For the sake of a story that I'm writing, I was wondering whether the dry dock would have any facilities on it. Does it have a control room, quarters, etc?
TMP/TWOK Dry Dock Question
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The TMP drydock seems to have a small habitable pod connected to the gangway to the ship. Also, the top had a small shuttlebay visible with a couple travel pods in it. I'd imagine the top would be where most of the habitable space would be. It's an open question how anyone would get from there to the gangway.
I think at best dry docks are meant to be like the scaffolding used to construct skyscrapers. There are temporary facilities (an office, toilets, break area, etc.) there for the yard workers, but no one has permanent quarters there.
At 5 P.M., everybody goes home.
At 5 P.M., everybody goes home.
GodThingFormerly
A Different Kind of Asshole
Andrew Probert sketched precisely such a "clip-on" habitat module - BTW, the control center is visible in this screencap - for his ST:TMP orbital drydock design, but I have absolutely no idea if the additional miniatures were ever actually fabricated by Magicam:
TGT
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It doesn't sound particularly realistic to me that these things would have a "crew" at all. A janitor or two, perhaps - but the rest of the personnel would be "crew" only in the sense of construction crews on construction sites. They wouldn't live on the dock structures when they could just as easily commute to work from Earth or from far more comfortable space homes on nearby orbits.
That is, unless the dock structures are intended to be mobile or at least towable, and often see frontline use. Some fan and RPG materials postulate this sort of technology, and it would indeed make some sense. But I'd still expect there to be a separate propelled or towed dock rig and a separate barracks ship for the crew.
The way Probert designed the TMP dock, it doesn't look as if it would be difficult to fold it up, pack it aboard a transport, and haul it elsewhere. But it doesn't look as if this were a primary intended functionality of the design, either. Just like C.E.Evans sez, it looks more like cheap scaffolding, devoid of superfluous functions.
Timo Saloniemi
That is, unless the dock structures are intended to be mobile or at least towable, and often see frontline use. Some fan and RPG materials postulate this sort of technology, and it would indeed make some sense. But I'd still expect there to be a separate propelled or towed dock rig and a separate barracks ship for the crew.
The way Probert designed the TMP dock, it doesn't look as if it would be difficult to fold it up, pack it aboard a transport, and haul it elsewhere. But it doesn't look as if this were a primary intended functionality of the design, either. Just like C.E.Evans sez, it looks more like cheap scaffolding, devoid of superfluous functions.
Timo Saloniemi
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Yeah, I'm not really sure if the crew description in Jackill's work would be what you describe, Timo. Perhaps he can clarify that for us. But I agree with you that they would likely be engineers. There is also another drydock design that is warp capable, and can move to different locations.
I don't know. It definitely has habitat structures across the top and the small area near the gangway. If this is a standard by-the-book dry dock structure, it is used for a multitude of tasks from maintenance and repair, total refit, or even construction from the keel up. (keel or whatever they call it in their day.)
They would need engineers on the spot to oversee all of these functions and even more so when they are starting from scratch or stripping bare an existing design. They would need storage and machine shops and life services of the standard nature. We know starships have all these features, but at any one time during its phase in dry dock, these might not be available. At least not until the ship is self sufficient, and even then it might need supplemental assistance. I could even see a "crew" as such, especially of young people starting out new on their own maybe. They could be working their duty shift as expected and then hanging out on the station during their off hours, and saving up their "transporter credits" for use on the weekends. Admiral Kirk might be able to zippity-doo_da his way up to any orbital facility at whim, but does everyone have this freedom? Who knows? I mean their may be other orbital facilities for happy condo living for those with families and stuff, but we didn't see nearly enough evidence of that in the films, at least not until Spacedock Mushroom City in TSFS. Either way, it wouldn't be too unlike living on base for military personnel.
Their would definitely need to be a crew for maintenance of the station itself, as Timo put it; janitors and the like. The station would be an ever fluctuating form of mass as new ship elements and waste materials would be brought on and taken away. A crew may need to see to the orbital demands this might entail. I don't know. I just think I can see a crew on one of these stations. I kind of like the idea of a blue collar Starfleet making things run smooth. Anyway, that's my take on it.
Now if the model makers did in fact fail to build a connection between the gangway and the upper areas, I think they made a true flub. I'd have to study my reference materials more, but I don't think that they did.
They would need engineers on the spot to oversee all of these functions and even more so when they are starting from scratch or stripping bare an existing design. They would need storage and machine shops and life services of the standard nature. We know starships have all these features, but at any one time during its phase in dry dock, these might not be available. At least not until the ship is self sufficient, and even then it might need supplemental assistance. I could even see a "crew" as such, especially of young people starting out new on their own maybe. They could be working their duty shift as expected and then hanging out on the station during their off hours, and saving up their "transporter credits" for use on the weekends. Admiral Kirk might be able to zippity-doo_da his way up to any orbital facility at whim, but does everyone have this freedom? Who knows? I mean their may be other orbital facilities for happy condo living for those with families and stuff, but we didn't see nearly enough evidence of that in the films, at least not until Spacedock Mushroom City in TSFS. Either way, it wouldn't be too unlike living on base for military personnel.
Their would definitely need to be a crew for maintenance of the station itself, as Timo put it; janitors and the like. The station would be an ever fluctuating form of mass as new ship elements and waste materials would be brought on and taken away. A crew may need to see to the orbital demands this might entail. I don't know. I just think I can see a crew on one of these stations. I kind of like the idea of a blue collar Starfleet making things run smooth. Anyway, that's my take on it.
Now if the model makers did in fact fail to build a connection between the gangway and the upper areas, I think they made a true flub. I'd have to study my reference materials more, but I don't think that they did.
Awesome, thanks guys.
Andrew Probert sketched precisely such a "clip-on" habitat module - BTW, the control center is visible in this screencap - for his ST:TMP orbital drydock design, but I have absolutely no idea if the additional miniatures were ever actually fabricated by Magicam:
TGT
Please sir, may I have some more?
Ok.. next question then.. what are the actual functions of a structure like the TMP drydock? What does it provide that a starship hull does not have?
I can think of a few things, of course. First, it's quite clearly used to suspend machinery from. I'm not sure we actually got to see anything more than docking equipment and lamps, but I can imagine all sorts of arms, tractor beams and even hull plates and large components connected to the drydock. A second function I could think of would be a low-level deflector field to protect the starship under construction from orbital debris.
And of course, drydocks with the added habitat sections as seen in the Probert sketch provide facilities for storing Workbees (and their pilots). But I guess they don't particularly need those facilities in Earth orbit, where there are lots of better equipped stations floating around.
I can think of a few things, of course. First, it's quite clearly used to suspend machinery from. I'm not sure we actually got to see anything more than docking equipment and lamps, but I can imagine all sorts of arms, tractor beams and even hull plates and large components connected to the drydock. A second function I could think of would be a low-level deflector field to protect the starship under construction from orbital debris.
And of course, drydocks with the added habitat sections as seen in the Probert sketch provide facilities for storing Workbees (and their pilots). But I guess they don't particularly need those facilities in Earth orbit, where there are lots of better equipped stations floating around.
...Indeed, I'd think the box docks would be better qualified at large scale installation and assembly jobs than the Spacedock thing. More space to move components around, for one thing. And we've never seen anything inside Spacedock that would indicate that ships are being built or repaired within. Instead, those austere interiors seem to be used only for standard resupply and crew rotation, stuff that can be achieved by connecting the ship to a couple of hoses, with nary a crane or workbee in evidence.
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
Hmm, if I remember correctly, Uhura clearly reports "Yard command signals 'clear', Sir", so that is an indication that the construction yard does have some kind of crew, at least during launch phase.
The construction yard could contain multiple dry docks like the one that housed Enterprise. Yard command could have been a ground-based facility in San Francisco or perhaps even from Spacedock One located a few hundred miles offscreen.
But I think we did see someone in a spacesuit waving at Enterprise as she departed in TMP...either he's a yard worker wishing the ship godspeed or a 23rd-Century air traffic controller, one or the other...
Yeah, I think that was the godspeed dockworker. He didn't have those little glowy cones.
Or he might have been screaming that he forgot to unplug the secondary hull's port lateral plasma feed and was afraid the enterprise was going to drag the station away with it. But they lucked out. The cord snapped (as it was designed to) and Enterprise sped away dragging the hose. It's no wonder they fell into a worm hole... they forgot to put the gas cap back on!
Or he might have been screaming that he forgot to unplug the secondary hull's port lateral plasma feed and was afraid the enterprise was going to drag the station away with it. But they lucked out. The cord snapped (as it was designed to) and Enterprise sped away dragging the hose. It's no wonder they fell into a worm hole... they forgot to put the gas cap back on!
To quote Homer Simpson:
"D'oh!"
"D'oh!"
Speaking of the large starbase structure with the enclosed docking facility, I wonder if it has the capability to pressurize sections of the docking bay to make it easier for workers to construct/repair ships? Obviously there's no airlock in the main chamber, as we've seen from the movies and a few scenes in TNG. I know we're talking about a massive area to pressurize, but with replication technology, it should be possible.
I've always been fond of the idea that the entire interior was constantly pressurized by the use of force fields. It really is the ONLY reason for complete enclosure and doors of any kind, unless you favor the Starfleet Intelligence paranoia mentality. But if you can build or refit an entire ship with a bare bones dry dock, an enclosed space station is simple a convenient luxury in my opinion. This method would have been a no brainer for the Federation Starfleet of TNG times as they definitely had the tech. Might have been a little less simple in TOS film era, but The Motion Picture established that fairly large areas could be contained with force fields as evidenced by the Enterprise's open shuttle bay near the film's beginning. Although I seem to remember reading somewhere (maybe fan tech spec) that it only held matter in, and shuttles and the like could enter from outside, but couldn't exit without lowering the field, thus a need to depressurize the bay.
The massive Earth Spacedock wasn't witnessed for a few years later (4 + years in reality and considerably longer within the fictional realm.) Although I'm sure they were utilized solely for a sense of scale, the spotlights and their beams in the Spacedock interior help indicate a substantial atmosphere within the docking area. Of course space sound effects and beamy spotlights don't happen in the vaccum of space, but we have them in our Sci-Fi anyway, so take that with a grain of salt.
The massive Earth Spacedock wasn't witnessed for a few years later (4 + years in reality and considerably longer within the fictional realm.) Although I'm sure they were utilized solely for a sense of scale, the spotlights and their beams in the Spacedock interior help indicate a substantial atmosphere within the docking area. Of course space sound effects and beamy spotlights don't happen in the vaccum of space, but we have them in our Sci-Fi anyway, so take that with a grain of salt.
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