U.S.S. al-Haytham
| USS al-Haytham | |
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Class: Registry: Owner: Operator: Status: |
Nova Class NCC-83255 United Federation of Planets Starfleet Active |
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The USS al-Haytham (NCC-83255) is a Nova class ship.
History
“The seeker after the truth is not one who studies the writings of the ancients and, following his natural disposition, puts his trust in them, but rather the one who suspects his faith in them and questions what he gathers from them, the one who submits to argument and demonstration, and not to the sayings of a human being whose nature is fraught with all kinds of imperfection and deficiency. Thus the duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself an enemy of all that he reads, and, applying his mind to the core and margins of its content, attack it from every side. He should also suspect himself as he performs his critical examination of it, so that he may avoid falling into either prejudice or leniency.”
It was in the spirit of these words that the USS al-Haytham was launched, not to regurgitate the past knowledge of space, but to question and discover. This Nova class ship was named in honour of the man who spoke these words, Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham, better known as Ibn al-Haytham.
In 2410, the al-Haytham went through a full refit which increased her defensive and offensive capabilities so that she was on par with other vessels of her size. She could thus hold out in a fight on her own whilst waiting for reinforcements, or for enough time to be able to make her escape.
During most of the Iconian War, the al-Haytham continued her scientific duties. However, as the tide turned in favour of the Iconians, the al-Haytham was drafted as a medical ship. Command was transferred to an able Vulcan science officer, Captain V’Lala and she would remain in command for the rest of the war to the present day.
After the war, the al-Haytham received a new crew compliment, a mixture of war veterans and fresh faces from the academy and she resumed her scientific duties. A couple of months into 2416, whilst on an investigation, an experiment into a new substance went wrong and the al-Haytham was almost totally destroyed. She limped back to drydock where she underwent a long repair. It was at this time when she was assigned to DS13 and, following her repairs in 2417, she began a new chapter in the 38th Fleet “Argo”. After a year of diligent service, the al-Haytham was transferred elsewhere, operating as a science vessel around Federation space. In 2421, she was once again transferred to the 38th Fleet.
Technical Data
Physical Arrangement & Crew Support
| Specifications | |
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Length: Beam: Draft: Mass: |
165 m 109.94 m 40.92 m 145,000 mt |
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Decks: Crew: Capacity.: |
8 80 (min 5) 200 |
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Avg. Cruise: Max Cruise: Maximum Speed: |
Warp 6 Warp 8 Warp 9 (for 12 hours) |
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Armaments: |
11x Type-XX Phaser Arrays 3x Photon Torpedo Tubes (2 fore, 1 aft) |
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Defenses: |
Class 9 Bubble shielding system Regenerative shielding system Type-1 Ablative Armor FSQ deflector system |
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Auxiliary Craft: |
2x Danube-Class Shuttlecraft (Bohr, Tesla) 2x work bees (Alpha, Beta) 1 Waverider atmospheric operations shuttle (USS Paul Dirac) |
The Nova class of starships had been around for a while when the al-Haytham was launched and thus, a number of improvements were made to the design. The vessel was equipped to carry more crew members; thus, the average was upped from 80 to 100 although the ship could still be piloted with a crew complement of no more than 5.
Two more decks were added to cater for the new crew members. These new decks allowed for the original sickbay to be converted into a better equipped med bay and two smaller sick bays were added. In addition to these additions, science and technology labs were installed to give the scientists on board more equipment to carry out more detailed experiments and tests.
Years of technology development ensured better and more efficient engines were developed and thus the al-Haytham was able to move quicker and more stealthily. This pushed the average cruising speed to warp 7 with a maximum cruising speed closer to warp 9. This also meant that the ship could go on longer missions, able to run for 3 and a half years without resupply and on emergency power for 4.
After an incident in 2420, she was drydocked and a full and extensive refit was undertaken. This refit downsized the crew complement to the original 80, as well as removing the two added decks in favour of updating the internal systems.
References
- (source template made by FuryofaSeraph: bit.ly/qxr8RA ) with thanks to Kat for doing her photoshoppy magic.