The Saladin-class was a class of Federation starship in operation during the 23rd century.
The Saladin consisted of a saucer section and nacelle, each similar in exterior design to that of a Constitution-class vessel of the 2260s. Its configuration was significantly different, however, as it employed only a single nacelle.
Appearances
Background
The Saladin-class starship was a design originally created by Franz Joseph in his Star Fleet Technical Manual, which lists the USS Saladin as the prototype of the class. The production staff of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock used some of the ships in the Technical Manual as background display images on monitor screens on the bridge. Intended to be merely background decoration, freeze frames and close examination have shown it likely (but not conclusively) that the images used were taken from the Joseph book with little or no modification. Through the presence of small blurred lines of apparent text one can infer that one such image was of the Saladin (versus the Hermes, another single-nacelle Joseph design).
The concept of a single-nacelle starship has been derided by some as contrary to "established" design requirements for Starfleet ships, but there is nothing in canon that mandates a minimum number of nacelles for a ship.
According to the Star Fleet Technical Manual, the Saladin was a more militarized version of her sister class, the Hermes-class. While the Hermes was a scout, and therefore carried only 2 phaser banks, the Saladin was a destroyer and was armed with 3 phaser emplacements (with two emitters each) and 2 photon torpedo tubes.
The class may have been named for Saladin, a famous Kurdish Muslim general who fought against the Crusaders in the 12th century and recaptured Jerusalem.
The information on the name of the class and its resemblance to Constitution components comes exclusively from the Star Fleet Technical Manual, which, while not itself a Memory Alpha permitted resource, appears to be the source for the artwork shown in the film.
Apocrypha
In the novel The Final Nexus, USS Cochise NCC-530 was a Saladin-class destroyer.
In the novel Dreadnought!, USS Pompeii NCC-424 was a Saladin-class destroyer.
The Saladin-class is also present in the Star Fleet Universe series of games, where it served Starfleet for decades until supplanted by the Ortega-class War Destroyer in the General War - at which point the old Destroyer shipyards had been turned over to the construction of the new Kearsarge-class light cruiser.
External Links
- Forgotten Starships at TrekPlace - an article discussing the canon appearance of this class
- Template:Exastris