What ships arent useful in the Trek universe?

[Yeffrey]

After reading the like/dislike threads on all the various Starfleet ships, it got me thinking... Which ones are just useless and/or poorly designed?

Id have to list the Oberth for poor design and for it being cannon fodder. A science vessel shouldnt be built in such a frail manner, when it has to explore and catalogue dangerous anomalies and whatnought.

Another is the Nebula class. Those things are basically the size of Galaxy class ships but they just rearrange the components and save themselves the materials used to build the neck. The Galaxy class is more steamlined and apart from the Nebula being a kitbash in the first place, the concept of it just doesnt work.

Whithin the realm of the Trek universe I think we can all agree (for the most part) that the title ships are useful and well thought out.


Ideas?

 

[Jono]

All Starfleet ships are pretty poorly designed. They have a bridge located in an obvious spot that begs to be fired at, though it seems to be a galactic thing with everyone putting their bridge modules out in the open. Most ships have their nacelles connected by rather slender arms that don't look that difficult to destroy.

The Nebula takes out the neck, which looks to be a soft spot in the design. The nacelles are also tighter in and less exposed.

The D-7 type designs with their long slender necks...once its shields are down you could snap it in half (much like the Nebulon-B frigate in SW).

Say what you will about Voyager the no neck design keeps the ship's profile to a minimum and I'm glad they continued that on with the Sovereign.

 

[Jamee999]

I find a rowing boat useless against the Dominion.

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

The Galaxy class is more steamlined and apart from the Nebula being a kitbash in the first place, the concept of it just doesnt work.

It works for me. It looks a lot better than the crappy Galaxy design. An improvement, if anything.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

All Starfleet ships are pretty poorly designed. They have a bridge located in an obvious spot that begs to be fired at, though it seems to be a galactic thing with everyone putting their bridge modules out in the open.

The bridge might as well be out there on top. It's not the job of the hull to protect it; that's what *shields* are for. Any attack strong enough to punch through a ship's shields would also do the same to the hull. So even if you put the bridge in the middle of the hull, it wouldn't make any difference, since if an enemy attack gets through the shields, it will also reach the bridge there.

 

[Deks]

All Starfleet ships are pretty poorly designed. They have a bridge located in an obvious spot that begs to be fired at, though it seems to be a galactic thing with everyone putting their bridge modules out in the open.

The bridge might as well be out there on top. It's not the job of the hull to protect it; that's what *shields* are for. Any attack strong enough to punch through a ship's shields would also do the same to the hull. So even if you put the bridge in the middle of the hull, it wouldn't make any difference, since if an enemy attack gets through the shields, it will also reach the bridge there.

Not really because the weapon would first have to cut through several decks of hull plating/structural integrity fields in order to reach the bridge which is located deep inside the hull ... and it would take some time in order for that to happen.
The Borg cutting beam in BOBW took it's time before it was able to reach deep inside a ship, and it's power output is probably a lot higher in comparison to other races ships.

So essentially speaking 1 shot is able to wipe out the bridge quite easily if located on deck 1 ... with sustained particle weapons or a well placed torpedo, whereas deep inside the hull, it's not that simple/easy.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

Not really because the weapon would first have to cut through several decks of hull plating/structural integrity fields in order to reach the bridge which is located deep inside the hull ... and it would take some time in order for that to happen.
The Borg cutting beam in BOBW took it's time before it was able to reach deep inside a ship, and it's power output is probably a lot higher in comparison to other races ships.

So essentially speaking 1 shot is able to wipe out the bridge quite easily if located on deck 1 ... with sustained particle weapons or a well placed torpedo, whereas deep inside the hull, it's not that simple/easy.

The Borg cutting beam was a precision instrument designed to remove and not destroy, that's why it took its time. When they needed to simply waste a star ship, they just had at it and took it out in a second or two.

If your shields are down, you're toast, its a given.

 

[robjkay]

By the time of the Dominion war the Miranda & Excelsior Class were not very useful simply because they were so old, they reached the end of there lifespan.

 

[USS KG5]

Id have to list the Oberth for poor design and for it being cannon fodder. A science vessel shouldnt be built in such a frail manner, when it has to explore and catalogue dangerous anomalies and whatnought.

Cannon Fodder? Why build significant combat abilities into a little floating lab?? Bit of a waste of resources.

As for its frailty - we have seen them go down in circumstances their bigger brothers would survive - but thats because they are a cheaper utility ship, not built for exploration or for combat.

Judging by their longevity and the fact they seem to have built hundreds of them Starfleet clearly find the Oberth VERY useful.

Another is the Nebula class. Those things are basically the size of Galaxy class ships but they just rearrange the components and save themselves the materials used to build the neck. The Galaxy class is more steamlined and apart from the Nebula being a kitbash in the first place, the concept of it just doesnt work.

Why do you think it doesn't work - use Galaxy technology on a more compact and presumably cheaper platform with more utility?

They may have fifty odd Galaxies going around flying the flag, but they could have 300 odd Nebulas doing more routine work.

There is no evidence of their usefulness on-screen except for the fact we see them doing all sorts of jobs (front-line explorer, battleship, science vessel).

By the time of the Dominion war the Miranda & Excelsior Class were not very useful simply because they were so old, they reached the end of there lifespan.

They seem pretty damn useful on-screen - they form the backbone of the fleet.

Much of the talk in this thread is like saying a Destroyer is no use because it does not have the firepower of a Battleship.