Saladin class



The Saladin-class The Saladin-class was a class of Federation starship in operation during the 23rd century.

The Saladin consisted of a saucer section and nacelle, each similar in exterior design to that of a Constitution-class vessel of the 2260s. Its configuration was signficantly different, however, as it employed only a single nacelle.

Appearances

 * Star Trek Movies:
 * Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
 * Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
 * Star Trek Fan Films:
 * Tales of the Seventh Fleet

Background
The Saladin-class starship was a design originally created by Franz Joseph in his Star Fleet Technical Manual. The production staff of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock used some of the ships in the Technical Manual as background display images on monitor screens on the bridge. Intended to be merely background decoration, freeze frames and close examination have shown it likely (but not conclusively) that the images used were taken from the Joseph book with little or no modification. Through the presence of small blurred lines of apparent text one can infer that one such image was of the Saladin (versus the Hermes, another single-nacelle Joseph design).

The concept of a single-nacelle starship has been derided by some as contrary to "established" design requirements for Starfleet ships, but there is nothing in canon that mandates a minimum number of nacelles for a ship.

According to the Star Fleet Technical Manual, the Saladin was a more militarized version of her sister class, the Hermes-class. While the Hermes was a scout, and therefore carried only 2 phaser banks, the Saladin was a destroyer and was armed with 3 phaser emplacements (with two emitters each) and 2 photon torpedo tubes.

The class may have been named for Saladin, a famous Kurdish general who fought against the Crusaders in the 12th century and recaptured Jerusalem.