6.7 Hopkins Class Hospital Ship
The Hopkins class hospital ships were less starships than mobile, custom-configurable medical bases that proved invaluable in settling the New Territories and in the Federation Medical Assistance Program, with several converted into the first Neutral Zone outpost stations at the end of the Romulan War.
These were not so much ships as they were mobile bases built for rapid transport from one location to another. All of them had the same external generic design; however, inside they could be custom-tailored to the specific needs of the worlds over which they orbited. These were extremely valuable in the settling of the New Territories, providing modern medical facilities where they would have otherwise been absent. They also played a prominent role in the Federation Medical Assistance Program, often being dispatched to worlds suffering from epidemics and other severe medical emergencies. At the end of the Romulan War several were converted into the first Neutral Zone outpost stations. The rest, with periodic upgrades and overhauls, continued in civilian service until 2173.