U.S.S. Ortegas

The Ortegas was a Pilot class starship, named because of the heavy design imput Starfleet pilots and helmsmen gave to the project. The class fulfills the role of Science Frigate and is one of the most manoeuvrable and nimble classes of ship in the fleet. Although there are certainly larger and more powerful vessels in the fleet, few can match the Pilot class in terms of sheer flyability. The class also carries an unusually large shuttlebay for a ship of it's size, enabling it to embark vessels far larger than regular Starfleet shuttlecraft. The ship carries two forward and two aft facing torpedo launchers and Type X phaser arrays as standard.

The design is based on a great little sketch by an artist known as AndroidArts. The original dorsal view sketch (shown in the gallery) was clearly a TOS era design, but as work on the model progressed (and I struggled to come up with an idea of what the bottom of the ship should look like) the overall design changed into more of a TNG era design. This is reflected in the ship's Starfleet pennants, which are a combination of TOS and mordern Trek designs. The ship is named after my favorite character from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Lieutenant Erica Ortegas. The registry is based on the birth date of the actress who plays her, Melissa Navia. :-)