Underwater Trek Ships...

[DRACO]

Alright, so Starfleet has ships of in various regions of space doing various things. We often see these ships exploring new planets, but the only fullsized Federation starship (as in, not a shuttle) I've seen that can land on one of these planets is the Intrepid class (Voyager).

This is obviously an inconvenience, we've seen several times this isn't necessary but it would be nice.

There is an even bigger problem, what about worlds with oceans? think of all the life, and possible archaeological discoveries hidden within the depths. There is still much to be discovered in our own oceans, imagine what we could find on alien worlds?

We've seen the Delta Flyer be modified for such an environment but.... I have to ask why we've never seen a ship designed this purpose that is of Federation design.

And what about the tactical advantage you'd have?

I've been thinking about this for a long time but surely I'm not the first to do so.

So where can I find these concepts?

 

[BolianAuthor]

Well, we know from the TNG episode "The Survivors", that the UFP has underwater cities. The Uxbridge's were from the New Martim Vas city, in Earth's Atlantic Ocean. I would imagine that by the same token, the UFP has underwater research stations and craft equipped to do surveys under the oceans.

 

[Mysterion]

In TAS we saw that Enterprise, at occasionally, carried an "aquatic" shuttlecraft.

If we ever see some of these again, one of them must be named Zissou.

 

[Santaman]

I always assumed a Sydney class vessel could land as well, it has a streamlined hull and its even a little ship-ish..

 

[dubeau]

In Voyager, they go into fluidic space with species 140256554897...euh, a number. That means the ship is liquid ready.

In principle all spaceship are sealed tight, so they could go into ocean...maybe not deep, because you got to have a special structure for the pressure. ANYWAY, who wants to go into an alien ocean after what happened to Pandorum-Elysium.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

In TAS we saw that Enterprise, at occasionally, carried an "aquatic" shuttlecraft.

Yep, the name "The Aquashuttle" was somewhat unimaginitive in the TAS episode "The Ambergris Element".

 

[sojourner]

In Voyager, they go into fluidic space with species 140256554897...euh, a number. That means the ship is liquid ready.

In principle all spaceship are sealed tight, so they could go into ocean...maybe not deep, because you got to have a special structure for the pressure. ANYWAY, who wants to go into an alien ocean after what happened to Pandorum-Elysium.

The space shuttle is sealed tight too. How well do you think it would work after being submerged in sea water?

Vacuum proof does not equal water proof.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There is such a thing as the Federation Naval Patrol* - maybe this is what they're good for. Operating on Federation worlds with a lot of water.

* Tom Paris at one point wanted to join the FNP. Also it's mentioned, indirectly, in the ST XI novelization, where it's said that Iowa's easy access to the Mississippi River is one reason the NCC-1701 was built there.

 

[Squiggy]

In Voyager, they go into fluidic space with species 140256554897...euh, a number. That means the ship is liquid ready.

In principle all spaceship are sealed tight, so they could go into ocean...maybe not deep, because you got to have a special structure for the pressure. ANYWAY, who wants to go into an alien ocean after what happened to Pandorum-Elysium.

The space shuttle is sealed tight too. How well do you think it would work after being submerged in sea water?

Vacuum proof does not equal water proof.

Reminds me of an episode of Futurama:

Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Good Lord! That's over 5000 atmospheres of pressure!
Fry: How many atmospheres can the ship withstand?
Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Well, it was built for space travel, so anywhere between zero and one.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Trek ships are protected by a magical phrase called a "structural integrity field." This makes it possible for them to survive being hit by objects while traveling at warp velocities. A few hundred atmospheres are peanuts.

 

[Tom Riley]

Trek ships are protected by a magical phrase called a "structural integrity field." This makes it possible for them to survive being hit by objects while traveling at warp velocities. A few hundred atmospheres are peanuts.

They aren't hit by objects at warp speeds. They deflect space dust and small debris out of the way with the navigational deflector.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

"Space dust?" At those speeds, a few molecules of gas would be bullets. And the human beings inside these things would be smears on the walls.

 

[sojourner]

But what about all the equipment left exposed to space? I doubt those items would survive submersion.

This is like the conversations that pop up occasionally about turning submarines into spacecraft. It doesn't work. Better off to build a whole new vehicle than to try to adapt one from one environment to the other.

 

[The Axeman]

Trek sensors appear to be able to penetrate miles of rock and lightyears of space, all things are transparent to the starship. A couple of miles of water are nothing to that, so not much need to go anywhere underwater. No doubt the underwater cities would have a few subs of some kind knocking around, but I suspect people would be moving via transporter most of the time. Maybe some sort of travel tube to outlying areas might be used, but for the most part any actual underwater nonsense would be taken care of remotely by robotics or sensor readings.

 

[ST-One]

Reminds me of an episode of Futurama:

Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Good Lord! That's over 5000 atmospheres of pressure!
Fry: How many atmospheres can the ship withstand?
Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Well, it was built for space travel, so anywhere between zero and one.

 

[regemet]

They might be simelar to the Seaquest in Seaquest D S V.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

But what about all the equipment left exposed to space? I doubt those items would survive submersion.

The ships are also surrounded by impenetrable force fields that can be adjusted.

Given that those fields have often been visually represented as ovoids rather than hugging the hulls, streamlining would not even be an issue.

The only real question might be propulsion.

 

[largo]

The only real question might be propulsion.

and even that, probably not. newtonian physics has never been relevant to star trek scriptwriters.

 

[137th Gebirg]

These are the only three I've been able to find:

Cathark (Jackill's Star Fleet Reference Manual - Ships of the Fleet Volume I - Eric Kristiansen - 1992)
El Niño (Type 1) (from TAS "Ambergris Element")
El Niño (Type 2) (based on the first one)

Pretty slim pickings, I'm afraid. I agree, there should be more.

 

[bullethead]

The only real question might be propulsion.

Don't they have anti-gravity cars? Use that tech to propel the subs.