History and Technical Details
With the return of Voyager and the advancement of many new fields within the Federation in several areas of science, Starfleet came to realise that it had a lot more potential in ship design's at it's figure tips than had been previously thought possible. A new ship was already on the drawing board from 2376, but in 2377, this ship took a dramatic turn around in its design aspects.
Working with the Daystrom Institute, the San Francisco Fleetyards started to develop a ship that would be capable of acting as a sort of test bed for a variety of new technologies. This vessel would be intended to be fully capable of offensive and defensive actions as befitted the times with the threats from the Dominion and the Borg, but also had numerous other functions as well and could equally serve within the field of exploration or diplomacy.
The project was commissioned the Vanquish project and work began immediately on the hull design. The design drew on elements from several previously successful hull designs, including the Prometheus, Akira and Steam Runner class starships.
From the Prometheus, it took the ability for multi-vector attack mode. However, the Vanquish, in order to spare space and resources, would only be able to split into two separate sections. Still, this was judged to be adequate considering the large scale of fire-power both hulls could bring. Research and development was done into faster and smoother locking and unlocking mechanisms between the two parts, allowing for even quicker separation in emergencies.
From the Akira, the ideas for a large fighter bay were used, whereby a through deck bay was built into the secondary hull capable of holding a larger number than normal of fighters.
From the Steam Runner, the close shielded Nacelles were used in the primary section. The Warp systems on the Vanquish were also dramatically enhanced, with each section of the vessel having not one, but two Warp Cores. The addition of the second Warp Core meant that if one warp core failed, the second Warp Core could continue on. It also enables the USS Vanquish to travel at its maximum Warp speed for far longer as it switches between Warp Cores.
It was considered to give the Vanquish Prometheus style warp cores, the variety that split in the middle giving the complete ship a much faster warp speed than the two sections when divided. However, plans were instead drawn up for two main Warp Cores to be built into the Primary Section, which would power both the complete mode and the separated mode (hence in Joint Flight mode, only the upper nacelles are actually used). Meanwhile, the secondary Hull has two smaller Warp cores, giving it a slower speed than the primary section but adequate for most tasks it would be required to fulfill.
Both sections also have additional system built in capable of channeling energy through the Warp Cores at a much faster rate as well. The system is called Advanced Warp Burst Relays, which enable the ship to perform much quicker short bursts of Warp Speed when required to maneuver quickly from a dangerous locale (such as a nearby exploding ship). The Primary Hull also Emergency Warp Breakaway system which enables the whole Warp Section (Nacelles included) to be thrown away from the ship should there be any major problem with the Primary Warp Engines. However lack of space meant this system could not be installed into the secondary hull.
Other leaps in the ship's design come through its internal computer systems. Using the now established Bio-Neural Gel packs for most of its processes, the ship also features a powerful Artifical Sentience Program that operates through holo-emitters placed throughout the ship. Not only can the ship's computer make its own decisions and control every aspect of the ship, it can also create up to 150 holographic crew members. These crew members are capable of performing any function of the ship, from medical procedures to Engineering to Flight Control or Security. In effect, if the ship were to lose its whole crew, it could continue on normally on holograms alone, though Starfleet would like to see such a situation used as a last result only.
The ship's defensive systems are also quite well researched. With some of the advanced technology that Voyager brought back with it from the Delta Quadrant being adapted and installed on numerous vessels throughout the fleet (a process that will take years to complete), the Vanquish class has some of these advances built into it from the beginning, including the capability of firing Transphasic Torpedos and the use of Ablative Armour Generators. The ship also features a large number of phaser arrays in order to provide greater defensive capability.
Advances have also been made in the field of sensory jamming equipment. The Vanquish class uses specialised Holographic Sensor Jammers that create up to half a dozen ghost images of the Vanquish upon opponent's sensors, making it difficult for them to lock on and attack the true ship itself.
The final major advancement is Graviton Displacer Beams used on the Secondary Hull. Essentially, these are very narrow and quick burst tractor beams set to repulse rather than to hold and are used to help fend off approaching torpedoes and enemy fighters approaching the vulnerable fighter bay area of the ship itself.
There are also numerous smaller experimental advances built throughout the ship and the ship is also designed with the idea of more being added in time as Starfleet and the various science departments develop it.
