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Ships of the Nova Class

Volume I



FEDERATION FRONTIERS

SHIPS OF THE NOVA CLASS: VOLUME 01

Illustrator:Copyright:

Unlike my previous releases which were either original designs or extrapolations, I’m aware that people will arrive at this project having already formed their own personal assumptions and theories regarding the “Nova” class. For that reason, I’d like to clarify a few conjectural decisions I myself made while creating these drawings:



“U.S.S. Nova” NCC Number: For simplicity, I chose to use NCC-72380, which a few other sources have suggested as well. I’m aware of the NCC-73515 registry showing up on a LCARS screen in the year 2379, so I elected to date my illustrations four years earlier to 2375 during the Dominion War. My own theory is that NCC-72380 was either destroyed or removed from service sometime during those interim years, with the name “Nova” reassigned to a different vessel. Call me ‘old school’, but a lead ship of a class having a registry that much higher than its subsequent sister-ships just feels odd to me.



“U.S.S. Quebec”: Conjectural ship on my part. I really liked the “U.S.S. Rhode Island” design, but felt that some of the details (greenish lifeboats, lack of a secondary hull deflector grid, etc.) might reflect technological upgrades made sometime between my base year of 2375 and its onscreen appearance in 2404. I therefore created the “U.S.S. Quebec” to illustrate how I thought the design might have appeared ‘as built’. One difference you’ll note is the inclusion on “Quebec” of all those little ‘bumps’ surrounding the hull. In an online discussion, Rick Sternbach once told me those were probably some sort of Structural Integrity Field ‘reinforcements’. Since they were seen primarily on relatively smaller starships that also happened to be equipped with landing gear hatches, I myself speculate that they are employed to boost the SIF when operating in a gravity environment.



Aft Photon Torpedo Launcher: While the “U.S.S. Equinox” was shown onscreen firing a photon torpedo aft, neither of the CGI models indicate an aft launcher, so I’ve illustrated them as seen rather than speculate where such an emplacement might exist. My own theory is that finding themselves constantly on the run from hostile entities, the ever resourceful “Equinox” crew had moved some torpedoes from the forward facilities to the aft cargo bay, and assembled a make-shift launcher to cover their retreat when necessary.



Customized versions of any ship from “Volume 1” can be created. Just email me at fdfrontier@aol.com with the ship’s name and NCC registry and we can discuss customized sheets.