In peacetime it could serve the role of an explorer on long-term deep space missions. In wartime, the vessel was meant to act as the hard-hitting core of large starship formations, though it was fully capable of solo operations.

The design received final approval in 2406 and the first four ships of the class began construction that year. USS Endurance would be constructed at San Francisco Fleet Yards, while USS Odyssey (NCC-97000), USS Houston (NCC-97284), and USS Valentine were laid down at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards.

In 2408 the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) had to be decommissioned due to battle damage sustained under classified circumstances. The incomplete USS Endurance was redesignated the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-F). Captain Data of the Enterprise-E was offered command but refused.

The Enterprise-F was first off the lot in mid-2409, dispatched to Deep Space 9 before her official launch and with much of her interior still incomplete, as the flagship of Vice Admiral Manuele Atoa with Captain Va'Kel Shon as flag captain, leading half of Home Fleet to reinforce Starfleet against 2,800 time-displaced Dominion warships that had appeared through the Bajoran wormhole. The action was successful, and Starfleet Command ordered a second production run of twenty ships. The Odyssey, Houston, and Valentine would be completed and launched in mid-August, with the Enterprise joining the launch ceremony for her official debut.

The first Odyssey-class would be lost in battle in December of that year when the Houston engaged a pair of command ships of Borg Unimatrix 0047. Admiral became separated from his screening vessels, and the ship was struck amidships by a plasma lance and vanished in a fireball seconds later.

Physical arrangement
The Odyssey-class used the same basic "flying spoon" saucer-hull-nacelle arrangement common to most Starfleet capital ships. Like the of nearly sixty years before, it was composed of two hull sections:  an egg-shaped, domed primary hull, and a detachable secondary hull housing the main engines and warp drive. They could be reversibly separated, affording the stardrive section improved agility.

The stardrive section was reminiscent of an enlarged, with the saucer fitted to a triangular dock that mated to the engineering hull by two slender necks. The warp nacelles were long, wide-spread, and mounted to the engineering hull by aft-swept pylons.

Propulsion
In addition to the impulse engines and warp drive common to all Starfleet vessels, the Odyssey-class was the first design since the to mount a quantum slipstream drive as a standard feature. The dual-neck design afforded the vessel improved stability under QSD, enabling it to sustain the slipstream twice as long as any other vessel. This gave it the highest effective FTL speed ever achieved by a known Alpha Quadrant civilization, equivalent to transwarp factor 34.71.

Tactical systems
The Odyssey-class was heavily armed and incredibly resilient under enemy fire. With the saucer docked it mounted enough phaser arrays to be able to hit any point in surrounding space with at least four beams simultaneously, and carried quantum torpedoes as standard ordnance. For bombardment of hardened targets such as enemy starbases it also carried a complement of tricobalt devices.

Main bridge
The bridge of an Odyssey-class was cavernous, covering two decks with a vaulted ceiling on the underside of the inner pressure hull. It had an observation deck by the forward viewport that afforded a panoramic view of space. The commanding officer's chair and two bridge officers' chairs were in the center with a view of a large viewscreen, and surrounded by crew stations. The bridge turbolifts were on the port side, the captain's ready room was to starboard, and a seven-pad transporter was set into the aft wall. The lower deck was below the observation deck and included additional crew stations.

Transporter rooms
In addition to a dedicated transporter on the aft wall of the bridge, the Odyssey-class featured transporters at strategic locations throughout the ship.

Shuttlebays
As on most Starfleet vessels of the era the main shuttlebay of the Odyssey-class was situated on the aft rim of the saucer between its impulse engines. However, instead of carrying a secondary shuttlebay on the aft end of the engineering hull as was typical, the ship carried a specialized berth for an embarked escort.

Embarked craft

 * 1 escort
 * 6 workbees
 * 10 Type 8 shuttlecraft

Ships commissioned

 * USS Arcadia (NCC-97001)
 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-F) (NCC-1701-F)
 * USS Houston (NCC-97284) (NCC-97284)
 * USS Nimitz (NCC-97404)
 * USS Odyssey (NCC-97000) (prototype, NCC-97000)
 * USS Valentine (NCC-97002)