Comparing life times of Enterprises

[somebuddyX]

I always prefer when ships seem to last longer and have a bit of history to them that occur between onscreen missions. I always compare it that in the real world ships here on Earth last a while but obviously they don't go out fighting various aliens or getting blown up in an anomaly. Still I always wanted the E-E to last a while, as like a dumb counterpoint to how the E-D had so many appearances in episodes and got blown up after 8 years, have the E-E be around for like 40 years after just three film appearances. But then also Voyager is up to the B after 30 years? And they're only up to J 800 years later? Huh?

 

[Lord Garth]

Obviously things slowed down between the 25th and 32nd Centuries.

My personal theory is that after the Enterprise-Gangster was replaced by the Enterprise-Hooligan, it came and went, then we got the Enterprise-Idiotic. After which, Starfleet Command finally decided, "That's it! No more Enterprises!" Then it stuck for 100 years, until the Enterprise-J came along. I have no idea what to nickname the Enterprise-J, but it broke the string of "easy come, easy go" Enterprises.

The 26th Century is different in that it began the trend of Starfleet wanting ships that last longer. A lot longer.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

During Peace Time, ships should last longer unless you run into conflict, then stuff happens and life-spans gets shorten.

IRL, why most naval ships last as long is because they're mostly not in direct conflict.

During WW2, alot of ships didn't have the same life-spans due to conflict, so...

 

[Elder Knight]

Regardless, I don't get why ships would be decommissioned just because they're being refit, or why they would need to be renamed after the refit was done.

Well, a ship may have been named for some historical figure who has fallen into disfavor due to new revelations ... or changing societal attitudes. Could happen!

 

[C.E. Evans]

Perhaps the USS Enterprise-F was being 'decommissioned' but not trashed. A major overhaul at the 15-20 year mark isn't uncommon in today's navies after all. But the difference is that so much will be changed that the refit will need several years in drydock and when she re-emerges the resulting ship will just be given a new name.

So Enterrprise-F could become Titan-B or whatever in a few years when her refit is completed.

I don't know if it's Matalas or someone else, but I think the leading idea is that the Enterprise-F suffered extensive ship-wide systems damage during her last mission that were beyond repair. She was still spaceworthy and could move about on impulse power, but her warp drive may have been totally trashed from the core to the nacelles and her EPS power grid hanging on by a wing and a prayer for all we know. Rather than basically "rewire" the entire ship (which may have been quite an effort given how big she was), Starfleet may have decided that it was just easier to retire the Enterprise-F and rename another ship as the Enterprise-G.

Maybe she was originally going to be another existing Odyssey-class vessel, but then the Titan-A stepped forward...

 

[The Wormhole]

I always prefer when ships seem to last longer and have a bit of history to them that occur between onscreen missions.

And indeed, Roddenberry's wish with TOS was that the Enterprise was to be a ship with history, and the fact there is a backstory there certainly added some depth to the way that series felt. At least a lot moreso than the other shows where the ship is brand new in the premiere episode. Which that annoyed me with the Berman era. Okay, fine, I accept it with TNG since there they were specifically trying to be different from TOS. And DS9 we got a sort of a middle situation where the station is old with history though this is the start of Starfleet taking control of it. Though the Defiant was a brand new ship when it showed up. Voyager, if it were me I'd have made it a ship that had some years on it that had just undergone a refit to give it the latest cutting edge technology.

Well, a ship may have been named for some historical figure who has fallen into disfavor due to new revelations ... or changing societal attitudes. Could happen!

Maybe, but that's different than the situation being discussed where the Enterprise F is decommissioned to be refit, then the Titan A is renamed Enterprise G, only for the Enterprise F to be recommissioned and renamed when its refit is done, which is what I find illogical.