Dreadnought class

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The Dreadnought-class was an experimental class of dreadnought warships designed by Section 31 of Starfleet with the help of Khan Noonien Singh. The unmarked prototype of this class, the USS Vengeance, was launched from a secret facility orbiting Europa in 2259. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

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Design

Overview

The Dreadnought-class was roughly two times the size of a Constitution-class ^[!] starship. The USS Vengeance was specially modified for a minimal crew. The class had advanced Mark IV capabilities. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

Configuration

Bridge

The bridge of the ship was small and cramped compared to the more spacious bridge of the Constitution-class. It was designed to be run single-handedly if necessary. It was possible to operate the navigation and propulsion of the ship with only simple voice commands. Also in stark contrast to the Enterprise bridge, the Dreadnought's bridge was very dark - in lieu of bright lighting and shining white walls, the bridge was largely black, though still well lit. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

Engineering

Engineering was designed so that it could run autonomously if needed. Like the bridge, the engineering section was cramped and painted in shining black. The interior featured a more refined design compared with the engineering section on the Enterprise^[!] - for example, there were no coolant pipes or mains directly accessible by the crew. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

Transport and Cargo

A ship of this class had at least seven hangars. Hangar 7 was located on Deck 13. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

Tactical systems

Khan was involved with designing the weapons for the Dreadnought-class. The weapons were significantly more advanced than contemporary Constitution-class weaponry. While most other Starfleet ships were designed for exploration and research, the Dreadnought-class ships were designed solely for combat. The deflector dish could be covered by protective armor plates while the ship was not traveling at warp speeds to defend the dish from damage during a battle. The ship was extremely durable in design and could remain intact even after the internal detonation of 72 photon torpedoes.

The weapon systems included an array of advanced phaser emitters. The powerful discharges from these weapons arced indirectly at the target and could be fired while the ship was at warp. Single hits could penetrate through the shields and cause major hull breaches to a Constitution-class starship.

Dreadnought class weapon — One of the torpedo launchers

The weapon systems also included two massive swivel-mounted torpedo launchers that could be deployed from under the saucer section from behind protective armor plating. They could rotate and launch a volley of torpedoes at various firing arcs from aft to forward of the ship. A Dreadnought-class ship could also launch drones that in turn were capable of launching several photon torpedoes before crashing into a target. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

Before the two cannons were deployed in Star Trek Into Darkness, Admiral Marcus ordered the targeting of all aft torpedoes at the bridge of the Enterprise. According to the novelization of the film, the two cannons were in fact massive banks of photon torpedoes. Each holding an arsenal of more torpedoes than several ships the size of the Enterprise had combined.

Propulsion systems

This starship was described by Khan as "three times the speed" as the Enterprise. This vessel also has the capability of tracking down and attacking a fleeing enemy ship while at warp speed. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

According to the novelization of the film, these were identified as "Mark IV" capabilities. They included special modifications to the warp drive and nacelles, that allowed a Dreadnought-class ship to enter the warp tunnel of other vessels. The ship could momentarily exceed all accepted warp factors and catch up with a starship it was following.

Ships commissioned

USS Vengeance

Appendices

Apocrypha

According to a 1987 comic book Who's Who in Star Trek, Issue 2, a class of Federation starships called the Dreadnought-class at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works also existed in the prime universe.