Constitution Class Engineering Hull Construction

[drt]

The novel Wounded Sky depicted the TOS Enterprise with (iirc) a woven crystalline hull, when a section was damaged Scotty said they had the equipment to reweave the split.

It's been probably 20 years since last read it, but for some reason I thought the Wounded Sky Enterprise was the refit, maybe because I of that "crystalline hull" reference*, since the refit's hull always seemed more crystalline.

* Weird as it seems, I remember it being described as a "iridium-rhodium alloy" - I'm not sure why that stick in my head.

 

[Robert Comsol]

I just remembered this little gem from "Balance of Terror":

SPOCK: From the outpost's protective shield. Cast rodinium. This is the hardest substance known to our science.

Interesting to notice that the mechanical shield of the Earth outpost was apparently neither welded or pieced together but "cast".
This could be a helpful clue envisioning hull construction in the 23rd Century.

Bob

 

[T'Girl]

was apparently neither welded or pieced together but "cast".

Or the shell was cast in sections and then attached together in some fashion.

Ship's steel hulls today are also cast, that doesn't mean that they're all one piece.

 

[Albertese]

Two words: "cast iron."

--Alex

 

[Mario de Monti]

During the time of ENT, earth ships seem to be manufactured "the old fashioned way" - i.e. hull plates attached to an inner framework. They detach one of the hull plates in "Mine Field".

Of course that doesn´t necessarily say anything about how starship construction is done a hundred years later. Still thought I´d mention it.

Mario

 

[J.T.B.]

Ship's steel hulls today are also cast, that doesn't mean that they're all one piece.

Very little of ship's structure today is cast or forged, though some smaller pieces are. But the vast majority is rolled steel.

 

[Timo]

We could speculate on the meaning of "casting" in this context from another angle - that of "casting" a spell or a television program.

In DS9, the hero ship is said to have ablative armor, but we most definitely see that nothing ablates from the hull, that is, weapons fire doesn't leave behind pits or even charring. And in "Past Tense", it is discussed that, far from being an inert material like the heat shield of an ancient spacecraft, the ablative armor of the ship somehow traps chroniton particles inside its matrix while no other form of matter aboard evidently does.

Possibly, then, the ablative material is in fact being cast on the hull in an active process, with transporter-like devices replacing it as it ablates, and eliminating the pits and charring that would be associated with the ablation of mere ordinary matter. Perhaps an asteroid fortress could also "broadcast" matter in the path of incoming fire, making it far more solid than corresponding natural matter by virtue of placing it there essentially atomic layer by atomic layer, without faults.

Even a perfect metal lattice could be disturbed with enough electric charge, though, such as provided by the Romulan plasma weapon...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Captain Rob]

During the time of ENT, earth ships seem to be manufactured "the old fashioned way" - i.e. hull plates attached to an inner framework. They detach one of the hull plates in "Mine Field".

Of course that doesn´t necessarily say anything about how starship construction is done a hundred years later. Still thought I´d mention it.

Mario

I was thinking of this episode while reading this thread. I got the idea, along with reading the old TNG Tech Manual, that the hull was composed out of plates. That were essentially cast laminated structures that included mounting hardware inbedded in them. They could then be mounted onto the inner hull and supporting structure using those infamous 'self-sealing stem bolts'. The inner hull would probably be simple titanium.

 

[publiusr]

Masao Okazaki did a drawing of the secondary hull next to Sea Dragon ( a giant HLV)

There were similar in size.

There is this concept of a wet stage station, where a rocket core, like the shuttle external tank, could be placed in orbit.

heck, there was even a lenticular HLV almost the size of a smaller ships saucer
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/bonaucer.htm

So a build the enterprise type endeavor may be more easily done--but by wet stage.

 

[varek]

Duranium or neutronium (if available) would be my choice for exterior hull materials.