It Used to Have a Saucer : The Wallenberg Class

The Wallenberg Class Starship or Tug was a vessel created for Star Trek Picard as part of the Romulan Evacuation Fleet over Mars. A utility vessel, it nonetheless has a strong design history and even a potential future when it comes to outfitting it for work with a proper saucer. Let's take a look at it's specifications.

Chapters
00:00 Real Origins
02:40 Starfleet Origins
04:26 Specifications
06:16 Future of the Class

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This Video is for critical purposes with commentary.

Outro Animation made by @icarogabriel17

[mawkishdave]

My little head canon now is that the saucer section is also modular, so if it is making long hauls you can add a section for more recreation for the crew, if you are going out more the frontier you can add modules that have defenses to them.

[DrewLSsix]

Another reason f9r the ships being so stripped down, including losing their weapons is that despite being in a bad spot, the Romulan authorities would certainly balk at the idea of a 10, 000 strong fleet of "rescue" ships entering their space all armed with weapons of war. I wouldn't be surprised if the older ships like the McGee classes we see in the yards were chosen for their relative harmless nature compared to even modest modern ships, or that those ships were disarmed in the process of being refit for the job. The romulans ARE a generally paranoid xenophobic race, I absolutely believe they would rask heavy losses rather than place all their trust in the benevolence of their long time enemy.

[VGJustice]

Neat little ship, and I'm very fond of the idea that Geordi cut off the saucer to make mass production faster.

[cheutho]

Yes, it makes perfect sense that they'd cut out anything excess for something being mass produced for an emergency.
It just has to get from point A to point B.

[DanielSolis]

I could see a story of decommissioned Wallenberg becoming home to a scrappy Firefly/Expanse style crew on the periphery of Federation space. They might have ended up with the Fenris Rangers.

[chan]

I like your idea that the USS Nightingale had a full saucer and the follow on rapid production versions cut down the saucer. It makes sense to remove extra features when you need to rush out dozens of them on a humanitarian (Romulitarian?) mission.

[BenjaminRoethig]

I kinda like a back story that the Wallenberg was essentially a cut down Sampson spaceframe (a ship in production from the post Dominion War rebuild) to make it both easier to produce and less threatening to the Romulans. It would also benefit starfleet since after the relocation mission was over, the Wallenbergs could be completed as Sampsons in the future.

[johnsteiner]

Much better ship concept. Looks like it could almost fly in atmosphere and land.

[Sephiroth]

Thanks for another interesting deep dive into a ship that would get overlooked otherwise

[barrybend]

We need a version but with a Ptolemy class skin.

[jenniferstewarts]

In truth, i can see that saucer section being able to be added or removed as needed, with different Saucer modals being able to be attached and mixed and matched. Weapons, crew, medical, and colony pods being the standard options. Now this could be really interesting if it only carried 1 side, OR if the sides were painted differently... So you have the orange striped body with a white left sides carrying the red cross... but no right side. Showing its acting as a medical transport, but they didn't have a right side medical on hand and didn't want to mount a non medical option.

Now add to this, i can see these ships NOT being "starfleet" but Federation. Part of the Federation merchant Marine or independent cargo ships. thus only carrying the SS designation rather then the USS. (remembering that runabouts still carried the USS and were far far smaller and less capable.

As a merchent marine ship, a level of customization for each ship would then be allowed. it just... Feels... right.

[shaytepes]

Hook them up like a train.

Every 3 pods have an "engine " attached on top.

Have em' make a giant warp bubble, and watch em' go!

[SilverAranda]

The Wallenberg class, the semitruck of starfleet

[phillipthorne]

At 5:00, the 22 RCS thrusters in the nose: that seems odd. If intended for fine maneuvering, there should be comparable RCS clusters pointed in other directions. If intended for sublight braking, why not impulse engines pointed forward -- although according to more recent tie-in tech books, impulse engines aren't rockets; they're reactionless drives similar to warp engines, but with incidental plasma exhaust, and so may be able to operate in reverse. (See Klingon Bird-of-Prey Haynes Manual, 2012, p.67.)

[vic]

Basically a container ship for the late 24th century.

[stankyyboi]

wish we'd get a T4 version of this in STO like the flyable Kobayashi Maru

and if they were mass produced to just carry evac pods it makes sense they'd reduce the amount of materials required to make them by getting rid of the saucer

[AzraelThanatos]

I kind of wonder if the saucer parts might be, effectively, mission pods for the ship intended for later points where you might be taking them into a potential combat or hazard zone, or for longer distance transport. Things like reinforced shields, defensive armaments, a stronger and/or more specialized life support system for unique species (such as humpbacks), and similar things that might be planned for later mission support.

[SamwiseOutdoors]

I do love that the class is named after Roul Wallenberg.

[MadcapMachinations]

The concept art almost reminds me of the California class in concept. Also it looks so cool

[BennyLlama]

Ric: "Because of their role, they lacked many systems that a Starfleet ship would consider standard..."
Me: Phasers, shields, torpedoes, overclocked computer, transporters, EMH, supercharged warp system... you know-- the important shit. 😀