8.9 Tritium Class Battlecruiser
The Tritium class was the infamous failure whose unstable triple-engine design caused the Tritium Debacle, the most costly mistake in Star Fleet history, with its 12-person shuttlecraft and the tricorder cited as the only good things to come out of the program.
Service Entry Date (Old Calendar): 2188
The Tritium was the second of three new starship classes in Star Fleet’s aborted rebuilding effort of the mid-2180s. It is also the reason why the effort collapsed. It is a legend among Star Fleet starship captains and engineers — not because of what it did; rather, what it failed to do. It was supposed to be the most advanced and powerful starship of its day, with its highly touted triple warp engine design theoretically capable of maintaining a cruising speed over warp 4. Instead, it wound up being a colossal failure, embarrassing Star Fleet to no end and becoming its second major design failure since the end of the Romulan War. The Tritium debacle was the most costly mistake in Star Fleet history. Thankfully, it has never been repeated.
According to most experts, the only two good things to come out of the Tritium program were its 12-person shuttlecraft and the introduction of the tricorder as Star Fleet’s first all-purpose survey tool for landing party teams.
Specifications
- Length: 202 m
- Beam: 161 m
- Draft: 118.6 m
- Mass: 476,000 DWT
- Crew: 250
- Armament: 12 laser turrets
- Cruising speed (actual): warp 3.2
- Maximum speed (actual): warp 3.6