are there routinely Galaxies and Nebulas in Earth orbit?

[EmperorTiberius]

When Voyager returns, they find a hastily assembled fleet to welcome what they thought was a borg invasion. Among them is a Galaxy, Prometheus, Nebula, Defiant, and Excelsior. I can understand Defiant and even Prometheus on patrol in the area at the time they detected the borg tunnel, but do they normally have Galaxies and Nebulas on patrol duty in the solar system?

 

[nx1701g]

Perhaps they were at Earth and recently completed construction, were dropping off/receiving supplies or personnel.

It would make sense though to have a Galaxy or a Nebula Class in the region though to serve as a command ship.

 

[Thestral]

After the Breen attack, I would imagine orbital security of Earth (and likely the Terran system) would have been stepped up for a significant amount of time, if not permanently.

 

[EmperorTiberius]

Perhaps they were at Earth and recently completed construction, were dropping off/receiving supplies or personnel.

It would make sense though to have a Galaxy or a Nebula Class in the region though to serve as a command ship.

After the Breen attack, I would imagine orbital security of Earth (and likely the Terran system) would have been stepped up for a significant amount of time, if not permanently.

But you don't waste Galaxy and Nebula class ships as stationary command ships and patrol vessels. That would be a huge waste of resources. There are orbital batteries, starbases, and small powerful warships designed for that role.

 

[Tallis Rhul]

It depends. Nebulas have customizable aft modules and can be fitted to be warships. Makes sense therefore to have them in defense of the Sol system, as it does for Prometheus or Defiant class to be there.

As for Galazy, the only explanation I can offer is that there is actually a fleet that is dedicated to the defense of Earth, the third if I recall correctly. There may just happen to be Galaxy or Nebula class ships in it.

Are starfleet really going to be bothered what class of ship they call on to defend Earth if the Borg are coming? Maybe they were nearby and warped in?

 

[The Grim Ghost]

I think they just wanted it to look good onscreen. I don't see that as a normal thing.

 

[Luku]

It could simply be the ships from Utopia Planitia, we've seen only a small portion of it on screen and still saw a good selection of ships there...

 

[nx1701g]

Perhaps they were at Earth and recently completed construction, were dropping off/receiving supplies or personnel.

It would make sense though to have a Galaxy or a Nebula Class in the region though to serve as a command ship.

After the Breen attack, I would imagine orbital security of Earth (and likely the Terran system) would have been stepped up for a significant amount of time, if not permanently.

But you don't waste Galaxy and Nebula class ships as stationary command ships and patrol vessels. That would be a huge waste of resources. There are orbital batteries, starbases, and small powerful warships designed for that role.

All of which Starfleet had and the Breen still made it to Earth and did massive damage to Starfleet Command.

It makes sense for a fleet to be commanded by ships of these classes being assigned to defend the Sol System. It could be reasonably assumed that more than the original production run of these classes were created (Roddenberry once said that there were only 6 Galaxy Class ships total and we saw that many in one battle of the Dominion War). For all we know the Galaxy or the Nebula may have replaced the Excelsior as the fleet workhorse vessel.

Though it's just as possible, as also suggested, they were ships pressed into service from Utopia Planitia or one of the many drydock facilities in the Sol System.

 

[James Wright]

If you look at the date(aka year) of Voyager's return to earth and the year in which the events of "First Contact", you can pretty much figure out why there's a fleet in the Sol System.

James

 

[Gotham Central]

Given that Starfleet has a long habit of not having ANY ships available for Sol System defense (How often was the Earth orbiting Enterprise the only ship in range)...the fleet seen in Endgame represented a vast improvement in system wide security.

 

[Thestral]

Which only makes sense. It is the capital of the Federation after all, thus it makes sense that a heavily armed fleet and significant security forces would be in place.

 

[nx1701g]

If you look at the date(aka year) of Voyager's return to earth and the year in which the events of "First Contact", you can pretty much figure out why there's a fleet in the Sol System.

James

2373 and 2378? I'm afraid that I don't see the connection.

 

[Timo]

When we watch the Dominion War on DS9, we see vast fleets of starships, fleets we didn't see before - but they all consist of old starships. That is, te ships are of old types, and have low registry numbers.

It makes sense, then, to assume that those fleets came to existence through a reorganization of existing assets: Starfleet probably spent the first few years of the Dominion crisis pulling back its starships from distant exploration missions. And it had to pull the ships back to somewhere before the war began in earnest. In ST:FC, one of these "somewheres" apparently was in the Sol system - so unlike in "BoBW", there now was an entire preassembled fleet ready to take on the Borg when they approached Earth.

After the war, these fleets would still linger for quite a while before Starfleet again dispersed the ships to the more productive deep space missions. So it would also make sense to have a fleet or two in the Sol system in "Endgame" - but not any more ten years after "Endgame"...

I don't see any evidence of "massive damage" in the aftermath of the Breen raid. It clearly failed to score any significant physical damage, beyond a few smoking buildings - the psychological impact of a strike having been carried out at all was probably the big thing there, and made everybody forget that the strike had been almost completely repelled. A bit like if only one elderly battleship had been sunk in the shallows on December 7th, 1941: the fact that the strike was made would still have shaken a nation. Having entire fleets of starships permanently stationed near Earth so that future strikes could be repelled even more completely would be wasteful: the difference in physical damage would be minor, the difference in psychological impact negligible.

Now, the title of this thread didn't originally make me think of "Endgame". The episode I had in mind was "Non Sequitur" - admittedly an alternate universe, yet still one where a spare Nebula was available on Earth orbit. Is that a regular occurrence, now? TNG "Conspiracy" et al. suggest the Galaxies virtually never visit Earth except perhaps for major repairs or short pickup/delivery jobs... Perhaps Kim and the alternate Tom Paris just got especially unlucky?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[EmperorTiberius]

^just a quick correction, in FC, the fleet was assembled in the Typhon sector, not Sol. I don't see it any different than when they assembled at Wolf359

 

[apenpaap]

I think after the two Xindi attacks, Terra Prime holding the planet hostage, V'ger, the Whale Probe, the two Borg attacks, and the Breen raid Starfleet finally decided it might be a good idea to have some defence around Earth.

 

[Sci]

When Voyager returns, they find a hastily assembled fleet to welcome what they thought was a borg invasion. Among them is a Galaxy, Prometheus, Nebula, Defiant, and Excelsior. I can understand Defiant and even Prometheus on patrol in the area at the time they detected the borg tunnel, but do they normally have Galaxies and Nebulas on patrol duty in the solar system?

I bloody well hope they do. Earth is the capital of the Federation and seems to be targeted for attack or destruction all the frickin' time, between the Xindi, the Romulans, V'Ger, the Whale Probe, the Parasites, the Borg, the Dominion, the Breen, and Shinzon.

 

[Tallis Rhul]

I think it'd also be logical to assume they have ships of these classes in the vicinity of the other four core worlds as well.

 

[AthanisTree]

Personal Theory: A massive Galaxy/ Nebula hull refit underway at Utopia Planetia after underwhelming offense/ defense performance during mission life (Ent-D seemed outgunned by Klingon Birds of Prey, let alone the Romulan D'Deridex Warbirds or anything else of comparable size/ tech) so it's a bit of a happy coincidence. Not entirely logical, the idea of assigning them to static defense posts if you consider the heavy-weapon/ short-range mindset of the Sovereign/ Defiant/ Saber/ Prometheus classes but hey-ho...

Or:

The Galaxy/ Nebula hulls are more effective from an FX POV as padding for the small fleet, making it seem larger and more menacing whilst keeping rendering time down for an FX heavy ep.

If it was composed of Sovereigns/ Defiants, I think the sleek nature of their hulls would require more of them to achieve the same effect and thus more moolah.

Yea or nay?

Oh aye, am aware that the Prometheus is a long-range Tactical vessel but felt that it was useful to lump it with the other assault vessels for emphasis.

 

[Cyke101]

Some of the Nebula explanations above are appealing to me, taking into account their versatility.

As for the Galaxies, the class is among the fastest in fleet in terms of warp. They could've been pretty far away. In Endgame, I'd like to think that when Starfleet sent the SOS, they sent a special call to each and every separate Galaxy telling them that they were the only ship in range/system/sector/quadrant(!). They would rush over at maximum warp to try and get some of that glory of the E-D.

Then when 18 Galaxies all arrive onto the same field and see each other plus the rest of the fleet, they all hail Starfleet and say "Hey, waitaminnit..."

 

[Sci]

Some of the Nebula explanations above are appealing to me, taking into account their versatility.

As for the Galaxies, the class is among the fastest in fleet in terms of warp. They could've been pretty far away. In Endgame, I'd like to think that when Starfleet sent the SOS, they sent a special call to each and every separate Galaxy telling them that they were the only ship in range/system/sector/quadrant(!). They would rush over at maximum warp to try and get some of that glory of the E-D.

Then when 18 Galaxies all arrive onto the same field and see each other plus the rest of the fleet, they all hail Starfleet and say "Hey, waitaminnit..."

....

It's the Federation Starfleet. If Command orders them to come to Earth, they come. The idea that they'd intentionally lie to the ships, or that the ships would be more likely to try to come and do their best to defend Earth from imminent attack if they thought they would get to steal all the glory, is just absurd.

ETA:

For my money, given the sheer number of existential threats the Federation faces, I would certainly hope that every single Federation Member world has a large defensive fleet in permanent orbit lest the Romulans, Tholians, Tzenkethi, Cardassians, Borg, or Dominion attack.