Category:Neptune-class

Technical Data
The Neptune was the 'workhorse' of Earth's Starfleet during the mid 22nd century. The ships were designed for general purpose defensive duties.

Speed
With a top cruise speed of warp 2 they had an average travel time between systems of up to several years.

The Neptunes would rarely undertake such missions - they would typically use their interstellar capability to transit to a given system and then operate there for a considerable period, conducting local patrols at impulse or low warp. At the end of their mission the ship would then return home at warp speed. Such missions could last as much as ten years, and with a thirty year hull life a typical Neptune-class vessel might only travel to two or three different systems throughout its life.

It was not until the addition of Colonial/Cylon FTL-drives, did the Neptunes begin to appear in more modern fleets. Due to their size and speed at impulse speeds, they became very critical in filling the frigate roles for many fleets during the Xindi Conflict.

Physical Arrangement
Due to their long travel times between stars individual Neptune-classes varied greatly in how up to date they were - a ship stationed at Earth would likely receive all the most up to date equipment, while one which was in a distant system could go many years without such attention.

Like all other Human designed ships, the Neptunes were greatly outpaced by the NX-class starships which began to appear in the 2150s. Even so they continued to operate through this 2150s and beyond. The ships were refitted throughout their lives to keep them up to date; they carried phase cannon, and some recieved photonic torpedoes to supplement or even replace their spatial torps.

Crew
Neptune-class frigates only carrying a crew of 35.

Armaments
Neptunes were originally fitted with one multi-directional torpeode launcher and four plasma cannon.