Schematics:
Type: Runabout
Height: 5.4m
Length: 23.1m
Beam: 13.7m
Mass: 158.7 Metric Tons
Weapons: Micro Torpedoes
Six Type-X Phasers
Warp factor: 5
|
Summary:
Ships of this class are commonly called "Runabouts", and are usually used by space stations for short-range interstellar travel. Runabouts are small starships for personnel transport over longer distances than shuttlecrafts. The Danube Class runabouts are equipped with an exchangeable habitation module and an optional photon torpedo module at the top of the spacecraft. The ships which have been introduced around 2370 are usually named after rivers on the planet Earth. The runabout is a true multirole starship with engine efficiencies and cargo capacities proportional to larger vessels. The Danube Class project began as a vehicle study in 2363 at the ASDB (Advanced Starship Design Bureau) for a ship that could perform a variety of scientific, resupply, and personnel-transfer missions. The prototype USS Danube, NX-72003, was ordered constructed at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards in 2365, and began flight trials off the surface of Mars in early 2368.
The mission directives of the Danube Class included the ability to perform rapid-response scientific expedition transporation, the ability to act as an orbital or landed temporary ops base for science missions, to move intact experiment and cargo modules from site to site, and perform emergency and tactical missions limited only by the onboard supplies of fuel, weapons, and consumables.
Runabouts have typically carried no armaments beyond the six standard phaser strips mounted two forward, two on the nacelles, and two on the aft living module. They also use 13.3-centimeter microtorpedoes, as well as at least four full-sized photon or quantum torpedoes.
The continued production of the Danube Class runabout has been approved by Starfleet for the foreseeable future, even as a follow-on vehicle is undergoing initial design reviews and systems simulations at the ASDB. Spaceframe and systems tooling has been replicated and dispersed to three additional sites beyond the initial Utopia Planitia Yards, so that rapid deliveries of replacement runabouts can continue, pending Starfleet work order priorities and processed materials availability.
|
