No, I wasn't kidding. I've seen others suggest it before, too, perhaps because of the various oddities of the Oberth and how different it seems from the other ships. But now we have the in-continuity 'proof,' IMO.
In fact take a look at this!http://www.shipschematics.net/startrek/images/federation/scienceresearch_oberth.jpg and then this and compare the two! in fact if you turn this ship^ upside down it looks a lot like the oberth!
That also works with the quite low hull number of Grissom. I would posit that the Oberth's were in the first few generation of ships built by the Federation Starfleet (As opposed to the Earth Starfleet seen in ENT), relying heavily on Vulcan designs. They certainly were quite advanced in their day, but probably are not front-line hulls by even TOS, let alone TSFS. If the hull frame is sound, I see no reason they wouldn't go through several generations of refits and modernizations. As Science and Research ships, they won't need the speed and combat performance of the Constitutions, Mirandas, or Excelsiors. Grissom almost certainly is not in her original appearance. The design is apparently a sound one, easy to build and staff, and quite reliable as well. I would dare say the Oberth's are the most successful design in Starfleet, surviving from the early 600 registries through the 60000 registries (spanning at least a century and a half, if not more). Real-world equivalents: some Royal Navy sailing ships from the days of the Spanish Armada (late 1500s) were still in service in the late 1800s - though when Jackie Fisher took over, he purged them very quickly, and brought about the Dreadnought revolution). A couple of Liberty ships and some ocean liners from pre-1945 are still in use today (though there are few). Many ship designs post 1945 are fundamentally the same as the mass produced liberty and victory ships.
Here is an update on one of the more ''alien'' desings from ENTERPRISE! enjoy.http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/xindi-reptillian-vessel/
And the U.S.S. VOYAGER! http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/05/10/voyager-details-by-starlight/ Saucer section
You shouldn't post those images directly, because that's stealing their bandwith. You need to upload them to a free host like ImageShack or Photobucket. I've changed them to links.
Sorry! just so everyone can see here is another update, this time it's the long awaited S.S.Conestoga! http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/s-s-conestoga/
Will do! here's an update, My favorite TREK ship (well tied with the NX-O1 anyway) the U.S.S.EQUINOX!http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/rick-sternbachs-equinox/
I have tried that (in the D5 blog) to no avail, unfortunately. I guess since this is one of the main DrexFiles threads here, maybe someone can point me in the right direction: Question about the D5 – was there a non-tanker variant of this ship that I recall seeing at some point? And, if so, have those orthos shown up there yet? I tried scouring all the calendars and I thought I saw it once but I can’t seem to find it again. Probably got it confused w/ the Raptor. Any info appreciated and thanks again!
The "original" D-5 definitely showed up, towards the end of the show. It was one of the three ships challenging our heroes in the climax of the "Affliction"/"Divergence" duology. Before that, a single ship commanded by Duras had been a serious threat to the Enterprise in "Judgement". I hear (http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/D5_class) that there was a D-5 in "The Augments" as well, but I don't remember if she appeared on screen. Timo Saloniemi
That's what I thought. I'm hoping Doug is going in chronological order on his orthos - if that one showed up towards the end of the series, I guess it's just a matter of time then. Thanks for that, Timo!
Alas, "Judgement" precedes for example the Xindi Arc, so the orthos aren't coming out in exact chronological order... I like the idea of the D-5 as the old heavy hitter of the Klingon fleet; the old Bird of Prey as a shorter-ranged counterpart with landing capability and a bit less armor; and the Raptor as the light torpedo boat, fast but undergunned. Yet the relative sizes of these three have never been well established. And then there's the curious kitbash that seems to combine Raptor and D-5 parts... Timo Saloniemi