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Launched in 2368, the experimental transwarp frigate USS Adventurous was placed under the command of a decorated Starfleet officer, Erika Jill Donaldson, who was promoted to captain after her aquittal following the classified events surrounding what has become known as the "Hawking incident" The Auspicious class was a bold and innovative experiment in Starfleet ship design. Conceived in the mid 2360s, the Transwarp Research Platform was a joint project between Galaxy Exploration Command and the Advanced Starship Design Board; its goal to create a long-range research vessel with a minimal crew complement. Still in the cost-conscious stages of rebuilding the fleet after Wolf-359, the ASDB and GALEXCOM opened the TWP contract to bid, and after some deliberation, contracted to San Francisco Fleet Yards. The transwarp platform itself was contracted separately to Warp Industries Ltd. Construction on the class model, USS Auspicious NCC 1300, was completed in the summer of 2366, managing to come in just under budget, due to SF Fleet Yard's careful subcontracting, and ASDB use of existing structural features in their design of the primary hull structure. Auspicious was launched in the fall of 2364, and officially entered service in January, 2365. Five more were constructed between 2367 and 2368: the Ingenuous, Advantageous, Impetuous, Audacious, and Adventurous. Unfortunately, a pall of ill-luck hung over this experiment almost from the start. Within six months of entering service, the USS Auspicious was caught in a freak gravimetric anomoly while observing the last stages of a star about to go nova, and destroyed with all hands. And within the next 22 months, the Ingenuous, Advantageous and Audacious were destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Little in known about the fate of the Impetuous, only that it was lost in 2371; all details concerning her fate are still classified.
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