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Description
Space Control Ship Testbed
Mars Class Mk II
Ingram Class Pathfinder Variant

In 2274, Starfleet Command began a series of analysis and study programs to investigate the feasibility of the proposed 'Space Control Ship ' concept, a for-the-time highly controversial program which would eventually give rise to the Excelsior and Ingram Classes. While few would argue that the eventual fielding of the highly visible and successful Excelsior Class is a net loss for Starfleet, the Space Control Ship concept itself can still engender significant arguments in many strategic analysis and admiralty circles throughout the fleet. While there are indeed a myriad of details which can be discussed depending on which phase of the overall program is being looked at, in the end analysis, the Space Control Ship was an initiative by Starfleet to field a vessel which mated credible combatant characteristics of a heavy cruiser or dreadnought with the small-craft carrying capacity of an equally credible carrier vessel. Without delving too deeply into the proverbial weeds regarding the full breadth of the program itself, in this article, we are presenting the one specific phase wherein a mothballed Mars Class vessel was upgraded as a testbed for the overall concept. While not undertaken with the intention of converting any of the other extent Mars Class ships, this did nevertheless serve as a relatively cost-effective intermediate step to test under practical operational conditions many of the basic elements which were being developed and considered during the design phases of the Excelsior and Ingram Classes.

By the time the Space Control Ship concept came into vogue, Starfleet was hardly a novice organization when it came to the arena of small craft employment from major fleet units. Indeed, from the more modest Coronado Class to the truly impressive Ariel Class, Starfleet had long embraced the underlying flexibility of employing a wide variety of small craft in various operations from pirate interdiction operations to mass casualty and colonial support. But to this point, these earlier carrier platforms were envisioned as operating as parts of larger fleet formations with accompanying heavy cruiser, frigate and destroyer units in order to allow these dedicated carrier platforms to concentrate almost solely on small craft flight operations. The Space Control Ship by contrast was expected to operate not only as the deploying carrier for small craft, but also function on its own without wider fleet support. In this description lies the source of controversy; the somewhat dubious idea that any ship meeting such a criteria would by definition be a 'jack of all trades, but a master of none'. The idea that any attempt to fit more capabilities into a single platform, trade-offs would inevitably be made which would degrade the utility of such a vessel in any number of combatant or scientific capabilities. Yet even as the debate continued, some of the underlying aspects of the concept were tested on the lone Mars Class conversion, quietly proving and improving on many aspects of the underlying theories behind the program as a whole so that by the time the Excelsior and Ingram Classes had completed their initial post-shakedown availability trials and began entering main fleet service, they had firm data and doctrine from which to work which had been tested time and again upon the decks of this stalwart yet unheralded pathfinder vessel.

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Description
Space Control Ship Testbed
Mars Class Mk II
Ingram Class Pathfinder Variant

In 2274, Starfleet Command began a series of analysis and study programs to investigate the feasibility of the proposed 'Space Control Ship ' concept, a for-the-time highly controversial program which would eventually give rise to the Excelsior and Ingram Classes. While few would argue that the eventual fielding of the highly visible and successful Excelsior Class is a net loss for Starfleet, the Space Control Ship concept itself can still engender significant arguments in many strategic analysis and admiralty circles throughout the fleet. While there are indeed a myriad of details which can be discussed depending on which phase of the overall program is being looked at, in the end analysis, the Space Control Ship was an initiative by Starfleet to field a vessel which mated credible combatant characteristics of a heavy cruiser or dreadnought with the small-craft carrying capacity of an equally credible carrier vessel. Without delving too deeply into the proverbial weeds regarding the full breadth of the program itself, in this article, we are presenting the one specific phase wherein a mothballed Mars Class vessel was upgraded as a testbed for the overall concept. While not undertaken with the intention of converting any of the other extent Mars Class ships, this did nevertheless serve as a relatively cost-effective intermediate step to test under practical operational conditions many of the basic elements which were being developed and considered during the design phases of the Excelsior and Ingram Classes.

By the time the Space Control Ship concept came into vogue, Starfleet was hardly a novice organization when it came to the arena of small craft employment from major fleet units. Indeed, from the more modest Coronado Class to the truly impressive Ariel Class, Starfleet had long embraced the underlying flexibility of employing a wide variety of small craft in various operations from pirate interdiction operations to mass casualty and colonial support. But to this point, these earlier carrier platforms were envisioned as operating as parts of larger fleet formations with accompanying heavy cruiser, frigate and destroyer units in order to allow these dedicated carrier platforms to concentrate almost solely on small craft flight operations. The Space Control Ship by contrast was expected to operate not only as the deploying carrier for small craft, but also function on its own without wider fleet support. In this description lies the source of controversy; the somewhat dubious idea that any ship meeting such a criteria would by definition be a 'jack of all trades, but a master of none'. The idea that any attempt to fit more capabilities into a single platform, trade-offs would inevitably be made which would degrade the utility of such a vessel in any number of combatant or scientific capabilities. Yet even as the debate continued, some of the underlying aspects of the concept were tested on the lone Mars Class conversion, quietly proving and improving on many aspects of the underlying theories behind the program as a whole so that by the time the Excelsior and Ingram Classes had completed their initial post-shakedown availability trials and began entering main fleet service, they had firm data and doctrine from which to work which had been tested time and again upon the decks of this stalwart yet unheralded pathfinder vessel.

Components from , &