The size of the Inquiry class

The Inquiry class was a type of starship operated by Starfleet during the late 24th and early 25th centuries.

The deck design of the Inquiry class is quite unique because the windows don't run straight to the decks in the side view. They often curve slightly.

According to this blueprint the ship has 21 decks.

schematic by Star Trek Online

• The premise for all my deck calculations: a deck is 2.5m + 0.5m for EPS cables, power cables, ... = 3m height for a deck. 
• My calculations follow a purely mathematical approach. I do not compare bridge modules or disk heights with each other. I always pull in decks based on the rows of windows and then calculate a physically plausible room height.

Despite the difficulties of deck design, I was able to determine a plausible number of decks (based on the rows of windows). These fit the position of the shuttle bay very well, especially from the rear view. 

schematic by Star Trek Online

With a deck height of 3m, this results in a total length of 477.2m. 

The official length of 640.1m definitely can't be correct. If the ship were 640.1m long, then the deck height would be 4.02m including the cables and technology. This would leave only 3.52m of headroom. With a length of 640.2m, many more decks would have to be added, which would then result in huge windows that often extend over two decks.

STAR TREK Size Comparison Charts - Discovery 23rd century

A the size chart with the ships from Star Trek Discovery which are active in 23rd century.

 

PS: A special thank (and all copyright) for the picture material to: John Eaves, Drex Files, Star Trek Fact Files and Star Trek The Magazine, Starship Collection Magazine and The Light Works.

Size calculations:

Enterprise (DSC)      Klingon Sarcophagus

USS Discovery      Beacon of Kahless

USS Shenzhou      Cardenas class

Hoover class      Shepard class

Malachowski class      Nimitz class

Vulcan Shuttle Solkar 

 __________

The size of the Reliant class

The Reliant class was a type of Federation starship operated by Starfleet during the early 25th century. Based on the configuration of the Miranda class from the 23rd century, it is based on the same construction method.

According to this blueprint the ship has 14 decks.

schematic by Star Trek Online

• The premise for all my deck calculations: a deck is 2.5m + 0.5m for EPS cables, power cables, ... = 3m height for a deck. 
• My calculations follow a purely mathematical approach. I do not compare bridge modules or disk heights with each other. I always pull in decks based on the rows of windows and then calculate a physically plausible room height.

With a deck height of 3m, this results in a total length of 355m.
The official length of 251m definitely can't be correct, which can be deduced from the rows of windows - especially visible on the bridge segment (decks 1 and 2). If the ship were 251m long, then decks 1 and 2 would be one, or the deck height would only be 2.12m including the cables and technology. This would leave only 1.62m of headroom.

Klingon D-7 Class - Coloration

In terms of color, I wanted to orientate myself on the TOS filming miniature and at the same time build a bridge to the IKS Gr'oth from the DS9 episode "Trials and Tribble-ations".

The hull color of the Klingon D-7 class consists of two colors.
A lighter one:
+ 50% US Grey Light (71045)
+ 10% Gunship Green (71014)
+ 40% USAF Medium Grey (71120)

And a darker one:
+ the color I had mixed before
+ 20% Medium Sea Grey (71049)

While the ship in TOS has a rather blue-gray basic shade, the makers of Star Trek chose a rather green-gray shade for the DS9 episode. I also like that more, because the ship then fits better with the other known Klingon ships, which all have a green basic tone.

screencapture by trekcore.com (DS9 "Trials and Tribble-ations")

The size of the Odyssey class - Enterprise-F

The Odyssey class was a type of Federation starship operated by Starfleet during the late 24th century.  In 2401, the Enterprise-F was under command of Admiral Elizabeth Shelby. She led the opening celebrations for Frontier Day wherein she gave a speech to the entire fleet.

According to this blueprint the ship has 43 decks.

schematic by Star Trek Online

• The premise for all my deck calculations: a deck is 2.5m + 0.5m for EPS cables, power cables, ... = 3m height for a deck. 
• My calculations follow a purely mathematical approach. I do not compare bridge modules or disk heights with each other. I always pull in decks based on the rows of windows and then calculate a physically plausible room height.

With a deck height of 3m, this results in a total length of 1061.10m.
The official length is therefore correct. This is one of the few examples where the official length of the ship coincides with the mathematical "real" ones.

Design problems:

• at the end of decks 3 and 4 there is an oversized airlock (height over two decks)
• the airlock on deck 27 is as high as the entire deck (3m high)
  

The size of the Gagarin class

The Gagarin class was a type of Federation starship operated by Starfleet during the early 25th century. Based on the configuration of the Shepard class from the 23rd century, it contains many design elements of this class.

According to this blueprint the ship has 16 decks.

schematic by Star Trek Online

• The premise for all my deck calculations: a deck is 2.5m + 0.5m for EPS cables, power cables, ... = 3m height for a deck. 
• My calculations follow a purely mathematical approach. I do not compare bridge modules or disk heights with each other. I always pull in decks based on the rows of windows and then calculate a physically plausible room height.

With a deck height of 3m, this results in a total length of 679.03m.
The official length of 492m definitely can't be correct, which can be deduced from the rows of windows. If the ship were 492 m long, then decks 1 and 2 would be one, or the deck height would only be 2.06 m including the cables and technology. This would leave only 1.56m of headroom.

The size of the Nova class

The Nova class was a type of Federation starship designed for short-term planetary research missions. It was placed in service starting in the late 24th century.

To calculate the size I first had a look at the MSD (Master Situation Display).

Nova class side view by Starship Collection

According to this MSD the ship has 8 decks and a intermediate deck on the edge of the saucer section. There are 4 decks - the intermediate deck - and another 4 decks.

• The premise for all my deck calculations: a deck is 2.5m + 0.5m for EPS cables, power cables, ... = 3m height for a deck. 
• My calculations follow a purely mathematical approach. I do not compare bridge modules or disk heights with each other. I always pull in decks based on the rows of windows and then calculate a physically plausible room height.

The height of the decks on the MSD is different (which isn't plausible). Therefore, the MSD doesn't quite fit the external appearance of the spaceship. But if you give the intermediate deck a little more space (normal deck high), it fits better with the rows of windows.

schematic by Starship Collection

With a deck height of 3m, this results in a total length of 172m for the Nova class.

The Nova class variant (USS Rhode Island under command of Captain Harry Kim) is a litte bit longer because of the different Deflector area at the front.

schematic by Starship Collection

With a deck height of 3m, this results in a total length of 175.2m.

Design problems:

• As with other Starfleet ships, there is a difference in height at the shuttle bay. I solved this with a half deck, also to be able to correctly include the construction of the rear observation lounge as a deck.
• With the original MSD, it seems not plausible why there is an intermediate deck after 4 decks that is extremely flat.
• Rick Sternbach on the planned size: "I drew the blueprints at 1"=30', and the ship is 24.25" long, so the real thing would be 727.5 feet or 221.74 meters". [drexfiles.wordpress.com] -> A length of 225m can only be achieved if a deck height of 4 m is assumed.