The Gagarin class was a type of Federation starship that was in operation with Starfleet in the early 25th century.
History[]
The Gagarin class is a distant successor to the older Shepard-class of the early 23rd century. Both classes shared the same design layout.
In 2401, several ships of this class were present in the fleet assembled to confront the Borg vessel Singularity, and in conjunction with the Borg vessel, were able to defend against a large burst of energy that had threatened the sector. Later that same year, twenty-four ships were assembled for the Frontier Day celebrations over Earth, and were hijacked by their younger crews after they came under the direct control of the Borg Collective. (PIC: "The Star Gazer", "Võx", "The Last Generation")
Interior design[]
Command and control systems[]
By 2401, the computer systems on board the class had been built to include the Fleet formation mode, also known as Starfleet emergency protocol NX12.11, designed to place all Federation starships within a fleet under the automated control of the Starfleet mainframe. (PIC: "Võx")
Ships commissioned[]
- Named
- USS Christopher (NCC-97936)
- USS Cunningham (NCC-97949)
- USS Gagarin (NCC-97930)
- USS Gotana-Retz (NCC-97951)
- USS Passaro (NCC-97955)
- USS Resnik (NCC-97945)
- Uncertain
- USS John Kelly (NCC-97944)
- Unnamed
- Unnamed Gagarin-class starships
Appendices[]
Appearances[]
Background information[]
The class was presumably named for Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first Human in space.
The total number of Gagarin-class vessels present at Frontier Day was established by Picard Research Assistant Jörg Hillebrand. [1]
Studio model[]
| |
|
|
This ship class was first seen in 2019 in the apocryphal Star Trek Online game, designed by Hector Ortiz and modeled by Donny Versiga, where it was identified as a 25th century variation of the 23rd century Shepard-class and named for the Shepard-class USS Gagarin which appeared in DIS: "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum".
In a unique collaboration between Cryptic Studios, the game's developer, and the creative minds behind Star Trek: Picard, the CGI model of this ship class was introduced to the canonical world of Star Trek by way of the USS Christopher. [2] It was done as a cost-saving measure, while meeting the demands of different parties to add some much needed variety to the ranks of Starfleet, in the wake of the "copy & paste" fleet debacle in the Picard season one finale "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2" episode with its single Inquiry-class model. [3] [4]
Though subsequently turned over to the franchise's own visual effects (VFX) department of Picard, where the additional necessary changes were made under the auspices of VFX department heads Jason Zimmerman (Supervisor), Shawn Ewashko (Production Manager), and Brian Tatosky (Associate Supervisor) to make the model ready for its onscreen use, [5] [6] it was decided to keep the in-game livery the model came with as a courtesy to the game developer.
The class vessel USS Gagarin had purely by chance become the June 2020 debut entry of the non-canon Star Trek Online Starships Collection display model/magazine combo partwork publication from Eaglemoss Collections, long before it was even considered for elevation into canon. Had Eaglemoss managed to continue its existence, it is fair to assume that the design would have eventually seen an additional entry in Eaglemoss' sister (canon) partwork publication Star Trek Universe: The Official Starships Collection. Eaglemoss' mainstay Fabio Passaro converted Versiga's CGI model into the CAD files necessary for display model manufacturing, as well as making it suitable for print publication in its accompanying magazine.
Apocrypha[]
In the Star Trek Online universe, there actually is an in-universe rationale why the Gagarin-class resembles its 23rd century Shepard-class predecessor so much, as the class vessels are in effect upgrades of the actual predecessors, which in Online-lore are survivors or salvaged hulls left over from the Federation-Klingon War of 2256-2257. As Starfleet was in dire need of replacement starships to compensate for the heavy losses incurred during the war, over a hundred hulls of several ship classes were gathered for refitting and restoration in Yard 39 (β) located in system TL-9139 (β) in Sector 007 of the Alpha Quadrant. In 2259, though, the shipyard had to be abandoned in a hurry due to an environmental catastrophe when its unstable star flooded the entire system with baryon radiation, rendering it completely unsuitable for any kind of life for the next 150 years. Over the decades, the yard, along with its docked ships became ultimately forgotten about.
In 2410 however, it was by chance discovered that the radiation had abated and that the yard was accessible again and its hoard of ancient starship hulls was found having weathered the decades in pristine condition. For Starfleet in particular, this turned out to be a fortuitous Godsend as it had suffered tremendous losses in the very recent and devastating Iconian War (β), which had left the entire Alpha Quadrant in shambles. Starfleet found that many of the salvaged hulls, while old, were still suitable for modernization to 25th century standards, and immediately proceeded to do so under the auspices of its starship design department, the Advanced Starship Design Bureau (β). In the end, it were not only the Shepard-class vessels that became modernized into the Gagarin-class, but also vessels of the,
- Cardenas-class which became the Buran-class (β)
- Hoover-class which became the Edison-class – likewise becoming canon with its Picard third season appearances.
- Magee-class which became the Shran-class
- Nimitz-class which became the Europa-class (β)
(Star Trek Online Starships Collection, issue 1, pp. 14-17)
Further Reading[]
- Star Trek Online Starships Collection, issue 1, June 2020
External links[]
- Gagarin class at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- Gagarin Miracle Worker Battlecruiser at the Star Trek Online Wiki