Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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Starfleet Tactical #197: ATHABASKA Class Cruiser (and related designs) [July 11 2026 @9pm ET]

Last episode looked at the Belknap class strike cruiser by Todd Guenther, which was published in Starship Design and Ships of the Star Fleet. This week Chris looks at a derivative design, the Athabaska class exploration cruiser, as well as some variations. And since the Athabaska class incorporates a Knox class primary hull (itself expanded into the Miranda (or Avenger) class, we'll look at those, too.

(And next week, Chris will look at another aderivative design, the Ascension class dreadnought. And since the Ascension class is predicated on the old Franz Joseph idea of a dreadnought being a three nacelle design, we'll also looked at Franz Joseph's design, Guenther's TMP-era version of it, and other three nacelle designs.)

Be sure to invite your inner 12-year-old -- s/he's going to want to see this.

STARFLEET TACTICAL is the YouTube show where we talk about the intersection of naval history and science fiction, with some gaming occasionally thrown in for flavor. Primary host Chris Weuve is a naval analyst and wargame designer, whose superpower is that he can talk about Real World(tm) navies and science fiction navies at the same time.

CHRISTOPHER WEUVE is a professional naval analyst and wargame designer. He is a co-founder of the Connections Online wargame conference, held every April via YouTube.  Outside the day job, Chris is a co-founder of BuNine (David Weber's Honorverse analytic visualization team), and has also consulted with Chuck Gannon, Walter Hunt, Alec Peters, Tom Harlan, John Lumpkin, and others.  His work has been featured by Baen Books, the US Naval War College Review, Foreign Policy, and the Discovery Channel. Since May 2020 he's been the co-host (with Pat Doyle) of "Starfleet Tactical" on the Ares Studio channel on YouTube. His hobbies are naval history, science fiction, and not speaking for his employer.

LYSSA BECK does a lot of things, including producing the show.  Want to support her in her other endeavors? Her link tree is: https://linktr.ee/geekgirllyssa​​​​​​

ARES STUDIOS graciously hosts Starfleet Tactical. You can become a Patron of Ares Studios on Patreon:  patreon.com/aresstudios
Paypal address: aresstudiosatl@gmail.com
Ares Studios Website: aresstudios.net/​​​​​​​​​​​​


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Unless otherwise stated, the opinions expressed here are the opinions of the speakers and not their employer, past present, or (probably) future.  All images et cetera are the property of their originators. We’re here to add educational value through criticism and commentary.