Why do Admirals always use Excelsior Class ships?

[The Wormhole]

Yeah, it is kind of silly the Excelsior class is so omnipresent yet the newer, more advanced Ambassador class, which must have been the pride of Starfleet at some point if one of the ships was an Enterprise, is hardly ever seen. Yes, I am aware of the various real world reasons for the Ambassador being so sparse like the model not existing until the third season and was eventually damaged beyond repair. And ultimately when they switched to CG they chose to go with continuing to show endless Excelsiors and Mirandas for familiarity sake while the ships from First Contact were the go to for new ships. But I like the Ambassador class and would have liked to have seen more of it.

Bonus points if the used Probert's original design.
#wentthere

 

[Dukhat]

Yeah, it is kind of silly the Excelsior class is so omnipresent yet the newer, more advanced Ambassador class, which must have been the pride of Starfleet at some point if one of the ships was an Enterprise, is hardly ever seen. Yes, I am aware of the various real world reasons for the Ambassador being so sparse like the model not existing until the third season and was eventually damaged beyond repair. And ultimately when they switched to CG they chose to go with continuing to show endless Excelsiors and Mirandas for familiarity sake while the ships from First Contact were the go to for new ships. But I like the Ambassador class and would have liked to have seen more of it.

Yes, the nacelle pylon on one of the engines broke, and the model was put into storage, never to be seen again until they sold it at Christie's/Sotheby's/whatever.

And the reason why we saw so many Excelsiors and Mirandas in the CGI fleets was because the Jein Excelsior and the original Reliant model were still available to be scanned. From what I understand, it's easier to scan in a physical model into CGI than it is to just create a new CGI design from scratch.

Bonus points if the used Probert's original design.
#wentthere

I would like to see that ship too, but not as the Ambassador class. The Sternbach/Jein model is just too ingrained now.

 

[The Wormhole]

I would like to see that ship too, but not as the Ambassador class. The Sternbach/Jein model is just too ingrained now.

I don't know. When they used it in the Ships of the Line calendar a few years back, it was awesome.

 

[Dukhat]

I don't know. When they used it in the Ships of the Line calendar a few years back, it was awesome.

I wasn't negating that. Just saying that the Sternbach design is the canon design for the Ambassador class.

 

[Sgt_G]

The Excelsior-class probably had the smoothest ride, kind of like the Cadillac of starships.

 

[Lyon_Wonder]

The Bellerophon.

At least in "Inter Arma..." it was. True, we don't know what ship Ross used in WYLB. But if other Admirals like using Excelsior-class ships...maybe Ross just likes Intrepids?

The Bellerophon was shown several years after TNG in S7 of DS9, and with Janeway promoted to Admiral in Nemesis we at least know a couple of admirals who prefer Intrepids. Not to mention Excelsiors such as Jellico's ship the Cairo (DS9 S6 "In the Pale Moonlight) were destroyed during the war with the Dominion and Excelsior class attrition would have been replaced by Intrepids and other newer classes. My guess is that after the end of the Dominion war starfleet has fewer Excesliors in service with new Intrepid and Sovereign class ships taking up the slack.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The Excelsior-class probably had the smoothest ride, kind of like the Cadillac of starships.

Indeed, the Excelsior class is probably one of the most proven and reliable designs in Starfleet history.

 

[thribs]

Because it was one of a few models available at the time. They were too cheap to make more ships which is why you always saw them in TNG. It wasn't until the CGI era that they became more adventurous with the ships.

 

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

The Excelsior-class probably had the smoothest ride, kind of like the Cadillac of starships.

*unless you're a coffee cup.

 

[Longinus]

I don't think Admirals use Excelsiors because they're particularly amazing ships*, but because they're readily available. Better ships are doing more important stuff. Also, I don't think Admirals really have their own ships, they just commandeer whichever ship happens to be around when they need one.

(*I mean it is a successful design, that's why there are still plenty of them around in TNG era and they're the backbone of the fleet. But at that point they're old and there are plenty of better ships.)

 

[Jedman67]

Yes, the nacelle pylon on one of the engines broke, and the model was put into storage, never to be seen again until they sold it at Christie's/Sotheby's/whatever.

And the reason why we saw so many Excelsiors and Mirandas in the CGI fleets was because the Jein Excelsior and the original Reliant model were still available to be scanned. From what I understand, it's easier to scan in a physical model into CGI than it is to just create a new CGI design from scratch.

Probably in the early days of CGI that was the case but its not been that way in a long time.

I don't think Admirals use Excelsiors because they're particularly amazing ships*, but because they're readily available. Better ships are doing more important stuff. Also, I don't think Admirals really have their own ships, they just commandeer whichever ship happens to be around when they need one.

In theory, an admiral can get any ship his or her rank entitled them to. In practice, they can only get any ship that has sufficient stock footage available and/or sets available that don't look like the hero ship sets.

 

[Dukhat]

Probably in the early days of CGI that was the case but its not been that way in a long time.

Oh, I'm sure you're correct. I just remember that at the time, that was the reason why we saw Excelsiors and Mirandas in the DS9 CGI fleet scenes. As DSC has shown, that's not the case anymore.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Yes, the nacelle pylon on one of the engines broke, and the model was put into storage, never to be seen again

And it never occurred to them to...FIX the damn thing?

 

[Eman1986]

The Excelsior-class probably had the smoothest ride, kind of like the Cadillac of starships.

The bass on that thing must be God tier. I just imagine seeing one with some riding spinners on the nacelles and a bass going.

What does God want with a starship? Simple really, he thought the A was gonna be an Excelsior class and wanted to cruise sector space. That's a sexy ship.

 

[Longinus]

And it never occurred to them to...FIX the damn thing?

It's kinda annoying. They already had the model and it would have been perfect for adding some diversity to the fleet. Fixing it could have not been that expensive. Now there is a bizarre situation that we pretty much directly jump from Excelsiors to Galaxys and Nebulas (those hideous Nebulas!). There is like this weird 70ish-year gap when there seems to be no new classes entering the service in meaningful numbers.

 

[Leviathan]

That class of Starship allowed them to walk with a Swagger Stick, thus enabling larger egos.

 

[Tenacity]

Admiral's ships likely don't engage in exploration, or hauling of cargo.

Stripped of these, the ship would have lots of room for the admiral's headquarters, operations center, meeting rooms, staff offices and living quarters.

 

[Timo]

On the issue of the Bellerophon, Ross never does anything that would indicate the ship is "his". That is, he is quite unlikely to be the CO flying the ship around, but furthermore he stops short of doing anything indicative of him being in charge of anything at all. He's just one of the many passengers, one of the many partygoers in the get-together. Might be just one of the many flag-ranking passengers, too, as the episode also fails to suggest that only one Admiral went to Romulus.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Longinus]

Well yeah, I think that the whole idea that Admirals have their own dedicated ships is complete bogus. It is kinda important motivation for not accepting a promotion to the flag rank that they don't!

 

[XCV330]

Well yeah, I think that the whole idea that Admirals have their own dedicated ships is complete bogus. It is kinda important motivation for not accepting a promotion to the flag rank that they don't!

Good point. With many admirals, it's never shown what ship they are on when they visit the Hero ship.
Cornwell visited Discovery twice on her own where her ship was not displayed. Did she even have one or was it simply some other ship taking her from point A to B?