MANY THANKS TO STEVE MORISANI, JR., FOR THIS CLASS.  He did a lot of work on both the stats and the backstory, and I think he did a great job.  Initially I had not considered working up a TMP-refit for this old design, but when Steve said he had stats and story ready to go, and all he needed was the graphic, I knew I had to do it.  The graphic above was time consuming to create (as any good fanship design should be!) but I am quite pleased.  I've seen other Federation class refits that seem to be nothing more than an existing Constitution class refit with a third nacelle added on a pylon above the impulse deck.  The graphic above (by contrast) is partially Constitution-refit, but the engineering hull is entirely redesigned, reflecting the increased diameter of the original class, as well as the forward-facing shuttle bay, and the oddly-placed aft navigational deflector.  That last one has always made me scratch my head, as the purpose of the navigational deflector is to divert debris and small objects out of the path of a a ship moving at warp velocity.  Does the Federation class go to warp in reverse?  Anyway, I wanted to stay true to the original, and since the rear deflector was a stand-out feature on the old design, I retained it for the new one.

          — BRT

FANSHIP GRAPHIC: Brad R. Torgersen, 2004    IDEA, STATS, & STORY: Steve Morisani Jr., 2004
Federation Class XV Battleship (refit)
     During the tumultuous times following the Khitomer Peace Conference, a number of Klingon commanders, sympathetic to General Chang’s cause, broke off from the Empire and continued to participate in cross-border skirmishes with their old adversary. Starfleet, feeling the pressure to maintain the Peace Accords, nonetheless needed to do something to stem the ever-increasing tide of attacks. Starfleet quickly found themselves in a tight spot—pulling ships off of their assigned tasks for Galaxy Exploration Command was not an option and the ships assigned to the sectors on the Klingon border were found to be under gunned in light of new Klingon designs. A quick solution needed to be found, and was, but the Federation was at first reluctant to agree to Starfleet’s idea: re-commission the remaining Federation-Class battleships and use them to augment the ships stationed along the border.
     It was quickly discovered that these ships, while powerful in their day, were showing their age. New Klingon designs, like the L-20, while not too numerous, were still more than a match for most of the ships in Starfleet’s inventory.  It was decided, then, that perhaps a whole-sale refitting project would allow the ships to regain their status as one of the premier ships of its day while at the same time satisfying the immediate need to quell the threat posed by these renegades.
     When the Federation council got news of this proposed project, it immediately sparked intense debate. The Federation had never fully recovered from the Star Empire debacle, and the class had forever maintained that black eye given to it during Vice-Admiral Rittenhouse’s abortive coup attempt.  It was this incident which led to the ship’s eventual decommissioning as a class. In the end, under the increasing political pressure to resolve the situation, the Council reluctantly agreed to allow the refit project to go ahead—but there was one caveat: Starfleet was to use the Federation Class only until a newer ship was designed and only a limited number of the ships would be re-commissioned and refit.
     Using the success of the Constitution, Anton, Loknar, and Larson refit projects as a base, one team of Starfleet engineers set to work refitting the USS Entente (NCC-2120) to its new specifications while another team set to work designing a new class to replace the Federation Class (eventually designing the Triton Class Cruiser). The major change came with the engines.  Upgrading to the successful FWG design, the engineers also integrated in the reliable FIG-2, thus doubling the impulse engine’s power contribution to the ship’s power grid, while increasing the overall power output by 1/3.  The engineers kept the FSN-X2 shield system and the weapons array, opting to use the same design from the MK XIII refit. However, the engineers did upgrade the photon system to the FP-4, Starfleet’s most potent. The designers felt that the FHX-3A Phaser system was adequate (in light of the time crunch), and so those were kept.
     A total of 4 ships were refit to MK XVI specifications before Starfleet engineers introduced a ship designed to fill the need on a long-term basis. Within 8 months of the completion of the refit of the USS Concordat (NCC 2109), however, the cruiser USS Triton left spacedock and, upon completion of a successful shakedown cruise, assumed the role that the Federation-class ships had performed.  As the new cruiser became available in numbers, coupled with the fact that Starfleet was primarily exploratory in nature and already had two battleship designs in inventory, the Federation class ships were pulled from the line and mothballed. All four ships saw action and performed admirably. However, the legacy of Vice Admiral Rittenhouse forever overshadowed the ships, and they were quickly removed from service at the behest of the Federation Council.  Within 5 years of the completion of the Star Union (NCC 2112), the last of the four to be refitted, 3 of the remaining 4 had been mothballed. They were later scrapped.
     Historical Notes: The USS Alliance (NCC 2113) was the only MKVI lost. Responding to a series of distress calls from the picket line of Alamo class stations protecting an area of space near Kolm-An, the Alliance lead a task force of 5 ships into an area near the neutral zone. While on patrol, the task force was ambushed by a Klingon attack group of 12 ships, including two of the previously un-encountered L-20 battleships. The battle took place near an Alamo Class station. During the course of the engagement, the ships of the task force were either disabled or destroyed. The Alliance, heavily damaged and without shields, was self-destructed by her captain while surrounded by several Klingon vessels intent on capturing her. The resulting explosion severely damaged the remaining ships of the Klingon battle group and they were forced to withdraw under intense fire from both the station and a relief force consisting of a pair of Northampton Class frigates and an Andor class missile cruiser that responded to the task forces’ distress call.