Discovery Size Argument™ thread

[Kamen Rider Blade]

The only reason I can think of as to why the Discovery has such long Nacelles on the rear was for easy testing of different Warp Field interactions with different Warp Nacelles without having to worry about Line-Of Sight clearance based on existing Vessel Structure getting in the way. Usually you have to figure out some way for the Warp Fields to meet when structure is close by, but with the Nacelles sitting so far back away from the StarDrive section, it makes for easy configuration / testing.

I see the Crossfield class as a giant R&D / Test platform.

That's what makes the most sense to me.

Given the name Crossfield was taken from Albert Scott Crossfield who was a test pilot, it wouldn't surprise me if the entire Crossfield class's design / simple shapes was for being the giant R&D / Test platform.

Also, they did mention in show that Discovery had a very impressive number of scientific experiments happening simultaneously.

 

[Timo]

Or, considering that there only appear to be two Crossfields, neither of which is actually named Crossfield or carries a nice double-zero registry, we might speculate that nothing in the hero ship is actually designed in - but instead the known ships of this design are extensive modifications from some kind of standard stock.

And the mods might account for any number of features: the unique nacelles (fitting for a ship intended to test new ways of flying), the spinning saucer (apparently vital for the spore drive), the onboard labs (perhaps this ship with an oddly shaped secondary hull used to be a fightercarrier or bulk hauler originally, with lots of room for labs and mushroomrooms and the like). Or then just some of those, or none.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[DEWLine]

The Discovery 1031 and Glenn 1030 were likely converted to test-bed service. The rest of the Crossfields, we know nothing of as yet. They likely still look like the design we saw in that Comic Con test footage...

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Or, considering that there only appear to be two Crossfields, neither of which is actually named Crossfield or carries a nice double-zero registry, we might speculate that nothing in the hero ship is actually designed in - but instead the known ships of this design are extensive modifications from some kind of standard stock.

And the mods might account for any number of features: the unique nacelles (fitting for a ship intended to test new ways of flying), the spinning saucer (apparently vital for the spore drive), the onboard labs (perhaps this ship with an oddly shaped secondary hull used to be a fightercarrier or bulk hauler originally, with lots of room for labs and mushroomrooms and the like). Or then just some of those, or none.

Exactly, that's my train of thought as well given the test bed nature of the Spore Drive.

 

[Tuskin38]

The Discovery 1031 and Glenn 1030 were likely converted to test-bed service. The rest of the Crossfields, we know nothing of as yet. They likely still look like the design we saw in that Comic Con test footage...

Episode 2 described the Discovery as looking brand new.

And someone (I think Admiral Cornwell) called it the most advanced ship in the fleet.

Though she could have just been referring to the Spore Drive as making it so.

 

[DEWLine]

"Since we're refitting it as a Spore Drive test-bed anyway, what else can we spruce up while we've got her in the yards?"

 

[Timo]

"Well, we can polish those two decades' worth of scrapes off the shuttlebay floor for starters."

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Tuskin38]

There's nothing in the show that implies that the Discovery is old.

 

[PicardSpeedo]

There's nothing in the show that implies that the Discovery is old.

You're correct - in fact it's almost explicitly stated that it's a new ship by way of the prisoner commentary to that effect in Episode 2.

 

[Ronald Held]

New ship could mean completely refitted.

 

[Tuskin38]

New ship could mean completely refitted.

Or it could mean new ship

 

[Timo]

The ship being either new or old is never a plot point in the show, or at least has not been one so far. It suffices for us to know that she's mushroom-compatible, and that she is weak in combat (even "double hot" phasers don't make her particularly noteworthy in fights), as befits a science ship. For Klingons, only the superdrive matters; otherwise, the hero ship has no characteristics worth their concern. And the same so far goes for Starfleet; at most, we could argue the Fleet bosses originally felt the ship could be taken off the front lines for long-shot research, but we never learn this would have been because of some characteristic of hers (the weakness in fights, say).

For a crazy criminal, the ship was news. Then again, he was sharing a fate with Burnham, who got life; he might have been out of the circulation for quite some time (and never mind his level of starship recognition expertise to begin with).

Timo Saloniemi