Does any race use a star ship designed to function just like an Aircraft Carrier? Rather then the battleships they all seem to be?
Attackship carrier ships
- Thread starter ThunderAeroI
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No ship specifically designed to use smaller onboard craft as its main weaponry has ever been seen in Trek, no.
Which is probably because in Trek, firepower is more or directly related to size. IRW, aircraft carriers made sense in naval combat because a single aerial bomb had the same effect as a shell from a battleship's main gun, and a torpedo dropped from an aircraft was (almost) as powerful as one fired from a destroyer. In Trek, there is no known weapon that could be carried aboard a small fightercraft but would still pack as much punch as a starship weapon. When fighters do their worst against Cardassian cruisers in DS9 "Sacrifice of Angels", they achieve virtually nothing even after half a dozen waves of half a dozen fighters have offloaded their weapons onto the target. A single Galaxy class ship later slices through a similar cruiser with a couple of seconds' worth of two phaser beams.
In various Trek role-playing games, carriers do exist. Starfleet Battles tells us that the Kzinti, the felinoid opponents from TAS "Slaver Weapon", love to use carriers and their fighters or drones as offensive weapons. And Starfleet does operate those things they call "attack fighters" even in the canon DS9 universe, so apparently they are useful in some role, even if worthless as ship-killers.
The lack of carriers and fighters in Trek can probably be mainly attributed to the fact that fighters are expensive to do in television, or even in movies. They are cheaper in CGI, but tradition is against them now...
Timo Saloniemi
Which is probably because in Trek, firepower is more or directly related to size. IRW, aircraft carriers made sense in naval combat because a single aerial bomb had the same effect as a shell from a battleship's main gun, and a torpedo dropped from an aircraft was (almost) as powerful as one fired from a destroyer. In Trek, there is no known weapon that could be carried aboard a small fightercraft but would still pack as much punch as a starship weapon. When fighters do their worst against Cardassian cruisers in DS9 "Sacrifice of Angels", they achieve virtually nothing even after half a dozen waves of half a dozen fighters have offloaded their weapons onto the target. A single Galaxy class ship later slices through a similar cruiser with a couple of seconds' worth of two phaser beams.
In various Trek role-playing games, carriers do exist. Starfleet Battles tells us that the Kzinti, the felinoid opponents from TAS "Slaver Weapon", love to use carriers and their fighters or drones as offensive weapons. And Starfleet does operate those things they call "attack fighters" even in the canon DS9 universe, so apparently they are useful in some role, even if worthless as ship-killers.
The lack of carriers and fighters in Trek can probably be mainly attributed to the fact that fighters are expensive to do in television, or even in movies. They are cheaper in CGI, but tradition is against them now...
Timo Saloniemi
I think Eaves might have mentioned something along those lines, but I have the impression that wasn't carried over with the canonical description. It's worth noting too that in a universe where most capital ships could carry their own fighters to some degree (as seems the case in Star Wars and B5, for example), there's much less need for a single dedicated carrier. The only advantage it would have then is sheer numbers, and it would not be as versatile in role as other designs.
They have big warp engines on 'em, and there was no particular suggestion made that they were carried. I don't imagine they could be much faster than a runabout, though.
I think the Akira class is a replacement for the Constellation class.
James
James
The Klingons would never do such a thing as it would be dishonorable, the Romulans however does surprise me they never did it.
Klingons don't always live up to their ideals. In fact, that was a recurring theme in various Worf episodes.
One might argue that "a small cloaked fighter that could sneak in on a larger enemy ship and do some serious damage" is exactly what the Klingon bird of prey is. The original version from STIII was quite small, after all.
By the time of the General War, 10 years after TOS, everybody is using fighters. The Kzinti were just the first.
As it happens, SFB's proposed new miniature for a Klingon fighter bears a slight but deliberate resemblance to the KBoP:
Marian
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That is a good point, although a BoP does not seem all that small too me, it certianly is not a fighter craft.
Didn't someone once do a size analysis that basically concluded the Akira was too small to carry more than two or three of the attack fighters we saw on DS9? Considering that they had their own warp engines, what's the point then?
I wonder about the plausibility of smaller ships such as the fighters latching onto, say, a Galaxy's or Excelsior's warp field and riding with it?
I wonder about the plausibility of smaller ships such as the fighters latching onto, say, a Galaxy's or Excelsior's warp field and riding with it?
^That, to me, seems plausible; since it seems warp towing is possible by extending the warp field around the towed ship (albeit probably at a reduced efficiency), maybe fighters, runabouts and similar small ships can hitch a warp ride with big sisters. That probably requires some careful positioning and planning and isn't an off-the-cuff thing, but I can see the gangs of little ships having made it to the assault on Cardassia Prime that way.
It always bothered me that the fleet would probably have had to pull less than warp factor 5 for the fighters to keep up by themselves. "Gul, a large Federation fleet is sauntering across our borders! We only have a couple of weeks to assemble a defense!"
I also wondered if the fighters had a decent "dash" warp capability but pretty much used up their fuel supplies after only a few days at significant warp (maybe 6), but then it seems less likely the runabouts wouldn't have this capability.
It always bothered me that the fleet would probably have had to pull less than warp factor 5 for the fighters to keep up by themselves. "Gul, a large Federation fleet is sauntering across our borders! We only have a couple of weeks to assemble a defense!"
I also wondered if the fighters had a decent "dash" warp capability but pretty much used up their fuel supplies after only a few days at significant warp (maybe 6), but then it seems less likely the runabouts wouldn't have this capability.
Fighters should really be shuttles with high-yield (short duration) warp engines and a couple of torpedo launchers. Honestly, they SHOULDN'T exist to get into a phaser battle with a capital ship any more than you would expect an A-10 to go mano-y-mano against the USS Arizona with its chain gun.
You fly in fast, drop the ordinance, and get the hell out. The only thing the guns are for is dealing with those pesky interceptors, other fighters, or MAYBE a slightly bigger ship (like a corvette) that's between you and your target.
You fly in fast, drop the ordinance, and get the hell out. The only thing the guns are for is dealing with those pesky interceptors, other fighters, or MAYBE a slightly bigger ship (like a corvette) that's between you and your target.
That's pretty much how I see them too, Vance. This is how they're handled in B5, Wars, and many other series (albeit with capital warships that often seem much slower than their Trek counterparts). They never directly attack a warship unless they have numerical superiority (as in "Preemptive Strike) or as part of a fleet with friendly vessels (as in "Sacrifice of Angels").
hellsgate
Commodore
There's the GABRIEL-CLASS.
http://shipschematics.net/startrek/images/federation/shuttlecarrier_gabriel.jpg
And its' two AMANDA-CLASS varients:
http://shipschematics.net/startrek/images/federation/assaultcruiser_amanda_refit.jpg
http://shipschematics.net/startrek/images/federation/assaultcruiser_amanda.jpg
http://shipschematics.net/startrek/images/federation/shuttlecarrier_gabriel.jpg
And its' two AMANDA-CLASS varients:
http://shipschematics.net/startrek/images/federation/assaultcruiser_amanda_refit.jpg
http://shipschematics.net/startrek/images/federation/assaultcruiser_amanda.jpg
Yep. A figher should go one or two pegs of warp faster than most capital ships, but not for very long - just on their 'circuit' and patrol route, then back to base. (One extra warp factor doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up pretty damn fast, particularly when you're at WF 9 against WF 8, and so on.)
The Scimitar from Star Trek Nemesis carried a large number of small fighter craft.
I can see why this was done in a combat game, especially one with a lot of analogies to real combat. But the idea that small craft can exceed the warp factor of the big ships, even for brief periods, seems very poorly supported by canon Trek.
