The last ten years has been one of unprecedented conflict for the Federation.  Not only have the Borg twice tried to assimilate the entire Federation, but Starfleet has also had to face armed conflicts with the Klingons and a full scale war with the Dominion. The constant and increasing combat situations forced Starfleet to consider the design of ships with much higher than normal combat capabilities. The Sovereign Class was one of the most notable examples of this process, heavily armed, very fast, but sleeker than the preceding Galaxy class and unlike the Galaxy does not carry families. Another prime example is the Defiant Class, warships in all but name.  During the war with the Dominion Starfleet also deployed its first true fighter carrier, the USS Hyperion. This starship, a retrofitted Excelsior was equipped with two squadrons of the new Kingston class space superiority fighters. The Hyperion was supposed to carry the fighters into action and then coordinate their efforts and lend support. The system was a success, but Starfleet quickly came to the decision that a new class was needed to
expand on the basic premise. Thus the Vincent Class was born, able to carry less fighters,but more of a multi-role vessel and thus of much greater use to the fleet. Based on the Sovereign Class, the Vincents carry a single squadron of the new Hyperion Class fighters as well as the regular armament of the Sovereign.  So far only two of these vessels have been completed so that testing can continue of the Hyperion fighters and of the new ship class.The project has also slowed somewhat due to the end of the war and the need to construct more mid-sized vessels to replace war time losses.

   The Vincent Class at present represents the pinnacle of Starfleet engineering.  She has the most modern shield systems, upper rated weapons and warp drive and an impulse engine assembly which gives her the maneuverability of a ship half her size.  As with all Federation Starships now being built, her warp nacelles are constructed to avoid damaging sub-space.

   Main Engineering on the USS Hyperion-D is located on deck 16, in the secondary hull. From this location access to the warp core is easily available. The Chief Engineer has his/her office just off from this location so that they can respond to an emergency quickly. The duty engineer has a station directly in front of the warp core, near the master systems monitor console. The Hyperion is equipped with the standard Federation Warp Core ejection systems, although the software has been substantially updated from the model fitted in Galaxy class starships, which was causing some concern. Other engineering stations include sensor monitoring suits located on deck 15, secondary engineering on deck 8 which provides access to the impulse engines and the three nacelle control stations.

Engineers can get to the subsystems located in the primary hull of the ship by navigating through Jeffries tubes.  Jeffries tubes are crawl spaces that run throughout the ship.  Acting as the coronary system of the ship, the carry the necessary power between areas.  The computer's relays are also located in Jeffries Tubes.  These relays use of bio-gel packs to pass information.

	The Engineering Department also includes Transporter systems.  The ship has a total of four transporter rooms as well as three cargo transporters.  She is capable of transporting over 250 people every hour.

Specifications:      Length: 680 Meters       Beam: 240 Meters       Height: 87 Meters       Mass: 3,800,000 tons       Decks: 24       Crew Compliment: 752  Propulsion:      Primary: Three Sovereign Type Warp Nacelles       Secondary: Twin Impulse Engines Mark XIX       Tertiary: Maneuvering Thrusters       Cruising Speed: Warp 8       Maximum Warp Speed: Warp 9.9       Emergency Warp Speed: Warp 9.99 for 36 Hours  Defenses:      Primary: Multi-Phasic Shielding       Secondary: Navigational Shielding       Tertiary: Ablative Armour  Armament:      Primary: 12 Type XII Phaser Arrays       Secondary: 1 Rapid Fire Quantum Torpedo Turret (600 Torpedoes)       Tertiary: 4 Burst Fire Photon Torpedo Launchers (500 Torpedoes)  Flight Deck:      Hyperion Class Fighters: 12 + 4 in Storage  Auxiliary Craft:      Captain's Yacht: USS Elara

Top View Schematic     Side View Schematic         Vincent Class Warp Nacelle Schematic