Alameda Class Veterinary Medical Cruiser
Modified Shelley-Class Thru Deck Carrier
Since the early days of the Federation, Starfleet has stood as a supporting
branch of the colonial efforts of many Federation worlds. This support
has been shown not only in providing supplies and specialized medical
care for far-flung colonies, but also in the provision of colony transports.
With the rapid increase in colonial efforts undertaken in the early
2060's, there became an increasing need for the development of a starship
capable of providing key veterinarian support for the colonies. Alien
diseases, as well as epidemics of common Terran diseases could easily
overwhelm new colonies abilities to treat such ailments.
Early Starfleet endeavors in this area lent themselves to an increase
in the size of veterinary medical staff on existing vessels. This was
followed by the refit and redesignation of several different classes
of Hospital Rescue ships, most notably the Hope class, to perform as
veterinary facilities.
With the refit of the fleet in the 2270's, the decision was made to
put a dedicated veterinary medical vessel into production. These plans
were put on hold with the development of the Recovery Class Automated
Hospital-Rescue Class Vessel. It was decided that if the Recovery prototype
performed as expected, such vessels could be used to perform large-scale
veterinary relief efforts in conjunction with their colonial relief
efforts. However, the subsequent disaster of the Recovery program not
only ended its promising future but severely set back the veterinary
development program.
The veterinary vessel was brought back to the design board in the 2290's
following several outbreaks of disease among livestock of outer colonies
that led to severe food shortages. Representatives of these colonies
urged the Council to devote more resources to veterinary care, and the
Council responded by reopening the development project, now titled Mercy
Project.
Mercy sought to utilize an existing Starfleet ship design and modify
it for the uses intended. This in itself was a difficult procedure.
A large-scale veterinary care vessel would have to provide ample room
for both patient suites, surgery suites, and recovery rooms for hundreds
of animals. Conventional ship designs would not adequately provide the
room necessary for these additions. Large scale air carriers such as
the Ark Royal Class would have been ideal had not budget and time constraints
proven too costly for such an undertaking. Instead, the more moderately
sized Shelley class thru-deck carriers were chosen as ideal for this
project. The Excelsior-Grade engineering hull was expanded to give more
space for the specialized medical wards and larger transportation systems
necessary for the medical facilities.
Although they do not carry as many shuttlecraft as their predecessors,
Alameda class vessels carry a large number of cargo shuttlecraft to
assist in the transport of patients who are unable to be transported
to the starship. Several levels of the starship are designated for the
care of animals of Terran equine size and larger. These levels contain
sophisticated rail transports, which is in turn backed up by an intricate
intraship-transporter network and an internal force field/tractor beam
array to assist in the moving of the patients from one section of the
ship to another.
Following the Klingon-Romulan wars of the early 24th century, the Alameda
Class vessels were refit to serve a secondary function as a colonial
relief efforts, an ironic twist to the sequence of events that started
with the Recovery project. Murphy-bed type biobeds and cots built within
various surgical and medical suites allow the Shelley to carry nearly
800 additional personnel. In the 2350's, Alameda class vessels were
also refit to include 10 EMH programs to help with the care of wounded
colonists in the event of a mass evacuation.
Alameda Class Production Roster
| USS Alameda East |
USS Watership Down |
| USS Good Ship Lollipop |
USS Benji |
| USS Doctor Doolittle |
USS Isis |
| USS Mahatma Gandhi |
USS Gaia |
| USS Goodall |
USS Noah |
| USS Fossey |
USS Harvey |
| USS Mowgli |
USS Lassie |
| USS Free Willy |
USS Tarzan |
USS Alameda East
Our expression and our words never coincide, which is why the animals
don’t understand us.
-Chazal
USS Great and Small
God bless all creatures, Great and Small.
USS Black Beauty
We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell
us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.
-Anna Sewell, Black Beauty, 1877
USS Good Ship Lollipop
Our task must be to free ourselves...by widening our circle of compassion
to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.
- Albert Einstein
USS Doctor Doolittle
If someone asked could I speak Pelican, I'd say like hell I Can,
and would!
- Rex Harrison
USS Mahatma Gandhi
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by
the way its animals are treated.
-Gandhi
USS Goodall
All animals except man know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy
it.
-Samuel Butler
USS Fossey
Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal
that is struck with the difference between what things are and what
they ought to be.
- William Hazlitt
USS Mowgli
God made the cat in order that man might have the pleasure of caressing
the lion.
- Fernand Mery
USS Free Willy
Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.
- Mark Twain
USS Watership Down
We do not inherit the land, we borrow it from our children.
- Native American saying
USS Benji
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite
you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
- Mark Twain
USS Isis
In a cat’s eyes, all things belong to cats.
- English Proverb
USS Gaia
If Darwin’s theory should be true, it will not degrade man;
it will simply raise the whole animal world into dignity, leaving man
as far in advance as he is at present.
- Sanborn
USS Noah
Nature does not loathe virtue: it is unaware of its existence.
- Francoise Mallet-Joris
USS Lassie
If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs
I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.
- James Thurber
USS Harvey
Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they
pass no criticisms.
- George Eliot
USS Tarzan
As human beings, we are endowed with freedom of choice, and we cannot
shuffle off our responsibility upon the shoulders of God or nature.
We must shoulder it ourselves. It is our responsibility.
- Arnold J. Toynbee
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