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Description

An original creation by me (from the late 1980s, believe it or not) based on the FASA Larson and modded from the fan-created TMP era Larson model for the Starfleet Command (SFC) series of video games. Preview picture posed in XNALara XPS. NO MODEL DOWNLOAD.

Shackleton, named for the late Terran Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, started out life in the TOS/TAS era as a proposal for the scout type derivative of Larson during the so-called "second wave" of original Class I starship designs for the Federation Starfleet back in the day. It was passed over in favor of Nelson (FASA) because Starfleet thought that using a Larson hull as a fleet scout would be overkill for its intended purpose. It would have died then and remained no more than a design study had not the Federation Bureau of Sciences (FBS) gotten involved. They were needing a new surveyor class to replace the older exploratory starship types in their own aging fleet, and since Larson's larger hull was ideal for the extra gear such a starship class needed they petitioned the Federation Council to let them take over Shackleton and have it redesigned for them for the surveyor role. The Federation Council eventually agreed, and five previously approved members of the Larson class were reallocated and eventually built to a modified design with Starfleet's assistance as the Shackleton class surveyors.

Shackleton did very well in its new role all things considered, save for one major problem due to what seems now as a obvious design flaw. One of the changes made to Shackleton for its new purpose was to add a large shuttle bay for the extra small craft it needed for survey missions. It was put where the primary hull dorsal would be on a large regular Class I starship, on the aft end of the underside of the primary hull. It was the easiest way to go and seemed like a good idea at the time; however, this placement put the main hatch for the shuttle bay directly under the impulse engines, and it was soon discovered that it was almost impossible to conduct small craft operations while the impulse deck was in use due to exhaust backwash. Shackleton shuttle pilots soon learned to conduct a hasty roll-and-dip as soon as they cleared the shuttle bay. For landing operations the impulse engines had to be shut down and the ship's position maintained with steering thrusters, or it was simply allowed to "coast" until the small craft were retrieved. This design mistake was not repeated and the entire affair had a major impact on subsequent Starfleet starship design, as it quickly adopted the dual side hangar bay approach of the Baton Rouge era Anton class (FASA) for later smaller Class I starship designs. This was already being used with considerable success both with the Miranda class light cruisers (canon) and for its new heavy frigates at the time (SoSF1), so it seemed the easiest solution to the problem. Shepherd (FASA), Shackleton's successor in the FBS surveyor role, was built this way, having dual hangar bays with one on each side of the impulse deck, and thus did not suffer from the same issue. None of the Shackletons were ever corrected despite this flaw, even during their later TMP-era LN-64 refits, as both FBS and Starfleet found it far easier to keep them in service as they were despite this known flaw. They would continue to serve in the surveyor role well into the post-TMP era before being retired.

This is fanon. I ought to know, as I'm the one who came up with it decades ago (grin). I have no problem with you using it or even modding it for you own threads of the Trek multiverse, so long as you give me credit for coming up with the Shackleton concept in the first place. Agreed? Thanks.

Live long and prosper.

TRIVIA - The Shackleton dip, as the hasty maneuver became known to clear the ship before being caught in the impulse backwash, became something of a source of pride among skilled Starfleet shuttle pilots. Performing the maneuver in reverse, i.e. landing on a Shackleton while the impulse deck was in operation, which became known as the Shackleton roll, was even more tricky and it was very difficult to master. The latter maneuver was considered dangerous and was never officially approved by Starfleet, although there were more than a few experienced Starfleet shuttle pilots who could pull it off and far many more who claimed they could. XD

ASIDE - The impulse deck backwash issue is why I don't like Trek fanon Feddie starship mods that add a shuttle bay to the top of the primary hull dorsal or in that same spot on starships without one. You'll note that both the canon and semi-canon way around this problem is with dual shuttle bays, one on each side of the impulse deck, and this is reflected in my write-up above. That hasn't stopped fans from doing it all the same, but at least now you know my reasoning.

Description

An original creation by me (from the late 1980s, believe it or not) based on the FASA Larson and modded from the fan-created TMP era Larson model for the Starfleet Command (SFC) series of video games. Preview picture posed in XNALara XPS. NO MODEL DOWNLOAD.

Shackleton, named for the late Terran Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, started out life in the TOS/TAS era as a proposal for the scout type derivative of Larson during the so-called "second wave" of original Class I starship designs for the Federation Starfleet back in the day. It was passed over in favor of Nelson (FASA) because Starfleet thought that using a Larson hull as a fleet scout would be overkill for its intended purpose. It would have died then and remained no more than a design study had not the Federation Bureau of Sciences (FBS) gotten involved. They were needing a new surveyor class to replace the older exploratory starship types in their own aging fleet, and since Larson's larger hull was ideal for the extra gear such a starship class needed they petitioned the Federation Council to let them take over Shackleton and have it redesigned for them for the surveyor role. The Federation Council eventually agreed, and five previously approved members of the Larson class were reallocated and eventually built to a modified design with Starfleet's assistance as the Shackleton class surveyors.

Shackleton did very well in its new role all things considered, save for one major problem due to what seems now as a obvious design flaw. One of the changes made to Shackleton for its new purpose was to add a large shuttle bay for the extra small craft it needed for survey missions. It was put where the primary hull dorsal would be on a large regular Class I starship, on the aft end of the underside of the primary hull. It was the easiest way to go and seemed like a good idea at the time; however, this placement put the main hatch for the shuttle bay directly under the impulse engines, and it was soon discovered that it was almost impossible to conduct small craft operations while the impulse deck was in use due to exhaust backwash. Shackleton shuttle pilots soon learned to conduct a hasty roll-and-dip as soon as they cleared the shuttle bay. For landing operations the impulse engines had to be shut down and the ship's position maintained with steering thrusters, or it was simply allowed to "coast" until the small craft were retrieved. This design mistake was not repeated and the entire affair had a major impact on subsequent Starfleet starship design, as it quickly adopted the dual side hangar bay approach of the Baton Rouge era Anton class (FASA) for later smaller Class I starship designs. This was already being used with considerable success both with the Miranda class light cruisers (canon) and for its new heavy frigates at the time (SoSF1), so it seemed the easiest solution to the problem. Shepherd (FASA), Shackleton's successor in the FBS surveyor role, was built this way, having dual hangar bays with one on each side of the impulse deck, and thus did not suffer from the same issue. None of the Shackletons were ever corrected despite this flaw, even during their later TMP-era LN-64 refits, as both FBS and Starfleet found it far easier to keep them in service as they were despite this known flaw. They would continue to serve in the surveyor role well into the post-TMP era before being retired.

This is fanon. I ought to know, as I'm the one who came up with it decades ago (grin). I have no problem with you using it or even modding it for you own threads of the Trek multiverse, so long as you give me credit for coming up with the Shackleton concept in the first place. Agreed? Thanks.

Live long and prosper.

TRIVIA - The Shackleton dip, as the hasty maneuver became known to clear the ship before being caught in the impulse backwash, became something of a source of pride among skilled Starfleet shuttle pilots. Performing the maneuver in reverse, i.e. landing on a Shackleton while the impulse deck was in operation, which became known as the Shackleton roll, was even more tricky and it was very difficult to master. The latter maneuver was considered dangerous and was never officially approved by Starfleet, although there were more than a few experienced Starfleet shuttle pilots who could pull it off and far many more who claimed they could. XD

ASIDE - The impulse deck backwash issue is why I don't like Trek fanon Feddie starship mods that add a shuttle bay to the top of the primary hull dorsal or in that same spot on starships without one. You'll note that both the canon and semi-canon way around this problem is with dual shuttle bays, one on each side of the impulse deck, and this is reflected in my write-up above. That hasn't stopped fans from doing it all the same, but at least now you know my reasoning.