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Defiant Class Starship as an exploration cruiser

No. The whole point of the Defiant is that it's just a warship, one, albiet, that was multirole. One that was supposed to operate in teams. But because it was one of the first to be laid down after the Borg, it was shelved quickly and never mass produced; only two/four ( I think we see four in one battle but they weren't working in tandem, which defeats their purpose in part!).

However, it can do *recon* well, and has good scanners for that purpose; so if there ever was a Federation Expeditionary Corps, it wouldn't be totally blind. Two hundred years of inertia, I guess.

Heck design wise. the Defiant is just a saucer with engineering shoved into it, the warp nacelles glued on the side and the deflector array shoved in front.

No.

That said, I'm sure there's an episode where the "stripped down warship" sprouts a science lab. Trek ships are super convenient like that:lol:

It's on Deck 2, I believe.

"In its limited role as a reconnaissance starship, the Defiant-class was equipped with two dedicated science and medical labs for field testing and investigations" - Memory Alpha.

Should had just stripped them out for a Science closet and filled the space with more quarters.
 
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All Starfleet vessels are capable of carrying out a wide variety of missions, but some are better suited to some tasks than others, IMO. I think the Defiant-class is ideally suited for "butt-kicking." That doesn't mean it can't carry out exploration missions if called upon, but something like a Galaxy-class or an Intrepid-class would probably have more onboard resources and personnel for such missions.
 
No. Crowded quarters, which would get annoying for long missions. Minimal labs and medical facilities, you'd want better for exploration and if you encounter unknown diseases. Tiny crews, which would not allow for many science specialists an exploration ship would want, or the loss of redshirts on away missions. Just the one small mess hall, with no other recreation spaces, which would make the crowded crew quarters even more of a problem. High top speed and more powerful phasers aren't a high priority for peaceful exploration either.
 
Defiant is a cut-down warship. But as ships show unexpected abilities, Starfleet makes use of such.
The big retcon is adding a shuttlecraft to Defiant, but in The Search Defiant carries multiple shuttles (that is in the illusion section, but no-one spots it as an oddity. But equally Defiant is new, so maybe they don't know the specs).
 
The unlikeliest former warships get used as survey vessels ITRW. Basically anything that floats can be converted to a surveyor, but it tends to involve a lot of tearing out of military junk to make room for... Well, bunks, mostly. What most small military vessels lack is endurance, in terms of crew comforts and stores. They may gain that in many ways, including rebuilding of superstructure, ripping out of an engine/boiler or three, or disembarking a few guns.

I trust the same could be done to the Defiant. But to what purpose? Wouldn't it be simpler to just take an Oberth, or build one, since the end result in any case isn't going to be "Defiant with added science abilities" but "former Defiant, current unarmed wallowing barge, with science abilities"?

Timo Saloniemi
 
Not really designed for it but I suppose a small group could use one for a very specific mission.
 
The Defiant Class was just too small to be used long term. It was built to combat the Borg and ended up being used to combat the Dominion.

Intrepid Class Voyager was much more suited for long term science missions as a larger (but not too large) and faster vessel.

Defiant Class ships were all war based and I don't see them being converted to science and exploration very well during peace time. If anything, it might be an escort ship for Oberth or Miranda type vessels with less armaments to go on their science or supply missions.
 
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