Captain Esteban and Grissom heh heh

[DaleC76]

siskokid888 said:
I guess that's why as a full bird Captain, Estaban was only in command of a lousy scout ship - obviously his superiors didn't think too highly of him. A ship like the Grissom would have a lieutenant or at most a lt. commander as captain.

Then again, the Genesis mission was very important. Perhaps the Grissom was more than just an ordinary scout ship - maybe it was one of the top science ships in the fleet, important enough to have a real captain, anyway.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Indeed. It was a TOP SECRET mission, so best not send the Excelsior or something out there... OTOH, the tactical assessors probably figured that the planet ITSELF was hardly a problem, so they just declared the Mutara sector restricted, called Genesis itself planet forbidden, and hoped that everyone got the memo and stayed away.

As for the story I read, I'm sure it was a Lieutenant of some sort who was the skipper, as I distinctly found it pretty wierd that someone that low ranked was in command of a whole squadron of destroyers. OTOH, it may have been one of the French books I've read, and translation is a tricky business...

Mark

 

[The Castellan]

DaleC76 said:

siskokid888 said:
I guess that's why as a full bird Captain, Estaban was only in command of a lousy scout ship - obviously his superiors didn't think too highly of him. A ship like the Grissom would have a lieutenant or at most a lt. commander as captain.

Then again, the Genesis mission was very important. Perhaps the Grissom was more than just an ordinary scout ship - maybe it was one of the top science ships in the fleet, important enough to have a real captain, anyway.

A top of the line ship that got swatted like a flea.
Big time missions like that need better ships, a Constitution or a Miranda would have sufficied.

 

[Nebusj]

The Castellan said:
A top of the line ship that got swatted like a flea.

A freak lucky shot, as all agreed. HMS Price of Wales was sunk in 1941 by essentially one torpedo, and Repulse was effectively sunk by just two barrages. There are many more examples particularly throughout World War II of capital ships being able to handle everything except the one freakishly lucky bomb or torpedo that hits in just the right spot; why shouldn't it happen for the sacrificial lamb plot point?