Captain's Log, stardate 11474.6, Commander Scartine commanding. The Electra has been docked at Starbase 52 for the past eight hours. Shore leave is a most important aspect of any starship patrol. So far so good, only two members of the crew have been reported for harrassing the Orion slave girls down there, although I thought higher of Lieutenant Mendez. Starfleet has allocated three days for stop here. I just hope that the crew doesn't riot too much when we have to leave. End log.

Commander Darrien Scartine commanded the U.S.S. Electra from stardate 11309.5 until stardate 11703.5. His assignment to the Electra came after a successful period as Executive Officer aboard the Constellation class U.S.S. Montrose. The Apollo class offered an opportunity to sample a small crew with a focussed mission, but still retaining a potent ship that had the ability to deter superior threat vessels from misadventure.

In those two years he explored systems along the Klingon Border region. Before exploring the frontier. Darrien Scartine developed a close relationship with his crew. This was due in part to the small compliment of a Apollo class starship [115], and also due to the young generation of crew on the Electra. none above the rank of Commander and none with that rank for more than a few months before the assignment either.

The Electra would operate from Starbase 52 at the driftward end of the Nirophian Corridor, the 'Suez of Starfleet'. From there she would head via Starbase 36 to the Canopus system and Starbase 15, otherwise known as Pharos. From there she would be prepared for her onward trip to unexplored space. Along with other members of the class such as Achilles, Leander and Galatea, she would patrol along the frontier, monitoring any and all traffic that entered the region.

Once deployed into this far end of Federation space, there was no need for her to venture back to the core worlds. One of many advantages of the Apollo class design was that she could be refitted at one of the many starbases across the region. Her roles would vary from border patrol to anti-piracy, counter-narcotics, counter-smuggling and police work up to intelligence-gathering. The Electra and her sisters offered a rapid response team to deal with any danger that might present itself. As recent history had showed, this region of Federation space was still relatively new and equally vulnerable to invasion. The Apollo class was part of the solution to this issue.

Darrien Scartine came from an engineering background. His expertise in computing and power systems were now supplemented by his command abilities that stemmed from his natural tactical and strategic thinking abilities. His previous Commanding Officer, Captain Philip Dexter of the U.S.S. Foxhound spoke highly of his Helmsman, and directing him towards his own command.

Primary Hull:

01 Main Bridge; Captain's Ready Room.

02 Senior Officers' offices; Briefing Room; Shuttle Bay.

03 Officers Quarters; Senior Crew Quarters.

04 Main deck - Navigational Deflector; Sickbay; Transporter Rooms; Crew Quarters; Quartermaster's Office; Impulse Drive; Main Engineering; Security Section.

05 Torpedo bays (fore and aft), Tactical Sensor Arrays; "Snooper" Eavesdropping Sensor Arrays.

06 Navigational Sensor Arrays, Deuterium Tanks.

Length: 210 metres

Beam: 116.21m

Height: 37.55 metres

Crew: 115 [15 officers, 100 enlisted]

Cruising Warp 7 [OCU]

Max Warp 11 [OCU]

Maximum Speed: Warp 9.2 for 12 hours (new scale)

Armament: 21 triple type-7 phaser banks; 4 photon torpedo launchers

Defences: Deflector shields

Senior crew of U.S.S. Electra, NCC 11227 from stardate 11309.5 until stardate 11703.5:

Commanding Officer: Commander Darrien Scartine.

Executive Officer: Lieutenant Carlos Mendez

Science Officer: Lieutenant T'prel

Chief Engineer: Lieutenant Mohammed Khan

Chief Medical Officer: Lieutenant [j.g] Carla Thomas

Author's Notes:

USS Electra originally appeared as Jupp class NCC 1655 on my website but has since been reclassified as Apollo class NCC 11227, as you can see here. This is one of the Apollo class introduced into the driftward, 'Eastern' end of the Federation to counter the drug smuggling Orions and help patrol the ISC border as a result of the Treaty of Nimbus. These are the Type 26 Global Combat Ship or USN Littoral Combat Ships of the modern Starfleet: fast and lethal good to deal with the go-fast villain ships of the pirates.

Namesakes of U.S.S. Electra:

In Greek mythology, several persons were named Electra (also spelled Elektra):

Daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, mother of Dardanus, Iasion and Harmonia, by Zeus.

A Pleiade or Oceanid, mother of Iris and the Harpies by Thaumas.

(Most famous "Electra") Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Alternative: Laodice According to the story, Electra (daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra) was absent from Mycenae when her father, King Agamemnon, returned from the Trojan War and was murdered by Aegisthus, Clytemnestra's lover, and/or by Clytemnestra herself. Aegisthus and Clytemnestra also killed Cassandra, Agamemnon's lover.

Eight years later Electra returned from Athens with her brother, Orestes. (Odyssey, iii. 306; X. 542). According to Pindar (Pythia, xi. 25), Orestes was saved by his old nurse or by Electra, and was taken to Phanote on Mount Parnassus, where King Strophius took charge of him.

In his twentieth year, Orestes was ordered by the Delphic oracle to return home and avenge his father's death. According to Aeschylus, he met Electra before the tomb of Agamemnon, where both had gone to perform rites to the dead; a recognition took place, and they arranged how Orestes should accomplish his revenge.

Orestes, after the deed (sometimes with Electra helping), goes mad, and is pursued by the Erinyes, or Furies), whose duty it is to punish any violation of the ties of family piety. Electra is not hounded by the Erinyes.

Orestes takes refuge in the temple at Delphi. Even though Apollo (to whom the Delphic temple was dedicated) had ordered him to do the deed, he is powerless to protect Orestes from the consequences of his actions.

At last Athene (also known as Areia) receives him on the Acropolis of Athens and arranges a formal trial of the case before twelve Attic judges. The Erinyes demand their victim; he pleads the orders of Apollo; the votes of the judges are equally divided, and Athena gives her casting vote for acquittal.

Later, Electra married Pylades, Orestes' close friend and son of King Strophius (the same one who had cared for Orestes while he hid from his mother and her lover).

Electra was also the title of two ancient plays about the murder of Clytemnestra by Sophocles and Euripides.

Aeschylus, Oresteia; Euripides, Electra; Orestes; Apollodorus, Epitome VI, 23-28.

Author's note: Taken from Wikipedia.

History of HMS Electra:

Electra was an E Class Destroyer, one of 9, commissioned and built in 1934. Their main duties were to participate in normal fleet duties and convoy protection. She was eventually sunk by the Japanese Destroyer Asagumo on 27th February 1942.

Builder: Hawthorn Leslie, UK

Laid down: 15th March 1933

Launched: 15th February 1934

Commissioned: 17th September 1934

Complement: 138 Officers and Crew

Maximum speed: 35 knots.

Displacement: 1,360 tons standard displacement

Armament: 4 x 4.7 inch guns (4 x 1)

Torpedo tubes: 8

Plus: Depth charge throwers

Date	Timeline of major events
13th June 1940	Damaged in a collision in Norway
May 1941	Took part in the hunt for Bismark in North Atlantic
24th May 1941	First to arrive on the scene of the sinking of HMS Hood. She quickly picked up the three men, searched for other survivors, found none, then departed. The men were landed at Reykjavik, Iceland late on 24 May
10th December 1941	Part of Force Z - Singapore, Malaysia. Rescued casualties from HMS Repulse
27th February 1942	Battle of Java Sea: sunk by the Jintsu, Asagumo.

Sunk on the 27th of February 1942 during the mid stages of the Battle of the Java Sea, several hours before the Dutch cruisers De Ruyter and Java, both of which Empress discovered late last year, the wreck now lays on its port side in approximately 49m / 160ft of water. An 'E Class' destroyer, The Electra was sunk by gunfire from the Japanese destroyer Asagumo while protecting the damaged heavy cruiser HMS Exeter.

Discovery

During August 2003, the liveaboard scuba diving vessel, MV Empress located and then positively identified (by diving) the wreck of the British destroyer HMS Electra in the Java Sea.

One of the divers involved, Kevin Denlay, reports:

"As it turned our we only did one dive to confirm that it was her as the visibility was very poor at the time and the wreck is almost completely covered in trawler net. No doubt it was Electra though as we luckily got a look at her quad torpedo tubes and a glimpse at the open 3" gun just aft (where her other set of tubes used to be) and her hull appears intact along the entire length. I say 'luckily got a look' as although I swam from bow to stern net completely encased literally every other distinguishable feature. The only other WW11 loss in that localized area was the Dutch destroyer Kortenaer (lost the same day) and she was configured differently (her torpedoes were mounted in a brace of three instead of Electra's four) and from all reports Kortenaer broke in half almost immediately upon being torpedo."

No photos were taken of the wreck during this initial discovery.



Namesake: EM2 Manchester - Sheffield electric locomotive 27000 'Electra'

In 1948 an order was placed for 27 Co-Co locomotives to work the passenger services, but by 1952 the economies demonstrated by the Frech Railways using 25,000 volts a.c. could no longer be ignored. All new electrification in Britain would be to this new standard. As the Manchester - Sheffield route had suddenly became electrically isolated, and the cost of the project was escalating rapidly, the order was reduced to 7. The locomotives were capable of 90 m.p.h., but the maximum line speed was 70.

In 1959 / 1960, as with the EM1s, the entire class received names, this time being a mixture of Greek and Roman Goddesses.

The entire class was withdrawn from service in 1968 and placed in store at Bury.

Meanwhile, over in Holland, a new phase known as 'Spoorslag 70' envisaged a new class - the 1400 series. By 1965, it was apparent the cost of development and construction was beyond the NS's resources, and the project was abandoned in 1966. The gap had to be filled somehow.

After three years of searching, the NS came to inspect the Goddesses, the EM2s. On Wednesday August 20 1969, E27002 'Aurora' came in from the cold and ran as train 1Z36 Reddish depot to Sheffield Victoria and return. On board were NS locomotive and rolling stock men.

NS bought all seven locomotives. On September 25, they were loaded on the 'Cambridge Ferry' at Harwich. The story goes that if a storm brewed up on the way to Zeebrugge, the EM2s were to be dumped overboard ...

The EM2s had not exceeded 800,000 miles each on BR. The bogies had hairline fractures due to insufficient side-play on the centre axle, and the main frames needed strengthening. Other components, including wiring, was in a very reasonable state.

The major fund raising exercise to purchase No E27000 was probably the 'EM2 Farewell Railtour' of 14 June 1986. All four surviving EM2s, Nos 1501/2/3/5 were used, and the organisation of the photo lineups and various surprises (including a final triple-header) on the day really showed how a railway system should treat its most staunch supporters.

Following the railtour the remaining EM2s were withdrawn by NS after 16 years loyal service for some very careful owners. Electra had clocked up 5,000,000 miles service in Holland since 1970, and was duly handed over to the EM2 locomotive Society on 10 July 1986. Wednesday 16th July saw 'Electra' transferred to Toton via Whitemoor and March, and the following day was worked to the Midland Railway Centre and parked at Butterley.

Abridged history from the EM2 locomotive Society. Please visit their website.

Author's Notes:





The name Electra was selected for two reasons. Firstly on the day of creating this page, I have just been reading Channel 4's new book on the WW2 battle between HMS Hood and the Bismarck. HMS Electra was one of the destroyers involved in the action. The second reason for using this name is there is a preserved Electric Locomotive, EM2 class, that used to run between my home city of Sheffield and Manchester. E27000, later Netherlands Spoorwagen 1502, is now preserved in the UK. I am now a member of the EM2 Locomotive Society, which owns electric locomotive 27000 Electra. I enrolled on 29th May 2004 in the number 1 cab of the loco, most appropriately.









The name lives on with Direct Railway Services locomotive 88007 Electra, seen here in Carlisle station on Saturday 22nd July 2017.