Explorer class ship

Explorer class ship
Status	Active (as of Drakh attack of Earth, 2267)
Affiliation	Earth Alliance
Class	Explorer
Length	6,103m
Crew	350
Engines	Beigle-Bryant 9000A Particle Thrust Engine
Jump Capable	Yes
Weapons	4 52mm plasma pulse cannons 4 twin particle cannons

Explorer class ships are used by Earthforce to explore new regions of space and build new jumpgates.

These immense ships are built by Mitchell-Hyundyne at the New Kobe Orbital Shipyard. Designed for the long haul, this is a pure breed exploration vessel for charting out on the Rim, making first contact with new species and construct new jumpgates to open up exploitation of in areas with useful resources. Explorers are the largest ships in service of the Earth Alliance

In addition to their complement of fighters, Explorer-class ships have an array of smaller support vessels and shuttles for short range exploration and planetary surveying. Understandably, Earth Alliance has very few of these ships due to their large cost in credits and equipment, but the few they do have allow for rapid expansion in Earth's sphere of influence through jumpgate construction and are a good source of income, as other races can then be charged for the use of new jumpgates.

Captain John Sheridan remarked that if an Earthforce officer was "supremely lucky", he or she would see only one or two Explorer class ships in his or her lifetime.

List of Explorer class ships

• EAS Cortez: Commanded by Captain Jack Maynard.
• EAS De Soto: Transported the IPX survey vessel Icarus part of the was on it's voyage to Alpha Omega III.
• EAS Phoenix: Commanded by Captain Matthew Gideon prior to his taking command of the IAS Excalibur.