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Description
The losses of ships and lives in the Klingon/Federation war quickly took a toll on Starfleet's tactical ability. While certain classes stood out for their performance against the Klingons, it was readily apparent that the Federation had insufficient ships with a wide tactical berth to be able to protect their territory. Section 31 approached the Starfleet High Command with a plan for several different tactical application ships, all built off of hulls of ships that had been decommissioned. The Defender Class was one such class. Built off of the hull of a Walker class cruiser, the Defender was to operate as a rapid response and emergency rescue ship, a technicality that kept it from being classified as a warship. A secondary hull was added with one of the experimental new deflector dishes designed for the Constitution refit program that was being rolled out at the time. The Phase 2 nacelles were also added. The deflector dish of the Walker was removed, and in its place was put a modular slot that could be fitted with a Phaser lance, a quad torpedo battery, a secondary shield emitter/deflector, or a science module.

Weapon wise, the Defender class was no slouch. It was meant to enter a hot zone, defeat its enemies in rapid order, and rescue the survivors of a klingon ambush. It was equipped with 5 sets of dual phaser emitters, and 4 single emitters. It had 3 torpedo pods, with the top pod mounted on a brace, much like would be seen with the later Miranda class cruisers. This gave it a frontal torpedo spread of 6 torpedoes and 2 aft torpedoes. The two lower pods also allowed for double loading, increasing the payload to 10 torpedoes, but this suffered with drastic decreases in accuracy and went through a full fifth of the ship's torpedo compliment. It boasted the largest and most advanced medical suite of the time, as well as large group transporters, making it excel as a hospital ship.

The Protector was equipped with the Phaser lance, a set of 8 emitters tied into a small dilithium core and placed behind a focusing screen, which allowed the ship to fire a high intensity beam. However, the lens would burn out after a couple of uses, making the ship need to carry extras to keep the weapon system in the fight.

The USS Protector was the first ship of the class, given to newly minted captain Finn Blair. Blair might not have been a captain of another ship before this, but he had served aboard the USS Ganymede, a Nimitz class Heavy Cruiser. The Ship had disabled an enemy D7 cruiser, but had in turn also been disabled. This lead to Klingons boarding the Ganymede, and the two factions battling for a week in close quarters combat before the remaining starfleet personnel were able to be evacuated. The battle left Blair hardened and scarred, and with a new mentality of needing more military prowess. He made sure that the medics didn't heal his scars, keeping them as reminders of the lessons he learned fighting through the halls of the Ganymede. This caught the attention of Section 31 and Admiral Veers, who put him in charge of the Protector and made him the first member of the Rapid Response Task force that was being assembled.

Length: 395 meters
Beam: 285 Meters
Crew: 150 officers, 60 Marines, emergency space
Decks: 20

Description
The losses of ships and lives in the Klingon/Federation war quickly took a toll on Starfleet's tactical ability. While certain classes stood out for their performance against the Klingons, it was readily apparent that the Federation had insufficient ships with a wide tactical berth to be able to protect their territory. Section 31 approached the Starfleet High Command with a plan for several different tactical application ships, all built off of hulls of ships that had been decommissioned. The Defender Class was one such class. Built off of the hull of a Walker class cruiser, the Defender was to operate as a rapid response and emergency rescue ship, a technicality that kept it from being classified as a warship. A secondary hull was added with one of the experimental new deflector dishes designed for the Constitution refit program that was being rolled out at the time. The Phase 2 nacelles were also added. The deflector dish of the Walker was removed, and in its place was put a modular slot that could be fitted with a Phaser lance, a quad torpedo battery, a secondary shield emitter/deflector, or a science module.

Weapon wise, the Defender class was no slouch. It was meant to enter a hot zone, defeat its enemies in rapid order, and rescue the survivors of a klingon ambush. It was equipped with 5 sets of dual phaser emitters, and 4 single emitters. It had 3 torpedo pods, with the top pod mounted on a brace, much like would be seen with the later Miranda class cruisers. This gave it a frontal torpedo spread of 6 torpedoes and 2 aft torpedoes. The two lower pods also allowed for double loading, increasing the payload to 10 torpedoes, but this suffered with drastic decreases in accuracy and went through a full fifth of the ship's torpedo compliment. It boasted the largest and most advanced medical suite of the time, as well as large group transporters, making it excel as a hospital ship.

The Protector was equipped with the Phaser lance, a set of 8 emitters tied into a small dilithium core and placed behind a focusing screen, which allowed the ship to fire a high intensity beam. However, the lens would burn out after a couple of uses, making the ship need to carry extras to keep the weapon system in the fight.

The USS Protector was the first ship of the class, given to newly minted captain Finn Blair. Blair might not have been a captain of another ship before this, but he had served aboard the USS Ganymede, a Nimitz class Heavy Cruiser. The Ship had disabled an enemy D7 cruiser, but had in turn also been disabled. This lead to Klingons boarding the Ganymede, and the two factions battling for a week in close quarters combat before the remaining starfleet personnel were able to be evacuated. The battle left Blair hardened and scarred, and with a new mentality of needing more military prowess. He made sure that the medics didn't heal his scars, keeping them as reminders of the lessons he learned fighting through the halls of the Ganymede. This caught the attention of Section 31 and Admiral Veers, who put him in charge of the Protector and made him the first member of the Rapid Response Task force that was being assembled.

Length: 395 meters
Beam: 285 Meters
Crew: 150 officers, 60 Marines, emergency space
Decks: 20