| California class | |
|---|---|
| |
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Type: |
Support ship |
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Affiliation: |
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Status: |
Active (late 32nd century) |
| Career | |
| Dimensions | |
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Length: |
532.2m |
| Specifications | |
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Decks: |
At least 20 |
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Speed: |
Warp 8 |
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Armament: |
|
|
Defenses: |
Deflector shields |
| |
| Master systems display | |
- "I guess those Cali-class ships can hold their own longer than people think."
- — William T. Riker, to Carol Freeman, 2380
The California class, nicknamed Cali class, was a type of Federation starship in service during the late 24th century. They were support ships designed for second contact missions.
History[]
Two California-class ships in 2381
By the 2380s, the California class had been in service for a long time, such as that some examples of the class were beginning to "fall apart". However, new ships of the class continued to be commissioned. Starfleet Command was reluctant to change the senior staff of California-class starships.
At least three ships of this class were lost in 2380: the USS Merced was irreparably damaged from exposure to a terraforming emulsion that leaked from an ancient generation ship, the USS Rubidoux was subsumed by a space-dwelling lifeform, and the USS Solvang was destroyed with all hands by an enhanced Pakled vessel.
In 2381, Vice Admiral Les Buenamigo advocated decommissioning the California class and replacing them with his new Texas-class automated starships. Protesting that the Texas class had not been tested, Captain Carol Freeman of the USS Cerritos convinced Starfleet Command to hold a "second contact race" between her ship and the USS Aledo. Though the Aledo won the race, it was later discovered its artificial intelligence was fatally flawed due to having been coded by Sam Rutherford.
The entire California-class fleet arrives to defend the Cerritos
Unwilling to countenance a problem that could set his pet project back decades, Buenamigo switched the Aledo to independent control and ordered it to destroy the Cerritos. Instead, its AI went rogue, killing him and attacking Douglas Station alongside its sister ships. The Cerritos crew managed to bait them away and destroyed two of them by detonating its warp core between them. Meanwhile, Beckett Mariner had rallied all thirty-two other active ships of the California class to aid the Cerritos, and together they destroyed the Aledo.
By the early 25th century after a thorough evaluation of the data brought back from the USS Voyager after its return from the Delta Quadrant Starfleet had developed enough extreme long-range propulsion technologies to make regular exploration of the Galaxies most distant region possible.
As such support for these exploration fleet ships was still vitally needed so smaller cyclical-based Quantum slipstream drives were added to several Cali class ships, increasing the classes maximum velocity from a standard factor of 9 to 23 for a time length of 90 minutes before the drive has to automatically power down before either overheating or possibly drained from a finite amount of fuel.
These upgraded ships were nicknamed as the "Delta Pit Stop" fleet as they had to speed to an emergency situation, perform repairs as quickly as possible and return to their home region with equal speed due to the fuel and performance limitations of the Drive. The pit stop fleet remained in use within its initial form for nearly 15 years.
Rebuild[]
full orthographic views of rebuild and size comparison with its 24th century contemporary
By the 3180s Starfleet once again began extensive exploration and reunification with estranged member species across both the Milky Way after the "Burn" and neighboring galaxies and as such a support fleet was vitally needed once again. So as with the legendary Constitution and several other classic ship classes, the California was rebuilt to the technical standards of the era as well.
Constructed twice as large and with heavier multi-molecular weapons than its predecessor, the 32nd-century Cali was structured as a fully mobile repair station and emergency dry dock with its saucer section built as a hollow disk to accommodate smaller injured ships throughout Starfleet.
Technical data[]
Physical arrangement[]
Ventral forward view showing California-class configuration
The California class consisted of a saucer section with a pair of warp nacelle pylons attached directly to its ventral surface. The pylons contained turbolift access in their aft-most section. A small secondary hull, bearing the navigational deflector dish, was mounted between the nacelles via a second pair of pylons.
Propulsion systems[]
The maximum safe velocity of the California class was warp 8. It could exceed this speed for short bursts, but at the risk of severe structural damage. The warp core was located in the secondary hull. The warp core ejection system required simultaneous authorization from two officers.
Unlike Galaxy-class starships, the warp engine of this class incorporated inverted plasma distributors. It was believed that these caused the sound of their warp engines to be a little bit higher pitch, however, other sources maintained that the unique sound was caused by the vibrations in the dilithium dispersement manifold.
Tactical systems[]
The California class was armed with phaser arrays and photon torpedoes. The shield array of this class was capable of auto-repair, which was regulated by an isolinear core. If the core were removed, the shields would be drained faster than normal when under attack.
Interior design[]
The saucer section contained eleven decks. Among the noted shipboard facilities was Cetacean Ops. The corridors used graphenated corridor joists, which could be susceptible to fire.
Main bridge[]
The bridge was located on Deck 2. The basic layout of the bridge was similar to bridges aboard Galaxy-class starships (specifically the bridge of the USS Enterprise-D). The captain's chair at the center, flanked by chairs for the first officer to the right, and an additional officer to the left. The first officer chair was equipped with a manual steering column. Unlike the bridges aboard Galaxy-class starships, the additional seats did not include side consoles. Behind the seats was the security station.
Ready room[]
The captain's ready room was located off the bridge, with a single room-wide window to space. The room featured shelving and framing built into the walls, a desk and chairs, a replicator, and bench-style seating along the wall opposite the desk.
Conference rooms[]
There were several conference rooms, including a senior conference room, executive conference room, and Conference Room 5.
Main engineering[]
Shuttlebays[]
The main shuttlebay was located in the secondary hull and faced aft. Two additional shuttlebays were located on either side of the saucer section rim, spanning Decks 5 and 6 with further room for shuttlecraft storage deeper into Deck 6.
The ship carried a complement of at least five Type 6A shuttlecraft and had at least four Argo-type ground vehicle stored on Decks 5 and 7 adjacent to the shuttlebay. The MSD also depicted several Type 8 shuttlecraft. The ship also carried a captain's yacht in a separate bay.
Repair bay[]
This class contained a number of repair bays. Repair Bay 5 was located on Deck 11, close to the upper hull.
Storage bay[]
The class had at least seven storage bays.
Hydroponics bay[]
The class was equipped with a hydroponics bay that was said, by D'Vana Tendi, to be "great for biomedical research, or just for flower fans." Below the hydroponics bay was, in essence, a swamp that, on the Cerritos, contained dangerously high levels of nitrous oxide due to a Tamarian defrin root being cultivated on that vessel.
Transporter room[]
This class is known to have at least eight transporter rooms.
Sickbay[]
Sickbay was located on Deck 8. The chief medical officer's office was room 08.019.
Brig[]
The brig contained three prisoner cells, secured by force fields that could withstand the blast of a type 2 phaser set to kill. The brig was also equipped with a replicator.
Recreation facilities[]
Upper decks of the saucer section had a bar where the crew could socialize. The mess hall was equipped with several large replicators and where the crew typically had their meals, breakfast in particular, but the bar also had two replicators imbedded within the two pillars on either side of the bar that could provide food.
Deck 9 had squash courts near the crew quarters.
The ship included at least three holodecks available for crew use.
The ship had a gym with treadmills, weight training equipment, and an anbo-jyutsu area. There was also a large, padded room for martial arts practice.
There was a gift shop where one could obtain ship-branded merchandise such as T-shirts and baseball caps.
Crew quarters[]
Lower Decks sleeping quarters
There were crew quarters on Deck 1 and Deck 4.
The lower-ranking members were barracks-style sleeping quarters, where bunk beds lined the walls in a shared living space at the lower aft portion of the saucer section. Each bunk had its own assigned recessed compartment beside it, which was opened to extend out from the wall like a drawer, and the bunk occupant could use as a closet to store a few extra uniforms or other items. Also like a drawer, the compartment could be removed entirely from its recessed alcove if needed. This area also featured a large aft-facing viewing window overlooking the secondary hull. Differing duty shifts each had their own sleeping quarters to live in. Beta shift's hallway was known to be on Deck 11. Higher ranking crew members were afforded their own quarters.
Sonic showers[]
Located off of the lower deck sleeping quarters were communal sonic showers.
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Ships commissioned[]
Named
- USS Alhambra
- USS Anaheim
- USS Burbank
- USS Carlsbad
- USS Cerritos
- USS Chula Vista
- USS Coast City
- USS Culver City
- USS Eureka
- USS Farragut
- USS Fresno
- USS Inglewood
- USS Merced
- USS Mount Shasta
- USS Oakland
- USS Pacific Palisades
- USS Redding
- USS Riverside
- USS Rubidoux - destroyed
- USS San Clemente
- USS San Diego
- USS San Jose
- USS Santa Monica
- USS Saticoy
- USS Sherman Oaks
- USS Solvang - destroyed
- USS Vacaville
- USS Vallejo
- USS West Covina
Uncertain
- USS Sacramento
32nd Century
- USS Mid-Wilshire
External Links[]
- California class article at Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek wiki.
- California class article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.
- California class article at Star Trek Expanded Universe.
- California Miracle Worker Utility Cruiser article at The Star Trek Online Wiki.