Constitution Class retirement?

[GalaxyClass1701]

My theory us that they were retired and put in a reserve fleet which goes perfect for my story in which one is stollen out of the reserve fleet by anti Federation terrorists that feel the Federation has abandoned them since the Borg Invasion from Destiny and are going to use the ship to attack Federation outposts. But it is also been upgraded with Disruptors and cloaking tech from the Typhon pact.

Now I need to decide if it will be the Enterprise crew or the Aventine crew that goes after it??

 

[SchwEnt]

It doesn't work in the real world.

To a degree, yes the real world does work that way, military ships are refitted, altered and reassigned to new roles, until they're useless and played out. Then we sell them to our allies.

The USA could have kept Essex class carriers around ...

Built for WWII, some stayed in service through early 1975 . Just as the USS Enterprise of the Constitution class was refitted as the Enterprise class, the Essex class USS Hancock was refitted as the one of the five ship Hancock class.

... and what the hell, maybe a couple battleships, too.

Might want to sight a different example there too, the battleship Missouri had a life span of nearly 48 years

Surely they were capable of defeating some country, somewhere.

Iraq maybe, during Operation Desert Storm, the battleship Missouri fired 28 cruise missiles into Iraqi targets, plus shore targets with her main guns..

Oh, and the USS Constitution was used on overseas missions 57 years after being launched and is still in active service after 214 years, old girl doesn't get out much anymore.

------

Similarly, the Connies and Enterprises (and other variants?) would have remained in service through certainly the early decades of the 24th century, then transferred/sold into the service of Federation member worlds home-fleets or sold to trusted Federation allies. They would be periodically refitted and upgraded, their 23rd century weapons and sensors removed and superior replacements installed.

By the time of the Dominion War, the space frame of some of the ships would be well over a century old, hardly a front line vessel, but still capable of rear area patrols and offensive missions.

Oh I know those examples. I was in Hawaii restoring Mighty Mo following retirement. And I know about the Hancock and Oriskany and a few others.

I was thinking of those as more individual examples of certain ships/aircraft kept in service rather than continuing whole classes. The difference between keeping, say, the Lexington as a training carrier versus maintaining the whole line of B-52s decade after decade.

And even then, it's a matter of upgrading and refitting rather than running it into the ground as a rusting hulk.

I can see Star Fleet upgrading older ships like the Constitution or Excelsior classes to serve for decades, outfitted with the latest tech possible.

But taking old ships and just running them ragged until they rust out and fall apart (as with the Soviet Navy examples cited)....with Star Fleet? Possible. Just never thought they'd operate that way.

 

[Subcommander R.]

But taking old ships and just running them ragged until they rust out and fall apart (as with the Soviet Navy examples cited)....with Star Fleet? Possible. Just never thought they'd operate that way.

Considering that our essentially aluminum foil Voyager 1 has left the solar system and been in continuous operation for 33 years without a problem...

Then there's also no rust in space. So the craft itself could last a very long time.

 

[SchwEnt]

^^^Using the term "rusted out" as a metaphor for whatever the space-equivalent of structural component degradation is.

 

[Subcommander R.]

^ I figured, but I couldn't resist.

 

[plynch]

1. I like the look of Mirandas, but I wonder: why have a secondary hull (Connies) if it is apparently not necessary as in the Mirandas?

2. Anyway, Connies were finally retired in 2341.

 

[BillJ]

1. I like the look of Mirandas, but I wonder: why have a secondary hull (Connies) if it is apparently not necessary as in the Mirandas?

Perhaps when the Constitutions were launched, ejecting warp cores was impractical? This would necessitate the saucer/secondary hull configuration... housing the warp core in a separate and disposable section of the ship in case of catastrophic failure.

 

[Subcommander R.]

1. I like the look of Mirandas, but I wonder: why have a secondary hull (Connies) if it is apparently not necessary as in the Mirandas?

2. Anyway, Connies were finally retired in 2341.

The same reason a Galaxy or Excelsior has one.

And do you have a source for that date? Just curious.

 

[The Wormhole]

Agreed, but l I don't know that the Ambassadors replaced the Excelsiors and Constellation classes, in the same way the Excelsiors replaced the Constitutions, even though they were all classified as heavy cruisers.

Since an Ambassador class starship was named Enterprise, I think we can assume that when it was the class was means to be the starship design for Starfleet.

Ambassadors appeared in Data's day, redemption and Emissary, as well as the credits of DS9.

While it's true Emissary is the last actual appearance of an Ambassador class ship, that was actually a flashback to Wolf 359. The last time we see an Ambassador, chronologically is Redemption Part 2. There was never one seen in the credits of DS9, though an image of one once appeared in Mr. Daniels's database on Enterprise. Source.

 

[antiquityscion]

Since an Ambassador class starship was named Enterprise, I think we can assume that when it was the class was means to be the starship design for Starfleet.

What I was saying was that when Excelsiors replaced the Constitutions, you didn't really see constitutions after that. With the Ambassadors, the 70 year old Excelsiors were will far more numerous than the Ambassadors, by DS9 era.

While it's true Emissary is the last actual appearance of an Ambassador class ship, that was actually a flashback to Wolf 359. The last time we see an Ambassador, chronologically is Redemption Part 2. There was never one seen in the credits of DS9, though an image of one once appeared in Mr. Daniels's database on Enterprise. Source.

I wasn't listing them in order.

That's right I was thinking of the nebula class ship on the DS9 credits.

 

[plynch]

1. I like the look of Mirandas, but I wonder: why have a secondary hull (Connies) if it is apparently not necessary as in the Mirandas?

Perhaps when the Constitutions were launched, ejecting warp cores was impractical? This would necessitate the saucer/secondary hull configuration... housing the warp core in a separate and disposable section of the ship in case of catastrophic failure.

Ok, sounds good.

And I just made up the date. People seemed to want one.

 

[Vonstadt]

Ok, sounds good.

And I just made up the date. People seemed to want one.

Well I fell for it

 

[Arpy]

"Given on-screen evidence, it should be obvious that the Constitution Class was a hideous failure. It's disappeared entirely whereas its contemporary Miranda and near-contemporary Excelsior are still ubiquitous."

Discuss.

 

[sbk1234]

It could be that so many got destroyed in the three years of TOS, that they didn't rebuild any. Kirk did say there were 12 like it in Tomorrow is yesterday. That would make only 13 in total. Not a lot of ships to begin with.

 

[buckeyenation]

Or then starships are never really retired, as much as they are operated until they fall apart.

A starship never really gets outdated: even if Klingon or Romulan technology moves ahead, Starfleet can always find another adversary from the Milky Way whose tech is inferior and will stay inferior for the next century. It might thus make sense to keep operating Constitutions in certain theaters until the last one rusts out - but new ones would not be built, so the numbers would dwindle, and those numbers that did remain would stay off the cameras because nobody is interested in adventures involving vastly inferior villains!

Timo Saloniemi

I do hate to nitpick, but how would a ship "rust out" if it spends all its time in space? I'm just sayin.......

 

[Subcommander R.]

"Given on-screen evidence, it should be obvious that the Constitution Class was a hideous failure. It's disappeared entirely whereas its contemporary Miranda and near-contemporary Excelsior are still ubiquitous."

Discuss.

I disagree with the statement. The success of a design has to do with its success in its designed role rather than its age.

And keep in mind that the Miranda started off in a similar role but was relegated to transport duties by TNG. Sure they started reappearing in combat during emergencies, but only in emergencies.

Even the Excelsiors were a 'workhorse' rather than a 'warhorse.'

Frankly, I do believe there are Connie refits still in the fleet. Probably doing things like border patrol in quiet sectors, anti-piracy, transport, training cruises, etc.

Most likely only four or five at most though.

 

[T'Girl]

I do hate to nitpick, but how would a ship "rust out" if it spends all its time in space? I'm just sayin.......

.


The insides of starships are full of nice humid air.

 

[Anduril]

Don't starships have a lifetime of a hundred years or so? This is per the TNG Tech Manual.*



*i know it's not cannon.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Wasn't it a Constitution refit that crashed on it's return from a deep space mission in "The Sound of Her Voice"?

 

[plynch]

Do you "retire" a whole class? Or just stop building 'em and retire ship by ship?