Y class The Y - class freighter was a type of starship utilized by the Earth Cargo Service during the 22nd century . Capabilities . Ships of this class were usually armed with a single low - yield plasma cannon ; however , most captain s had the weapons upgraded to defend against pirate s . They were able to haul twenty kilotons at a maximum speed of warp 1 . 8 with the original warp engine . The ships could be refitted with a warp three engine to make them ten times faster . The crew and family complement of a Y - class cargo ship was approximately two dozen . The Y - class was slightly larger than the , but overall , the same basic design . ( ) Appendices . Background information . When it came time to design the Y - class freighter , there weren ' t many potential influences to dictate how the ship should look . The design began with concept artist John Eaves , who produced three alternative sketches for the craft . All three illustrations shared the same basic architecture , featuring a central framework with a series of cargo pods on either side . ( " " , issue 49 , pp . 10 - 11 ) Much of the Y - class design was inspired by the script for " Fortunate Son " . ( " " , issue 49 , p . 11 ) In the first draft script of " Fortunate Son " , the Y - class was initially described thus ; " " The large " [ . . . ] " cargo ship is comprised of a half dozen cargo modules strung together , each a hundred plus meters in length . A much smaller crew module is perched at the nose of the barge - like vessel . " " The same script draft established the Y - class as typically having had only one plasma cannon ( when Travis Mayweather was serving on the ) but the ECS " Fortunate " as having a total of three plasma cannons and , in one ultimately unused line of dialogue , the Y - class ' s top speed was referred to as approximately three hundred times slower than that of the . As regards the initial description of the Y - class , the final draft of the teleplay changed the length of each of the cargo modules to " fifty plus meters " and added the sentence , " " Each module is marked with a number : 1 through 8 . " " As well as referring to the Y - class ECS " Fortunate " as a " huge " craft , the script was also inspirational in the design of the class by making it clear the " Fortunate " would have one of its cargo pods blown off in the course of the episode . John Eaves , as a result of these details , focused on producing slightly different versions of the cargo pods and the front part of the vessel . In one of his drawings , the " cab " at the front was similar to a tug boat , with twin warp nacelles on either side . However , the producers refused this approach , preferring the other two configurations . ( " " , issue 49 , p . 11 ) The selected pair of illustrations were given to the visual effects team , so the final design could be constructed as a CGI model . While the VFX of " Fortunate Son " were being supervised by Ronald B . Moore , his influence had a considerable effect on how the design turned out . ( " " , issue 49 , p . 11 ) Once he received the two drawings , he discussed the Y - class with the CGI modeler to decide how they would like the ship to look . Moore ' s approach to the Y - class was to place importance on how the craft was to be used in the episode , taking note of some extremely specific shots described in the script . Also important to the VFX artists was giving the vessel a sense of scale as well as being capable of docking with other spacecraft . " " I wanted to design something that would work for that [ procedure ] – which meant I had to make sure that I had a proper hatch , and there was room for it , " " said Moore . Additionally , he needed to have one of the cargo pods separate from the main body of the craft and float away into outer space . " " So I varied the model a little bit to make all of that work as well as possible . " " ( " " , issue 49 , p . 12 ) Ultimately , the structure that the Y - class designers arrived at was basically a mix of the two approved concept images , which were on the same sheet as each other . ( " " , issue 49 , pp . 12 & 13 ) " " Either one of the drawings we had would have worked , " " Ron Moore remarked . The reasons why some sections were preferred to their equivalent components on the other illustration were varied . " " Sometimes it was just because I liked one element better , " " admitted Moore , " " but we had reasoning for some of it too . " " ( " " , issue 49 , p . 12 ) Ron Moore specifically took the nose section from the image on the right of the two illustrations . " " I thought the nose on the one on the right gave us a little more bulk and we needed that [ to show the Y - class docking ] [ . . . ] I think also subconsciously it reminded me of the " Leonov " , which was the Russian ship in " 2010 " , which I worked on . The nose section of the one on the left was more aerodynamic and I didn ' t feel that was all that necessary , especially for a freighter . " " ( " " , issue 49 , pp . 12 - 13 ) Conversely , Ron Moore incorporated , in the final design , the cargo pods from the sketch on the left . " " The cargo modules on the right were probably more functional , " " he commented , " " but I thought the symmetry of the ones on the left worked a little better [ . . . ] I remember I wanted to push them a little bit further apart so I could create this valley . That was something that was in the drawing on the left [ . . . ] We wanted to build it and get the spaces just right to make that work . " " ( " " , issue 49 , p . 13 ) As an additional step in the design process , Ron Moore and his modeler equipped the Y - class with a pair of warp nacelles . They were tucked into the underside of the ship , though that part of the vessel was never shown in canon . ( " " , issue 49 , p . 13 ) In retrospect , Ron Moore could hardly have been more pleased with the results of designing the Y - class freighter . " " I liked building this ship , " " he reminisced , " " and I really like the final design . " " ( " " , issue 49 , p . 13 ) Interiors . For " Fortunate Son " , the set for the Y - class bridge was built on Paramount Stage 8 whereas the other sets for the rest of the Y - class ( including the ship ' s access corridor , infirmary , and cargo modules , including catwalks overlooking those cargo areas ) were on Paramount Stage 18 . ( " Fortunate Son " shooting schedule ) The Y - class bridge of the " Fortunate " was a heavily modified reuse of the bridge set for the , from . ( ) Some of the other sets used to depict the Y - class were redressed NX - class sets commonly shown as areas of " Enterprise " . The Y - class hallways were redressed corridors from " Enterprise " , with a new lighting scheme and several new additions to the walls . Likewise , the cargo bays of the Y - class were the shuttlebays of " Enterprise " , filled with several types of cargo containers . Cargo Module # 4 aboard the " Fortunate " was scripted to be " optically enhanced , " in order to make it look huge . The script also directed for a single hatch set piece to be redressed , so it could be used for the hatch to multiple individual cargo modules . Apocrypha . Several vessels of this class appear in the game " " .