The Gral-class was a class of starship operated by Starfleet during the mid-23rd century, named for the 22nd century Tellarite diplomat Gral. (SNW: "Strange New Worlds")
History[]
The Gral-class had entered service by 2259. During this year, the USS Archer, crewed by Lieutenant Commander Una Chin-Riley and astrophysicists Lieutenant Key and Ensign Hadad, was assigned to conduct a first contact mission on Kiley 279. During this mission, they were arrested and imprisoned, and left the Archer abandoned in orbit. The Archer was later recovered and docked at Starbase 1 with the USS Enterprise and the USS Farragut. (SNW: "Strange New Worlds", "The Broken Circle")
Two Gral-class vessels evacuated Bavali Station prior to its destruction. (SNW: "Lost in Translation")
The class was still active in 2261, where several were recalled for the Federation Day centennial celebration at Starbase One. (SNW: "Wedding Bell Blues")
Technical data[]
The Gral-class was considerably smaller than a Constitution-class starship, and shared its design with the contemporary Saladin-class and Hermes-class fleet. Its structure consisted of a saucer section with a pair of aft impulse engines and a single warp nacelle attached beneath the centerline of the saucer. A shuttlebay was located in between each impulse engine. Several large windows were placed around the perimeter of the saucer, including a large front facing window at the front of the saucer.
Ships of the Gral-class could be operated by as few as three crew members. (SNW: "Strange New Worlds", "The Broken Circle")
Ships commissioned[]
- Named
- Unnamed
- Unnamed Gral-class starships
Appendices[]
Appearances[]
Background information[]
The single-nacelle design used in for the Archer was conceptually based on and visually similar to the Hermes-class (scout) and Saladin-class (destroyer) that first appeared in Franz Joseph's Star Fleet Technical Manual.
According to the booklet included with the Fanhome model, it was essentially a runabout. In the booklet it was divulged that the class name had only been decided upon when the Fanhome model had actually been taken into development.