Are the other Galaxy-class starships really that powerful and prestigious?

[USS Belmont]

"Let's see what this Galaxy-class starship can do!"
Captain Jean-Luc Picard

In various series, they keep mentioning how powerful the Galaxy-class is. However, the other named Galaxy-class ships really didn't do a lot for me. The best appears to be the Yamato, where she successfully evaded the Romulan by play "hide and seek" across multiple starsystems. The Odyssey got blown to bits pretty quickly and handily and the Challenger's tracker beam was also pretty easy to beat. The Venture just shows up after a fight. So are the other Galaxy-class starships really that powerful?

In terms of prestige, is serving onboard a Galaxy-class really that great of an assignment given they don't really do that great aside from being "big"? Are the other Galaxy-class starship just so-so?

 

[The Old Mixer]

I imagine that they all have roughly equal capabilities as ships...the instances of non-hero Galaxies getting blown up real good would be examples of "Worf Syndrome"...show how tough your bad guy is by having him beat up your tough guy...but when the tough guy gets beat up too much, he starts looking not so tough.

For an example that handily predates TNG, see other "00" agents in the James Bond films.

 

[jgalley]

All Galaxy-Class ships are designed the same. Ones that get built later down the line may have a few changes but typically, if beneficial, those are "refit" into existing ones periodically anyway.

The issue is just that. "Hero Ship" It wasn't much different in TOS with the consts.

Not to mention as far as the Odyssey goes, the writer (I believe it was) wanted it to be the Enterprise that got blown up to show how "dangerous" the Jem'Hadar were (or some such reason) and of course was told no way.

 

[Galactic Alignment]

Am I remembering things incorrectly, or didn't they plan on adding a Galaxy class ship to DS9 (the series and starbase) at one point before the show's creative team decided on the Defiant?

 

[USS Belmont]

Yeah, while "Contagion" had a pretty bad ending, it did showcased a pretty competent captain (Varley) and a pretty competent Galaxy-class starship. They did find Iconia first! Keogh was a bit of a Picard-lite and expects the Dominion to have "sharper teeth" but his ship did not get any chance to shine. I wished the Odyssey had shown up earlier in season 2 to be the cavalry of our DS9 heroes or something to give the ship and crew (and its ultimate loss) some more weight. The Venture and Challenger could have been any other class and there wouldn't be any difference.

 

[The Wormhole]

Not to mention as far as the Odyssey goes, the writer (I believe it was) wanted it to be the Enterprise that got blown up to show how "dangerous" the Jem'Hadar were (or some such reason) and of course was told no way.

That's not the case at all. They just insisted on using a Galaxy class ship because it was the same as the Enterprise D, they figured a good way to show how much of a threat the Dominion were was to destroy what fandom recognizes as Starfleet's powerhouse. Ira Behr or someone did say in an interview something along the lines of "Even if we had the Enterprise there they'd still meet the same fate."

It sounds like you're confusing this with the fact that early drafts of First Contact's script did feature the Defiant being destroyed. When Ira Behr learned of this he said "I'm not acknowledging that in the show." It was then changed to what we got in the movie, the Defiant gets heavily damaged, but is salvageable.

Am I remembering things incorrectly, or didn't they plan on adding a Galaxy class ship to DS9 (the series and starbase) at one point before the show's creative team decided on the Defiant?

No, the plan was always to make the Defiant a smaller ship, a sort of "space submarine."

 

[USS Belmont]

Am I remembering things incorrectly, or didn't they plan on adding a Galaxy class ship to DS9 (the series and starbase) at one point before the show's creative team decided on the Defiant?

I only have heard that they planned to have Capt. Sanders and the USS Malinche back as recurring characters.

 

[urbandefault]

It's not the ship, it's the captain and crew.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Only the Enterprise was regarded as being remotely special, due to her mainly being the Federation flagship. Otherwise, a posting aboard a Galaxy-class starship might be highly sought after mostly because they likely are the most luxurious ships in the fleet, with more onboard amenities than most, including lodgings for family members for some.

 

[USS Belmont]

It's not the ship, it's the captain and crew.

While I agree 100%, the reputation goes towards the class, not the individual ships. Admiral Patterson did say Voyager is not as "big and powerful" as a Galaxy-class but it is "quick and smart". I also understand the audience wouldn't get it if he said some random ship name instead of Galaxy-class. At the same time, I guess the writers are using the same "image projects power" approach of Nimitz-class carriers. When you see a Nimitz-class carrier, you know the might of the US Navy is here...

 

[Arpy]

Uh, it's fiction people. The ships meets the needs of the story -- not the other way around. It wouldn't matter if it were a Borg Tactical Unicomplex the size of a nebula with its own hyperdrive and nova-bombs. If the writer needs it to show up just after a fight's over, or to be beaten by a Federation travel pod, or by a Windows '96 computer virus, it's toast.

The Galaxy Class starship is the second most powerful starship in the Federation fleet. It's luxurious because it can more than afford to be. The top fully-dedicated warships of the Klingon and Romulan empires didn't alter that. If Starfleet wanted to make it outright a warship, it'd have enough room for dozens of additional Sovereign Class phasers and torpedoes and anything else, and troops to boot. Look at the pounding the Excelsior Class Lakota gave the Defiant.

Your issue should be with that we weren't graced with more footage of it in action, not questioning that it didn't do splendidly in it, as the Enterprise showed it could. The biggest shocker in Galaxy history happened when the Odyssey withstood an unknown alien onslaught by three Dominion ships for over 10 minutes without shields and then was only destroyed by a suicide run. The second biggest shocker, the Yamato, was achieved by an ancient super-civilization that made Starfleet akin to cavemen (paraphrasing Captain Varley's words) for how further advanced it was - no dishonor there either.

 

[The Wormhole]

more onboard amenities than most, including lodgings for family members for some.

Sisko has his family with him on the Saratoga, and we several other civilians and even children in the corridors and escape pod.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I imagine that they all have roughly equal capabilities as ships...the instances of non-hero Galaxies getting blown up real good would be examples of "Worf Syndrome"...show how tough your bad guy is by having him beat up your tough guy...but when the tough guy gets beat up too much, he starts looking not so tough.

For an example that handily predates TNG, see other "00" agents in the James Bond films.

Or other Connies in TOS.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Sisko has his family with him on the Saratoga, and we several other civilians and even children in the corridors and escape pod.

Sadly their quarters took up the space that previously was used for weapons and defensive systems.

 

[Lance]

In various series, they keep mentioning how powerful the Galaxy-class is. However, the other named Galaxy-class ships really didn't do a lot for me. The best appears to be the Yamato, where she successfully evaded the Romulan by play "hide and seek" across multiple starsystems. The Odyssey got blown to bits pretty quickly and handily and the Challenger's tracker beam was also pretty easy to beat. The Venture just shows up after a fight. So are the other Galaxy-class starships really that powerful?

In terms of prestige, is serving onboard a Galaxy-class really that great of an assignment given they don't really do that great aside from being "big"? Are the other Galaxy-class starship just so-so?

Heck, why stop at just the "other named" Galaxy-Class ships? Enterprise herself shows considerable flaws throughout the series. We see her being destroyed relatively easily on at least three occasions throughout the series ("Yesterday's Enterprise", "Cause and Effect", "Generations"). Indeed, in two of those, the destruction is caused by a coolant leak that can't even be combated by the main engineer. There seems to be no capacity for safeguards there, the Enterprise simply blows a gasket and falls out of the sky.

Maybe the Galaxy-Class in general have got fundamental design flaws. Enterprise herself is no exception, she may have only lasted as long as she did through the ingenuity of her crew.

 

[Arpy]

Sadly their quarters took up the space that previously was used for weapons and defensive systems.

Because that's all that's on a Starfleet ship, is weapons. And the two massive phaser turrets added to the Miranda model actually fire ionized cheese-wiz. Derrrrrrrp Given how poorly in battle Mirandas have fared over the years, why does Starlet produce them at all, I wonder. Why do the Klingons produce K't'ingas or BoP? Why do the Dominion bug ships? If a Borg tactical cube can't take care of Voyager, are the Borg really a threat at all, or are they part of the Federation News Service's propaganda agenda? No for reallllll though

 

[Nerys Myk]

Because that's all that's on a Starfleet ship, is weapons. And the two massive phaser turrets added to the Miranda model actually fire ionized cheese-wiz. Derrrrrrrp Given how poorly in battle Mirandas have fared over the years, why does Starlet produce them at all, I wonder. Why do the Klingons produce K't'ingas or BoP? Why do the Dominion bug ships? If a Borg tactical cube can't take care of Voyager, are the Borg really a threat at all, or are they part of the Federation News Service's propaganda agenda? No for reallllll though

I'm going with government contracts, bribes and kickbacks.

 

[Arpy]

Heck, why stop at just the "other named" Galaxy-Class ships? Enterprise herself shows considerable flaws throughout the series. We see her being destroyed relatively easily on at least three occasions throughout the series ("Yesterday's Enterprise", "Cause and Effect", "Generations"). Indeed, in two of those, the destruction is caused by a coolant leak that can't even be combated by the main engineer. There seems to be no capacity for safeguards there, the Enterprise simply blows a gasket and falls out of the sky.

Maybe the Galaxy-Class in general have got fundamental design flaws. Enterprise herself is no exception, she may have only lasted as long as she did through the ingenuity of her crew.

How many Constitution Class starships did TOS obliterate by series' end? The Constellation, the Defiant, the four the M-5 took out? Others? Isn't it fan lore that the Enterprise was the only one to return in tact at the coclusion of its 5-year mission?

And isn't the most damning evidence of all for the complete failure of the Constitution Class that it had to be completely refit to finish out its initial lifespan and then NOT continued or maintained into the 24th century like its contemporaries, including its rival K't'ingas on the other side? What a loser!!!

 

[Paradise City]

The Challenger was at a time when Galaxy class ships were pretty old hat. It was 2390 and interestingly didn't have the "additions" that the Enterprise did in All Good Things. .

 

[ItIsGreen]

Heck, why stop at just the "other named" Galaxy-Class ships? Enterprise herself shows considerable flaws throughout the series. We see her being destroyed relatively easily on at least three occasions throughout the series ("Yesterday's Enterprise", "Cause and Effect", "Generations"). Indeed, in two of those, the destruction is caused by a coolant leak that can't even be combated by the main engineer. There seems to be no capacity for safeguards there, the Enterprise simply blows a gasket and falls out of the sky.

Maybe the Galaxy-Class in general have got fundamental design flaws. Enterprise herself is no exception, she may have only lasted as long as she did through the ingenuity of her crew.

I love the idea that the 'most advanced' ship in the fleet, and the latest to bear the revered name of Enterprise, is a complete lemon, and that engineering crews are working double shifts around the clock just to keep the thing flying in a straight line. How many chief engineers did they get through before LaForge got lumbered with the job?
(And yes I know this got played up for laughs in TFF, but by that point the Connie was obsolete and destined for the scrapheap, and the Ent-A was possibly a rechristened older ship anyway).