USS Arcturus (NCC-1807-A)

Design History
As Starfleet entered the latter half of the 24th century, it was recognized that a long range, high endurance starship would be needed to explore further from Federation space than had ever been done before. To fill this role, the Advanced Starship Design Bureau (ASDB) developed several long range exploratory cruiser designs. The first of these was launched in the early 2360’s as the USS Galaxy (NCC-70637). As the first of these new starships, Galaxy, Yamato and Enterprise-D, began space trials, a newer and more versatile starship was being designed on the drawing boards at Utopia Planitia. Combining the best features of the previous Excelsior, Ambassador and Galaxy classes along with a reconfigurable hull design, construction of the starships that would eventually be called the Arcturus class began in 2366.

Unique Features
While very similar to the design of several Starfleet vessels, most notably the Excelsior and Galaxy class starships, the Arcturus class has several unique features which aid in their mission of far-reaching exploration and diplomacy. The warp nacelles, an improvement on the Galaxy class design, are sleeker and more angular and can propel the starship at speeds of up to warp 9.995 for extended periods. However, the most unique feature is the primary saucer hull. Unlike most other starships, the saucer hull is divided into pie-wedge shaped sections which can be easily removed and replaced at most any Starfleet facility. Each wedge section can be configured to contain laboratories, cargo bays, crew quarters, recreation facilities, weapons and defensive systems or any other equipment the starship may require during its mission, allowing the Arcturus to be configured precisely as needed for its current mission. Also, in case of emergency, each wedge section can be employed as an autonomous lifeboat. The average crew of the Arcturus includes over 1000 officers and enlisted, up to 500 family members in the years before the Dominion War and up to 500 additional mission specialists, depending on the requirements of the current assignment.

Service Summery
The first of the new starships was nearing completion at Utopia Planitia Fleetyard, Mars, when the 23rd century starship USS Arcturus (NCC-1807) emerged from a time warp in 2367. Following the decision not to return the Arcturus crew to their original time frame and instead retrain them at Starfleet Academy before resuming service in Starfleet, the first of the new starships was named Arcturus with the registry number 1807-A in their honor. The new vessel was officially commissioned during a ceremony that also saw the decommissioning of the original Arcturus and assigned to the command of Vice-Admiral Eric W. Johnson with all the original Arcturus crew who chose to remain in Starfleet, augmented by several hundred new crew members.

Following Vice-Admiral Johnson’s retirement from Starfleet in the mid-2370’s, the Arcturus-A was turned over to the command of his former First Officer, Solak of Vulcan, who continues to command the starship to this day.