Type:

Cruiser

Commissioned:

2158 - 2166

Dimensions:

Length:

104 m

Beam:

48 m

Height:

40 m

Decks:

10

Mass:

30,000 tons

Crew:

229

Armament:

4 x Laser cannon, total output 1,000 TeraWatts

2 x Missile launch tubes + 24 fusion missiles

Defense Systems:

Shield system, total capacity 40,500 TeraJoules

Standard Monotanium single hull

Low level Structural Integrity Field

Warp Speeds:

Normal Cruise: Warp 4

(TNG Scale)

Maximum Cruise: Warp 4.5

Maximum Rated: Warp 4.9

Strength Indices:

Beam Firepower: 20

(Galaxy Class = 1000)

Torpedo Firepower: 5

Weapon Range & Accuracy: 100

Shield Strength: 5

Hull Armor: 1

Speed: 60

Combat Maneuverability: 3800

Overall Strength Index: 40

Diplomatic Capability:

Grade 2

Expected Hull Life:

30 years

Refit Cycle:

Minor: 1 year

Standard: 2 years

Major: 10 years

Added Features:

The Human / Romulan war was Humanities first interstellar conflict after more than forty years of total peace. Thus, while the Romulans began the war with a well tested fleet of purpose designed combat vessels, the Humans where trying to hold them back with converted merchant vessels augmented by the occasional ship bought from an alien government. From the first day of the war it was obvious that a new class of warships was needed, ships that where larger, faster and more powerful than any which had preceded them. Work began at a feverish pace early in 2156, and by mid 2158 the first of the new Daedalus class was launched

The designers where urged to be daring, and they certainly took this advice to heart. Instead of the integrated hull form which most previous ships had possessed, the Daedalus class was the first design which featured a multi-hulled configuration. The engineering section was a cylinder six decks tall which housed the ships heavy engineering equipment - the warp core, structural integrity and inertial damper field generator systems, shield generators, hangar bays, impulse drive, etc. This hull was connected by a two deck neck to a spherical primary hull which housed the ships main weapons, control areas and provision for the crew. The Daedalus class was intended to remain in space for up to a full year with minimum outside support, far longer than any pervious design. The accommodation standards where thus much improved compared to the ships which began the Romulan war; the senior officers had individual rooms, while all enlisted personnel had barracks style accommodations. Considering that contemporary vessels slept everybody below the rank of Lieutenant Commander in hammocks hung wherever there was room, the Daedalus represented a quantum leap in luxury

Primarily a combat vessel, the class was fitted with four laser cannon of the heaviest type in service and a magazine of twenty four fusion missiles. Combined with her high speed and enhanced shield capacity, the Daedalus was considered equal to any four Romulan warships. In service they proved exemplary, rapidly acquiring a fearsome reputation on the front lines. By 2159 the rapidly growing Daedalus fleet had turned the tide in the war, and by the end of that year they where routinely striking deep into Romulan home territory. The Romulans, faced with a war now fought almost wholly on their own territory, sued for peace in 2160

When the United Federation of Planets was formed in 2161, the constitution called on members to supply the newly formed Starfleet with ships until purpose-built vessels could be constructed. The pacifist Vulcan's where reluctant to devote resources to what they considered a military force, but the Humans had no such qualms; of the fleet of seventy Daedalus class vessels in service in 2161, they turned over no less than sixty of these to Starfleet. With Starfleet assigned a major scientific and exploratory role in addition to its secondary military mission, this bold move bought the Humans a huge stake in the future of the Federation. Virtually every exploratory mission, every first contact, every new scientific discovery made in the first eighty years of the UFP was made by Daedalus class starships under Human command and carrying wholly Human crews