In March of 2369 a pair of cloaked Romulan vessels dematerialized in the HD37388 system and opened fire point-blank at Depot 44. They had obviously scouted the system earlier and set themselves up for a perfect attack run. While there were two Starfleet vessels nearby, the USS Justaway and the USS Colfax, neither were able to bring their weapons and shields online and engage the Romulans before they struck the Depot, which was a dispersed set of support and medical stations. More than 1,800 Starfleet personnel perished that day and the D'Deridex-class vessels escaped unscathed.
That same week three Romulan warships also raided Starfleet's Depot 47, wreaking tremendous damage. With a single pass through this uninhabited system, the Empire destroyed nearly every orbital station and platform within just a few minutes. Again Starfleet vessels were unable to intercept the Romulan D'deridex-class ships, which resulted in over 2,000 casualties for the Federation.
THE WAR WIDENS
With the capture of most of Narendra Sector (mainly by Klingon forces) the second wave of invading warships from the joint Federation-Klingon Alliance began almost immediately, and ran into heavy resistance as they began to move through the Voltanis and Iconia Sectors of the Romulan Empire. Large fleets from both sides collided in the area, causing tremendous destruction of ships from all sides.
With Starfleet Command running the Federation side of the war in the Annex Zone, it was decided at the highest levels that reconnaissance of Romulan space was critical for continuing successful operations against their forces. As such, dozens of waves of UFP information-gathering probes were sent deep into Romulan space, something that had never occurred before by Treaty and by previous unilateral UFP policy. Within a week a very detailed picture became available to Starfleet using mostly Class V probes. In Iconian Sector alone a wealth of strategic targets made themselves known: at the major Romulan colony world Alth'ndor Prime a huge military-grade shipyard was detected, the regional capital Chaltok nearly a hundred warships and support vessels were pinpointed, and at the heavily-populated Romulan world of T'iokol its immense orbital infrastructures were found, including a huge civilian shipyard in orbit.
With this information (which was passed to the Klingon High Command as well) Starfleet began planning major military operations against the Romulans in both sectors, with Klingon fleets taking point in the Iconia Sector. In a few weeks, all targets in those systems were reduced to orbiting rubble and Klingon troops were landed on each planet, beginning the initial occupation of the Romulan Empire. Total losses in the warzone to date were 218 Klingon vessels destroyed, and 28 on the Federation side, with enemy losses estimated at over 400 warships (mostly out of date defensive craft).
THE MIKULAK MASSACRE
In June of 2369 the joint-Alliance offensive into Romulan space was succeeding on both fronts, but the human-dominated United Federation of Planets had yet to commit fully to the Resolute War. Facing an armed and experienced enemy on another front (the Cardassian Union), Starfleet felt it wise to retain many of its military starships along the mutual border zone with the Cardassians. However, the Federation did shift a large number of its more combat-capable vessels across the region, redeploying them along the Neutral Zone and preparing for an all-out assault into the Romulan Empire. The UFP fleet had yet to cross the border with the Romulans, and it was at this time that their enemy struck back......hard.
A small number of unique alien races live within the Federation Annex Zone, one of which is the Mikulaks. This tall race of humanoids had several unusual ways of altering DNA and other bioforms and they had joined the Federation (as an Associate Member) when it was offered a few years before the outbreak of the war. Since it was located very close to Romulan space, the Mikulak Home System fielded an impressive array of defensive weapons and a full Starfleet task force when the conflict finally blew up in everyone's faces.
Unfortunately, these defenses did not deter the Romulans from initially scouting and then immediately attacking on July 29th, staging a devastating strike against the system. With a force of 48 Romulan warbirds leading the assault, the defending Starfleet starships were totally surprised and badly out-gunned. Task Force 55 under Fleet Admiral Taela Shanthi garrisoned the Mikulak Homeworld with just 34 vessels but during the raid the Romulans decloaked at point-blank range and quickly destroyed everything in orbit in just under 10 minutes. The large Starfleet vessels USS Galaxy-B, USS Hood, USS Archer, USS Monitor, USS Proxima (Galaxy-class), and every other starship was lost in combat; Romulan losses were 20 D'deridex-class warbirds destroyed and 12 others badly damaged. Admiral Taela Shanthi apparently perished aboard her flagship, the USS Galaxy.
In the after-battle reports, Starfleet was able to determine that the best vessels to go one-on-one with the Romulan warships were the new Nebula-class strike cruisers. Their immense forward-facing battlepod, built above the saucer and able to fire across a wide range of the combat zone, was able to effectively target and destroy the larger D'deridex-class warbirds. This was mainly because of the four special weapons that could be mounted in the pod; these special devices allowed the Nebulas' to disrupt enemy shields during combat, destroy incoming torpedoes, temporarily duplicate an allied ship, and create extensive tachyon fields which boosted the stealth detection and sensor capabilities of the starship. With these results in mind, fast-track production of the Nebula-class was increased at a dozen Federation shipyard including the Antares Fleet Yards (Antares IV), the New Aberdeen Fleet Yard (Aldebaran), Utopia Planitia (Mars), and the Copernicus Fleetyard at Luna (Sol System).
With all orbital assets eliminated, the Mikulak Homeworld was utterly defenseless and the Romulans set about making their intentions of the war clear: it was a fight to the death, a war of total annihilation. Over the next hour the remaining warbirds rained ruination beyond measure against the cities of the Mikulaks, utterly destroying over 98% of the worlds surface. A former staging area for Starfleet forces in the Annex, this system became a death-wracked wasteland after the assault. The outrage over such a brutal attack against civilian targets enraged the citizens of the Federation, the governing Council, Starfleet personnel, and other neutral galactic powers. Relief efforts to save the remaining Mikulaks began immediately and the full-scale invasion by the Federation into Romulan space took place three weeks later, with the 1st Fleet, 2nd Fleet, and 3rd Fleet crossing the Neutral Zone with over 800 warships, striking targets of opportunity as they advanced forward into enemy-held territory.
MACPHERSON-CLASS STARSHIP
The MacPherson-class starship was built to replace Starfleets' aging Lagrange-class tugs but it was the second generation upgrade (Block II) of this class of ship that profoundly altered the military history of the Federation. Including it's newly built dual-purpose "pods", the MacPherson-class starship was the most powerful vessel of it's time. The Block II M class of these vessels were upgraded from tug to cruiser with the addition of heavier phaser mounts, the addition of the SPY-EYE long-range sensor, and the development of the Esta Weapons Pod and the Nimitz Carrier Pod. The MacPherson-class cruiser was designed to take these pods into battle. The development of these pods was forced upon the Federation by a devastating conflict with a hostile race, the Cardassians. The Esta-class pods had more firepower than a Galaxy-class starship and in conjunction with these pods, the MacPherson's destroyed a total of 2,340 Cardassian fighters and 288 major Cardassian combatants (including 80 Galor-class warships).These were the only Federation ships to carry fighters during that conflict.
A total of forty-four MacPherson-class starships were built, and their stunning ability to withstand damage accounted for the loss of only one vessel due to enemy action (the USS Hadley). That fact made them immensely popular with their crews and the staff at Starfleet Command.
MACPHERSON-CLASS STARSHIP
The MacPherson-class starship was the brainchild of Commodore Ian Eisenhower, one of Starfleet Command's most famous, and prolific, engineers. Throughout his 60-year career in Starfleet, Commodore Eisenhower developed nearly 30 key engineering systems, many of which are still used in modern starships. He not only developed the Federation's first orbital beanstalk (at Urbanos) but also designed the MacPherson-class tug to be the first truly multi-role starship. Working at Starbase 660 (in the Malagasy System), Commodore Eisenhower developed several critical engineering systems that are widely used within Starfleet today. The most important of these systems being the first generation of docking latches (predecessor of the Galaxy-class docking system). Another important system was a detached upper pylon, which the MacPherson-class used as a deuterium storage tank and was also the location of the SPY-EYE long range sensor system. The MacPherson-class tug was first developed in 2344 at Starbase 660 and the Block II starship was developed at Newport News, Terra/Sol in 2356.
Starfleet Command pursued a fast-track design and production plan for the MacPherson- class starship that intended to save both time and money. Commodore Ian Eisenhower took only seven weeks to prepare and submit a design, which was approved by the Federation Council two weeks later. The first MacPherson-class tug was laid down at the Nimitz Yards/Pike System on Stardate 24543.3 and was completed just twelve months later. The USS MacPherson (NCC-27300) was the first ship in this class and was piloted out of the Nimitz Yards by her Captain, Sun Cen. This vessel was initially designed to carry 250 standard personnel, but the Block II Upgrade has much higher personnel requirements (430 officers and crew). The vessel has a gross weight of 900,000 metric tons and is 720 meters in length. The flagship of this class is the USS Lagrange (NCC-3916-B) which is currently assigned to 9th Fleet in the Bajor Sector.
WEAPONIZED PODS
The detachable Esta-class Transport Pod was also designed Commodore Eisenhower as he neared the end of his long career at Starfleet Engineering. Considered one of his crowning achievements, the Esta-class pods were built exclusively at Esta Yards orbiting the planet Golden in the Dubhe System. They were built mainly to transport bulk cargo within the Federation but as relations rapidly deteriorated with the Cardassians into a full-scale conflict, the Esta-class pods were refitted into powerful phaser platforms. These extremely heavy phaser arrays, at close range, could destroy a squadron of Cardassian warships utilizing their tremendous firepower. As the conflict between the United Federation of Planets and the Cardassian Union wore on, additional Esta-class cargo pods were refitted into Nimitz-class fighter/carrier pods. Given the extensive use of fighters by the Cardassian Union (and the associated damage of Federation starships), the UFP began deploying its own fighters in 2357, and from Nimitz-class pods in 2358. These pods were highly effective in projecting fighters with Federation task forces and fleets, and the Cardassian fighter losses reached catastrophic levels whenever a MacPherson/Nimitz combination was used in Starfleet operations. The Nimitz-class pod can carry 99 fighters and their associated flight crews, spare parts, and additional weaponry. The Nimitz-class pods (CCV-77) were designed with the following motto: "Strength in Numbers".
In 2374, after substantial debate within the Federation Council, the MacPherson-class vessels were refitted to (potentially) receive cloaking capability.
Current MacPherson-class vessels being built are the USS Montana, USS Robspierre, USS Rainhorse, and USS T'uruk. All of these vessels are being built at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards (currently the largest in Federation space).
Newest Block III Upgrades
USS Crawford NCC-62868
USS Einstein NCC-63917
USS Everhart NCC-66721
USSHunter NCC-62001
USS Indus NCC-62684
USS Ireland NCC-62224
USS Porizkova NCC-65109
USS Richardson NCC-62869
USS Seymour NCC-65410
USS Taylor NCC-67312
USS Williams NCC-62663
USS Wolf NCC-67313