The Watchtower-class was a type of Federation starbase introduced in the mid-23rd century. These space stations were considered to be major bases of operations for Starfleet along the frontier, and functioned as hubs for colonization efforts and many other mission profiles. They typically took four years and nine months to construct. (VAN novel: Harbinger; TOS: "The Ultimate Computer")
Layout[]
The Watchtower-class station had a typical 23rd century Federation design. A saucer-shaped primary hull, with a central command tower, sat atop a secondary hull which housed cargo bays and maintenance sections. Circling the core about halfway down was an external docking wheel, and at the bottom was the energy reactor housing and multi-spectrum array.
Command tower[]
The command tower housed shuttlebays accessible through four pairs of equidistant spacedoors, a medical center, offices and the operations center.
Primary hull[]
The primary hull contained four main docking bays in its spacedock, each large enough to service a Constitution-class starship. Above the spacedock was a terrestrial enclosure encircling a residential tower. Below that were support facilities, crew quarters, the computer core torus and four deuterium fueling tanks. The external hull mounted four maneuvering thrusters, 128 lifeboat ports, six phaser/photon torpedo emplacements, and had four shuttlebay access points.
Secondary hull[]
The upper secondary hull was mainly made up of cargo and maintenance facilities, and supported the external docking wheel. The lower hull was comprised of the energy reactor and the rotatable mount for the multi-spectrum array. Six phaser/photon torpedo emplacements were equally spaced around the energy reactor housing. (VAN novel: Harbinger)
List of stations[]
- Starbase 6
- Starbase 25
- Starbase 47 / Starbase Vanguard
- Starbase 71
- Starbase 91
External links[]
- Watchtower class article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.