Glenn Class
The Glenn-class heavy cruiser is a Starfleet exploratory vessel first developed in the late 2380s, but not built until the early 2400s. Derived from the Crossfield-class spaceframe, the design features extremely long warp nacelles and a unique circular warp sustainer field in the primary hull to allow the ship to hold high speeds for long periods of time. As part of Project Curiosity, the Glenn was one of three related designs competing for a production order as an exploratory-focused cruiser design. While production was intended to start During an incident in 2390 only made public in 2399, the Ibn Magid was erased from all Starfleet records by Commodore Oh, and all three classes of Project Curiosity were quietly canceled, ultimately replaced, giving way to the larger and more traditionally-designed Inquiry-class exploratory cruiser. Once Oh's subterfuge was revealed,d and Starfleet began to return to exploratory missions, Starfleet returned to Project Curiosity. While the Curiosity class itself had been scrubbed from the records, the design plans for the Glenn were still intact. Starfleet revived the Glenn program with system upgrades to bring them to the latest standards. The first of these vessels, the Glenn, was launched in 2401, though some Starfleet officers still refer to this as the Curiosity class.
Science and Exploration
Of all of the heavy cruisers in service, the Glenn is the best equipped for pure scientific research. With sixteen science labs in a mix of specialized and mission-configurable layouts, the science department aboard a Glenn-class cruiser is approximately equivalent to that of a Springfield-class science vessel. This allows the Glenn to conduct in-depth scientific analyses of planetary bodies or interstellar phenomena while also embarking a significant number of secondary and tertiary mission specialists. The class's high endurance is also useful for stellar mapping missions, as it can go further and faster than other cruiser designs.
Starfleet intends to use Glenn-class vessels almost exclusively in exploratory roles, and operational protocols have been developed for three and five-year missions. The bulk of these vessels will be used to continue exploratory efforts in the vast, unexplored interior of the Federation or for jaunts outside of the borders. Thus, they carry all of the personnel and equipment they need to perform any type of scientific task, as well as conduct first contacts.
Diplomacy
Intended for regular first contact missions, Glenn-class starships are well equipped for diplomatic missions that involve one or two parties. They have comfortable quarters for visitors, as well as advanced holographic technology to make meeting spaces attractive and useful for negotiations. Because much of their internal volume is taken up by scientific equipment, they're less adept at hosting multi-party talks or conferences. They're also somewhat wasted on purely diplomatic missions because of their exploratory utility. With their high top speed and endurance, however, they can be useful as diplomatic couriers in a pinch, and many flag officers would love to have a ship of this type available to transport them.
Engineering
With their very long, slender nacelles and unusual primary hull, Glenn-class starships are a departure from the standard of Starfleet's shipbuilding practices. Incorporating the same hull geometry as the Crossfield-class starship of the 23rd century, the purpose of both the nacelles' long length and the gap in the primary hull is to create warp field geometry that is very stable and fuel efficient at high speeds. At speeds above warp nine, the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the outer primary hull spin in opposite directions from one another, operating as giant flywheels to keep the ship aligned on its centerline to compensate for a highly stretched warp field aperture.
Originally intended to be a competitor with the Vesta as the first production-model slipstream-capable starship, the shortage of benamite led to the design as it stands: a cruiser that is capable of sustaining high warp speeds nearly indefinitely, but at the expense of internal volume that could be utilized for other mission priorities. The warp sustainer rings in the primary hull occupy a significant amount of space and create logistical challenges for crew moving from the core, which houses the bridge, computer cores, and most labs, to the outer ring of the primary hull, where crew quarters and support facilities are located.
Though first designed over a decade ago, Glenn-class starships remain maintenance intensive, as they have not yet had significant service in the field to help fine-tune operational protocols. They operate proportionally larger engineering crews than other cruisers to account for this.
Small craft capabilities are provided by a single hanger on the stern, which is capable of embarking a modest assortment of shuttles and runabouts.
Tactical
Armed comparably to Akira and Alita-class heavy cruisers, the Glenn has good phaser coverage and extensive torpedo armaments. Phaser coverage is provided by eight Type-XIV phaser arrays—four dorsal and four ventral—in addition to a pulse phaser cannon turret forward of the bridge for close-in defense. The ship's aft torpedos are fairly standard, comprised of two burst-fire launchers on the stern and two single-fire launchers above the shuttle bay. The forward launchers are more novel: The ship's primary forward torpedo armaments consist of two burst-fire launchers are housed in a pod on the keel of the ship. When not in use, it is retracted flush and blocked by the contours of the ship's hull to enhance the ship's hull geometry for high warp travel. This pod is modular in nature, like the equipment bays found aboard the Inquiry, so it could be swapped out for other weapons systems, but no such systems have yet been developed.
In addition, there are two notches in the forward rim of the saucer section that each have eight single-fire launchers: four ventral and four dorsal. These groups of launchers are each fed from a single magazine. The purpose of this unusual arrangement is to be able to fire multi-weapon salvos with a smaller fore-aft footprint than burst-fire launchers require. They can fire simultaneously or in sequence, depending on whether the tactical situation requires a salvo or the constant application of firepower.
With powerful impulse engines and a long, thin profile, the Glenn is suited to hit-and-run attacks, using devastating strikes from her torpedoes at close range before swinging around to hit the target again. While she is difficult to hit from the front, rear, or sides, her captain must be careful to not let the enemy get above or below them, as the ship's dorsal and ventral profiles are wide. They excel against slow and large targets but are less equipped to deal with swarms of smaller ships.
Glenn-class starships are good choices for tactical missions when mild to moderate danger is expected. While not escorts, they're a good balance between firepower and speed. Where they fall behind truly tactically-inclined ships is their combat endurance. They're not meant to get into long, drawn-out battles.
Shipboard Life
While not small by any measurement, Glenn-class starships are still somewhat cramped by modern standards due to the large amounts of scientific equipment aboard and because of the gap the ship's novel propulsion system creates in the primary hull. The flywheel plates above and below the saucer section also mean that few quarters have actual windows. Like other cutting-edge designs, the Glenn has accommodation standards closer to the 23rd century than the luxury of the mid-to-late 24th century. While senior officers often have a separate living room and bedroom, most other crew have a combined living and sleeping space. These quarters make use of holographic windows to help avoid claustrophobia. The Glenn also has several dozen single-occupancy holosuites, in addition to holodecks for groups, to help the crew relax, as there are not many specialized recreation facilities aboard beyond a few mess halls and lounges. Medical facilities are state-of-the-art but compact in size—a standard sickbay module in the saucer and a backup complex near the shuttlebay. Finishes are sleek, austere, and highly functional.
These ships are highly stimulating environments at a professional level, even if they're not luxury yachts. The majority of the crew is generally split between engineering and science, with proportionally fewer staff in the other divisions to handle the ship's extensive scientific facilities and its experimental propulsion systems. This leads to an air of competitiveness but also a sense of pride: for every dozen Inquiry-class ships out in the fleet, there's no more than one Glenn-class ship, thanks not only to the ship's unfair production hiatus but her complexity. It's a mark of distinction to get to serve on one of these ships.
Glenn Class History
Development of the Glenn-class cruiser began as part of Project Curiosity during the 2380s. The intent of this project was to create a larger and more exploration-oriented complement to the Inquiry-class cruiser, which had taken on a more tactical bent following the destruction of Mars. Alongside the Curiosity itself and the Typhoon-class cruiser, all three of these designs were attempts to deliver explorer-level engine performance but with greater efficiency and an emphasis on endurance. Once two prototypes of each design were built and tested, Starfleet would decide on which vessel to put into full production. While the Curiosity was designed with four nacelles to solve the endurance problem, and the Typhoon would optimize and miniaturize systems from the Odyssey, the Glenn would use a radical new warp field stabilization system to achieve stupendous levels of efficiency. Old design files from the Crossfield class of the 23rd century were located as part of a review of past systems, and it was decided that the gaps in the saucer section (originally intended to mount bespoke sensor equipment) could be used to create a new warp field stabilization system that would allow for high top speeds with low fuel consumption, at the expense of internal volume.
Unfortunately for the Glenn, production hadn't even begun on the prototype before the project was canceled mysteriously in 2390. In 2399, this was revealed to be due to the interference of Commodore Oh, a covert Romulan agent. The resulting cancellation of Project Curiosity had led to an imbalance in Starfleet's production priorities over the prior decade, leading to a massive amount of tactically-oriented cruisers but a gap in the fleet's exploratory capabilities. Because of this, and because of a desire to resume business as normal, Starfleet resumed construction on the Glenn program. The class's design was updated with elements from the Gagarin and Shenzhou, and production was assigned to Avalon Fleet Yards. The first units launched in early 2401 and were on space trials away from the disaster that was Frontier Day 2401. Once they had been modified to remove the systems associated with Fleet Formation Mode, the class entered official service in mid-2401 alongside a fully realized Typhoon-class heavy cruiser. Thus, the dream of Project Curiosity was reignited through these two classes.
The Glenn Class In-Play
- As much as possible, we, Bravo Fleet, attempt to use the name given in production materials for each class. In this case, we were attempting to locate a design that at least ostensibly could match the silhouette of the Curiosity-class as seen on Rios's case in Star Trek: Picard, as that design was never seen on screen. We settled on tying the Glenn-class from Star Trek Online to a larger Project Curiosity, because the layout of this design (more or less) looks like the image from the show. This is why the article references both class names.
- The Glenn-class is a 25th century version of the Crossfield-class, as seen in Star Trek: Discovery as the class of the hero ship.
- While among the longest ships in Starfleet, Glenn-class ships are also relatively slim, so their size is deceiving.
- The Glenn is intended to be a well-rounded story vehicle, particularly suited to telling classic Star Trek stories of exploration. They are also quite capable in defensive roles, while not being invincible in a fight either, so there is a good range of what types of opponents you could write about and not have it be a foregone conclusion which way that fight would go.