Steamrunners, what do we actually know about them?

[Kerneth]

I think the Steamrunner name was supposed to reference the monitor steam-engine warships. They probably didn't want to just name the class Ironclad, which would have made it sound like they were using iron armor on a starship, or Monitor which would've probably had half the Trekkies going "Why did they name a starship after a computer component?".

I actually don't mind the Steamrunner name too much, I just associate it with the Civil War-era warships like I said and don't worry about it.

Is it really supposed to be a missile cruiser like the Akira though? The only page I saw with stats on its weapons said it had 5 Type X phaser banks and 4 torpedo tubes, with a magazine capacity of 85 proton torpedos and parts for 65 more. Supposedly capable of firing 10 torpedo volleys either forward or rear, but with only 85 warheads, I can't really see that as the primary weaponry. Of course, the tech page I read could be wrong, most of them disagree with each other.

I tend to think of the Steamrunner as a "heavy cruiser" as per the Honorverse and the Prometheus Mk 2 as a battlecruiser. The Sovereign would be a battleship.

[Patrick Ogaard]

I can't countenance space ships being given the names of ... peaceful people

*Hands Vympel a list of British destroyer names*

Feel better?

Without going for Google or a book...

...the various flower names? (Disregard if my memory is faulty.)

The major consolation there is that Klingon commanders will commit suicide rather than engage the destroyer USS Peony or USS Daisy and risk having to recount the tale of their heroic victory.

[HappyTarget]

I think the Steamrunner name was supposed to reference the monitor steam-engine warships. They probably didn't want to just name the class Ironclad, which would have made it sound like they were using iron armor on a starship, or Monitor which would've probably had half the Trekkies going "Why did they name a starship after a computer component?".

Well I would personally have liked it to be named different. Either Monitor or after one of the early Ironclads.

(shrug) It isn't THAT bad of a name. There are worse ones that could have been used.

Is it really supposed to be a missile cruiser like the Akira though? The only page I saw with stats on its weapons said it had 5 Type X phaser banks and 4 torpedo tubes, with a magazine capacity of 85 proton torpedos and parts for 65 more. Supposedly capable of firing 10 torpedo volleys either forward or rear, but with only 85 warheads, I can't really see that as the primary weaponry. Of course, the tech page I read could be wrong, most of them disagree with each other.

As far as I know, there really isn't much canon based info on the Steamrunner. She only got a few seconds screen time in FC, and most of the sources I've seen for her weapons fit is largely guesswork.

Using the above stats, it would seem that she's primarily a phaser boat with either a heavy throw weight in her torps while they last or redundant torpedo tubes.

[HappyTarget]

The major consolation there is that Klingon commanders will commit suicide rather than engage the destroyer USS Peony or USS Daisy and risk having to recount the tale of their heroic victory.

You are assuming that most Klingon military officers would have a working knoledge of Terran horticulture. I think you give them to much credit, especially TNG+ era Klingon warriors. (You know, the drop perfectly good disruptors and charge in with knives sort).

And if the Great Tribble Hunt is worthy of Klingon song, I don't think they'll have a problem with Federation ships named after Terran flowers.

[Knife]

I think the Steamrunner name was supposed to reference the monitor steam-engine warships. They probably didn't want to just name the class Ironclad, which would have made it sound like they were using iron armor on a starship, or Monitor which would've probably had half the Trekkies going "Why did they name a starship after a computer component?".

I actually don't mind the Steamrunner name too much, I just associate it with the Civil War-era warships like I said and don't worry about it.

Is it really supposed to be a missile cruiser like the Akira though? The only page I saw with stats on its weapons said it had 5 Type X phaser banks and 4 torpedo tubes, with a magazine capacity of 85 proton torpedos and parts for 65 more. Supposedly capable of firing 10 torpedo volleys either forward or rear, but with only 85 warheads, I can't really see that as the primary weaponry. Of course, the tech page I read could be wrong, most of them disagree with each other.

I tend to think of the Steamrunner[/] as a "heavy cruiser" as per the Honorverse and the Prometheus Mk 2 as a battlecruiser. The Sovereign would be a battleship.

I was under the assumsion that it was actualy a typo from some one at Paramount. The initial schetches just labeled it the 'streamrunner' for a working name and to designated it as a stream lined design. Later, some one misspelled it as 'steamrunner' and for what ever reason, it stuck.

Any way, it was some thing I heard or read about it. Perhaps I am wrong but it does make sence rather than some dip shit Admiral saying, "Hey lets name her the 'Steamrunner'!"

[Patrick Ogaard]

The major consolation there is that Klingon commanders will commit suicide rather than engage the destroyer USS Peony or USS Daisy and risk having to recount the tale of their heroic victory.

You are assuming that most Klingon military officers would have a working knoledge of Terran horticulture. I think you give them to much credit, especially TNG+ era Klingon warriors. (You know, the drop perfectly good disruptors and charge in with knives sort).

And if the Great Tribble Hunt is worthy of Klingon song, I don't think they'll have a problem with Federation ships named after Terran flowers.

I think I can concede that.

[Raoul Duke, Jr.]

You forgot Laytoas.

I still don't get why they named a heavy crusier after the screwed up Jackson child.

.....Laytoas?????

They were an Excelisor upgrade. They are the ones using the quantom torps.

I think you mean Lakotas. I thought those were conjectural. Uprated Excelsiors, right? I heard about one Excelsior-class, USS Lakota, which was taken on by Defiant. Other than that, I've heard nothing of them.

[The Silence and I]

Was the Steamrunner the ship that had a small saucer with the nacelles partially imbedded in the back, and connected by a fin?

If so then there is a clip of one on DS9, during one of the battles. It is the major fleet battle against the Breen, the Defiant gets destroyed. But just before the fleets engage there is a clip of two Steamrunners. They only fire a few phaser shots, but these come from the front of the saucer, from what looks like the Akiraprise's deflector dish.

It has a decent rate of fire, and it is not a linear array, more like a cannon. I would say this vessel is something of a heavy phaser boat.

[Kerneth]

Was the Steamrunner the ship that had a small saucer with the nacelles partially imbedded in the back, and connected by a fin?

If so then there is a clip of one on DS9, during one of the battles. It is the major fleet battle against the Breen, the Defiant gets destroyed. But just before the fleets engage there is a clip of two Steamrunners. They only fire a few phaser shots, but these come from the front of the saucer, from what looks like the Akiraprise's deflector dish.

It has a decent rate of fire, and it is not a linear array, more like a cannon. I would say this vessel is something of a heavy phaser boat.

This is a Steamrunner.
Top View: http://www.geocities.com/vortex7164/steamtop.jpg
Side View: http://www.geocities.com/vortex7164/steamside.jpg
Picture: http://www.geocities.com/vortex7164/steamrunner20.jpg

I've checked a bunch of sites for information and most of them disagree with each other as to how much firepower the Steamrunner has, how fast it is, and even how long it is--the most common estimate seems to be 309 meters, but I've seen 290 somewhere and 350 another place. It's also cited as having 4-5 Type VIII or Type X phaser arrays.

Definitely one of the more interesting-looking designs to me. This particular image indicates what could be 3 phaser strips on the top mount--one arc right above the ship's registry info, and one on each nacelle, which (if they can fire forward) would give it a pretty solid forward/topside firing arc. I saw someone claim the front end of the ship has the shuttlebays (seems like a truly STUPID place to put something as innately vulnerable as a shuttlebay, but maybe they can seal them off somehow in combat).

[Col. Crackpot]

.....Laytoas?????

They were an Excelisor upgrade. They are the ones using the quantom torps.

I think you mean Lakotas. I thought those were conjectural. Uprated Excelsiors, right? I heard about one Excelsior-class, USS Lakota, which was taken on by Defiant. Other than that, I've heard nothing of them.

thats because they didn't make anymore, making the Lakota the only ship of it's subtype. IIRC it was determined that it was a better use of resources to build more defiants than to upgrade 80 year old Excelsiors.

[Death from the Sea]

thats because they didn't make anymore, making the Lakota the only ship of it's subtype. IIRC it was determined that it was a better use of resources to build more defiants than to upgrade 80 year old Excelsiors.

[Ed McMahon voice] You Sir.... Are Correct! YES![/Ed McMahon voice]

[The Silence and I]

Was the Steamrunner the ship that had a small saucer with the nacelles partially imbedded in the back, and connected by a fin?

If so then there is a clip of one on DS9, during one of the battles. It is the major fleet battle against the Breen, the Defiant gets destroyed. But just before the fleets engage there is a clip of two Steamrunners. They only fire a few phaser shots, but these come from the front of the saucer, from what looks like the Akiraprise's deflector dish.

It has a decent rate of fire, and it is not a linear array, more like a cannon. I would say this vessel is something of a heavy phaser boat.

This is a Steamrunner.
Top View: http://www.geocities.com/vortex7164/steamtop.jpg
Side View: http://www.geocities.com/vortex7164/steamside.jpg
Picture: http://www.geocities.com/vortex7164/steamrunner20.jpg

I'm afraid those links did not work for me.

[Death from the Sea]

Was the Steamrunner the ship that had a small saucer with the nacelles partially imbedded in the back, and connected by a fin?

If so then there is a clip of one on DS9, during one of the battles. It is the major fleet battle against the Breen, the Defiant gets destroyed. But just before the fleets engage there is a clip of two Steamrunners. They only fire a few phaser shots, but these come from the front of the saucer, from what looks like the Akiraprise's deflector dish.

It has a decent rate of fire, and it is not a linear array, more like a cannon. I would say this vessel is something of a heavy phaser boat.

Go to DITL.org and look it up. That site rarely goes down, and has some good info as long as you can forget all the speculation on there.

[Crazedwraith]

Was the Steamrunner the ship that had a small saucer with the nacelles partially imbedded in the back, and connected by a fin?

If so then there is a clip of one on DS9, during one of the battles. It is the major fleet battle against the Breen, the Defiant gets destroyed. But just before the fleets engage there is a clip of two Steamrunners. They only fire a few phaser shots, but these come from the front of the saucer, from what looks like the Akiraprise's deflector dish.

It has a decent rate of fire, and it is not a linear array, more like a cannon. I would say this vessel is something of a heavy phaser boat.

Go to DITL.org and look it up. That site rarely goes down, and has some good info as long as you can forget all the speculation on there.

I already did. Disagreeing with what he had to say is why i started the thread in the First place. GK seems to think the steamruner was produced before the Galaxy/Nebula era.

[Death from the Sea]

I already did. Disagreeing with what he had o say is why i started the thread in the First place. GK seems to think the steamruner was produced before the Galaxy/Nebula era.

I meant for The Silence and I to go look at the pics there not really to use his info so much mainly because it is about 98% to 99% speculation.

[Crazedwraith]

oops sori then Death from the sea

[The Silence and I]

Ah, ok. I just remembered to add that annoying "?" on the end of the links. Yes, that is the ship I was thinking of, and at least two are seen in the battle between the Breen/Dominion and the Feds/Rommys/Klingons--the DS9 episode "The Changing Face of Evil." Both are seen firing phasers from the front of the saucer, and look really cool.

Edit:
I thought I knew a site for a video clip of this battle, but I can't seem to find it I thought I had the right link, but it says it is down. Drat.

[Col. Crackpot]

thats because they didn't make anymore, making the Lakota the only ship of it's subtype. IIRC it was determined that it was a better use of resources to build more defiants than to upgrade 80 year old Excelsiors.

[Ed McMahon voice] You Sir.... Are Correct! YES![/Ed McMahon voice]

[Johnny Carson voice] Wierd wild stuff, Ed. Wierd, wild stuff! [/Johnny Carson voice]

Also, i dissgree with GK's assertaion the the steamrunner is pre GCS simply beacuse of the "streamlined" hull/drive design. It was in the TNG/GCS era that the feddies discoverd the damaging effect than ungainly ships and drives were damaging subspace. The steamrunner, like the norway, intrepid, prometheus, sabre etc. has a streamlined hull/drive design that completely deviates from the federation saucer-hull-nacelle configuration of every starship designed prior to the discovery.

[Death from the Sea]

thats because they didn't make anymore, making the Lakota the only ship of it's subtype. IIRC it was determined that it was a better use of resources to build more defiants than to upgrade 80 year old Excelsiors.

[Ed McMahon voice] You Sir.... Are Correct! YES![/Ed McMahon voice]

[Johnny Carson voice] Wierd wild stuff, Ed. Wierd, wild stuff! [/Johnny Carson voice]

Also, i dissgree with GK's assertaion the the steamrunner is pre GCS simply beacuse of the "streamlined" hull/drive design. It was in the TNG/GCS era that the feddies discoverd the damaging effect than ungainly ships and drives were damaging subspace. The steamrunner, like the norway, intrepid, prometheus, sabre etc. has a streamlined hull/drive design that completely deviates from the federation saucer-hull-nacelle configuration of every starship designed prior to the discovery.

Yeah, I pretty much say the same thing.
Hell GK is conflicted about it actually if you look at his coments on the listing.

Like the Akira, the Steamrunner has some design elements from the Sovereign - most notably the lifeboat hatches. However, the registry of the Steamrunner class USS Appalacia (NCC 52136) is even lower than the Akira class ships we've seen, indicating the Steamrunner dates from somewhere around the 2340's or so.

He says that the escape pods are like that of the Akira and Sovereign class but because the registry number is lower it is older, which would work IF the Trekverse had great continuity. One other thing I notice is that when looking at the pictures on that site is that I don't see any phaser arrays; where are they?

[Kerneth]

Frankly, this is just a guess based on how phaser arrays are depicted on other starships, but it looks to me as if there's one located right above the U.S.S. Appalachia and the registry number--looks like a phaser arc to me anyway. I would also, once again, guess that the similar lines on the warp nacelles, near the Bussard ramscoops, are phaser arrays--this would give the ship maximum coverage to its dorsal firing arc and those arrays could possibly fire forwards as well, giving the Steamrunner a solid forward-arc punch. If you look at the side view, there is a gray strip going along the forwardmost edge of the Steamrunner that potentially could denate a 2nd, or 4th, phaser array.

Unfortunately, lacking a diagram that explicitly states where the phaser arrays are located, or a series of really good close-up pictures of the Steamrunner firing its weapons, there's no way to be certain where it has phaser strips. You can look for obvious hull markings and say "This might be a phaser array" but just because it looks like a phaser, and is a logical place to put a phaser, doesn't mean that's where the UFP actually put the weapons.

[Col. Crackpot]

you see, this is why i hate the fucking cgi-only ships, half the time you can't tell the diference between a phaser strip and an escape pod.

[Kerneth]

I think the escape pods are in the little yellow-and-white triangles along the edge of the saucer section.

[Death from the Sea]

I think the escape pods are in the little yellow-and-white triangles along the edge of the saucer section.

They are.

The phaser strips are generally raised ridges or indented ridges, but on the steamrunner I see nothing like that only different colors painted on.