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Warning! This page contains information regarding Star Trek: Discovery, and thus may contain spoilers.
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The Friendship class was a type of Federation starship operated by Starfleet during the 31st century into the 33rd century. Its design consisted solely of a saucer-shaped primary hull with an empty center, and two detached nacelles at the aft.
History[]
Friendship-class vessels before the Burn
In 3069, this class saw the loss of many of its ships to the Burn. Ships with active warp cores were destroyed when their dilithium became inert, resulting in antimatter explosions. (DIS: "People of Earth")
In 3189, the fleet at Federation Headquarters included the USS Yang, a ship of this class. The collective energy of this fleet sustained a distortion field that concealed the space station's location. (DIS: "Die Trying")
In the 33rd century, two or more starships of this class participated in a ceremonial honor-formation at Federation Headquarters for the launch of Zora and the USS Discovery's Red Directive mission. (DIS: "Life, Itself")
Ships commissioned[]
- Named
- Unnamed
Appendices[]
Appearances[]
- DIS:
Background information[]
The Friendship-class designation was not used onscreen, but first appeared in Eaglemoss/Hero Collector's Star Trek: Shipyards - Starfleet Ships 2294 to the Future (2nd ed, pp. 262-265).
Burns' Friendship-class concept art
The Friendship-class was designed by Concept Designer Daniel J. Burns, [1] going for a "clean and svelte" look, with "a minimum of fuss," [2] and was according to its designer the only 32nd century Starfleet vessel not (co-)designed by Ryan Dening and the staff from his design company (in this Burns was mistaken though, as he had apparently overlooked the by William Budge designed Dresselhaus-type). [3] Burns proceeded to design his ship under the strict mandatory requirement that it was to feature the "detached elements", as was established in the writers guidelines for all 32nd century Starfleet vessels. [4] Unused concepts he considered for the design were that the bridge was located in the inner saucer ring, which could rotate to allow the warp nacelles to dock with the saucer. [5] [6]
Apocrypha[]
The Eaglemoss publication lists two additional ships of this class, the USS Thant (β) (NCC-325005) and the USS Yousafzai (β) (NCC-325010). Burns has confirmed that the Thant at least had actually been an official franchise-approved production name, [7] though it, like its class designation, has not received an onscreen confirmation either.
External link[]
- Friendship class at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works