[Ships of the Line] The Einstein Class / Kelvin Type

Ships of the Line

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A relic of one of Starfleet’s lost experimental era’s, the Einstein Class was in service into the 2230’s as a replacement for the Daedalus explorers. Going back to a more traditional saucer for the ships primary hull, a core feature of Starfleet’s first exploration vessels, the NX Class, it was a larger and chunkier configuration to allow more internal for an adaptable range of mission specifications.

Similar to standard scout ship designs, such as the USS Archer, the Einstein featured a singular warp nacelle protruding below the wide saucer housing two semi circular dual warp coils powered by four reactors allowing the vessel to reach warp 7 speeds with it’s base early 23^rd century configuration. While similar designs had limited and condensed warp drive housing, the Einstein hosted a secondary hull connected above the saucer via a thick spine; the secondary hull mirrored typical Federation design with navigational deflector ahead, shuttle bay at the read and engineering central.

Before comfort became a common feature, the Einstein was built purely with function in mind. The bridge of the ship showcased it’s industrial design with tightly designed kinetic function stations under large displays above so vital information could be monitored from the captains chair. Both ahead of the flight control station and above each of the wall consoles were safety bars to hold onto through combat or rough travel; a vital safety measure eventually eliminated by mid-century thanks to improvements in internal dampening technology.

The industrial design was felt throughout the shop, with dark chrome’s and tight access corridors leading to a variety of specialist facilities ranging form top of the line science and research labs as well as widely skilled medical facilities. The upper engineering section was a cavernous open space with early technologies taking up a vast complex space in comparison to contemporary starships; a style choice that continued to a rear shuttle bay that was kept depressurised with airlock access to individually prepared shuttles for ground missions, transport or evacuation.

Due to it’s larger saucer compared to other ships of it’s era, such as the Walker Class, the Einstein had a higher number of crew at around eight hundred average and a modular internal design that could be adapted for each mission assigned. It was also more than capable of defending itself with dorsal and ventral dual phaser banks, several torpedo launchers and tertiary phaser cannons which could shoot down incoming ordinance with relative ease.

One of the last Einstein ships in active service was the USS Kelvin where George Kirk would serve as Starfleet’s youngest rising first officer; a record later broken by his youngest son James who would follow in his fathers footsteps. In an alternate reality, George Kirk died in action following an incursion by a mysterious vessel from the future.

In designing the ship as the USS Kelvin or the 2009 Star Trek film, the brief was fairly straight forward. The basic logic was to make it an obvious Star Trek design both inside and out; from, the base layout and design of the bridge, the shape of the corridors and to the simplicity of the saucer and external arrangement. Though with this being a previous iteration, similar cues were taken to make it feel more like an old submarine to contrast he stylised Enterprise that would be introduced later in the 2009 film.

Long Beach Generating Station was used as the base for the Engineering and shuttle bay sections of the ship; specifically chosen for having a worn down and industrial look that would reflect both expectations of a ships engine room from submarine or naval films, as well we with the wear and tear of being a real-world working facility. Internally set designer James Clyne would follow the lead of director JJ Abrams and Production Designer Scott Chambliss to craft a more run down and ageing internal set. Using submarine film inspiration, as well as packing in a lot or ideas from 1950’s sci fi blended in with the general shape and layout of the original sets, they managed to build a rugged predecessor to the original Enterprise that would, in some ways, carry over to the next production crew for Discovery’s USS Shenzhou.

Ship artist Ryan Church was tasked with the design of the ship itself, coming up with multiple variations before settling on the basic one-nacelled shape and unusual engineering hull placement. Much like his initial designs for the Enterprise itself, the Kelvin – known as the Iowa during the design process – followed a more 60’s inspired design. Final iterations of the design kept the proportions but roughed up some of the finer detail to give the ship a more basic appearance in line with what would follow in either timeline.

Further refining to the digital model was completed by Industrial Light and Magic, including adding retractable turrets and adding a large amount of wear and tear to the outer hull to show it’s decades of service searching through the unknown.

One of the more unique starships to be seen on screen, the Einstein Class has the rare honour of being one of the few elements added to what became known as the Kelvin Timeline movies that was designed to be from the Prime Timeline before the two diverged. Although it would be considered a relic of the modern era, the Kelvin-type Einstein Class is available for new captains to select in Quadrant 2!

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