What Sets the Enterprise Did and Did Not Need

Fantastic work, thanks for tally.

I must admit it's been a while since I properly scrutinised FJ's deck plans, but for some reason I recalled a high majority of deck planage being devoted to accommodation. Time to get my tape measure out, it seems! ;-)

 

I would never do this sort of figuring in a million years... but I don't have to. I love the fact that this information is there, ready for me to pluck it off the internet, requiring no time or effort on my part. That's fun. Thank you, retentive obsessives!

 

Not to keep hijacking this further..

I just counted the workstations. I came up with 138. Now, I counted every transporter room as a separate workstation, and we know those stations weren't manned 24/7. I may have counted more than just workstations or not every workstation is constantly manned. There are also plenty of jobs that would not require a dedicated workstation such as many of the maintenance jobs or working in the arboretum or cargo handling, etc...

Still, 138 stations times 3 shifts = 418 personnel. Enterprise had a crew of 430. That's not too shabby in my opinion. Looks like the FJ plans have enough room for everyone to work and sleep and there is plenty of space set aside for recreation.

I found the bowling alley and the pool, but no holodeck or recreation room like that. Plenty of lounges and rec rooms of the more traditional design (tables, chairs).

 

I'm the OP and I don't think it's a hijack. Great work!

And whatever its faults, the Franz Joseph blueprints are a permanent part of the Star Trek fandom landscape. How often does work come along that singlehandedly launches a new genre?

 

The ship's swimming pool could be filled with deuterium, you can even drink deuterium as long as you don't drink large amounts.

The swimming pool could be a auxiliary fuel tank.

 

Interesting. The water is needed for something important, but in the meantime it's being re-purposed for swimming.

I don't think Scotty would like that. "What's next? Do I have to cool the antimatter flow regulator with your bath water?" And he would be setting up infrared scanners to figure out who pees in the pool.

 

Heavy water made with deuterium, to be precise. There was an episode of Hogan's Heros of all things in which a container of it passed through the camp, and the character played by Larry Hovis (I think) drank a glass of it with no ill effect. I recall a bet I had with my Dad as a kid (that I lost) prompted by watching that, and settled by a trip to the local library. My further recollection is that it would not be poisonous in even large amounts per se, rather that cellular processes (for example mitosis) would be adversely affected if one were to subsist on nothing else.

 

chlorinated deuterium... Yeah, definitely don't want to drink a lot of that.

 

Thanks. So, to really bring it back on topic... The FJ blueprints depict many areas not seen in Trek - labs, science departments, galley, cargo holds, etc... If you accept the dimensions of the FJ plans as fairly accurate (if not exact), then its clear the Enterprise does have room for 430 people to work and sleep and play comfortably. The plans even included a shuttle storage and repair area, machine shops, fabrication areas, plenty of medical sections, computer core, etc... Literally everything you would need for such a starship.

 

If I'm going to be stuck in deep space for five years, I want a swimming pool. And a bowling alley.

Kor

 

I'm reminded of a Robert Benchley essay inspired by an early-30s news report of a scientist who tried drinking some heavy water. The scientist reported no ill effect and he'd be willing to do it again. Benchley challenged that, pointing out he'd certainly had drinks he would swear he'd be glad to have again until he actually had to stare at the shot glass and remember how he felt last time.

 

Yeah, cellular processes affected to the point that you would die. I would call that poison, even though slow acting.

Yeah I guess people can quibble about them, but the FJ plans booklets are the class of the field for that sort of thing, as far as I am concerned.

Or even being stuck in the White House for four years.

 

One of my prize possessions is the 15mm (1"=10') scale plans of the TOS Enterprise published by FASA for their ST RPG. I understand that it mostly follows the FJ plans and so has all the wonderful details already mentioned. The saucer-wide decks 6&7 are a marvellous sight, fully laid out and covering most of my living room floor!

They did the Klingon D7 to the same scale and that too is truly wondeful.

 

Actually, just about any substance, if given in large enough amounts, is poisonous and can cause death. Several kilograms worth of water would constitute a lethal dose.