Planetside - Star Trek - Ships of the Fleet

Owner	United Federation of Planets
Class	Heavy Combat Vessel
Availability	Unlimited Deployment
In Service	2285
Out of Service	n/a
Source	Deep Space Nine Technical Manual
Author	Sebastian Seiml
Last Updated	January 18, 2004

Description:

The Congress is a direct relative of the Constitution Class. It was intended to serve as a heavy escort for the fleet and as a cheaper alternative to the new Constellation developed by the Advanced Starship Design Bureau. To save costs and time, component parts of the tried and true Constitution Cruiser were used.

The design served well in the first decades of the 24th century, but many were scrapped or mothballed by 2350. After the Cardassian War, the ships of the last two batches were held in active service and scheduled for a fleet refit. The refit took place in 2364, upgrading the weapons, shields and sensors. While the first two measures were successful, the new sensor phalanxes didn’t mesh well with the existing systems, causing major malfunctions. The Congress Cruisers were subsequently relegated to backwater systems and planetary defense fleets.

In the first stages of the Dominion War several other Congress Light Cruisers were called up from mothballs and “refitted”, but they saw almost no combat. This changed with the Breen incursion in 2376. After the war, all Congress returned to their pre-war duties or else were scrapped or mothballed.

Ship Control Sheet(s):

	Congress Light Cruiser - SCS
	Unlimited Deployment

This ship is included in the:
Ships of the Fleet: United Federation of Planets
Ship Archive

Related Entries:

No Related Entries

Design Notes:

An otherwise nameless starship class depicted in the DS9 Technical Manual, composed of Constitution-class components and named simply ‘Constitution variant.’ It is odd that this ship is obviously in service by 2374, while the original Constitution class may have been decommissioned some 75 years ago. So I designed it as a later build sub-class of the Constitution.

Questions, comments, or suggestions? Please contact Tyrel Lohr at contact@tyrellohr.com.