8.20 Costello Class Space Tug
The Costello class was a one-third scale civilian adaptation of the failed Goliath hull built to tow the massive mobile space refineries, which also took over large-scale cargo hauling from the retired Atlas class.
Service Entry Date (Old Calendar): 2183
While the Goliath had failed Star Fleet as a battlecruiser, its oversized hull and cumbersome ways suggested a different occupation to its new civilian owners before it went to the breakers. Some two decades later, in 2183, a one-third scale version of the Goliath entered civilian service as the Costello class space tug. It was designed for the express purpose of towing the massive new mobile space refineries to their desired locations within Federation space. The reduction in size and new warp engines worked wonders for its power consumption requirements, enabling it to tow five times its own mass while maintaining a Warp 2.5 cruising speed. The maneuverability problems that had plagued its Goliath ancestor did not matter in the Costello’s case, where its most common maneuvers were planetary orbit and straight-line travel between systems. The Costello also quickly replaced the recently retired Atlas for large-scale cargo hauling, whenever its services were not required for moving a space refinery. It thus remained at the forefront of civilian service for some four decades before being replaced by more advanced designs. The last Costello was scrapped in 2221.
Specifications
- Length: 106 m
- Beam: 65.2 m
- Draft: 41.3 m
- Mass: 87,500 DWT
- Crew: 73
- Armament: 4 lasers
- Cruising speed (unloaded): warp 3.0
- Maximum speed (unloaded): warp 3.3