Baton Rouge class

The Baton Rouge class was a type of starship in use by the Federation Starfleet (primarily) during the 23rd century. Designed as cruisers and explorers, starships of this class bridged the gap between the Daedalus class/NX class and Constitution class eras, being the latter's immediate "top of the line" predecessor. The Baton Rouge class continued to serve in secondary and support roles for over a century, long after they had been supplanted as front line vessels. (Spaceflight Chronology, et. al)

A contemporary of the Einstein class, the Baton Rouge class entered service during the 2190s. The class would remain on active duty in various capacities for until the 2270s, when her younger Constitution sisters were undergoing their major refit. (Federation: The First 150 Years; Spaceflight Chronology)

History

Early years

The prototype USS Baton Rouge launched 2194, with several more ships following soon after. Early results were so promising that between the new Baton Rouge and Einstein designs, and the proven Bonaventure-class explorers, Starfleet felt fully confident in mothballing the last of their decades-old Daedalus-class fleet in 2196. (Federation: The First 150 Years; Ships of the Line; TNG: "Power Play")

While the earliest Baton Rouge vessels were launched in the 2190s and 2200s, the bulk of the class was produced during the 2210s and 2220s. Most ships of the first three construction blocks were assigned registries in the 1300 series, with some overlap between them and the Walker and Shepard-classes, while the registry numbers for the fourth block (starting in the 2230s) were in the 1500 and 1600 and range.

Like the many cruiser classes before and since, the Baton Rouge had a number of variants and sub-classes, including the Nordenskjold-class galactic explorers and Valley Forge-class battlecruisers. She also inspired more "spin-off" designs than almost any other starship class in history, including the Cook, Coventry, Detroyat, and Marklin-classes. Additionally, designs like the Ranger class and Andraste class combined elements of the Baton Rouge with their Bonaventure class origins, and would go on to influence the Constitution class. (Jaynz' Starships: Ships of the Baton Rouge Era; Ships of the Line)

With Starfleet's development of the Constitution class, production slowed and eventually ended on new Baton Rouge vessels; the last two ships of the class were launched in 2246, after which Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards fully shifted to focus on producing the Constitution and her sister classes. Unused Baton Rouge registry numbers were shifted to the Constitutions and their Miranda-class contemporaries. (Jaynz' Starships: Ships of the Baton Rouge Era)

Conversion and refits

By the 2240s, the class was growing outdated, soon to be relegated to secondary status, in favor of more technologically-advanced designs.

However, the Baton Rouge class had proved durable and versatile, and structural tests indicated that ships of the class could be reconfigured to more modern designs supporting new technologies. Starfleet's early losses during the Four Years War saw a conversion plan put into action, allowing the woefully-outgunned Baton Rouge vessels to be transformed into state-of-the-art Constitution-class heavy cruisers. The older Bonaventure class was also found to be capable of upgrade to Constitution specs, though doing so was more costly and fewer such conversions were made. (Trekmania; Jaynz' Starships: Ships of the Baton Rouge Era)

Unfortunately, none of the Baton Rouge or Bonaventure converts nor their newly-built sister vessels were completed before the war's end. However, the upgrade plans continued in order to more rapidly build up a fleet of Constitutions as Starfleet's front line class for the next generation.

Conversions would continue throughout the 2250s, allowing a handful of ships to be refit and rushed into service during the Federation-Klingon War of 2256-2257, with many others replenishing the fleet after the conflict's end. (Star Trek: Pendragon)

Second line, second life

With the full advent of the Constitution-class era, in 2248, the Baton Rouge class found itself downgraded from "Class I" to "Class II" status. The surviving, unconverted vessels of the class continued to prove eminently capable in such support roles, including escort, patrol, survey, transport, and training duties.

By the mid-2260s, a number of unconverted Baton Rouges had been either mothballed, scrapped or sold as surplus. Others continued in service, undergoing their own refits that fell short of full spaceframe conversion. By the 2280s, the last ships of the class had been decommissioned, marking an unprecedented 85 years of active duty with Starfleet.

Known vessels

e Baton Rouge-class starships
Name	Registry	Subclass	Service Dates		Status	Source
			Start	End
Baton Rouge	NCC-1300	Mk I	2194*	~	mothballed*	SFC / Jaynz
Moscow	NCC-1301	Mk I	2190s	~	decom'd	SFC / Jaynz
Peking	NCC-1302	Mk I	2190s	~	decom'd	SFC / Jaynz
Britannia	NCC-1303	Mk I	2190s	2140s	destroyed	Jaynz / ICON
Los Angeles	NCC-1304	Mk I	2190s*	~	decom'd	Jaynz / F150
Yamato	NCC-1305	Mk I	2190s*	2240s	destroyed	SFC / Jaynz
Hokkaido	NCC-1306	Mk I	2190s*	~	decom'd	SFC / Jaynz
Savannah	NCC-1307	Mk I	2190s*	~	missing	SFC / TFR / Jaynz
Tehran	NCC-1308	Mk I	2190s*	~	decom'd	SFC / Jaynz
Petersburg	NCC-1310**	Mk I	2200s	~	decom'd	SFC / Jaynz
Glasgow	NCC-1311*	Mk I	2200s	~	~	TFR / Jaynz
London	NCC-1314**	Mk I	2200s	2250s	converted**	Trekmania
Virginia	NCC-1315**	Mk I	2200s	2250s	converted**	SFM
Constantinople	NCC-1318**	Mk I	2200s	2250s	converted**	Trekmania
Carolina*	NCC-1330*	Mk II	2215	2260s	active	canon / conjecture
~	NCC-1335	Mk II	2210s*	2250s*	converted**	DC TOS
Clemenceau	NCC-1340**	Mk II	2210s*	2250s*	converted**	SFM
Iridon	NCC-1342**	Mk II	2210s*	2250s*	converted**	Trekmania
Arromanches	NCC-1343	Mk II	2210s*	2250s*	converted**	SFM
Tacoma	NCC-1350	Mk III**	2220s	~	~	Memory Eta
Galaxy	NCC-1352	Mk III	2220s*	2250s*	converted**	Trekmania
Wellington	NCC-1354	Mk III	2220s*	2250s*	converted**	Trekmania
Seattle	NCC-1355**	Mk III	2220s*	2250s*	converted**	Memory Eta
Marseilles	NCC-1360	Mk III	2220s	~	decom'd	Jaynz
Devonshire	NCC-1361	Mk III	2220s	~	decom'd	Jaynz
Sydney	NCC-1362	Mk III	2220s	2250s*	converted**	Jaynz / Trekmania
Vladivostok	NCC-1363	Mk III	2220s	2270s	active	Jaynz
Cairo	NCC-1364	Mk III	2220s	2240s*	destroyed	Jaynz
Tipton	NCC-1365	Mk III	2220s	~	decom'd	Jaynz
Arcadia	NCC-1366	Mk III	2220s	~	decom'd	Jaynz
Tripoli	NCC-1367	Mk III	2220s	2240s	destroyed	Jaynz / ICON
Union	NCC-1368	Mk III	2220s	~	decom'd	Jaynz
USS Lafayette	NCC-1369	Mk III	2220s	2256	converted**	Jaynz
Commonwealth	NCC-1370	Mk III	2220s	~	decom'd	Jaynz
USS Republic	NCC-1371	Mk III	2220s	2245	converted**	canon / Jaynz
Liberty	NCC-1373	Mk III	2220s**	~	~	Jaynz
Chauncey	NCC-1374	Mk III	2220s**	~	~	Jaynz
Birmingham	NCC-1384	Mk III*	2220s*	2244**	destroyed	Memory Eta
Vega	NCC-1387	Mk III**	2220s*	2244**	destroyed	Memory Eta
Shield	NCC-1386**	Mk III	2220s*	2250s*	converted**	Trekmania
Wisconsin	NCC-1395	Mk III**	2220s*	2268	destroyed	Memory Eta
Anchorage	NCC-1398**	Mk III*	2220s*	~	converted	Trekmania
Nordenskjold	NCC-1425	Mk IV	2228	~	decom'd	Jaynz / FSRC
Cartier	NCC-1426	Mk IV	2229*	~	decom'd	Jaynz
Barentis	NCC-1427	Mk IV	2229*	~	decom'd	Jaynz
Amundson	NCC-1428	MK IV	2230*	~	lost	Jaynz
Baffin	NCC-1429	MK IV	2230*	~	decom'd	Jaynz
Denpasar	NCC-1551	Mk V	2230s	2276	active	AVG / SS
Ventura	NCC-1585	Mk V	2230s*	2248	active	TOS: Crew**
Savannah II	NCC-1622	Mk V	2240s	2254	active	SFC / EV
Churchill	~	Mk IV*	2230s*	2263	active	DC TOS
Black Hawk	NCC-1058	Mk III*	2229	2275	decom'd	Black Hawk
Mk I = Baton Rouge | Mk II = Carolina * | Mk III = | Mk IV = Nordenskjold | Mk V = ~ = uncertain | * = conjectural | ** = altered from original source for converted ships, see Constitution-class

External links

• Baton Rouge class article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.
• Baton Rouge class article at Star Trek Expanded Universe, the fanon and fanworks Star Trek wiki.