8.5 Boyden Class Automated Transport
The Boyden class was the Federation's first unmanned, warp-driven transport, cheap enough (thanks to surplus Earth-Kzin War spiked-antimatter technology) to win Council approval for high build numbers despite its vulnerability to piracy.
Service Entry Date (Old Calendar): 2177
The Boyden class automated transports were the first Star Fleet vessels of this era in which the Federation Council approved high build numbers. This was largely due to the inexpensiveness of their unusual design. Conceived by Gulliver GPF, they featured an old-style, spiked-antimatter, rotary fusion reactor feeding two engine nacelles mounted top and bottom. The technology involved hailed from the Earth-Kzin Wars. By this time, however, spiked antimatter engines cost next to nothing to build; hence the almost instant approval of the class by the Council. 108 of these odd-looking craft were produced in two blocks between 2177 and 2190. Their only real flaw was that as automated vessels they were easy prey for space pirates and other looters, so they usually traveled in small convoys with at least one Star Fleet or several police vessels as escorts. Their odd design and overall reliability endeared them to Star Fleet Transport Command, for whom they would serve for the next half-century before retirement.
Specifications
- Length: 62.6 m
- Beam: 31.0 m
- Draft: 39.5 m
- Mass: 40,360 DWT
- Crew: none
- Armament: none
- Cruising speed: warp 2.0
- Maximum speed: warp 3.0