The Paddington Class (and her sister class, the Valkyrie Class Destroyers) were short lived designs, phased out after successful concurrent development of the Saladin Class Destroyer. After testing of both designs, it was determined that for a ship of this size a single warp nacelle could provide comparable output with greater efficiency and for lower construction costs. Thus, the Paddington Class was canceled after only seven ships had been constructed, and the Hermes Class was developed instead based on the Saladin Class design.
This upset many of those who had served on the testing of the Paddington and Valkyrie classes, who felt that the loss of efficiency was more then compensated for by the edge that these ships had in range and ability to maintain speed. They felt that their ships were a superior design loosing out to what they saw as the "budget version." Alas, as Starfleet Command threw its support behind the single nacelle designs, whatever Paddington and Valkyrie class ships were near completion were finished but those still in early stages of construction were cancelled, their hulls retrofitted to conform to Hermes and Saladin designs.
History has somewhat vindicated the Paddington and Valkyrie classes, showing them to be tough and very capable vessels that have served the fleet with distinction. This caused Starfleet to later reconsider similar duel-nacelle Scout and Destroyer designs. Meanwhile, those Paddington and Valkyrie Class ships surviving to the present day have been refitted to match current fleet technology.
This upset many of those who had served on the testing of the Paddington and Valkyrie classes, who felt that the loss of efficiency was more then compensated for by the edge that these ships had in range and ability to maintain speed. They felt that their ships were a superior design loosing out to what they saw as the "budget version." Alas, as Starfleet Command threw its support behind the single nacelle designs, whatever Paddington and Valkyrie class ships were near completion were finished but those still in early stages of construction were cancelled, their hulls retrofitted to conform to Hermes and Saladin designs.
History has somewhat vindicated the Paddington and Valkyrie classes, showing them to be tough and very capable vessels that have served the fleet with distinction. This caused Starfleet to later reconsider similar duel-nacelle Scout and Destroyer designs. Meanwhile, those Paddington and Valkyrie Class ships surviving to the present day have been refitted to match current fleet technology.
Original Configuration:
List of Ships:
NCC-550 U.S.S. Paddington *
NCC-551 U.S.S. Plum * NCC-552 U.S.S. Savannah NCC-553 U.S.S. Goodman * NCC-554 U.S.S. Edson NCC-555 U.S.S. Hillcourt * NCC-556 U.S.S. Baden-Powell NCC-557 U.S.S. Boyce ** |
NCC-558 U.S.S. Low **
NCC-559 (no name assigned) ** NCC-560 (no name assigned) ** NCC-561 (no name assigned) ** NCC-562 (no name assigned) ** NCC-563 (no name assigned) ** NCC-564 (no name assigned) ** |
* ship lost in the line of duty
** canceled mid-construction, re-registered and reassigned to Hermes Class
** canceled mid-construction, re-registered and reassigned to Hermes Class