CLASS NAME: Spacedock   CLASS TYPE: Space Station   GOVERNMENT: United Federation of Planets
Wide view	Top view

NOTE: many thanks to Bernard Guignard for the scans of this rare class!
The Spacedock design was never part of my edition of the Federation Ship Recognition Manual,
nor was it part of my copy of the STSTCS game manual, making this class an unusual treat.  Enjoy.

BRAD'S COMMENTS:  I have always admired this design.  I am not sure why.  Perhaps because it is visually more imposing than the flimsy cagework of the spacedocks seen in Star Trek TMP, Star Trek II, and Star Trek Generations.  Perhaps also because the sequence in Star Trek III where the Enterprise returns to dock after taking a beating at the hands of Khan is one of my favorite starship scenes in all of Trekdom.  In any case, the true scale of the Earth Spacedock dwarfs even the largest Starfleet starships, which up until the third Trek film were the largest human-made structures featured on the Trek screen.  Even by ST:TNG standards it seems that the Spacedock is still the largest spaceborne facility in the Starfleet inventory, as the 'starbase' from episode 11001001 easily engulfs the Galaxy Class Enterprise prior to being hijacked by the Bynars.
        But the space station seen in 11001001 presents a certain problem.  It looks physically identical to the Spacedock seen to orbit Earth in several of the Trek films, yet in Star Trek III we plainly see that the Consitution Refit Class Enterprise barely fits through the giant space doors that guard entry and exit into the Spacedock's primary hangar.  So how can the Galaxy Class, which is remarkably taller and especially wider than the Constitution Refit, pass through such an orifice?  Are we to accept, as we must with the Klingon Bird(s) of Prey ships, that there are several sizes of Spacedock, all identical in outward appearance?  Morever, Star Trek has never made clear whether or not such a massive orbital satellite like the Spacedock qualifies as a "starbase" all by itself, or if the Spacedock is merely an orbital extension of a much larger ground-based facility?
        My hunch tends towards the latter.
        The stats for the Earth Spacedock state that it is totally unarmed; not a surprise there, as it is in the heart of the Federation.  Just the same, with how many times Earth has been faced with certain doom from invading aliens, one wonders why Starfleet hasn't given the Spacedock some teeth, if only for last-ditch defensive measures?
     For the sake of game play, I wrote up my own version for use in Starbase scenarios--a version which is armed, and armed well; though I don't advise players to use this model unless they are going to prepare their scenario so as to give the opponent a fighting chance.
     I think it's worth noting that any enemy fighting the Starbase version doesn't have to eliminate all the superstructure to defeat it.  If the power plants take enough engine hits, the Starbase won't be able to energize weapons or raise shields, rendering it essentially dead during game play.  Likewise, if an opponent could pick off all of the weapon hard-points in a given arc of fire, then the opponent would have a shadow zone of safety in which to operate, assuming no Federation starships were near and said opponent could keep his fleet in the disarmed arc during the remainder of the game.

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