USS Shackleton (NCC-79321)
- "Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all. "
- —E. Shackleton - Ship's Dedication Quote
The USS Shackleton (NCC-79321) was a Rhode Island-class Federation starship operating in the 24th Century. The ship was originally a Nova-class but before construction was completed, it was upgraded and refitted to the Rhode Island specs in 2383. She was decommissioned in 2399.
Design & Layout
Physical arrangement
Like other ships of its class, the Shackleton is arranged in a similar fashion. There are not many differences between it and other Rhode Island classes. Besides the obvious upgrades and changes over its sixteen years of service, the Shackleton has seen limited action that warranted any massive changes or repairs to it.
Shipboard life
The Shackleton ran on four duty shifts. Alpha shift started at 0900 hours and finished at 1500 hours. Beta shift started at 1500 hours and finished at 2100 hours. Gamma shift started at 2100 hours and finished at 0300 hours. While Delta Shift started at 0300 and completed its duty at 0900 hours.
With some limited space on board for a large amount of crew facilities and most quarters being shared, besides the captain, first officer and second officer, the Shackleton's arrangements make it ideal to develop a close-knit community among those who serve on her. The crew lounge/mess hall, since its launch, has become the central hub for a majority of the recreation activities. Over the sixteen years, those who have served on the Shackleton have enjoyed the weekly activities that take place in the crew lounge, headed up by the ship's famous morale officer.
Ship wide holographic systems on the Shackleton are limited to the emergency holographic programmes only, especially for the EMH and the holographic communication device on the bridge. Some holographic displays are used on the bridge, main engineering, sickbay and some of the science labs.
Support Craft
Limited in space for support craft, the Shackleton (like her sister classes) is outfitted with a Waverider-class support craft integrated into the ship's primary hull. Named the Dorman, after the maiden name of Ernest Shackleton's wife, the ship has been used on numerous occasions to support the ship in its missions.
Support Craft Assigned
- Shuttles:
- Type 12: Worsley & Greenstreet
History
2383-2398
After being pulled from being completed as a Nova-class, the Shackleton was given to newly promoted Captain Krerra Obi. The Bajoran captain remained as the ship's commanding officer for sixteen years, he eventually agreed to take a promotion to command a larger ship when Shackleton was sent to the Devron Fleet Yards for its next refit. The yard engineers estimated that it would take at least six-nine months for the updates to be made, as such the entire crew were assigned elsewhere, a majority of them joining Captain Krerra on his new command.
2398+
In fact the yard engineers had to revise their estimates more than once on the Shackleton, after the work was put on pause on more than one occasion to assist with other ships that had become a priority. Eventually the work was completed and the ship was ready to go, but had no captain or crew. Shortly into 2399, Captain Zack Marshall-Bennet made the request for the ship to be assigned to Task Force 17. Starfleet agreed, however he was ordered to find the ship a crew by himself. Luckily for him an old friend of his, Romen Corbin, had recently returned to active duty and the Betazoid captain agreed to assume command of the ship.
The vessel would go on to support Starfleet's response to the raids launched by the Hunters of D'Ghor in the Archanis Sector shortly after it left Starbase 27. It's primary mission was the construction of the Archanis Array, a large sensor platform designed for deep space research but was used instead to track the D'Ghor raiders instead during this campaign.
In 2399, the Shackleton was decommissioned.