Starship Nacelles
- Thread starter cwl
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Same philosophy as having your bridge right out in front at the top I guess!
All Seeing Eye
Admiral
Areas such as the bridge and nacelles are more heavily shielded and made from thicker stronger alloys. The nacelle of the Ent-E got hit by a big chunk of Romulan Warbird in Nemesis and the shields still held.
Looking at some of the footage from the Dominion war I'd have to suggest otherwise for the nacelles...
Klingon and Federation nacelles did well against Cardassian firepower in the Chase.
If they are so weak why didn't the Galor blow the nacelle off the Vorcha?
If they are so weak why didn't the Galor blow the nacelle off the Vorcha?
Multiple times in the same episode, actually. "Cause and Effect", where the USS Bozeman scraped against one of the Ent-D's nacelles which ended up destroying the ship. Which is very unfortunate, but personally I attribute that to a writing goof. I mean, scraping a nacelle never has that kind of effect anywhere else that I can recall.
The nacelles were out there because Matt Jefferies thought "you know, these are engines which can massivley distort space and time (putting off unbelievable amounts of exotic energy in the process)... maybe I shouldn't put them next to the crew quarters."
Which is sort of like saying "gee, maybe I shouldn't build a nuclear reactor in the middle of a suburb."
Which is sort of like saying "gee, maybe I shouldn't build a nuclear reactor in the middle of a suburb."
Damn you for typing faster than me, Jitty. 
Of course, the real-world reason that warp engines are in nacelles was that Matt Jefferies (designer of the TOS Enterprise) had no clue how warp drive would work but still felt that it would have to be so powerful that the starship designers would want it away from the habitable part of the ship, because it generates so much power that it is dangerous. In other words, they have to be where they are.
As time has rolled on, we've seen that it's possible to "enclose" warp engines within the main body of a ship or closely to it, but there must be some kind of tradeoff for doing so, otherwise all ships from the beginning of warp drive would have mounted them inwardly.
I believe it has been stated that the Defiant, for example, is far, far less energy efficient than larger ships due to her enclosed warp engines. Fine of a battleship where shooting off a nacelle might be an issue, but maybe not so cool for a ship that's expected to go, boldly, and a long distance too.
We should therefore, logically, conclude that having the bridge of a ship, or other "weaknesses" exposed, have practical benefits over enclosing them that our 21st century minds might not readily appreciate. We know in the real world that the reason the bridge is where it is was to give the audience an idea of the ship's scale. IMO, the idea that the bridge is designed to be easily ejectable in an emergency or for equipment upgrades works fine to explain this in the Trekverse.
It's also important to remember that these ships are designed and built out of advanced, nearly "magitech" materials to go incredible speeds, so presumably they aren't as fragile as they might appear. Still, the argument has been made many times that without their structural integrity and defensive fields, the position of your bridge or warp core won't matter much when you take into account the incredible amount of destructive power behind Trek weapons.
Of course, the real-world reason that warp engines are in nacelles was that Matt Jefferies (designer of the TOS Enterprise) had no clue how warp drive would work but still felt that it would have to be so powerful that the starship designers would want it away from the habitable part of the ship, because it generates so much power that it is dangerous. In other words, they have to be where they are.
As time has rolled on, we've seen that it's possible to "enclose" warp engines within the main body of a ship or closely to it, but there must be some kind of tradeoff for doing so, otherwise all ships from the beginning of warp drive would have mounted them inwardly.
I believe it has been stated that the Defiant, for example, is far, far less energy efficient than larger ships due to her enclosed warp engines. Fine of a battleship where shooting off a nacelle might be an issue, but maybe not so cool for a ship that's expected to go, boldly, and a long distance too.
We should therefore, logically, conclude that having the bridge of a ship, or other "weaknesses" exposed, have practical benefits over enclosing them that our 21st century minds might not readily appreciate. We know in the real world that the reason the bridge is where it is was to give the audience an idea of the ship's scale. IMO, the idea that the bridge is designed to be easily ejectable in an emergency or for equipment upgrades works fine to explain this in the Trekverse.
It's also important to remember that these ships are designed and built out of advanced, nearly "magitech" materials to go incredible speeds, so presumably they aren't as fragile as they might appear. Still, the argument has been made many times that without their structural integrity and defensive fields, the position of your bridge or warp core won't matter much when you take into account the incredible amount of destructive power behind Trek weapons.
Probably because they didn't want to start a war with the Klingons AND the Federation. Destroying the flagship of the latter would do that, you know. My guess, they were firing their phasers on a low setting.
Remember The Gambit? The E-D took several hits to the nacelle and was disabled.
^ I thought it was said in the episode that the enemy weapons were at full power though. The only reason it didn't do damage was because they enhanced structural integrity or something along those lines.
In TOS it was established in emergency situations the nacelles could be jettisoned.
In TOS it was established in emergency situations the nacelles could be jettisoned.
They should make the ship out of the stuff the nacelles are made of (money isn't an issue in the Federation anyway). I recall a battle scene from D.S.9. (one of the large, multi ship battles) where pahser fire was just cutting right threw ships like a knife threw a loaf of bread.
6:57 into THIS video, see the Miranda class ship on the right get cut threw with phaser.
And it shoudl be noted what ever protective armor the nacelles must have, they didn't always have them, unless you all forgot about one being blown off the Reliant in TWoK.
6:57 into THIS video, see the Miranda class ship on the right get cut threw with phaser.
And it shoudl be noted what ever protective armor the nacelles must have, they didn't always have them, unless you all forgot about one being blown off the Reliant in TWoK.
Have we forgotten that in all cases mentioned the shields were down? These ships don't have armor because the shields are the armor. Physical armor plating is a waste of space (and weight, and material) when two ships capable of stripping the surface of a planet are slugging at each other.
Well, you got to have something when the shields go down, or are sabotaged, or you are hit by surprise. Just can't rely on shields alone.
The thing about nacelles is that they're ubiquitous to Starfleet design. The Defiant doesn't look like your typical Starfleet ship. But then, it was meant to be unique. Imagine the whole Starfleet had enclosed nacelles. It wouldn't look like Starfleet anymore.
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