Dreadnought class The " Dreadnought " - class was an experimental class of dreadnought warship s designed by Section 31 of Starfleet with the help of . The only known vessel of this class , the , was launched from a secret facility orbiting Io in 2259 . ( ) Design . General overview . " Dreadnought " - class starships were roughly twice the size of a starship . Ships of this class were designed to be operated by a minimal crew , one person if necessary . This class had advanced weapon and propulsion capabilities allowing it to engage other vessels while traveling at warp velocities . ( ) Configuration . Bridge . The bridge of a " Dreadnought " ship was small and cramped compared to the more spacious bridge of the . Its design utilized highly advanced artificial intelligence ( AI ) systems to reduce the number of crew needed to operate the vessel . Under extreme circumstances , " Dreadnought " - class vessels could be operated by the captain single - handedly . Use of AI systems allowed for the operation of the starship ' s navigation and propulsion subsystems via voice commands . Also , in stark contrast to the " Enterprise " bridge , the " Dreadnought " s bridge was very dark - in lieu of bright lighting and shining white walls , the bridge was largely black , though still well lit . ( ) Engineering . Engineering was designed so that it could run autonomously if needed . Like the bridge , the engineering section was cramped and painted in shining black . The interior featured a more refined design compared with the engineering section on the - for example , there were no coolant pipes or mains directly accessible by the crew . ( ) Transporter systems . The transporter system on the could be operated from the bridge . The system could be used to site - to - site transport dozens of people or objects at the same time . It could for example transport all 72 photon torpedo es from the " Enterprise " . ( ) Sensors . Ships of this class were equipped with multidimensional radar and space region observer systems . ( ) Transport and cargo . A ship of this class had several hangar s . Hangar 7 was located on Deck 13 . ( ) Tactical systems . Khan was involved with designing the weapons for the " Dreadnought " - class . The weapons were significantly more advanced than contemporary " Constitution " - class weaponry . While most other Starfleet ships were designed for exploration and research , the " Dreadnought " - class ships were designed solely for combat . The deflector dish could be covered by protective armor plates while the ship was not traveling at warp speed s to defend the dish from damage during a battle . The ship was extremely durable and could remain intact even after the internal detonation of 72 photon torpedo es and a high speed collision with a city . The weapon systems included an array of advanced phaser emitters . The powerful discharges from these weapons arced indirectly at the target and could be fired while the ship was at warp . Single hits could penetrate through the shields and cause major hull breach es to a " Constitution " - class starship . The weapon systems also included two massive swivel - mounted torpedo launchers that could be deployed from under the saucer section from behind protective armor plating . They could rotate and launch a volley of torpedoes at various firing arcs from aft to forward of the ship . A " Dreadnought " - class ship could also launch drones that in turn were capable of launching several photon torpedoes before crashing into a target . ( ) Propulsion systems . The " Dreadnought " - class featured two angular warp drive nacelles , unlike most Starfleet ships that had featured cylindrical nacelles . The " Vengeance " was described by Khan as having " three times the speed " of the " Enterprise " . The " Dreadnought " - class ship had the capability of tracking down and attacking a fleeing enemy ship while at warp speed . ( ) Appendices . Background information . The voice for the " Dreadnought " - class computer was provided by former " Saturday Night Live " cast member Bill Hader . Screenwriter of " Star Trek Into Darkness " Roberto Orci suggested on Twitter that the USS " Vengeance " had a countermeasure against transwarp beaming . Hence , Harrison fled to Qo ' noS instead of commandeering the " Vengeance " directly . Before Khan fired a barrage of the red arcing bursts of energy from the " Vengeance " , Sulu stated that the ship was locking phasers on the " Enterprise " . Before the two large cannons were deployed in " Star Trek Into Darkness " , Admiral Marcus ordered the targeting of all aft torpedoes at the bridge of the " Enterprise " . According to the novelization of the film , the two cannons were in fact massive banks of photon torpedoes , each holding an arsenal of more torpedoes than several ships the size of the " Enterprise " had combined . According to the novelization of " Star Trek Into Darkness " , the advanced warp capabilities were called " Mark IV capabilities " . They included special modifications to the warp drive and nacelles , that allowed a " Dreadnought " - class ship to momentarily exceed all accepted warp factor s and catch up with a starship it was following inside its warp tunnel . According to a dossier of the " Enterprise " on the homepage of the previous film , the three times slower " Constitution " - class was capable of reaching speeds up to warp factor 8 . The terms " advanced warp capabilities " and " Mark IV " are similar to the prime universe classification " advanced fourth generation warp drive " , that was according to the " Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology " ( p . 180 ) attributed to the new warp drive and angular nacelles installed to the in its refit for , that according to the reference book also made the " Enterprise " more than three times faster compared to warp factor 8 , in the , with a maximum velocity of warp factor 12 . Designing the " Dreadnought " - class . To devise the layout of the USS " Vengeance " for , the movie ' s production unit conducted extensive studies of spacecraft designs , ultimately conceptualizing the vessel as an angular black - hulled leviathan depicted by Concept Artist James Clyne . " " One of the first images that popped into my head , " " said Director J . J . Abrams , " " was the idea of a big , terrifying stealth - like version of the " Enterprise " [ . . . ] It began as a visual concept of having a black ship . " " Abrams also conceived the " Vengeance " as a militaristic Starfleet craft , more than twice the size of the " Enterprise " . ( " Cinefex " , No . 134 , pp . 74 - 75 & 84 ) The " Vengeance " went on to be built by a team at Industrial Light & Magic , which included Digital Model Supervisor Bruce Holcomb . They constructed the ship , one of multiple intricate CGI models in the film , to far outdo the capabilities of other Federation crafts . The " Vengeance " wound up being , noted ILM Senior Visual Effects Supervisor Roger Guyett , " about two - and - a - half times the size of the " Enterprise " . " Guyett further remarked , " " It was approximately 4 , 500 feet long , but we sometimes cheated that for dramatic needs . " " As could be expected , the " Vengeance " became in Guyett ' s words , " another enormous model with a huge amount of detail . " ( " Cinefex " , No . 134 , pp . 84 & 75 ) Combined with the darkness of space , the configuration of the " Dreadnought " - class vessel caused ILM difficulty with lighting the " Vengeance " . " " The " Vengeance " design didn ' t lend itself to a lot of lights , " " explained ILM Lighting Technical Director Robert Weaver , " " so we played with rim - light and specular values . We gave the ship ' Aztec ' textures , similar to the " Enterprise " ; so , anytime a light raked across the hull , it created interesting colors in the surface panels . We controlled those effects in specular mapping . We created different channels for different panel lights , the shaders wrote that information into EXR data files , and we could create as many channels as we needed . The " Vengeance " averaged three levels of specular , which compositors could adjust . " " ( " Cinefex " , No . 134 , p . 75 ) Apocrypha . According to a comic book " Who ' s Who in Star Trek , Issue 2 " , a class of Federation starships called the also existed in the prime universe . A " Dreadnought " - class is briefly mentioned by William T . Riker in the novel " Dark Mirror " as a starship class that is the closest analog the prime universe Starfleet in the 24th century has to the heavily - armed and armored version of the from the mirror universe . The " Dreadnought " - class makes an appearance in " Star Trek Online " as a playable ship , released alongside the " Agents of Yesterday " expansion pack . However , as the term " dreadnought " in the game refers to a specific type of ship ( as contrasted to " cruiser " or " science vessel " ) , the ship is referred to as a " Kelvin Timeline Intel Dreadnought Cruiser " ( referring to its temporal origin , unique traits , and performance characteristics ) , and more specifically the " Vengeance " - class . Ship possesses rapid - fire broadside phaser batteries and can launch automated assault drones to act as fighters .