Some more Deck 1 detail. Here we have the Captain's office on the port side (with two windows) and the Executive Officer and Science Officer's offices on the starboard side (with one window each). The doors in the side walls of each office lead to a bathroom. There is to be another larger common bathroom on the deck, but I have designed any of them. For now I'm leaving the empty areas of the deck blank for whatever else that might possibly be put there down the road.
On further thought it wouldn't be that hard to design a small bathroom off each office. And they don't have to be that detailed for this conceptual purpose. As for the larger common bathroom I'm thinking of that door just aft of the two starboard offices. An idle thought: how big does a lifeboat need to be? It's possible that lifeboats could be housed in part of those two large areas on each side of the aft section of Deck 1. It doesn't show from outside, but in an extreme circumstance those parts of the outer hull could blow away to release the lifeboats. Lifeboats aren't something that absolutely has to be done now, but if I can come up with something along the way I'll flesh it out some. One thing to be considered, particularly in the saucer. Because of the severe angle of the upper and lower parts of the saucer it isn't possible to extend the deck all the way to the outer hull in terms of usable space--you start to run out of headroom. To that end it's possible lifeboats could be stored at those outer edges and somewhat between decks. So basically you'd go to the edge of the deck, open a hatch, and clamber down into the lifeboat. Then shut the hatch and initiate the launch wherein part of the exterior hull is blown away and the boat is automatically launched away from the ship. I'm envisioning something that could be rather rudimentary and able to enter an atmosphere somewhat analogous to an Apollo command module, but with antigrav capabilities (and a chute backup, just in case) you're much more likely to soft land. A shape I'm seeing is for something craft like rather than a basic cube or something similar. I think I could perhaps put six of the boats in the aft part of Deck 1 with three to each side. If I could get 6-10 persons aboard each boat then that would be space to evacuate 36-60 personnel. I think the idea could be more boats (if possible) than absolute minimum to evacuate everyone in the event not all boats are accessible due to extensive ship damage (a distinct possibility). I'll give it more thought. Presently I'm planning out the officers' cabins. Anyone have any idea what other facilities or labs it might be handy to have on Deck 1? I'm also starting to think about Deck 2 which will house officers' quarters. As it's laid out eight of the cabins can have windows (in the more conventional sense since with advanced imaging technology practically any surface could be a display or mimic a window).
Here's how Deck 2 is beginning to look like. This officer's cabin (not yet complete) covers 7 degrees of arc around the deck. So if every cabin around the perimeter of the deck were exactly the same size there could be 51 such cabins. Of course only eight such cabins would actually have windows and two of them would have only a single window. So the cabins with windows would obviously be the senior officers' quarters and the rest would be junior officers.Of course, this is just around the perimeter of the deck. Other cabins could be placed inward and or I could put other facilities toward the centre of the deck. The circular corridor you see is 10 ft. wide. You can see the basic internal arrangement of the cabin. A senior officer rates a 3/4 size bed while a junior rates a single. Regular crew would also rate a single, but would bunk 2 per cabin. Of course the internal arrangement would be different and at this point I don't know if I'll bother designing those ones. The bedroom has a bed with headboard shelf, a closet and a dresser. There is also a moderate sized bathroom with toilet and shower (or whatever is used as a shower) as well as a small cabinet and mirror. Although I haven't shown it panels can slide closed to separate the reception area and bathroom from the rest of the cabin. The reception area will have a table/desk with two chairs as well as room for an easy chair and additional shelves if desired. While these cabins are certainly not cramped as they would be on modern naval vessels neither are they nearly as spacious as those seen on TNG. They are somewhat comparable in space to what was seen on TOS but with a different arrangement. Once I have the cabin completed (the work area isn't finished yet) I merely have to copy and rotate to add additional cabins. In this case I'm only going to create the cabins with window for sake of placement. Of course this inevitably leads to a question not yet adressed: what is the crew complement on a ship like this? I haven't figured that out yet.
Here is an officer's cabin. In truth other cabins could have slightly different colour schemes, but this serves for conceptual purposes. Some fixtures could be swapped out for personal preference. And bed sizes could change depending on rank. So if there were indeed a married couple among the crew they could get a double sized bed. VIP cabins also have a double sized bed (I don't plan on designing the VIP cabin at this point). A standard crew cabin with twin beds or even a double bunk arrangement is something I might design later, but for now Deck 2 is primarily officers' accommodations.
Now here's a little something more to mull over. This is the Deck 2 layout. The cabins in place are those that will line up with the windows on the outer hull. The remaining cabins around the rim of the deck will follow the same pattern as the cabins shown with some of the cabins being mirror layouts of the first one I designed (it works out near equal in number between the two). It is also possible (if necessary) for this cabin designed to be fitted with two single beds rather than one for occupancy of junior officers. The Captain's and First Officer's cabins are located in the more aft section of the deck. And note that each has more direct access to the turbolift access ports at the hub of the deck. The H pattern is the turbolift hub for that deck and is repeated for nearly all the decks throughout the saucer. Note also that the straight corridors happen to line up with the horizontal turbolift shafts running on the deck above and deck below. This means that if ever necessary those shafts could be accessed (for repair and maintenance) from above and below.
Would the cabins be pre-assigned by officer's role? That seems weird to me. I mean, I can kinda see the CO and XO having pre-assigned spaces, but I would imagine billeting would be handled more flexibly than that. --Alex
I thought about that and you're probably right. The cabins I designated were based simply on the idea that the ranking senior officers would be assigned a cabin with a window. Everyone else would be subject largely to availability. That said there's no reason an officer couldn't say they didn't care for a window and would be willing to take a windowless cabin.
Windows are quaint, but wouldn't most cabins be able to feature a large hi-def holographic viewscreen that was indistinguishable from the real thing?
You're exactly right. I like to think that the material around the windows (the inner bulkheads) could work in concert with the windows to create an all-around image. I think one of the real reasons for putting windows on a starship is to give the ship a sense of scale as seen from the outside in concert as seen from the inside sets.
What we see here is the Deck 2 Officer's Mess located in the aft part of the deck behind the H shaped turbolift hub. There is room to seat 64 persons in this sections--and I'm still not sure how many officers are in the ship's complement--but it should be sufficient room since not every officer would be dining at the same time. If the ship were to hold any special or official functions then this would most likely be the place to do it as tables could be rearranged or removed as needed. We saw official functions on TOS, but realistically the facility shown should have been distinctly larger. The reason there is only one door on the forward bulkhead is because the companionway coming down from Deck 1 happens to come down right where that missing door would go. For sake of simplicity I simply eliminated that one door. Three access points should be sufficient.
I know on real naval vessels, there's generally one officer per 10 enlisted. ~60 officers is like a 600 man crew, which seems believable for a ship like this.
I was thinking of around a 600 number. I'm in the process of trying to work out more detail regarding the crew complement beyond just the number of officers and crew. I'm looking up how contemporary naval ships are detailed in regard to crew complements as a guideline.
This little bit is a work in progress. I'm using complements for contemporary naval ships as a guideline to try working out the details. Any suggestions appreciated. Vanguard-class Complement Operations Commanding Officer................................................1 Executive Officer.....................................................1 Chief Helmsman......................................................1 Helmsman..............................................................5 Shuttlecraft Pilot......................................................6 Ordnance Officer......................................................4 Phaser Specialist....................................................10 Torpedo Specialist..................................................10 Communications Officer............................................4 Communications Specialist........................................8 Total:......................................................................50 (Note: all CO’s, XO’s and Helmsman are required to be qualified helmsman, navigator and shuttlecraft pilot) Sciences Science Officer.........................................................1 Assistant Science Officer............................................1 Scientist................................................................22 Laboratory Technicians............................................50 Total:......................................................................74 Medical Chief Medical Officer..................................................1 Doctor.....................................................................5 Chief Nurse..............................................................1 Nurse....................................................................22 Medical Technicians.................................................30 Total:.......................................................................59 Engineering Chief Engineer..........................................................1 Assistant Chief Engineer.............................................1 Engineering Officer....................................................5 Engineering Specialist..............................................56 Environmental Officer.................................................2 Environmental Specialist...........................................12 Hangar Bay Officer.....................................................2 Shuttlecraft Specialist...............................................10 Transporter Chief.......................................................1 Transporter Specialist...............................................20 Transport Technicians...............................................20 Computer Officer.......................................................1 Computer Specialist...................................................8 Damage Control Chief................................................1 Damage Control Officer..............................................4 Damage Control Specialist........................................40 Processing & Fabrication Officer...................................2 Processing & Fabrication Specialist.............................15 Total:.....................................................................201 Security Chief Of Security........................................................1 Security Officer..........................................................8 Security Specialist....................................................96 Tactical Officer............................................................2 Tactical Specialist........................................................8 Total:....................................................................115 Support Records Officer...........................................................1 Yeoman...................................................................15 Stores & Cargo Officer.................................................1 Stores & Cargo Specialist...........................................15 Mess Officer...............................................................1 Mess Specialist.........................................................12 Services Officer..........................................................1 Services Specialist....................................................20 Total:.......................................................................66 Officers....................................................................88 (includes Lt. (j.g) and above) Crew......................................................................477 Total:.....................................................................565
A very well thought-out list! I'm not an expert, so I can't really analyze what kind of jobs need to be filled, but the list looks good. But for the stuff I am knowledgeable about, it looks like you have a pretty good doctor/patient ratio in the medical department. I just thought of a facility that might be cool to have on deck 1. Basically like a mini, non-recreational holodeck, where the bridge crew can do 3D briefing presentations and look at 360 degree holographic star charts and stuff.
I found a crew detailing for a destroyer and then I tried to adapt certain positions for use aboard a starship, and changing designations in the process. Some positions don't carry over so I basically overlooked those. Even taking into account advanced technology and possible use of robots for ceratin tasks there still could be things that need to be done by people. And, of course, you need redundancy in the event of personnel shortages or loss. Services was my way of addressing the need to keep the ship clean as well as minor repairs that wouldn't need the involvement of the engineering staff. Stores & Cargo deals with ship's supplies as well as handling whatever temporary cargo the ship might transport. Even with advanced technology I think there could still be a need for personnel who can program, service and repair computer systems. In the TOS episode "Operation: Annihilate" there is reference to fifteen science labs aboard the Enterprise. I wanted to expand on that idea and reflect it in the crew complement by having several scientists aboard each of which would specialize in at least one or more fields to cover as many disciplines as possible. Damage Control parties were referenced on TOS so again I thought that should be reflected in the crew complement.
Here we are with the transporter room. I've put two transporter rooms on Deck 3, one each on the port and starboard sides. I'm thinking two other standard transporter rooms will be put on Deck 6 near Sickbay. I chose Deck 3 to have transporter room access closer to the Bridge. The rest of Deck 3 I'm thinking as primarily science labs and possibly the Science Officer's office as well. In the bottom image you can make out how this is fiting together.