Designer: Robert C. Dunehew E-mail [email protected]

"Goblin" heavy fighter

General Specifications:
Length: 10.05m
Width: 8.45m
Height: 3.4m
Cruise: 8.3 (old scale)
Burst speed: warp 9.5 (old scale)
Max. Impulse: 0.9c.
Crew: 3 (pilot, weapons systems operator, sensing systems operator).
Armaments: two phasers (1 fwd/port, 1 fwd/stbd), one micro torpedo launcher (fwd).

Type: Heavy fighter

Status: Entered production in 2285. 800 produced. Relegated to ready reserve in 2318. Withdrawn from service in 2331.

About Ship: In 2278, Starfleet issued a design brief for a fighter-type to replace the aging Lancer heavy fighter. Improvements in Klingon and Romulan cloaking technology rendered the Lancer obsolete as part of a fleet's scouting element. The new design would have uprated sensors and a skilled operator to help detect cloaked aggressors.

The Goblin (nicknamed "Terrible Turtle" by Starfleet's fighter crews) is a compact vessel, slightly smaller than the Lancer in every dimension, but massing about as much. The crew pod is designed to accommodate three crewmembers, and may be ejected to serve as a lifeboat in an emergency. It is capable of performing one landing on a planetary surface.

Improvements in warp technology meant that the Goblin could outperform the Lancer in every way. Cruise was much higher, and the burst speed was an incredible warp 9.5 (old scale), faster than any previous design, and much faster than most ships' emergency speed. Agility was much improved over the Lancer, as well.

Tha Goblin was the first fighter to carry dual phaser armaments, and the first to be armed with an early version of the micro torpedo. This latter weapon made it a threat to large warships, as long as it was attacking in numbers. Although a single micro torpedo lacked the power to punch through a larger vessel's shields, many of them striking at once could cause the shields to collapse, making the vessel vulnerable to the light weaponry carried by fighters of the day.

The Goblin remained in front-line service until 2318, when it was retired to the ready reserve. It served as a second-line fighter in the reserves until it was retired in 2331. Even after it was retired, Starfleet continued to use Goblins as remotely-piloted aggressor ships for training the next generation of pilots. Four Goblin fighters are maintained in working order by Starfleet's "Starstreaks", the coordinated spaceflight demonstration team.