 The USS Prometheus, a Prometheus class starship In the Star Trek fictional universe, the Prometheus class starship is an experimental make of attack vessel used by Starfleet.
Thus far, the only known ship of this type is the USS Prometheus (NX-74913), which appeared in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager entitled "Message in a Bottle". Another of this class was seen in Voyager's season finale, but the ships' name has not been determined.
In standard configuration, a ship of this class is composed of an arrowhead-shaped primary hull attached directly to a short, small secondary hull supporting four warp nacelles on short pylons in an 'X' configuration. In battle, this ship may divide into three ships — the saucer, the upper engineering hull, and the lower engineering hull — to allow for multiple independently moving weapons platforms, an expansion on the Galaxy class' concept of saucer separation.
The class makes much greater use of holographic systems than earlier vessels. The entire ship is fitted with holographic projectors, allowing the ship's Emergency Medical Hologram to move outside sickbay, enabling him to treat injuries sustained during battle as quickly as possible.
The Prometheus class is a test bed of technologies being researches by Starfleet. Because of this it has some features and capabilities which have proven useful, and some that are not. One of the most obvious these experimental features is the Multi Vector Attack Mode (MVAM). In battle, this separation is a poor decision because of the vulnerabilities into which it places the ship. The ship has now been split into three elements, each having only approximately one-third of the defensive capability as the ship as a whole; were one section destroyed, the Prometheus would have lost one-third of its combat capability whereas had it not seperated it would still be operating at full combat potential. Starfleet realized the poor choice of using this design feature and altered the Prometheus and began work on a new Prometheus design that is roughly 25% larger as well as eliminating the MVAM capabilities. With room saved on the embedded warp engines in the upper section, the new Prometheus will likely prove a better design for battle. It is not known if more weapon systems are to be put onto the outer hull to make up for lost systems that were formerly on the planes of separation and covered in standard configuration.
In reality, the Prometheus class was designed by Star Trek: Voyager senior illustrator Rick Sternbach and rendered as a computer generated image by Foundation Imaging. The interiors were designed by series production designer Richard James, using redressed portions of the re-created USS Excelsior (NCC-2000) bridge that James made for "Flashback" as well as the Voyager sickbay, in addition to new sets.
Note that two registries have been seen for the Prometheus: NX-59650 and NX-74913. The NX-59650 registry can be clearly seen on the hull and the NX-74913 comes from the dedication plaque and master situation display. Most agree that the higher number 74913 is more likely as the Prometheus is a very new starship. 59650 is possibly a mistake made by the CGI modelers. 74913 was used for the purposes of this article.
Specifications
- Production facility: Antares Fleet Yards, Antares IV
- Type: Battleship
- Dimensions: Unknown
- Displacement: Unknown
- Accommodation: Unknown
- Propulsion:
- One or more nuclear fusion impulse engines
- Six warp engines (1st section: two, within spaceframe; 2nd and 3rd: two each, all external)
- Performance: Warp 9.9 cruise; maximum speed unknown
- Weaponry:
- Standard configuration:
- 12 type-ten or better phaser arrays
- 2 torpedo launchers
- MVAM configuration:
- Upper section
- 6 type-ten or better phaser arrays
- 1 torpedo launcher
- Middle section
- 4 type-ten or better phaser arrays
- 1 torpedo launcher
- Bottom section
- 8 type-ten or better phaser arrays
- 1 torpedo launcher
- Totals:
- 18 type-ten or better phaser arrays
- 3 torpedo launchers
- Defenses:
- Auxiliary vessels: Unknown; lifeboats and shuttlecraft are likely
Known Prometheus class vessels
- USS Prometheus (NX-74913)
- Named for the titan in Greek mythology who gave fire to humanity (see: Prometheus), the Prometheus was launched from the Antares Fleet Yards in 2374 on stardate 50749.5. The ship was classified, made in total secret, with only four people in all of Starfleet trained in the operation of her bridge. While on one of its first test flights the Prometheus was hijacked by Romulans who killed her crew. While escaping Federation space the Prometheus was intercepted by a group comprising a Nebula class, an Akira class, and two Defiant class vessels. Control of the ship was regained by its EMH and the EMH from the USS Voyager (NCC-74656).
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