Federation tug
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference
| Federation tug | |
|---|---|
 Ship of the class towing USS Fredrickson | |
| Affiliation: | Federation Starfleet |
| Type: | Tug |
| Active: | 24th century |
- You may also be looking for the Ptolemy-class, a class of Federation tug-transport.
A Federation tug was a type of specialized Federation starship used exclusively for towing damaged or disabled vessels.
During the Dominion War they were utilized in the evacuation of disabled vessels from battle zones. The USS Fredrickson was one such starship to benefit from these utility vessels in 2374. (DS9: "A Time to Stand")
[edit] Background
According to a comparison chart drawn up by Gary Hutzel and Larry Nemecek, the length of the Federation tug was 216.5 feet. [1]
The episode "A Time to Stand" needed a shot of a retreating flotilla of Starfleet vessels. To beef out the scene, the production staff (calling the tug "USS Ertl" amongst themselves) built several new ships, kitbashing them out of parts from commercially available AMT/Ertl-Star Trek model kits. Amongst them was the federation tug, making it stand out as one of the few utility vessels, apart from the shuttles, of Starfleet ever to be shown since Star Trek: The Motion Picture.[2] The episode marks its only appearance.
Members of the production team who pitched in to build the models for the episode were, amongst others, Gary Hutzel, Judy Elkins, and Adam Buckner.
