- For other uses, see Crossfield.
The Crossfield class was a type of Federation starship in service during the mid-23rd century. Though officially designated as a science vessel, during the Federation-Klingon War the class was re-classified as a warship. (DIS episode: "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry")
The Crossfield class was a type of Federation vessel, a starship class in Starfleet service in the 2250s, 2410s and 3180s decades. By 2256, a ship of this class looked fresh out of spacedock. (DIS episode: "Context Is For Kings")
Technical data[]
The USS Glenn adrift
The design consisted of a saucer section made of a central sphere and two rings, a wide triangular secondary hull, and two elongated warp nacelles. The navigational deflector emitted blue light and was mounted at the front tip of the secondary hull. The wide, flat shuttlebay was situated at the rear of the triangle, between the back-sweeping nacelle pylons and impulse engines.
A Crossfield was capable of conducting over three hundred scientific studies simultaneously. Based on that, former Commander Michael Burnham concluded the USS Discovery was either a science vessel or a warship. The ship's armament included phase cannons, phasers, and photon torpedoes. (DIS episode: "Context Is For Kings")
To facilitate the operation of the spore drive, the saucer section was divided into three concentric sections separated by gaps. When engaging the spore drive, the ship went into black alert, which alerted the crew to the drive's activation. The outer and middle sections housed rings that could rotate clockwise and counter-clockwise respectively, so as to provide excess energy cavitation. (DIS episode: "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry")
Ships of this class also included a regular warp drive for faster-than-light propulsion.
The ships had deflector shield capability for defense.
Crossfield-class starships were also equipped with tractor beams for towing spacial objects.
Shuttlebays were also present on Crossfield-class starships, with force fields being utilized to contain the atmosphere, as with all Federation starships. (DIS episode: "Context Is for Kings")
In the 2360s decade, a B-24-CLN-type vessel resembled the Crossfield class, although both saucer section and nacelles were rounder, and lacked negative spaces. (TNG episode: "Unification")
Service history[]
Aft veiw of a Crossfield class starship
The USS Crossfield (NCC-1029) was the first ship of its class. In the mirror universe, its counterpart was the ISS Crossfield. (STO - Mirror of Discovery short story: "From the Desk of Starfleet Intelligence")
At least two Crossfield-class starships served as testbeds for experiments to end the Federation-Klingon War of 2256-2257, the USS Discovery and the USS Glenn. They were equipped with an experimental propulsion technology, the displacement-activated spore hub drive, co-developed by the astromycologists Paul Stamets and Justin Straal. While Lieutenant Stamets was assigned to Discovery, Straal served on the Glenn. (DSC episode: "Context Is For Kings")
To orient himself in the mycelial network, Lieutenant Stamets envisioned his surroundings as the USS Stamets. (DSC episode: "Vaulting Ambition")
The USS Andromeda was active around 2257. (ST video game: Adversaries)
Following the end of the war, and just before the classified departure of the Discovery from the 23rd century at the Battle near Xahea in 2258, Captain Christopher Pike of the USS Enterprise reminded his crew to take a good look at Discovery because there would be no other like it again. (DSC episode: "Such Sweet Sorrow")
With the arrival of J'Ula from 2257 and the rediscovery of Yard 39 that contained ships from 2259, Starfleet rapidly reintroduced ships from this era to active service in the year 2410. (STO - Age of Discovery mission: "Downfall", STO Issue 01: "USS Gagarin")
A replica of the Discovery re-entered service. Its image was used to represent its class by the Starfleet Shipyard Operations interface. (STO - Age of Discovery mission: "Welcome to Earth Spacedock")
The original Discovery emerged in the year 3189. (DSC episode: "Far From Home")
The 930-year displaced ship was no match for vessels of the 32nd century but its defenses were soon augmented when the Courier Cleveland Booker added his morphing ship to the complement of embarked craft. (DSC episode: "The People of Earth")
Discovery-A in 3189
After linking up with the remains of Starfleet at Federation Headquarters, Discovery received an extensive refit. Computer interfaces could now use programmable matter, the warp nacelles became detached, and the registry number was changed from NCC-1031 to NCC-1031-A. (DSC episode: "Scavengers")
The refitted Crossfield-class vessel was also equipped with a cloaking device. (DSC episode: "Su'Kal")
Alternate timelines[]
In both the primary universe and the mirror universe, the Crossfield was the prototype of the science-oriented Crossfield-class. In the mirror universe, the Terran Empire's ISS Crossfield was not equipped with a spore drive. (STO - Mirror of Discovery short story: "From the Desk of Starfleet Intelligence")
The ISS Discovery was Captain Sylvia Tilly's ship. (DSC episode: "Despite Yourself")
In the year 2256, Captain "Killy" was loyal to the Emperor of the Terran Empire, Philippa Georgiou. (DSC episode: "Terra Firma")
When transported to Pahvo in the year 2410 of the prime universe, Killy tried unsuccessfully to establish an empire of her own by enslaving the Pahvans with agonizer technology. While Discovery returned to the mirror universe, Killy remained at large. (STO - Mirror of Discovery missions: "Para Pacem", "Illusion of Communication")
In an alternate timeline corrupted by the temporal anomaly crisis, multiple versions of the USS Discovery and ISS Discovery appeared around 2380. Here, Captain Killy sought to become an empress as well. One version of Discovery lacked a crew except for the artificial intelligence Zora. (ST video game: Timelines)
While Hugh Culber of the Discovery was dead and his "soul" stranded in the mycelial network in 2256, the tardigrade Ephraim guided him to clearings in the mycelial forest. Culber would be picked up by other versions of Discovery, allowing his body to reform temporarily. This lasted long enough for Culber to be rescued by his own Discovery. (DSC novel: Dead Endless)
Known ships[]
| ship name | registry | ship commissioning | disposition | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USS Crossfield | NCC-1029 | Active (circa 2256) | ||
| USS Glenn | NCC-1030 | Destroyed (2256) | ||
| USS Discovery | NCC-1031 NCC-1031-A |
Active (3189) | ||
| ISS Discovery | NCC-1031 | 2250s | Destroyed (2257) | |
| USS Indepedence | NCC-1049 | 25th century | Destroyed (2475) | |
| USS Andromeda | NCC-1447 | 2250s | Active (2257) |