BLUE RIDGE-class Destroyer

[Drumming Hawk]

Although I still need a volunteer to help with modeling the finished product, ASR CO COVENTRY has agreed to help me with finishing up the two dimensional designs for what is now being called the Blue Ridge-class.

This new design will look to the New Orleans hull for inspiration and will seek to bring that style forward into a time period that is several decades past the Voyager series ... namely year 2519.

Although being designed originally for use in PBeM universe of Star Trek: Frontiers, I would love to see a mesh created from the design that would be available for use by the public.

Included with this post is a developmental logo / patch I created for project.

I will post what the original drafts by ASR CO COVENTRY for this project that he did a little over a year ago as well as the rough draft alterations shortly.

[Drumming Hawk]

Ok ... In the stories of Star Trek: Frontiers, the New Orleans class hulls were upgraded and the design continued through what we called the Cavalla-class Destroyer.

It became a mainstay in our game and has survived many years of game play but the design is aged and seen its time in the sun.

So we began looking for ways to update the design.

Originally, we nicknamed it the "Cavalla Project" which is what Ed's original drawings have written on them, but since then it was decided to give the class a new name and consider it a fresh and completely new design instead of a refit.

Here are some of Ed's original drawings:

[Drumming Hawk]

After months with this project remaining silent, the time finally seems right to bring the design back out again and see it not only finished ... but hopefully taken to the point of seeing it move forward.

For our part in ST:F, we are going to have fun writing stories around the ship being produced and designed in story even why in the real world the designs are finalized in 2D, the stats are drafted, and hopefully we find someone to help put it into 3D production.

Background for the class:

In the ST:F writing universe, ship designers realized that larger was not always better. This was realized after losing a few ships with a 1,000+ souls each not too mention the cost in resources and production time.

Think about it ... You can technically produce two destroyers for the same time and resources of one larger ship.

So the engineers decided to put more punch into smaller packages.

The Blue Ridge-class will be a multi-mission destroyer created in the style of a New Orleans-class.

Interchangable mission pods will be able to help change and enhance the mission profiles of the ship with just a short stay in dry dock.

Missions will range from command destroyer to combat to exploration to general duty.

The following images are created using elements from Ed's original drawings to give the idea of what the design is evolving into.

On his end, Ed is drafting the changes in the superb style he is known for.

One of the rough drafts here shows the design with pods and the other without.

[Lord Ravensburg]

Its an interesting design... Ed does some nice work.

[Drumming Hawk]

Question ... For a ship around the size of a New Orleans-class ... what types and variations of mission pods would you see on a ship like this one?

Right now, I am seeing the following ...

Sensor pod for Exploration purposes

Sensor pod for Combat situations

Sensor / Communication gear for Command coordination ... say for destroyer squadrons, relief effort missions, etc.

Weapons pod ... extra Torpedo bays, etc.

May be even one that is a shuttle bay / flight deck.

Might even have one that offers additional space for conversion into a hospital ship.

Thoughts and ideas?

And you are definitely right ... Ed does outstanding work.

[Lord Ravensburg]

Those are all valid options for pods... I like the idea of a hospital ship varient, not done very often..

[Drumming Hawk]

Originally Posted by Lord Ravensburg

Those are all valid options for pods... I like the idea of a hospital ship varient, not done very often..

Others might be to convert the ship into a fleet tender for resupplying or even one to convert the ship into an on-site engineering repair ship.

[Drumming Hawk]

A friend of mine asked me if I was planning to replace all the ships in the fleet with this design.

As I told him ... Not really, but it would help to fill in some of the gaps and serve as a backup to some of the other classes.

[Lord Ravensburg]

As far as the mobile repair pod, that would only seem to work with small repairs that can be done in space. But the precedent for that would be that the on board Engineering crew could do that while underway...

[Drumming Hawk]

One of the things Ed told me is that he was never really happy with the nacelles he drew that are on the last version I presented.

What do all of you think regarding them?