Ambassador class phasers and crew

[James Wright]

Did the Ambassador class starships have ventral phasers?
From the pictures I've seen of the Ambassador class there doesn't appear to be any ventral phasers until the Yamaguchi shows up at Wolf 359 and tries to save the Saratoga with Locutus watching from his station on the Borg cube as the Belleraphon and Yamaguchi made attack runs.
What is the estimated crew of an Ambassador class starship?

James

 

[Praetor]

This thread gives me the strangest feeling of deja vu...

I believe that, as you say, the original model left off a "belly" strip, but I know for a fact that the model kit that was produced had one, and I would consider "Emissary" as proof that this was an oversight that we should ignore, and either assume that (1) early Ambassadors had "turret" phasers in that location and later ones had a belly strip or (2) that all of them had belly strips.

As for crew? I don't know a canon or even fanon figure off the top of my head, but I'd guess ~900. Seems right to me.

 

[cwl]

I'd say less than that: 700-800 tops

 

[Praetor]

Excelsior's supposed to carry in the 700 range, though, and the Ambassador is a lot bigger.

 

[cwl]

Excelsior's supposed to carry in the 700 range, though, and the Ambassador is a lot bigger.

Ambassador class is newer & would presumably be more automated.

Plus the crews on the Excelsior often shared rooms and slept in bunks. That would save a lot of accommodation space.

Assuming the Ambassador class accommodation is more along the lines of the Galaxy class she would need increased space for crew quarters.

 

[thedude]

http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints/ambassador-class-starship-ncc-1701-c-sheet-4.jpg

See item 24, "Ventral Phaser Strip"

Many sources list an average crew between 850 and 900... 190 officers, 675'ish enlisted.

I've always loved the Amb's, by the way... probably one of my favorite starship designs ever. I think seeing it (however briefly) in Yesterday's Enterprise is what did it for me.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I think *not* seeing it enough in Y's E was what sold her on me - I wanted more! The design is simple and elegant, as a starship needs to be. Nevermind the real-life production issues that left so much detail off of her, the lines are some of the nicest in any starship ever built. A shame we didn't see her more - and one wonders how much more awesome she would look if Rick Sternbach and company had had more than a few days and a few dollars to work on her.

As for the crew, I can remember only one source (some 90s trading cards) that list around 700. Personally, I think 900 is a little high given the fact that the Enterprise-D's 1014 includes more than a few civilians and families. If the technology is comparable and using the Miranda as a potential reference, I'd say a TNG Ambassador would be around 700, and the Excelsior to be down to 500 or so. The Excelsior-class USS Grissom had 1,250 aboard when she was lost, but I believe that not to be a great yardstick given it was wartime.

Mark

 

[James Wright]

I found several photos of the Enterprise-C and Yamaguchi models at Ex-Astris Scientia and none of them show a ventral phasers on either ship.


James

 

[Kross]

I wonder if the Ambassador is still worth upgrading...

 

[thedude]

I found several photos of the Enterprise-C and Yamaguchi models at Ex-Astris Scientia and none of them show a ventral phasers on either ship.


James

James, I think you're right. The original concept I believe had the phaser array, but you can clearly see a lack of the strip on the model at auction...

This, of course, is a heavily modified version from after YE duty, but I don't think the secondary hull was modified too heavily.

 

[cwl]

probly is- there aren't many in service- wouldn't be too much to upgrade them.

 

[Kross]

Well, there was a DS9 novel a few years back where Starfleet contracts Bajor to build an Ambassador, the USS Hannibal.

 

[cwl]

starfleet outsources fleet construction... to Bajor of all places????

 

[Kross]

It was called Antimatter. Apparently Bajor had a planet side shipyard and I guess Starfleet was throwing them a bone to help the Bajoran economy.

 

[cwl]

I can imagine Bajor potentially building components for starships but not an actual ship.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

It gets better. Their shipyards utilized huge towers fitted with tractor beams that would ultimately launch the ship into space. At the end of the novel the Hannibal is finished and is so sent on its way. Somewhere in there, Kira mutters that they should at least be tasked to build a more modern ship, and Sisko counters that the Bajorans need to prove that they're up to the task in the first place and so were assigned an outdated ship design on purpose. As if. :P

Mark

 

[James Wright]

There are phaser strips on the nacelle pylons much like the E-D and I found more pictures of the Ambassador class starship at Starfleetmodeler.com which shows phaser strips on the primary hull and nacelle pylons, not a heavily armed ship!


James

 

[thedude]

There are phaser strips on the nacelle pylons much like the E-D and I found more pictures of the Ambassador class starship at Starfleetmodeler.com which shows phaser strips on the primary hull and nacelle pylons, not a heavily armed ship!


James

Well now... phaser "strips" allow for multi-angled targeting from a single phaser "bank." Essentially, having a strip would be like having dozens of standard phasers or phaser canons... plus the strips, when put together, pretty much cover 360 degrees of the ship, on all axis. Kind of a cool idea. It does limit the multi-target engageability (wow that's a word!) of the class, but the Ambassador was pretty advanced in it's day, and held it's own in battle (Ent-C, for example). What surprises me is the SINGLE photon launcher... I'm guessing there's one hidden in the back of the 'neck' of the ship as well, though.

 

[FalTorPan]

The shooting script of "Yesterday's Enterprise" mentioned that the Enterprise-C had a crew of 700.

 

[Praetor]

^Well there we go.