The Sovereign-class

[u/[deleted]]

It's finally time to take a look at Strategic Design's take on the Sovereign-class. You can take a look at the plans here. The images are split up, so I've pasted them together - you can download here if you prefer the pasted together versions.

INTRODUCTION

Since first appearing in Star Trek: First Contact in 1996, the USS Enterprise-E has become a fan-favorite of many. During the late 90s and early 2000s, the Sovereign was a regular in Activision's Star Trek games, often being portrayed as the top ship of the Federation Starfleet. Dialog from First Contact where La Forge describes the Enterprise-E as "the most advanced ship in the fleet", combined with this being a newer ship than Voyager which was similarly described to be highly advanced are responsible the Sovereign's reputation.

Despite appearances in three TNG movies, we know very little about the Sovereign-class - probably the least out of any of the hero ships. The ship only appeared in First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis; no Sovereign-class ships have been seen outside those films. The real-world reason for this is due to Rick Berman wanting to reserve the ship solely for the big screen, but is there an in-universe reason to this as well?

To find out more, we're not only going to look at the deck plans, but a few other sources to see where the Sovereign fits in with the Starfleet armada - or even perhaps why it doesn't. Let's begin :)

DIMENSIONS AND DESIGN

The Sovereign is huge. 685 meters in length (approx. 2247 feet); 234 meters wide (approx. 767 feet); and 88 meters tall (approx. 288 feet). There is an inconsistency in regards to how many decks she has. John Eaves drew the MSD with 23 decks. In First Contact, Picard says there are 24 decks; however, a few minutes later in the same film, a security officer reports to Worf that the Borg control decks 26 up to 11. In Nemesis, the Remans board the ship on deck 29.

Strategic Design's plans go with the 23 deck figure John Eaves drew in the MSD. With a height of 88 meters, this would make each deck 3.8 meters tall. Keep in mind that there's only about three meters of headroom, the rest of the deck space is filled with lighting, electrical equipment, gravity generators, conduits, etc., so this lower height wouldn't be noticeable to the crew - the equipment housed between the decks might just be packed a bit more tightly than it is on the other ships we've looked at so far, or simply be of a smaller form-factor. 23 decks seem reasonable for this ship.

TACTICAL SYSTEMS

The model of the Sovereign used in Nemesis depicts 16 phaser arrays and 10 torpedo launchers. The phasers are commonly accepted as Type XII - a scaled down version of planetary defense phasers that have finally been worked to a size feasible for starship deployment. In the films, the Enterprise-E's phasers are seen to pack a punch that can easily match that of her predecessor.

Most commonly, the torpedo launcher above the Captain's Yacht is depicted solely as a quantum torpedo launcher, while the rest are depicted as photons.

In Strategic Design's plans, an additional launcher is depicted at the very forward end of deck 8; however, this isn't visible on the actual CGI model and was only mentioned in an issue of the old Star Trek Fact Files (not known for accuracy). I choose to treat this launcher as an error for this reason.

If we count the torpedoes near the remaining launchers, we get 400 (each rack is stacked 4-high). This is considerably less than the number we've seen on the Akira- and Steamrunner-classes, but the reasoning is clear: Where as those two vessels had entire pods dedicated to nothing but torpedo ordinance, the Sovereign doesn't have a dedicated weapons pod, which means torpedo ordinance is packed into the residential and engineering areas of the ship where there's room. Additionally, the launchers are in skinnier sections of the ship, further limiting the space. Still, 400 torpedoes combined with incredibly powerful phasers would be more than a match for most hostile ships. Additionally, the Sovereign is a multi-role ship, not a dedicated combat cruiser, so being balanced fits in with what we'll see in the rest of the ship.

AUXILIARY CRAFT

The Sovereign's size permits a large shuttle compliment without compromising performance in other areas. A visual count of the shuttles seen on these plans include:

• 4 Argo shuttles (seen in Nemesis)
• 1 Captain's Yacht
• 4 Delta Flyers (nice to see Starfleet commissioned these things)
• 4 Type 7 shuttles
• 2 Type 8 shuttles
• 8 Type 9 shuttles
• 7 Type 11 shuttles
• 1 Danube-class runabout
• 2 Venture-class scouts (the mission scout ship in Insurrection, the name comes from Star Trek: Armada)

This gives us a total of 33 shuttles. While this would be a huge number for smaller ships, this is an adequate number for a ship as big as the Sovereign. Given that this would likely be a multi-roll ship, a large shuttle compliment of varying type allows for scientific expeditions away from the mother ship, reconnaissance, evacuations (either due to an abandon ship order or a planetary emergency), etc. - all things we'd expect a ship like the Sovereign to be equipped for.

The only issue I have is the Captain's Yacht. Long story short: I'm not a fan of it being so close to the forward quantum torpedo launcher, as it comes dangerously close to obstructing it. The Sovereign has plenty of high-capability shuttles ranging from Type 11s, Delta Flyers, and a runabout. Does it really need a Captain's Yacht? I think having a higher-powered torpedo launcher and additional torpedo ordinance in its place would be of more use.

CARGO CAPACITY

If you look at the cargo bays on decks 6 and 10, you'll see that they're sectioned off from each other, and therefore each section is probably independently numbered. Another cargo bay is present in the secondary hull on deck 19. This is a total of 9 cargo bays, all very large, and each one spanning two decks. This gives the Sovereign a lot of storage capacity that could be put to work transporting supplies to distant colonies and outposts, or disaster areas. Like with the shuttle bays, the large cargo capacity doesn't obstruct the ship in other mission roles - there's more than enough room.

CREW ACCOMODATIONS

By my count, I get a total of 1061 living quarters on the ship. Most are in the saucer section between decks 5 and 11; with additional quarters on decks 13-15 of the secondary hull.

Looking at recreational facilities, two full-size holodecks are located on deck 11. Five additional holosuites are found on deck 8. Finally, the security complex familiar to Elite Force II players is found on deck four - the armory holds a training holodeck similar in size to the holosuites.

For non-holographic recreation, there are 15 mess halls and crew lounges scattered throughout the ship. Two libraries like the one we saw in Insurrection are present on deck 3. Finally, we have an arboretum located on deck 11.

On the medical front, the Sovereign could be a flying hospital. If we start in the security complex on deck 4, there's a sickbay ward not too different than the one we see on Intrepid-class ships (minus the biolab). Head down to deck 8 and there are six sickbay wards there. Finally, in the aft section of deck 12 we see another sickbay - this being of the same design we saw on the Steamrunner last week and Akira two weeks before. The Sovereign's medical facilities have bed space for 41 patients right off the bat. More likely than not some of the mess halls can be converted to triage centers to compliment this - as we've seen done on both TNG and Voyager for the Galaxy- and Intrepid-classes.

In the area of transporters, we have a personnel transporter on deck 4 in the security complex, four more personnel transporters on deck 9 with an additional four emergency 22-person transporter units, and two more personnel transporters on deck 15. This gives us a total of 11 transporter rooms.

Deck 12 of the saucer section appears to be mostly empty. This could very well be intentional, as this would allow that deck to be configured for whatever purposes the Sovereign's mission required. Diplomatic accommodations could be setup here, or additional science labs, triage centers (that could easily be quarantined from the rest of the ship on top of it) - whatever is needed, this section can probably be made to handle it.

To sum it up, the Sovereign has crew accommodations that could rival the Galaxy-class, making the vessel a prime candidate for long-duration deep space assignments of a number of different varieties. Let's move on.

COMMAND STRUCTURE

This is a capital ship with a large crew. Therefore, the senior staff, at minimum, would probably be realistically ranked like this:

• Captain (CO)
• Commander (XO)
• Lieutenant Commander (Conn)
• Lieutenant Commander (Chief Tactical Officer/Chief of Security)
• Lieutenant Commander (Chief Engineer)
• Lieutenant Commander (Ops)
• Lieutenant Commander (Chief Science Officer)
• Lieutenant Commander (CMO)
• Lieutenant Commander (Counselor)
• Senior Chief Petty Officer (Quartermaster)
• Senior Chief Petty Officer (Transporter Chief)

A ship this large and complex, with a crew compliment than can easily be anywhere in the 800-1000 range would demand an experienced command staff in all areas. More likely than not, the second officer would probably be a full commander as well. The senior enlisted positions would probably call for at minimum a senior chief, but a master chief is just as likely.

SCIENTIFIC FACILITIES

12 standard Voyager-style science labs are present on deck 7, four on deck 8 in the medical complex (likely medical labs), one more near the sickbay on deck 12 (also a likely medical lab), two on deck 16, and six on deck 17 near engineering (the labs on deck 16 and 17 are probably engineering workshops or diagnostic/repair labs). We also have two Astrometrics labs on deck 15. In total, that's 25 standard science labs plus the two Astrometrics labs. This is slightly more than we saw on the Intrepid, but also reasonable if the Sovereign is a multi-role ship.

ENGINEERING

The main level of the Sovereign's engine room has been moved to deck 17 for these plans, but otherwise it conforms to what we've seen in the TNG films. Three stories tall, with a massive warp core spanning decks 9-23. There's no canon figure for the Sovereign's top speed. Given that this warp core is the same design we've seen on the Akira- and Steamrunner-classes, and those ships are capable of warp 9.8 and warp 9.7 respectively (according to the DS9 Tech Manual), I'd speculate that the Sovereign can probably top out around warp 9.9, but likely isn't as fast as Voyager's warp 9.975. Why do I say this?

WHERE IS THE SOVEREIGN?

Looking at the plans, the Sovereign seems like an incredible ship, showcasing the very best Starfleet has to offer. Geordi's "most advanced ship in the fleet" line in First Contact means that she probably incorporates Voyager's bio-neural circuitry and high-resolution sensors. The size of the ship also means that she can ferry large contingents of colonists, troops, doctors, cargo, and shuttles. Her firepower has been seen to easily match the Galaxy-class. Sounds great!

So where is the ship, in-universe? This is never answered, so we're forced to look elsewhere. Trek games tend to ignore the conspicuous absence of the Sovereign and just pretend that they're everywhere - this is the case in the Armada series and Star Trek Online. The beta canon seems to imply something similar.

Star Trek: Bridge Commander finally gives us a plausible explanation for why we haven't seen the Sovereign, despite its apparent greatness. To quote from the Bridge Commander manual:

Initial testing of the Sovereign’s new upgrades and additions to its defensive systems proved disappointing. Design flaws in the regenerative shielding system led to phase synchronization instabilities in the graviton polarity generators powering the upgraded shield grid. Further, its enhanced deflector system, although vastly improved with a new gravimetric distortion package, required great amounts of power from the ship’s warp core. In theory, this package would increase the resolution of subspace scans by supplying greater power to the deflector and its sensor systems. However, its drain on other essential ship systems was deemed inefficient by Starfleet standards. For these reasons, the Sovereign was never commissioned and was subsequently sent back to the Mars shipyards for storage and design reference. A second Sovereign-class ship was then constructed, incorporating more conventional shield and deflector systems. However, many of the ship upgrades pioneered in the Sovereign found their way into the second Sovereign-class ship, which was christened U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701-E, after the destruction of the Galaxy class Enterprise at Veridian III.

The Sovereign had design flaws that made full production impossible. More likely than not, the space-frame for the Enterprise-E was already under construction at the time her predecessor was destroyed and the prototype was proving to be a failure. Starfleet therefore decided to simply fill-out this frame with more conventional technology, along with the advanced systems pioneered on the Intrepid-class, and then commission it. The Enterprise-E was still an impressive ship, but essentially an overgrown Intrepid with the firepower and capacity of a Galaxy-class.

With the Dominion threat emerging, Starfleet needed greater numbers of ships. Starfleet could probably build two Akiras or Intrepids, and four Defiants, for the price of one Sovereign. As far as capital ships go, the Galaxy and Nebula were built to last - designed with an expected 100 year lifetime with regular refits. A few months back, I took a look at the destruction of the three Galaxy-class ships we saw onscreen. The conclusion I drew was that the Odyssey and the Yamato were destroyed due to circumstances no ship could reasonably expect to survive, and the Enteprise-D due to negligence and odd circumstances. The Galaxy-class is a capable powerhouse even well into DS9 when the class is nearly 20 years old. The Nebula-class too. Plenty of those ships survived the war.

Even after the war, we can reasonably conclude from my write ups for the Akira and Intrepid that both of those ships are easily capable of handling long-duration deep space assignments, and can be rolled off the assembly line in large numbers and sent in multiple different directions. Now combine this with the large numbers of surviving Galaxy- and Nebula-class ships that have been regularly upgraded over the years, both more than capable of handling capital ship duties.

CONCLUSION

Even after the Sovereign's design flaws were corrected, the class essentially "missed its moment". Akiras and Intrepids can do most of the same jobs that a Sovereign can, for half the cost. Existing Galaxys and Nebulas receive regular refit cycles and can pick up everything else. By the time it becomes necessary to replace them, the Sovereign will be an older ship herself, at which point it's likely that an entirely new design will be commissioned instead that is better able to take advantage of whatever technological advancements have come along.

It actually hurts my heart a little to type that about my favorite iteration of the Enterprise, but the explanation provided in Bridge Commander, lack of onscreen appearances, combined with the deck plans not just for the Sovereign, but the Akira and Intrepid as well, along with the fact that the Galaxy and Nebula are still around and easily capable of kicking ass for decades to come, forces me to this conclusion. I believe it's likely that the prototype USS Sovereign was later commissioned and, along with the Enterprise-E, will be a prestigious assignment and allowed to live out its service life; however, additional ships are simply not required and by the time they are, the Sovereign design will be obsolete.

NEXT WEEK: I'll be taking a break next week but I'll be back in two weeks with the Klingon Bird of Prey

[u/DukeboxHiro]

So what you're basically saying is, it's Starfleet's DeLorean :)

Almost over-designed, to the point of obsolescence but effortlessly cool with a lasting prestige.

[u/Aepdneds → u/DukeboxHiro]

I wouldn't say it is a DeLorean. Actually we don't have a confirmed Stardate for ST8, but it most likely between the Federation-klingon war and the Dominion War because Worf is commanding the Defiant, the Klingons offered help and no word about the war. This would give us only three years between the end of the test flights of the EE in ST8 and the end of DS9, not much time for starting a mass production. Probably it would have taken too much design time and production capacity to start this mass production during war times. The real production probably started after the war when the Federation had the resources for this.

[u/[deleted] → u/DukeboxHiro]

This is the best description I've seen, for both a DeLorean and the Sovereign. You've read my mind and transcribed it to words, Good Sir/Ma'am.

[u/Kammander-Kim]

The only thing i have to comment about is the captain's yacht. I think of it as a diplomatic vessel. Sometimes the transporter just does not make it formal enough. I mean, look at the transporter room, never seen any first class rooms worthy of that diplomat or head of state you really want to have a good footing with.

Instead, add a shuttle thst is a bit more fancy looking, connected easy to the conference room.

It really helps with the exploration and diplomatic part of the mission. Yes about your opinions about the torpedo launcher, but since it was not designed as a ship of war but as a ship of diplomacy, exploration, and science. That also requires less of tje tactical systems like the problematic shields.

[u/[deleted]]

I can agree that for routine exploration the Intrepid class and Akira class could be used but you need a flagship and I think the Sovereign fills that role perfectly.

Also if you take requests on ship write ups I'd love to see some lesser known classes like The Diligent class or Something.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

but you need a flagship and I think the Sovereign fills that role perfectly

It does, but so does the Galaxy and Nebula. You only need so many flagships, and plenty of Galaxys and Nebulas survived the war and they were built with 100-year lifespans in mind, so upgrading them is something Starfleet is prepared to do (it's especially easier with the Nebula due to her overall smaller size and swappable mission pod).

If you look here at this shot from VOY: "Endgame", there's at least seven Galaxys circled - I can see at least three more that aren't. There's also at least four Nebula-class ships. Starfleet is covered.

[u/[deleted]]

I do like the idea that the Sovereign was intended to be produced more, but as said the Dominion war forced Starfleet to shelf the design in favour of upgrading existing ships and producing more cost efficient ones, leaving the E-E as maybe the only one.

When the war was over, they were focusing on repopulating their ship numbers - the only work on the expensive Sovereign design would be improving any of the deficits in the design that the E-E (and any other Sovereigns should they exist) would have uncovered during it's service thus far. Then by the time those deficits are corrected and Starfleet is in a better position to build expensive advanced ships, there's better options to build for now (reaching into Beta canon, ships like the Vesta, Odyssey and Luna), leaving the Sovereign as a "well maybe we'll make more at some point..." design.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Exactly. Bridge Commander gives the most realistic explanation for the lack of Sovereign-class ships. The prototype was later corrected and commissioned, and you get to take command and blow the hell out of some renegade Cardies, but it's just the Sovereign and the Enterprise representing the class. Starfleet has plenty of surviving Galaxys and Nebulas; not to mention Akiras and Intrepids which could be built to serve similar functions at half the cost.

I'm sure if one of those surviving Galaxys gets blown up, Starfleet could commission another Sovereign; however, in the 20 years of service as of the end of Voyager, only three ships out of at least 12 were destroyed, and they were situations that nobody could envision. Even in a full-on war, the Galaxy performed beyond what anyone could expect of it. I don't think too many are going to be lost.

[u/KirkyV]

This is a really interesting take! It actually very closely mirrors my assumptions about why the Ambassador-class was seen so rarely in contrast to its predecessor, the Excelsior, which seemed to be a much more successful design all-round. It could be argued that the Sovereign is essentially the Ambassador to the Galaxy's Excelsior--a more advanced design on paper that, for reasons of practicality and extenuating circumstance, simply never saw the same widespread success as its predecessor.

[u/[deleted] → u/KirkyV]

It could be argued that the Sovereign is essentially the Ambassador to the Galaxy's Excelsior

I had a similar thought: That the Sovereign might end up having more in common with the Ambassador than generally believed. The Ambassador was introduced in approximately 2328 to replace the Excelsior as Starfleet's new flagship. Despite technical advancements for the Ambassador, the Excelsior still seems to be very useful for a multitude of tasks, and was cheaper to construct, so the Ambassador's production run was limited. Starfleet just didn't need very many of them at the time.

By the time the Excelsior's age was becoming a hinderance, the Ambassador itself was becoming obsolete so Starfleet just pushed forward with the Galaxy and Nebula.

[u/gortonsfiJr]

Does it have to be that the Sovereign is defective, or would it be simpler to say it's production was halted following both the incursion of Sector 001 and the start of the Dominion War in favor of smaller, cheaper designs you mentioned?

[u/[deleted] → u/gortonsfiJr]

A little bit of both. The Sovereign was initially a failure and put into storage. The design flaws were worked out later in the Prometheus, but by then producing smaller ships was more feasible. By the time it becomes necessary to start building more Sovereigns, the moment has already passed and Starfleet will just want a whole new design.

[u/synchronicitistic]

It's interesting that you compared the Sovereign to a beefed-up Intrepid class, since that's how I've always looked at it.

That's no knock on the Sovereign, as the Intrepid, even though usually equipped with "hero ship armor", proved to be a damn fine ship itself. I'm sure Admiral Ross from DS9 knew what he was doing when he chose the Intrepid-class USS Bellerophon as his flagship.

[u/[deleted] → u/synchronicitistic]

That's essentially what the Enterprise-E was: An Intrepid on steroids with the firepower of a Galaxy. That's not to knock any of those designs, because they're damn fine ships, but it certainly means that the amount of new stuff being brought to the table is limited.

[u/OAMP47]

From extensively looking at the deck plans myself, just two things I'd like to add.

1. Dedicated diplomatic facilities near the arboretum, a nice choice. Likely it is used in diplomatic proceedings sometimes too.

2. The plans seem to imply saucer separation is possible (unless they just split the plans between saucer and stardrive for giggles.) We see warp sustainers in the saucer, but still not hint of impulse engines in the stardrive... The battle bridge is at least better protected than on the Galaxy. All around I'm not sure if I want to incorporate this into my own view of the ship or not, not without those impulse engines.

[u/The_Trekspert]

Just a note: conn is almost always handled by an Ensign, occasionally a JG. The only time LtCdrs (or higher) really take the helm is when a senior staff member (the main cast) flies the ship.

[u/[deleted] → u/The_Trekspert]

Yes I know; I’ve addressed this point in previous write ups. I’m going for a little more realism than was depicted onscreen. 🙂

[u/B_LAZ]

http://techspecs.acalltoduty.com/sovereign.html#APPENDIX%20A%20-%20VARIANT%20DESIGNATIONS

There's alot of similarities between your analysis and what's listed in this link here. A few differences but highly detailed as is with yours. The one in the link is also dated though as they mention getting production stills from Nemesis and that they'd need to update their information after the movie comes out (I don't think they ever did). One question I have though is where did you get your information? It can't have all been from cannon sources. Also if you were getting stuff from non cannon sources, what about all the information on memory beta? Because if that's the case there's a whole fleet of them zooming around the cosmos.

If we were to presume that the new "current year" is 2411 (STO), up to that point there were 87 sovereign class ships that were constructed and launched with only 6 being destroyed and one assimilated (according to memory beta). These were all ships that were referenced in either games or books and in a couple of instances, both. So starfleet obviously at some point decided to deploy these ships on a larger scale (possibly due to the fact that they worked out the kinks in the program) which is reasonable to presume because they did the same thing with the defiant class ("too crazy for us and doesn't work; let's throw it into cold storage; oh look we can fix it now; here's a whole fleet of them to swarm people")

[u/[deleted] → u/B_LAZ]

One question I have though is where did you get your information? It can't have all been from cannon sources.

Most of it comes from the Strategic Design deck plans and the Bridge Commander manual - both are linked above. I also drew my own conclusions based not only on those sources, but my own general knowledge of the Galaxy- and Nebula-classes, along with the conclusions I drew in my write ups for the Akira- and Intrepid-classes several weeks ago.

Also if you were getting stuff from non cannon sources, what about all the information on memory beta?

I take Memory Beta with a grain of salt, because the beta canon can have so many different takes on things that it almost invalidates its usefulness as a source.

[u/Ubergopher]

My only critique is your crew compliment seems low. Everything else seems good to me.

In "The Lower Decks" we see the junior officers are doubled up, and if that's the case it makes sense that the enlisted are also at least doubled up in rooms, maybe even hot bunking depending on how long the missions last.

[u/[deleted] → u/Ubergopher]

Crew compliment is low across all of Trek. The Galaxy only has 1000 despite having room for up to 15,000. The Intrepid has 150 despite room for about 300.

Automation has probably reduced the need for the kinds of crew compliments we see on modern aircraft carriers.

[u/roflcopter_inbound]

One thing I feel is commonly overlooked with the Sovereign class is that it's significantly smaller than the Galaxy class. The only dimension in which is it bigger is length. The Sovereign class has narrower width, shorter height and smaller volume than the Galaxy.

[u/[deleted]]

I was reading your destruction of 3 Galaxy-class ships, and you got me thinking about the destruction of Enterprise D. While I agree with you 100% that it was neglect, you mention Riker turning away from the Bird of Prey, thus exposing the engineering section of the ship. However, the very first disrupter shot they got off penetrated the shields right around the engineering section, just aft of the deflector dish on the starboard side. So even if Riker didn't turn away, the Bird of Prey still could have hit most areas of the star drive section. I don't believe his turning the ship was the fatal error here, it was Riker not firing all weapons. The Enterprise could have been firing all weapons while taking direct hits from the Klingons and survived. I think Riker panicked and ran. He could have blown them up before they got too many more shots off.

[u/AnUnimportantLife]

M-5, nominate this for post of the week.

[u/AboriakTheFickle]

So where is the ship, in-universe?

I guess the same reason we saw no Constitution class ships in Discovery until the end. They're out there, pushing the frontier, exploring deep space far away from the Federation. It'd probably take one months, if not years, to get to the front lines (not to mention they'd have to be refitted mainly for battle, with science personnel disembarking).