Starship specialization

[Unicron]

Given some of the apparent advances in Treknology, and that some powers like the Federation have a definite preference for multipurpose vessels, how many ships do you think might be built for specific and limited missions? There are certainly good examples in some of the unofficial support designs like transport/tugs and in tactical vessels like the Defiant.

I suppose I'm curious because I was wondering whether any of the powers would build a ship dedicated to a function like minelaying, which could logically be adapted for exploration missions as a peacetime vessel. It would seem from my experience with different series that for some functions, such as carrying fighters and support craft, dedicated carriers are relatively rare when these units can be carried on more conventional vessels such as cruisers or destroyers.

 

[USS Triumphant]

It would seem from my experience with different series that for some functions, such as carrying fighters and support craft, dedicated carriers are relatively rare when these units can be carried on more conventional vessels such as cruisers or destroyers.

This might be slightly to one side of what you're talking about, but this seems to be true with the next gen designs that I've seen for American naval vessels as well. The aircraft carrier as we know it may soon be a thing of the past, since remote/robot controlled planes don't have the limitations for take-off and landing that something with a human inside does, so the briefer runway required is something that can ride on a ship that more closely resembles a destroyer or cruiser otherwise.

Back on topic, I think Starfleet would tend to use more specialized ships in well-known areas of space, and send jack-of-all-trades ships out into the unknown areas where they can't know what they'll need or run into until they come across it.

 

[Vance]

As a general rule of thumb, anything smaller than a cruiser is usually specialized in some fashion (destroyer, scout, escort, surveyor, etc.) Cruisers tend to be more versatile and general workhorses.. the 'backbone', if you will, of a fleet. (They can ALSO be specialized, but this is usually a variant design rather than a whole new build). Ships LARGER than cruisers may be able to do multi-functions, but they tend to be military-force ships (battleships, dreadnoughts, carriers)

 

[Unicron]

That's true, and the same might be said of frigates in the Trek universe. They're a little more geared toward military support and operations than cruisers (according to some sources anyway) but also function as general purpose vessels.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Personally, I've always divided Starfleet ships into either being "frontline" or "support" categories, with the latter generally being smaller or specialized logistical vehicles like runabouts, tugs, tankers, freighters, hospital ships, etc.

 

[Vance]

That's true, and the same might be said of frigates in the Trek universe. They're a little more geared toward military support and operations than cruisers (according to some sources anyway) but also function as general purpose vessels.

Traditionally, Frigates are one step smaller than cruisers, but this can vary from fleet to fleet. A frigate is generally designed multi-role as well, but is often equipped for mission parameters. (The Reliant, despite being called officially a cruiser, is a perfect example of a heavy frigate)

 

[Lazarus]

I've just posted in another thread about something similar - ship types in use by Starfleet.

I basically said that I'm surprised that Starfleet appears to have as many ship classes as it does, there seem to be dozens upon dozens of different types of vessel.

Personally I can't see why there would be more than a handful of different Starfleet ship types, mass-produced spacecraft that have been tried and tested over many years.

Also these Starfleet ships should in theory have a minimum life-expectancy of a hundred years with a few major refits in between.

Smaller, specialist vessels would probably still be necessary, but for 'capital ships' I can't see the need for so many different types.

 

[Unicron]

I think the expected life span is definitely a factor, as we've certainly seen some designs staying in service with refits for the better part of a century. In the BattleTech universe there are dozens of designs which have remained in service over the course of several centuries, with variations, though of course many of those are designed with one or two missions in mind, and only a small number have mission flexibility built into them as a design feature.

 

[Lazarus]

Even seagoing ships of the Navy today have very long service lives, so with whatever unimaginable construction techniques that are in use in the twenty-forth century there's no reason to think that Starfleet vessels wouldn't have life-expectancies several orders of magnitude longer.

Take the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in service today, launched in 1960 and scheduled for decomissioning in four years' time. That's the best part of half a century in service, exposed to the elements. Likewise the Nimitz class that came after it have a service life projectedto be more than fifty years.

With regular maintenence and refitting to keep their systems up-to-date Starfleet ships should last a hundred and fifty years.

As I've said, I think a small number of multi-purpose starships makes perfect sense. Ships that can be easily diverted to complete various missions rather than constructing new vessels with only a single purpose in mind.

I'm not even that sure what specific duties a Starfleet ship would perform in the twenty-forth century. Multi-purpose vessels of a few different sizes yes, but dedicated vessels built to do only one thing? I'm not so sure.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I basically said that I'm surprised that Starfleet appears to have as many ship classes as it does, there seem to be dozens upon dozens of different types of vessel.

Personally I can't see why there would be more than a handful of different Starfleet ship types, mass-produced spacecraft that have been tried and tested over many years...

I think it just boils down to different shipbuilding policies. Starfleet seems to favor new designs to accommodate new technologies, while the Klingon Defense Forces (for example) may adapt new technologies for use in existing designs, IMO...

 

[Unicron]

Well, again I'd point to the Defiant as a good example of a narrow mission profile - a dedicated warship built to fight enemies like the Borg and the Dominion. I do agree the advancement of technologies is another issue, as even with futuristic manufacturing techniques and greater overall flexibility, there's no guarantee that a new technology would be adaptable to every unit.

I'd also like to think that, despite all of their shipbuilding experience, the Trek powers occasionally still build something that turns out to be a turkey. Something doesn't quite work as expected, or there's executive meddling, and so forth.

 

[Lazarus]

I think it just boils down to different shipbuilding policies. Starfleet seems to favor new designs to accommodate new technologies, while the Klingon Defense Forces (for example) may adapt new technologies for use in existing designs, IMO...

Oh yeah I completely agree with you that this is what Starfleet appears to do, but somehow it doesn't seem particularly cost-effective (by this I don't mean cost per se but rather time and resources), each new design of ship would probably take hundreds of hours of designing, construction of new components then taking time to work out the various kinks that are present when a new class is created.

The galaxy-class is actually a ship along the lines of what I'm saying, yes it's probably too big to mass-produce, but a projected lifetime of a hundred years with major refits every twenty-five. Easily-swapable components like the bridge-module and presumably other sections. And large areas of the ship left empty to accomodate new technology and mission-specific modules somewhere down the line.

 

[Vance]

I'm not even that sure what specific duties a Starfleet ship would perform in the twenty-forth century. Multi-purpose vessels of a few different sizes yes, but dedicated vessels built to do only one thing? I'm not so sure.

They wouldn't be 'boldly going', but would instead be the bulk of the fleet's working forces. You would NEED dedicated destroyers, research vessels, etc... which have all the ameninites for their missions profile and very very little else. Anything more would be a waste of resources.

That slaps fandom a bit around, though. Really, you would only have a FEW classes of cruiser (such as the Enterprise). Where you would get diversity would be the smaller ships, like frigates, destroyers, etc, which would be more mission-specific and more prone to obsolesence and replacement.

 

[Lazarus]

Really, you would only have a FEW classes of cruiser (such as the Enterprise). Where you would get diversity would be the smaller ships, like frigates, destroyers, etc, which would be more mission-specific and more prone to obsolesence and replacement.

I'm enjoying this discussion

I suppose we're back to the old question of does Starfleet actually classify it's ships as frigates, destroyers and so on like today's Navies do. Other than the Defiant being specifically referred to as a "warship" I can't recall any Starfleet characters identifying their vessels as anything other than the generic "starship".

Does this mean that in the eyes of Starfleet most of its ships are classified under one umbrella, and only distinguished by their size - obviously a galaxy class ship crewed by a thousand people would need to be distinguished from a nova-class crewed by fifty people in some way?

Coming back to the subject of what specific ships would be required, I'm thinking freighters operated by Starfleet to transport supplies and equipment would obviously have one role that wasn't adaptable. Mining vessels to get hold of dilithium. Maybe 'tug' spacecraft to haul an inoperative starship into port.

Perhaps anything other than ships like these is simply classed as a Starfleet starship, distinguished from its fellows only by its size.

Just a thought

 

[Vance]

The Enterprise (original) was a Cruiser in most mediums, and shown to be such in the displays in the movies (the Klingons refer to her as a battlecruiser). In less obvious sources, we do get to see or hear Destroyer, Scout, and Dreadnought (TMP) and Frigate (DS9). There's no real rationale given on screen for any of this, unfortunately.

 

[AnyStar]

This might be slightly to one side of what you're talking about, but this seems to be true with the next gen designs that I've seen for American naval vessels as well. The aircraft carrier as we know it may soon be a thing of the past, since remote/robot controlled planes don't have the limitations for take-off and landing that something with a human inside does, so the briefer runway required is something that can ride on a ship that more closely resembles a destroyer or cruiser otherwise.

not to mention that for many years the stealth bomber would fly from its home base fueling in the air as it goes all the way to its destination, no matter how far away that may be. and to a lesser extent now with the F-22s.

we will just have to wait and see how operations change at sea once the f-18 to f-35 phase-out is complete.

 

[JoeFromEarth]

Perhaps the specialization had more to do with the crew than ship. A ship is a science vessel if it is full of scientists, etc.

 

[Vance]

The crew have to have the equipment. Fat lot of good 50 scientists will be if all they got to work with are phaser emplacements. Conversely, 50 trained phaser-operators will sigh heavily if all they have are extended sensors... Don't forget, people are assigned to ships to fill out that ship's mission profile, not the other way around.

 

[Unicron]

And you need redshirts/goldshirts in any case, for cannon fod-- I mean, security.

 

[C.E. Evans]

It seems that most Starfleet ships are multimission vehicles, capable of serving in a variety of roles when necessary, but some designs may be better suited to some specific tasks than others, though. It could be that the majority of Starfleet ships are multipurpose cruisers, that are designated as either "light," "medium," or "heavy" depending on their size or mass, while others are classified by their primary mission...