Designed in an era where peace was often a fragile concept, the Shangri-La class was introduced in the latter half of the 23rd century as a more aggressive companion of the Constitution Class. In the times before the Khitomer Accords, relations between the Klingon Empire and the Federation were rocky at best.
Despite some small glimmers of hope when L’Rell rose to chancellor and ended a war her mentor had instigated, the two galactic governments would struggle to find a strong peace after such a bitter and bloody conflict. Following L’Rell’s reign, her D7 class designs, initially a symbol of unification and cooperation between the great houses, would become a strong threat to Federation security. As tensions simmered, even with the intervention of the Organians in an enforced and reluctant treaty, Starfleet knew that while the Constitution was their proud flag bearer, they needed a new type of starship to show they could hold their own against the Klingons expanding force.
The Shangri-La was that ship. Taking the base of the Constitution-II design, the ship followed a more traditional pattern in comparison to the Excelsior Class under development. Originally having segments removed at the rear of the saucer for a meaner look, only to have larger engines installed in later refits, the ships defences were hard to ignore with the most forward point of the primary hull hosting an advanced torpedo launch system to mirror the Klingon’s design.
With a bulkier secondary hull and oversized top-mounted impulse engines, the power behind the Shangri-La allowed for faster reaction and flight manoeuvrers whether it was acting as a first responder or on the front line of battle. Lowering the profile with a shorter and more reinforced neck between the hulls, the ship stood a little smaller than a Constitution Class and gave a more aggressive and intimidating look that saw it dubbed the ‘pocket battleship’ while larger models such as Excelsior were being placed into service.
Designed by model maker Bill Krause, the Shangri-La class has long been a fan favourite and would slowly find it’s way into the greater Star Trek Universe. At first through invitation to contribute the Star Trek Ships of the Line calendar starting from 2018, just a few short years after his first time entering his models to Wondercon’s competitive panels.
In more recent years the ship would be canonised on screen as a precursor to Captain Riker’s USS Titan as well as an inspiration for the Titan-A. Modernising the design with a fresh early 25th century style and nacelle design established with the Stargazer-A, the USS Titan-A was a scaled up version of the later Shangri-La Class models.
Aside from being art of the digital model design process for Picard Season 3’s hero ship, Krause would lend his talents to model making on screen with the conference lounge displaying gold plated copies of his model including a classic Shangri-La Class; a 23rd Century USS Titan.
Supporting materials with the show would establish that the Shangri-La Class Titan, launched in 2290, was a key part of the defence against the Klingon’s with several of it’s biggest missions captained by Spock’s command trainee Saavik.
Following it’s on screen recognition, the Shangri-La Class has been launched as part of Star Trek Online’s anniversary bundle. The Shangri-La Class has been added to the Quadrant 2 roster for new Captains!
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Inside Trek/Outside Trek: Scott Bakula
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[Ships of the Line] The Shangri-La Class
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