Following the losses against the Borg at Wolf 359 and the many battles of the Dominion War StarFleet had a shortage of ships. It was at this time the Admiralty Board decided it would be faster to re-commission several dry-docked starships then to build new ones. Of those ships being rebuilt was the USS Darwin.
Originally a border patrol vessel the Darwin also served as a science vessel charting many systems. However after twenty years of service it was decided that the Darwin was to be moved from active service to a training vessel. StarFleet Academy used the Darwin for another ten years before it was sent to the mothball fleet at Qualor II. At Qualor II the Darwin sat being used for parts which included the removal of the main computer core and the original Bias deflectors. The engineering team reviewing the ships at Qualor II found the Darwin and nearly a dozen other ships fit for the refitting project. The selected ships were placed under low warp tow from Qualor II to the shipyards at Utopia Planitia.
Reconstruction of the Darwin started by taking the ship apart. In what had once been a large open space was constructed a shuttle bay. This was accomplished by separating the ship in half at the pylons connecting the saucer section to engineering. Once separated into two halves a large nearly completely constructed shuttle bay was moved into place. The Darwin's shuttle bay give the ship four landing pads, one of the four uses a large scale replicator to create a nearly complete shuttle craft. The only item not able to be replicated is a warp core. The storage of a dozen shuttle warp cores takes less than the space of one fully constructed shuttle and makes the production of a warp capable shuttle possible for flight in just under 20 minuets.
A replacement computer was needed since the original core was removed when the ship was mothballed. The M-15 Duotronic V is one of the fastest ship-based computer cores and combines compact size with decreased power requirements, nearly a third the size originally installed. The upgrade was augmented with bio-neural gel packs to further increase the data processing and relay speeds from the core to the other ships computers. The new computer core also allowed for a greater decentralization of the computer network. Smaller computers could be dedicated to holodecks and astrometrics as well as the Coridan RAV/ISHAK Mod 3 navigation computer.
Most of the bridge stations were either missing or in a state where they could not be updated. Fortunately this class of ship was originally designed so that the entire bridge module could be removed from the ship and serve as an emergency escape vessel. Once removed the bridge was taken to a shuttle bay and stripped down for a full rebuild. Many of the systems were being replaced with those similar to the Intrepid class starships. It was decided to work a similar configuration into the new bridge layout.
One of the the biggest changes was the Helm. The norm at the time of original construction was a two-person configuration of a Helms person and Navigator. This was replaced with the new single user Helm station. These single user helm stations are very well suited to smaller ships where bridge space and personnel are at a premium.
The Darwin's command station has a flip up computer workstation that sits between the Captain and Executive Officer’s seats. This became very useful for tactical updates and station to station communications during the conflicts with both the Borg and the Dominion as well as allowing the on duty commanding officer access library and communications.
The science station on the Darwin is a hybrid of many systems. This was required due to the nature of the sensor package installed in the Bias deflector pod. This new sensor package has the advantage that it is away from the main body of the ship, decreasing electrostatic background noise from other ship systems by fifteen percent. Advancements made by the Pathfinder Project helped to increase sensor range by 75% and nearly triple resolution.
The USS Darwin was one of the oldest ships selected for the Phoenix program. The 50 ships selected and refurbished helped ensure the success of the Federation over the Dominion. Many of the ships selected had an estimated 7 to 10 year service life and will allow Starfleet time to construct new ships. The longer rebuild timeline will incorporate newer technologies as they become available giving those ships a longer service life. With it's original space frame and new upgrades the USS Darwin will most likely be one of the last ships of the Phoenix program still in service at the maximum projected project life of 20 years.
Chronology
2280 USS Darwin is constructed and assigned boarder patrol.
2300 USS Darwin assigned as a fast carrier.
2315 USS Darwin refit, warp drive and computer core updates (6 months).
2325 USS Darwin returns from long range mapping mission.
2350 USS Darwin assigned to Starfleet Academy as a training vessel.
2367 USS Darwin decommissioned and mothballed at Qualor II.
2367 Starfleet looses 39 ships to a single Borg cube at Wolf 359.
2368 To bolster fleet strength Starfleet begins the Phoenix program.
Goal: Restore 50 mothballed ships to service support rolls
2369 USS Darwin and 9 other ships selected from Qualor II for Phoenix program.
