Freighters and Cargoships

[Lt.Juliet]

Hi,

Are there really no freighters or cargoships in use for the Starfleet in 24th century? I am looking around quite a time but can't find anything.
How do they transport resources from planet to planet?

In DS9 Kasidy Yates is a freighter pilot, but she is a privateer and I also couldn't find any data regarding her ship. Can someone please point it out?

greetings,
Juliet

 

[T'Girl]

I'm trying to remember, but didn't we see Kasidy's ship hanging in space next to, or docked to, DS9 in one of the between scene shots?

 

[Albertese]

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Xhosa

You're welcome.

--Alex

 

[Unicron]

In terms of non-canon ships, there are plenty of cargo haulers in service both as civilian vessels and Starfleet ships. I've seen it suggested by some sources that the advent of replicator technology would have led to the obsolescence of the transport/tug designs, but personally I'm not convinced of that.

 

[Dukhat]

Hi,

Are there really no freighters or cargoships in use for the Starfleet in 24th century? I am looking around quite a time but can't find anything.
How do they transport resources from planet to planet?

In DS9 Kasidy Yates is a freighter pilot, but she is a privateer and I also couldn't find any data regarding her ship. Can someone please point it out?

greetings,
Juliet

Canonically, only the U.S.S. Lalo has ever been mentioned in dialogue as a freighter. The "U.S.S." prefix denotes a Starfleet vessel. The Star Trek Encyclopedia gives it's class as Mediterranean.

Both the Oberth class Biko and the Miranda class Lantree were referred to in dialogue as "supply ships," which possibly connotes being freighters, although it's odd that the former ship would be one since Oberths had been shown to be science vessels in every other appearance of the class.

There were ships that were clearly freighters by their appearance. The Xhosa and the Norkova, which were the same design (a modification of the Talarian freighter Batris), and the Arcos, which was also a different modification of the Batris. However, none of the crew of any of the above ships wore Starfleet uniforms (some did wear uniforms, but they were clearly not Starfleet). Of course, the Oberth class vessel U.S.S. Yosemite was clearly a Starfleet vessel, but its crew didn't wear Starfleet uniforms either, so take that how you will. But there was no indication in the episodes they were featured in that these freighters were Starfleet.

As I mentioned (and Albertese has linked), the Xhosa model was the same as the Norkova model used in the first season of DS9. It was essentially the engine section of the Batris, with the underside of the Batris's front section now being used as the ships "cockpit." Here's an excellent article which explains the modifications: http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/batris.htm

 

[Lt.Juliet]

Hi,
thanks for the details. I am a bit confused. The Wiki says "Antares-Class (Federation)". The text itself just says "operated by civilians for the United Federation of Planets".

Does anybody know a class of ships from the federation serving as tanker/freighter? I know the klingons have some.

Thank you

 

[Tau Ceti III]

The Kobayashi Maru

There was a tech readout of the ship visible on the main viewer in STWOK

 

[Lt.Juliet]

But the Maru is from 23th century, am I wrong?

 

[Dukhat]

Hi,
thanks for the details. I am a bit confused. The Wiki says "Antares-Class (Federation)". The text itself just says "operated by civilians for the United Federation of Planets".

Does anybody know a class of ships from the federation serving as tanker/freighter? I know the klingons have some.

Thank you

The problem with the term "Antares" in Star Trek is that it's been given to about a million ships, both Starfleet/Federation and aliens.

But for the purposes of this discussion, the only one that really "matters" is the Antares class designation for the Xhosa, since Michael Okuda made a dedication plaque for the ship in the TOS style stating "S.S. Xhosa, Antares class cruiser, Luna shipyards," implying that she was once a Starfleet cruiser/starship in the 23rd century, but now has been relegated to Federation/civilian freight duty. The Xhosa still maintained TOS-looking panels and displays, while her sister ship the Norkova sported a much more modern 24th century bridge interior, suggesting these old vessels were refit over time.

The Vulcan T'Pau-type ships first seen in "Unification" and then later in a DS9 episode were used as freighters.

 

[Tau Ceti III]

But the Maru is from 23th century, am I wrong?

You're not wrong

I'm supposing that one, the Kobayashi Maru was representing a real ship, or at least a real class of ship. And second, freighters probably had very long life times, and that type of ship could easily still be in use in the 24th century

 

[Santaman]

The Sydney class ships are called transports, guess that's another name for freighter, they look very well suited for the job with their gigantic mono hull.

 

[Dukhat]

The Sydney class ships are called transports, guess that's another name for freighter, they look very well suited for the job with their gigantic mono hull.

I think "transport" is more synonymous with carting people around, not freight. Both times we saw a Sydney class ship (the Jenolan and the Nash), that was what they were doing.

 

[Albertese]

Fun fact, in modern usage, the military has NO freighters, as freighters are commercial ships used for hauling freight. The military equivalent is "Transport." They're more or less the same thing, except one is military and the other commercial. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with if it's hauling people or not. As far as I understand.

--Alex

 

[C.E. Evans]

I think generally, all Starfleet vessels do double duty as cargo ships. Both the Enterprise and the Enterprise-D frequently were carrying supplies and equipment somewhere. The need for many dedicated cargo carriers may not be all that great for Starfleet in that regard.

 

[SicOne]

I've been wondering about the Norway-class. There's that big open area between the two booms of the secondary hull, just the right size for a ginormous cargo container. The one time we've seen that class was in the Borg cube fight scene in Earth orbit in "Star Trek:First Contact", and it had no container. An in-universe explanation would be that they dropped it somewhere prior to engaging the cube. I can think of no starship design explanation for this kind of open area between the two halves of the secondary hull.

 

[Lt.Juliet]

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Norway_class says it is a cruiser. Nothing mentions containers. Do you mean another norway-class?

 

[Manticore]

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Norway_class says it is a cruiser. Nothing mentions containers. Do you mean another norway-class?

That's all non-canon. There's so little officially known about the Norway that she could be anything.

 

[Shik]

Assuming you were looking just at Federation/Starfleet logistical vessels, Deneva was a cargo carrier. You've got the Huron-type design, both Y- & J-classes, not to mention the Yorkshire/Antares/Woden-type.

 

[Nob Akimoto]

Note that "freighter" is an explicitly civilian term because it charges freight - that is, it charges money or a fee for conveying its cargo. In fact in the age of sail warships could often charge freight money, because they would be used to convey high value articles like bullion, with the captain (and admiral) receiving a small percentage of the total value.

The generic term for things that haul stuff is usually a cargo ship or carrier. Transports, tenders, tankers, colliers, ammunition ships, all fall under those distinctions as auxiliaries.

I do tend to wonder at what level Starfleet maintains auxiliaries and whether or not they repurpose starships for that purpose. The extensive starbase network would seem to argue against them having a large fleet of auxiliaries, if only because the starbases seem to be pretty self-sufficient.

 

[Shik]

But one still needs ships to move the items from starbase to starbase, thus our "Class 6 supply ship" & the like. Commodities are still somewhat essential, it seems; otherwise in the 24th century we'd just have a couple couriers dropping an isolinear chip off at places with replicator patterns for the whatever. Also, what happens when you can't make it to a starbase? Gotta unrep somehow.