Obreth class Starship Armament?

[James Wright]

Can anyone tell me if the Obreth class starship had phasers & photon torpedoes?
I'm thinking since this class of starship is a science-survey vessel they don't carry any heavy armament!
Thanks for the help.

JDW

 

[Dayton3]

Can anyone tell me if the Obreth class starship had phasers & photon torpedoes?
I'm thinking since this class of starship is a science-survey vessel they don't carry any heavy armament!
Thanks for the help.

JDW

Some versions must have heavy weapons.

Given that one (or a similiar ship) is destroyed at Wolf-359 by the Borg.

It explodes outside of the window of Sisko's quarters while he his trying to rescue Jake and Jennifer.

 

[Alpha Romeo]

Can anyone tell me if the Obreth class starship had phasers & photon torpedoes?
I'm thinking since this class of starship is a science-survey vessel they don't carry any heavy armament!
Thanks for the help.

JDW

Some versions must have heavy weapons.

Given that one (or a similiar ship) is destroyed at Wolf-359 by the Borg.

It explodes outside of the window of Sisko's quarters while he his trying to rescue Jake and Jennifer.

Arer you sure that was an Oberth class ship?

 

[jolau]

The Oberth Class starship in Starfleet Academy, Klingon Academy, and Star Trek: Legacy has two phaser banks and a torpedo launcher. However, I think a torpedo launcher should be standard on all Federation ships since that is also how probes are launched.

 

[Unicron]

Yes, the Oberth class model at W359 is visible in "Emissary" when Sisko is trying to rescue Jennifer. The Encyclopedia identifies this vessel as the USS Bonestell NCC-31600.

Pic from Memory Alpha
Pic from TrekCore

To answer the original question, I do think the Oberth class has a small armament. It might have both phasers and torpedoes, or may only have phasers as some variants of the Oberth (like Jackill's Fisher class tug) do.

 

[Augustus]

Just thinking how awful it could be to get assigned to a little pansy ship like the Oberth, when there were big and bad Constitution's or Excelsior or Galaxy, etc...
I don't know, just seems like in cases of battle or extreme peril, you just got jipped because of the kind of ship you have...

 

[Fedaykin]

Just thinking how awful it could be to get assigned to a little pansy ship like the Oberth, when there were big and bad Constitution's or Excelsior or Galaxy, etc...
I don't know, just seems like in cases of battle or extreme peril, you just got jipped because of the kind of ship you have...

Especially since the Grissom was designed purely to be a wussy ship with a wussy captain when compared to Kirk and the Enterprise. The thing had a pink captain's chair.

 

[asdf1]

Awww, you guys are so mean, i always liked the Oberth Class, it's one of the most important classes in the fleet.

 

[James Wright]

Does anybody know if the filming model of the Obreth class starship has phaser turrets? I've seen a dozen pictures of this particular ship and can't see any ship mounted phasers.
Thanks for the help!

JDW

 

[Tigger]

Does anybody know if the filming model of the Obreth class starship has phaser turrets?

Sure doesn't look like it - even single ball mounts.

But I have to believe it has at least some basic weapons.

 

[Augustus]

Awww, you guys are so mean, i always liked the Oberth Class, it's one of the most important classes in the fleet.

I understand but when starfleet has a battle and there is a Reliant class, a Defiant class and an Oberth Class ship... Which ship is going to get blown up immediately?

 

[Dayton3]

There have been fan publications suggesting that the upper saucer and engines of the Oberth class are in fact modular and that other ship classes can be built by substitution specialized underslung secondary hulls.

For example, one fan design was of a gunboat type of Oberth variant with a torpedo launching pod being substituted for the Oberth secondary hull.

I kind of assumed that might've been the type of ship destroyed at Wolf-359.

 

[Unicron]

I think that variant is the Jester class corvette, IIRC. The Bonestell is definitely a standard Oberth, as you can see the tail of the science pod in the TrekCore shot above. But in terms of the Oberth design family, I do think that sort of modularity is the best approach. It's far more practical for kitbashing purposes than the majority of Fed designs.

 

[Timo]

One would think that the Oberth is very modular to begin with, even without swapping the lower hull or pod or whatever. Regular changing of all the major sensor elements seems the only way the design could remain valid in the science role for a century.

We could for example assume that the slightly inset ring atop the saucer, around the bridge, features sensor modules covered by suitably radiation-transparent panels. We could then assume that any one (or two or three) of the modules can be replaced by a phaser turret, and a couple of others with the required targeting hardware, in case Starfleet feels that this particular ship is going to face the risk of combat. The ship probably wouldn't have enough power (or enough capacity in the power transfer systems) to fire a great many of the modular phasers, though. It would be a bit similar to how mercantile ships are armed in wartime: only the lightest guns can be installed without buckling the deck plates. However, while a merchant ship today could theoretically ship dozens upon dozens of light AA guns, which each have their own "power source"/ammo, an Oberth wouldn't similarly benefit from filling all her berths with Type 4 phasers.

Torpedoes would be much more difficult to quickly install or retrofit to the design, I'd think - the equipment appears to be very bulky. I actually assume that most Oberths don't have the capacity to launch either torpedoes or probes, as there is no suitable forward opening in the model, nor is there any sign that a ship of that class would have fired either type of ordnance during the course of the shows and movies.

To be sure, there is the motion control rig hole at the aft end of the lower pod. Perhaps that one is an aft-facing launcher? Would be nice, really, as an Oberth in battle would usually be flying away from said battle as fast as she could...

Generally, I'd think there would be plenty of roles in Starfleet for completely unarmed ships, too. Even when fighting the Borg, an unarmed science ship might do her part, using superior sensors to try and defeat the Borg advantages and second-guess their adaptation routines, then relay the intelligence gained to the armed combat vessels.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[MarianLH]

Can anyone tell me if the Obreth class starship had phasers & photon torpedoes?
I'm thinking since this class of starship is a science-survey vessel they don't carry any heavy armament!

In Star Trek III, Kirk says "will she join us or fire on us", referring to Grissom, so it must have had at least one weapon of some kind.

Generally, I'd think there would be plenty of roles in Starfleet for completely unarmed ships, too. Even when fighting the Borg, an unarmed science ship might do her part, using superior sensors to try and defeat the Borg advantages and second-guess their adaptation routines, then relay the intelligence gained to the armed combat vessels.

That's a good idea. Scouts are used just that way in Star Fleet Battles.

Just thinking how awful it could be to get assigned to a little pansy ship like the Oberth, when there were big and bad Constitution's or Excelsior or Galaxy, etc...

Starfleet needs someplace to dump the J. T. Estebans of the service. And those many dumb and/or obnoxious commodores and admirals had to get their start somewhere.


Marian

 

[Timo]

One would think that people assigned to Oberths would learn a lot about survival. That is, if they lived through it. You'd get real hardass Admirals that way...

Although the Oberths are the standard damsels in distress in TNG, it is actually very seldom that we would hear of them being in trouble all alone in deep, unexplored space - and almost never in trouble with hostile aliens. Generally, they manage to find trouble even in relatively calm waters, areas where Starfleet could quite plausibly send small and defenseless vessels. And where large and well-armed vessels would be wasting their capabilities, really.

AFAIK, the only time (after ST3 and apart from Wolf 359) when an Oberth operates in an area of military risk is "Hero Worship" where the Breen are at first suspected of having attacked the ship. And there's some confusion as to whether she was there by Starfleet assignment or not, what with the rare non-NCC registry. Generally, these little tubs wouldn't be much better off against the dangers they face even if heavily armed.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[James Wright]

What capabilities do Obreth class survey-science vessels have compared with the larger classes of starships?
In STII why was Reliant looking for a planet to test the Genesis device instead of an Obreth class vessel, what is the difference between an explorer class ship and a survey ship? Seems to me both classes do the same missions!
Thanks!

JDW

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I understand that the Bonestell at Wolf 359 was a clever use of two models: the actual Grissom filming model from STIII et. al., and the damaged SS Vico model from "Hero Worship". The latter model had the same destroyed front sections as seen on the Vico from the screencaps.

http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/oberth-size.htm

As for what the ship can ACTUALLY do, the Grissom was sent into an area that wasn't too far away from the bulk of the Federation, versus the Reliant on an open-ended mission to discover a suitable lifeless planet. The latter involved more actual exploration versus staying in orbit for an extended period of focussed survey, so.

Mark

 

[Tigger]

In STII why was Reliant looking for a planet to test the Genesis device instead of an Obreth class vessel?

Well Khan couldn't have put up much of a fight with an Oberth...

What is the difference between an explorer class ship and a survey ship? Seems to me both classes do the same missions!

I would imagine a Survey ship is designed to do just that - perform surveys of large areas of space. They then send that data back to Star Fleet which reviews it and identifies areas that deserve exploration - at which point an Explorer would be sent to perform that more detailed mission.

So a survey ship would be small and fast with very good long-range sensors designed to quickly review large volumes of space. If it scanned our solar system, it would identify that there were eight major planets, of which one had a Class M environment and showed signs of not just life (based on spectra) but also advanced life (based on EM radiation like radio and TV). But it would not be able to know our planet as well as our own reconnaissance satellites do since it would likely be scanning us from light-years away.

So Star Fleet would send in the Explorer which would perform a full-boat analysis of Earth and it's civilization.

 

[Unicron]

I understand that the Bonestell at Wolf 359 was a clever use of two models: the actual Grissom filming model from STIII et. al., and the damaged SS Vico model from "Hero Worship". The latter model had the same destroyed front sections as seen on the Vico from the screencaps.

http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/oberth-size.htm

Mark

But are both models visible? I'm not aware of the Bonestell being represented outside of the window shot, which is presumably the Grissom model and EAS states that it's seen being broken into two pieces. The Vico model had damage on both sections of the ship, but the hull is largely intact.