Type:

Enhanced Scientific/Diplomatic Explorer

Commissioned:

2345 - 2352

Dimensions:

Length:

326 m

Beam:

250 m

Height:

134 m

Decks:

16, excluding nacelle engineering spaces

Mass:

900,000 tons

Crew:

245

Armament:

4 x Type VIII Phaser arrays, total output 7,500 TeraWatts

2 x Type 2 burst fire photon torpedo tubes + 50 torpedoes

Defense Systems:

Shield system, total capacity 337,500 TeraJoules

Standard Duranium single hull

Standard level Structural Integrity Field

Warp Speeds:

Normal Cruise: Warp 6

(TNG Scale)

Maximum Cruise: Warp 9

Maximum Rated: Warp 9.4 for twelve hours

Strength Indices:

Beam Firepower: 300

(Galaxy Class = 1000)

Torpedo Firepower: 700

Weapon Range & Accuracy: 105

Shield Strength: 80

Hull Armor: 75

Speed: 890

Combat Maneuverability: 1100

Overall Strength Index: 370

Diplomatic Capability:

Grade 4

Expected Hull Life:

60 years

Refit Cycle:

Minor: 1 year

Standard: 5 years

Major: 25 years

Added Features:

The Cheyenne project was approved in 2338 as a Scoutship to counterpart the New Orleans class Frigate and the upcoming Galaxy and Nebula class Explorers. As with most scouts the Cheyenne was intended to be somewhat faster than its contemporaries in order to allow it to travel out ahead of the main body of a fleet. In order to accomplish this, the Cheyenne was fitted with four nacelles in the pattern established by the much earlier Constitution class

Initially, all did not go well with the Cheyenne. Starfleet has relatively limited experience with four nacelle designs, and a good deal of difficulty was experienced with the warp field geometry. Eventually these problems where overcome and the USS Cheyenne, launched in 2344, achieved a maximum speed of Warp 9.4 in trials. However, in December of 2344 the Galaxy project received new specifications calling for a top speed of Warp 9.6. With the prototype about to enter service and five more ships under construction, it was already too late to make any serious attempt to improve the top speed of the Cheyenne, so Starfleet was forced to bring a scout into service which was some 10% slower than the vessels it was supposed to work with

Over the succeeding years several attempts where made to bring the speed of the Cheyenne up to Warp 9.7, but problems with the field geometry began to re-surface with alarming regularity. This culminated with a test on board the USS Ahwahnee; when a new computer control system was tried out the ship created a wormhole effect on its first test flight. Although the Ahwahnee survived and there where no casualties, the subspace stress caused severe cracking in the hull structure of all four nacelle struts. The ship was in spacedock for over a year while the struts where replaced. Starfleet suspended production of the class in 2352 after twenty five had been commissioned, mothballing the six ships under construction

The Cheyenne has proved less than successful in service. Her relatively low speed has restricted her performance in her designed role, and she has been forced to operate in the role of a Frigate. She is not especially suited to this task - certainly not when compared to the New Orleans class which was purpose designed for the role. As a result the Cheyenne's have been given a very low priority for refits and upgrades, and have fallen considerably behind the rest of Starfleet in this respect