Phoenix class

History

The Phoenix class was active sometime around the mid to late 24th century.

In early 2401, Beverly Crusher and her son Jack Crusher used the S.S. Eleos to hide from unknown assailants, moving the ship from system to system in a low power state to avoid detection. At the time, the ship was carrying medical supplies to Sarnia Prime when it was attacked and pursued to a gaseous nebula in the Ryton system. The S.S. Eleos was later destroyed after being forcefully used as a battering ram by the Shrike after it's occupants were rescued by the USS Titan. (PIC: "The Next Generation", "Disengage")

Design

Short and compact in design, the Phoenix class closely resembled the NX-class of the 2100s. It consisted of a small Primary hull with two elongated nacelle struts coming off the aft sections. Two warp nacelles were connected on the dorsal side of the struts on either side, and joined in the middle with a warp governor system.

The main bridge was positioned on top of the saucer, and had direct access to all key systems, including the warp core. An airlock was located on the aft section of the bridge, which could accommodate a Type 14 shuttlecraft. (PIC: "The Next Generation", "Disengage")

Ships in class

Named

Appendices

Appearances

Background information

The Phoenix-class was not named on screen, but was identified by Star Trek: Picard Production Designer Dave Blass on specification call-out graphics of Doug Drexler's approval CGI model. The graphics themselves were rendered by Samuel Cockings for franchise-approved publication on Blass' own Twitter account, using the production CGI model mentioned below. The name was taken from the shipname John Eaves had given to his original design. Blass admitted though, that the designation was only adopted after-the-fact, as "[i]t was just called Eleos XII" during production. [1]

The graphic art had it stated that,

The Phoenix class was designed as a small rapid response vessel.
Delivering medical supplies, engineering components or limited personnel transfer
The class focused on speed at a small scale
Recommended for mid range missions within the Alpha Quadrant.

The Phoenix class was a move towards higher warp speeds in smaller designs
While not as tactically able as a Danube-class runabout, the Phoenix was significantly faster and with a greater range and cargo capacity
The implementation of an NX-class inspired warp governor allowed for this increased warp speed potential

Cockings also did an additional call-out graphic, featuring the USS Fortuna (NCC-63189), as an older-style Phoenix-class variant deployed by Starfleet in an earlier era. Blass gave an explanation for the improvised latter-day modifications apparently performed on the Eleos XII by clarifying that, "[a]s the years went by upgrades were made on the fly, parts sold off, others added, and you end up with something like the Eleos XII, cobbled together." [2] That graphic had it further stated that,

The Phoenix class, named after Zefram
Cocrane's warp ship was designed to bring
Federation member worlds together
just as that first warp ship moved Earth
out and into the larger community

With a maximum warp speed of 6.0 &
cruising speed of 4.6, the class exceeded simulations

The following specifications were also established for the class,

Studio model

The class was co-designed by Blass himself, Doug Drexler, John Eaves, and Terry Matalas. It was Drexler who additionally constructed the CGI approval model, before it was finalized for onscreen use by the visual effects department under the auspices of department heads Jason Zimmerman, Brian Tatosky, and Shawn Ewashko. [3] Drexler has posted a detailed image gallery of his model on his Facebook page.

An original design by Eaves for the abandoned Perpetual Entertainment predecessor version of the Star Trek Online computer game, he had named the USS Phoenix (NCC-11592), [4] became the starting point for Drexler finetuning his friend's design into the ultimate design of the Eleos XII. [5]