7 Aug 2019

The size of the USS Kerala - Shepard class

The Shepard class was a 23rd century Federation starship in service during the 2250s. Several Shepard class starships fought in the Federation-Klingon War of 2256. (DIS: "Battle at the Binary
Stars")
According the designer of the ship (John Eaves), the Shepard class was named after American astronaut, Alan Shepard.

  • 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.

This is the side view of the Shepard class:

schematic by Starship Collection
The ship has 21 decks. With a height of 3,0m per deck, the Shepard class has a total length of 622,0m.

If you use the official size of 505.5m, the ship would have a deck height of only 2.44m (including 0,5m for EPS cables,...). Then a room height of 1.96m remains. Members of large species, such as the Kelpians, would then have considerable difficulty walking through the rooms.