Suurok class

Suurok class

The Suurok-class was a type of Vulcan starship designated by the High Command as a science vessel and combat cruiser during the mid-22nd century.

In 2151, after Enterprise NX-01 was disabled by an unknown alien spacecraft, Jonathan Archer was concerned that the Vulcans would have sent a Suurok-class ship to "oh-so-politely" offer to tow them back home. (ENT: "Silent Enemy")

Technical data

Design

The design of the Suurok-class possessed a long, cylindrical primary hull and a unique circular, ring-shaped warp drive.

Primary systems

During the 2150s, this design was among the fastest and most powerful starships operating in the Vulcan fleet.

The Suurok possessed a top speed of Warp 6.5 in the science vessel variant. The combat vessel variant could go to Warp 7. (ENT: "Breaking the Ice", "Fallen Hero") The technology behind this advancement was considered "classified" as of 2151 from Earth Starfleet. (ENT: "Breaking the Ice")

File:ShRaan disables the Mazarites.jpg

Firing particle beam weapon

The Suurok was armed with standard particle beam weapons. In combat, these vessels were capable of disabling, if not destroying, a force of three Mazarite warships in a confrontation. (ENT: "Fallen Hero")

File:T'Mir tractors shuttlepod.jpg

Tractor beam

The Suurok-class also possessed tractor beam technology which was considered "classified" from Earth Starfleet. The tractor beam emitter was located on the lower section of the primary hull, in front of the warp drive. (ENT: "Breaking the Ice")

Ships commissioned

Named

• Ni'Var
• Sh'Raan
• Ti'Mur

Unnamed

• Unnamed Suurok-class starships

Appendices

Appearances

• ENT:
  • "Breaking the Ice"
  • "Shadows of P'Jem"
  • "Fallen Hero"
  • "Shockwave" (database display)
  • "Future Tense" (database display)
  • "United"

Background

Name

It is commonly believed that the name of this class is "Surak" class, despite Archer/Bakula clearly pronouncing the name as "Suurok" class in "Breaking the Ice", which also corresponded with the spelling that appeared in the episode's closed-captioning. This spelling was later confirmed as the spelling in the final draft of the script by Mike Sussman, who noted the former spelling may have appeared in an early draft of the script. The former spelling of "Surak" appeared in an article on the design of the ship written by Doug Drexler in an issue of Star Trek: The Magazine, and in an article focusing on the starship written in Star Trek Monthly issue 104.

Original design

The Suurok-class was designed by Doug Drexler, and was the first Vulcan starship design to appear on Star Trek: Enterprise, and first significant Vulcan starship design to appear in the Star Trek series. In designing the Suurok-class, Drexler felt a ship for the Vulcans, one of the primary species that define Star Trek, should be as memorable as possible.

USS Enterprise (XCV 330).jpg

Basis for overall shape

Ring-shaped nacelle

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Red-hued coloring

The goal of his design was simplicity, so he went to the most memorable ship designs in Star Trek, those made by Matt Jefferies. One that caught his eye was the USS Enterprise XCV 330, as it was rather different from all other designs in Star Trek to that date. He also remembered that the Vulcan ship from "Unification II" (the T'Pau) had a ring shape. So he based his idea on this, wanting a ship that would pass the "squint test": even when the ship is tiny on the screen, you can still easily recognize it. Drexler further adapted the reddish colors of the T'Plana-Hath, which was featured in Star Trek: First Contact, in an attempt to create as much of a design lineage as possible, using what few references existed.

Other designs he considered using resembled the T'Plana-Hath much more then the final version, and some had spherical primary hulls, similar to the Olympic-class starships, another design that was based off of an early Matt Jefferies design (the Daedalus-class). One of the final decisions of the design process was to flip it upside down, as had been done with several ships previously. For the full story, as well as additional class design concepts, see External links, below.

Revised design

File:ShRaan aft, closeup.jpg

Close-up of some of the more notable design variations

Following the initial appearance of the Suurok-class in "Breaking the Ice," the Suurok was redesigned for its later appearances in "Fallen Hero" and "United."

According to Robert Bonchune, "the design fell out of favor for a while," but was eventually revised by model builder Pierre Drolet, to include "better detail and texturing as well as modified dimensions." Bonchune further added that the reason for this was because, "the original model was just not up to snuff for what we needed. So it was superseded. They are theoretically the same ship, not two different classes or types."

Doug Drexler on the issue: "It was my first pass concept model. Like all the concept models, it's low to medium resolution. Usually I only take 2 days to build something like that, because Herman [Zimmerman] needs it pronto for approval. A high rez version was built later by Pierre [Drolet] so that they could get close to it." This version was seen as the Sh'Raan combat cruiser. Later Drexler added: "I like to think that they are two different classes." ^{(citation needed • edit)}

Among the modifications made to the design included a longer primary hull with a flat underside, and a redesigned aft vertical nacelle strut, which changed from a blue glow to a red glow.

Apocrypha

T'Uerell's ship in the Star Trek: Legacy videogame was a Suurok-class vessel. Throughout the game, the vessel adopts several green and gray accents to depict its gradual assimilation. It is the game's final boss.

External links

• Designing the Ti'Mur - on-line version, by Doug Drexler, of the article that originally appeared in the July 2002 Issue 39 of Star Trek: The Magazine
• Template:NCwiki
• Vulcan starships at Wikipedia