During the Dominion War, these ships were cobbled together from surplus equipment, salvaged parts, and custom assemblies. At the end of the war, with the fleet decimated, is there any use for these kludge craft?
Although the models were hodgepodge kitbashes, I like to think the ships themselves in-universe were actually intended that way and carried on doing what they were designed for after the war. These are the Starfleet ships which usually aren't at the forefront of exploration, the transports and tankers, the high-speed couriers and whatnot.
Found an explanation for the Yeager ships. I tried to post a link; unfortunately, the link doesn't seem to work. But check out: Yeager class - Starbase 400 A synopsis for the Yeager entry (which seems a contrived explanation, but nevertheless better than nothing): Star Fleet would 'stress test' primary hulls at impulse and warp by fitting them onto 'testing engineering hulls'. This would save time by detecting problems before the ship was completed. Final testing occurred after the class primary and secondary hulls were integrated, during a shake down cruise. The test engineering hull was used to test Intrepid and Sovereign class primary hulls. The engineering hull was basically an upscale aft end of a Peregrin fighter. Which would explain why the Yeager looks like a mismatched mating of an Intrepid with a Maquis Raider. A modular arrangement would explain why rapid assembly is possible. An Intrepid primary hull could be constructed minus certain features, such as holodecks and science labs. I expect that there would have been only a few test engineering hulls available, so only a few Yeager ships would be constructed. In different web sites, it has been mentioned that Yeager ships are slow for front line vessels, and possess only aft torpedoes. Such ships might be useful as monitors, on guard duty. Post war, I expect that the primary hulls would be detached, and then integrated with Intrepid class secondary hulls. The Yeager class would evaporate. I thought of an alternative explanation for the Yeager ships. Imagine an ongoing goal to develop a medium sized starship that can land on, and take off from, the surface of a planet. This might have led to two different experimental vehicles, the Norway and the Yeager. Further imagine these prototypes being pulled from mothballs, and being armed. I don't know what would explain the Elkins, though. Perhaps it was thrown together for some specialized role?
First of all, the concept of hastily throwing parts together to make a new ship is illogical on multiple levels. The only reason why TPTB stubbornly cling to this idea is because they never liked the idea of kitbashing model kits and don't consider those ships to be true classes (at least for the DS9 ships, unlike the Wolf 359 ships which were originally study models built by a professional model maker). I consider all the DS9 kitbashes to be true starship classes and not just parts cobbled together. Here's why: 1. Sisko mentions that the Centaur was commanded by Charlie Reynolds, even before we saw the ship. This implies that the Centaur was a legitimate starship, not something pieced together than Reynolds happened to be flying at the time. 2. The parts used for the kitbashes are wildly out of scale. So in-universe, this implies that there's a starship class that utilizes ridiculously oversized Constitution class nacelles, and another class that uses an extremely tiny Excelsior primary hull. 3. Re: The Curry. Raging Queen, etc.: If you already have parts to 75% of an Excelsior class starship, then why wouldn't you arrange those parts the way they'd normally go? Why place the saucer in the middle of the primary hull instead of in front of it like it is normally? Things like conduits, turboshafts, etc., would become useless, so what's the point? 3a. Also, if you already have an Excelsior saucer and some nacelles stuck to it, why would there be a need for a secondary hull anyway? Its not like the nacelles/pylons are coming out of it. 4. It makes no sense to cobble together Starfleet starship parts in an effort to hastily make a new ship to fight in a war. It makes more sense to press vessels from other Federation worlds or civilian authorities into Starfleet service.
Well, assuming they were hodgepodge in-universe, then they could probably be made some use of - assuming the reason was that Starfleet had to jury-rig bits of ships together because there weren't enough bits of the same classes to just repair them, then after the final battles there might be enough parts to refit them back into their original classes. But, if not, they could be employed for cadet training, or patrol duty (since they were outfitted with battle in mind). Carriers like the "Curry" could be refitted as transports or disaster relief vessels i.e. medevac shuttle platforms.
If I had to come up with an answer, then I think they'd be broken down after the war and the parts returned to Statfleet's spares inventory. However, the DS9 kitbashes for the most part make so little sense to me that I don't even try to rationalise them. The only exception I can think of is the USS Centaur, which is a design that makes relatively sensible and creative use of existing ship components, that I'm fine with it. Same goes with TNG's Cheyenne and New Orleans classes. I'd like to think all these ships have niche within Federation space. Yeager though? Yuck. Does not compute. Edit: wow that kitbash website is certainly a blast from the past - thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Hmm - the Yeager is my absolute favorite of the lot. What could be more logical than giving the Intrepid class its own Miranda counterpart? - Ventral nacelles? Check. - Bigger impulse engines? Check. - Boxy aft hull instead of a cylinder secondary hull? Check. - Twin shuttlebays with square doors? Check. - Big deflector dish omitted? Check. The Excelsior kitbashes help round out that particular era of starship design with smaller ship types. The Jupp is a very nice old-timer in the TMP style. Only the Elkins is an oddball, but the double deflectors strike me as a thing Starfleet would go for when the deflector has showed so much promise as a weapon... (Just give her more fitting nacelles, is all.) Timo Saloniemi
Adam Buckner has an interesting story regarding the creation of the first Centaur model. http://www.adambuckner.com/USS_Buckner.html
If you exclude purpose designed support vessels, Star Fleet vessels could be categorized as three different types: Stars. The premier ships of Star Fleet, these ships are the latest and greatest. Think of Trek's hero ships. Basically, any ship labeled "Enterprise", as well as Voyager and the Defiant. The crews are drawn from the best and brightest. Work horses. Mirandas would be an example of a middling sized design, and Excelsiors an example of a larger design. These ships are the back bone of the fleet, and the bulk of the fleet. Gofers. Think of an old rust bucket, used for odd jobs. Bry Sinclair depicted the U.S.S. Orion as such. Crews would include misfits, and those with less than sterling records. What I feel is appealing about the old rust buckets, and the Frankenstein Fleet, is a ship as under dog. And the odd ball crews, who are also under dogs.
I tend to not think of them as kitbashes in-universe, even though in the real world we know them to be so. As Timo says, the Excelsior bashes help fill out that era nicely. As for scaling issues... we can either choose to ignore them or attribute them to the fact that civilizations on the scale of the Federation should have no problem scaling up or down templates for parts. Heck, the Klingons seemed to do really well with this on their birds-of-prey. I would think Starfleet would keep some of these recommissioned oddballs in operation for a while, at least while rebuilding the fleet and until purpose-built vessels can replace them.
The Yeagers are an interesting design. The Elkins shows that the Intrepid variants can be funky. One version I came across resembled the Elkins, but had an Intrepid saucer slung over a Constitution engineering section. The Centaur design was cool. It is the one kit bash, as was commented on Trekyards, that doesn't even look like a kit bash-it looks like a traditionally designed and built ship.
I like the Frankenstein fleet; today I can buy various PC parts, put them together and they just work. I imagine something similar would be available with starship parts, get a couple of nacelles from here, an engineering section from there grab a saucer cut bits out so the turbolifts work and bob's your scutter. I'd imagine that they'd be kept working for a while until the fleet was rebuilt; there would be a lot of cleaning up to do after the war.
I thought the whole "Dominion War kitbash" idea was something put forth in the STS9 Technical Manual.
It was. The tech manual was written by Rick Sternbach, who, while an awesome guy and a huge asset to Star Trek, strongly dislikes kitbashing in general. Hence the idea that these ships were kitbashed in-universe and don't represent true starship classes. Sorry Rick, but logic disagrees with you.
Also, Starfleet does appear to believe in kitbashing when creating its "regular" starships: the Constellation is a prime example, but the Nebula (up front and in your face) and all the Wolf 359 stuff (high quality but lamentably never seen up close) also apply. Just call it "modularity" and all is fine. Timo Saloniemi
They reminded me a lot of the weirder FASA ship designs, or the weird background ones that'd pop up in old Trek comics.
Got to admit that FASA showed lots of imagination. Such as in the "single lock" engine designs. That was where parts of the pylons and secondary hull obscured and protected the sight lines to the warp engine nacelles. I was particularly fond of the Northhampton class.
I love the Jupp - it reminds me of the Saladin from the Tech Manual. I don't think has ever been identified on screen though.
I believe the only ones that showed up on screen were the Curry, Centaur, Raging Queen, Yeager, and the tug. There were also non-kitbashed model kits of the Reliant and Excelsior that showed up too.