How many shuttlecraft did the Enterprise have?
- Thread starter JonnyQuest037
- Start date
Out-of-universe, the number of shuttles the Enterprise carried was equivalent to the number that was necessary for a particular episode.
Citing a fact is not "snarkery".
The service bay holds three parked shuttlecraft with enough room to move them from the berths onto the elevator. 3 below plus 1 on the deck = 4. You might be able to cram one or two more shuttlecraft onto the flight deck in a pinch (such as if you were retreiving other craft besides the Enterprise's shuttlecraft).
I limited the size of the service bay to what I felt was a credible size. That said one could make the deck longer by push the forward wall further forward. But since I was able to accommodate the four shuttlecraft referenced in 'the Omega Glory" I felt I had accomplished my goal sufficiently.
Old or not, this is an interesting thread. For the record, the recent USS ENTERPRISE: OWNER'S WORKSHOP MANUAL (published in 2010) is vague on the number of shuttlecrafts on Kirk's ship, mentioning only a "small complement" of shuttlecrafts. Nor are any sub-level parking levels discussed, although I guess we have to assume they exist.
It should be noted that, besides its own shuttles, the Enterprise had to be prepared to house any visiting or captured shuttles that might end up aboard the ship.
(P.S. Regarding the whole issue of a hostile boarding party trying to force their way into Main Engineering . . . well, let's just say this figures into the plot of a novel I have coming out soon. And, yes, it seemed to me that breaking into Engineering would not be easily done.)
It should be noted that, besides its own shuttles, the Enterprise had to be prepared to house any visiting or captured shuttles that might end up aboard the ship.
(P.S. Regarding the whole issue of a hostile boarding party trying to force their way into Main Engineering . . . well, let's just say this figures into the plot of a novel I have coming out soon. And, yes, it seemed to me that breaking into Engineering would not be easily done.)
It's a 50 year old show. Any topic discussing TOS is a necro-thread of a prior discussion that probably extends back to when teletypes ruled the earth. I, personally, appreciated the anal-retentive engineering deconstruction from Warped9.
(I'd welcome a similar discussion of how many shuttles would fit inside a Nova-class, a ship that looks like it can't even fit one.)
(I'd welcome a similar discussion of how many shuttles would fit inside a Nova-class, a ship that looks like it can't even fit one.)
I think they came out that in this thread because I simply quoted the text and image together from my original thread rather than just copy the image and retype all that text. In the original thread the images aren't oversized. I think it's the quote boxes making it seem larger.
Especially considering there is only one door in or out according to "The Naked Time".
The fact her shuttles seemed to be individually numbered is a good clue, and that it followed her registry linking them to her and not just a general factory number.
1701-7 is clear enough she's the Enterprise's 7th support craft, whether they're all Class F shuttlecraft or not. Columbus is #3 IIRC so it seems they might be though.
8 seems a little high to have assembled entirely all the time. Maybe each ship has a short list of assigned names and numbers, but only 3-4 physical craft and several kits in the ventral storage bay. As mentioned above.
When fully assembled, they quickly spray the name and number to them. Galileo 2 was probably just another basic frame built and given the old name by Kirk's decision.
It does go a long way to explaining the pre-fab side wall design of the shuttles with so much empty space. Drive units take up the most room and mass then fuel, which can all be stored elsewhere.
A robotic machine shop could slap that together in an hour.
1701-7 is clear enough she's the Enterprise's 7th support craft, whether they're all Class F shuttlecraft or not. Columbus is #3 IIRC so it seems they might be though.
8 seems a little high to have assembled entirely all the time. Maybe each ship has a short list of assigned names and numbers, but only 3-4 physical craft and several kits in the ventral storage bay. As mentioned above.
When fully assembled, they quickly spray the name and number to them. Galileo 2 was probably just another basic frame built and given the old name by Kirk's decision.
It does go a long way to explaining the pre-fab side wall design of the shuttles with so much empty space. Drive units take up the most room and mass then fuel, which can all be stored elsewhere.
A robotic machine shop could slap that together in an hour.
That's impossible. All the quote function does is copy the text and embedded links from the quoted post.
I've been toying with this subject on-and-off since the early '70s. Several years ago I got more serious by drawing up my integrated plans for the Class F. Then this year I finally got around to building a 3D model based on my research and drawings. I was also helped by confering with Gary Kerr. Building the 3D model with interior allowed some very minor glitches in my drawings to reveal themselves so that I had to resize the exterior of the craft marginally. Originally I had the Class F shuttlecraft at just under 26.5 ft. (and at that size the main hull without nacelles or aft landing strut came out to almost exactly 24 ft.--a cute and unintended coincidence), but I had to resize so the craft came out 9 ins. longer to size out at just over 27 ft. in length. It was still workable.
As for the hangar facilities I was inspired to try my hand after following MGagen's excellent hangar deck 3D model.
For now I'm hoping that all the work Gary Kerr did for Polar Lights regarding an accurate 1/32 scale model of the Galileo shuttlecraft is realized in the release of the actually kit.
I've also fashioned more realistic versions of the TAS designs so that any one of them could fit into the Enterprise's flight deck, but only with all the standard shuttlecraft stored below in the service bay. A great appeal of the TAS designs is the idea that more than one type of shuttlecraft exist in the TOS universe for more specialized missions. That said the TAS designs are interesting, but as is they're not that well thought out (something I tried to cirrect to some extent when I made more realistic versions of them). But inspired by the idea of variants I designed a conjectural TOS era variant that could conceivably have been built as a full size mockup back in the day and it could easily be accommodated as one of the Enterprise's standard complement of auxiliary craft.
Well if you go to the original thread you see the images don't take as much room. I limit the size of the images I post and no one has ever complained partcularly the mods.
Regarding "The Enemy Within," btw, I've always rationalized that atmospheric conditions somehow precluded using the shuttles.
Plus, it's my understanding that the B-Plot about Sulu stuck down on the planet was added to Richard Matheson's original script against his wishes, which may also help explain why it's a bit problematic.
Plus, it's my understanding that the B-Plot about Sulu stuck down on the planet was added to Richard Matheson's original script against his wishes, which may also help explain why it's a bit problematic.
One area I didn't explore even though I had originally planned to was to have another section under the service bay where two or three small maintenance pods were to be stored. They would have exited and entered the bay through that red rectangukar outline seen underneath the Enterprise's fantail.
4 shuttlecraft + 3 service pods = 7 auxiliary craft.
4 shuttlecraft + 3 service pods = 7 auxiliary craft.
Pedantically citing "real world" in a thread where everyone: a) already knows that and b) understands that the discussion is theoretical comes across as being snarkish.
I'm sure you'll survive the "snarkish" detour. Everyone else seems to have.
Not really an assumption, since we see them for the TOS Connie (in diagram), and on the refit (direct observation).
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tmp2/tmphd0391.jpg
Especially considering there is only one door in or out according to "The Naked Time".
May be true for the Engineering seen in that ep (which I suspect is really the section for the Impulse engines). but definitely not true for Main Engineering (as seen in "The Doomsday Machine").
The Constellation might have s somewhat different layout from the Enterprise.
Gotta disagree. No harm in having a reality check now and then, just to keep things in perspective.
It's possible to discuss a show in terms of behind-the-scenes stuff and its internal logic at the same time. Just like you can admire a special effect in a movie and appreciate the technical artistry behind it at the same time that you're caught up in the story. "Ohmigod, they blew up the space station!"
IMHO.
Getting back on-topic: So, were the underground parking facilities every mentioned on TOS? Or was that something established later in TMP?
(My office is a mess and I can't immediately put my hands on my old, dog-eared copy of the original Technical Manual.)
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