Discovery Strongest Ship?

[iliescu]

Is Discovery the best ship when it comes to combat. It can warp around and shoot from different sides does it make it the best ship in Star Trek so far though in the past when it comes to the timeline? They build them different now sort of thing or maybe the newer ships have secrets such as the huge Shields power on Voyager. What is your opinion or facts?

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

Perhaps. Since it was considered to be Starfleet's "secret weapon" during the Klingon war, it would be reasonable to assume they would make it as tough & effective as possible for combat. During the war, jumping around from 1 point in space to another wasn't enough. It also had to deliver some pain to the enemy, which it did. And then it did it again against Conrtol. So Discovery is the best!

 

[TPezz]

Perhaps!

It will be interesting to see how it is portrayed in S3 1000 years in the future. It should be basically obsolete. Will they upgrade it? Or has the downfall of the Federation led to a downfall in civilisations with much of its past technological advances lost to history?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The ability to "pop in" to the middle of a battle without being detected as an approaching starship was a huge tactical advantage.

But as what was, as far as we know, more of a science ship, it probably isn't the most powerful ship in the fleet. It did pretty well alongside the Enterprise vs Control ships.

 

[Jellico]

I’m thinking that Enterprise might be the top ship. After Enterprise and Discovery, we haven’t seen any thing better.

 

[Paul755]

I would say the Discoprise is the strongest.

 

[Timo]

I guess it's telling that when the Discovery goes to battle (say, "Butcher's Knife"), she needs to shut down major systems so that her phasers can be charged "double hot" - and still she isn't exactly cutting anybody to pieces yet.

Sure, she can spit out a lot of torpedoes from all sorts of funny places. But those may be on the light side, since she does shoot a lot of them, while Pike thinks just two from his own ship is enough to blow up the shielded Discovery in "Sweet Sorrow I".

Kinda fitting for a flying laboratory, really. Starfleet wasn't going to turn NCC-1031 into an invincible battlewagon - they were going to install the superdrive onto proper warships, as stated in "Choose Your Pain". So the Discovery probably never got meaningful upgrades.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[iliescu]

From new Official Trek it seems La Sirena might speed past Discovery's warp around and shoot function. Being new not certain if this Picard gem of ship would be something of a deal to fly against.
Thinking the 5 best ships might be...
1. Discovery, 2. Enterprise, 3. La Sirena, 4. Voyager, 5. Intrepid
Loose list...not so certain but they look pretty good

 

[the Sisko]

I would think it is the USS Europa. It was worthy of the cleave ship's entrance to the fight. It had the strength to enter the battle and first rescue discovery and hail the Klingon's as a show of force.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'm surprised we haven't seen the Europa-class again. I thought it looked really cool (and even had a bridge designed for it but never built)

 

[AresB]

The Gagarin in the beginning of Si Vis Pacem lasted pretty long against the Klingon fleet. The battle had been going on already before the Discovery was alerted to assist, and the Gagarin received the final shot when the Disco's shields were also going down. If it hadn't been able to escape with the spore drive, it would have been dead right after.

I'd say the Discovery isn't particularly good battleship, just the advantage of making sudden entrance and exit anywhere made it a unique asset.

 

[fireproof78]

I'd say the Discovery isn't particularly good battleship, just the advantage of making sudden entrance and exit anywhere made it a unique asset.

I would agree.

 

[Timo]

I would think it is the USS Europa. It was worthy of the cleave ship's entrance to the fight. It had the strength to enter the battle and first rescue discovery and hail the Klingon's as a show of force.

Admiral Anderson probably had a reason for choosing that one as his flagship, yes. Whether it was her combat prowess is unknown: she never exchanged shots before perishing.

The four-nacelled structure where the top two are joined by a wing that doesn't have a torpedo launcher in the middle, but instead an apparent bridge, is curious in its own right. It wouldn't be difficult to assume that the strange grooves ahead of the pylons that connect this whole top structure to the rest of the ship are a latching mechanism of some sort, and the top two nacelles with their adjoining wing and bridge can fly away at warp when needed. Ideal for command ships, perhaps. Anderson would have the choice of joining the fray, commanding from afar, or doing both at the same time.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ronald Held]

Never heard of a 23d century ship that can separate and reattach without a Spscedock.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Never heard of a 23d century ship that can separate and reattach without a Spscedock.

Was that ever canon? Pretty sure it only came from manuals or novels rather than the shows themselves. With the huge tech upgrade Discovery's given the 23rd century, I've no doubt the Discovery or Enterprise could reattach their saucer without outside help.

 

[Timo]

...They could probably reattach a nacelle that shook off when nobody listened to Scotty's "Me poor bairns!", or a saucer half that got broken off by that Giant Green Hand, yes. Whether this would be related to the saucer having been designed to separate or reattach is debatable.

We never heard of a starship that couldn't separate, or couldn't land, or couldn't reattach, or couldn't take off, or, say, couldn't fly through water or mountains. There's mild wow value to the E-D reattaching for the first time, but nothing definite about how unique this maneuver really is. OTOH, there's plenty of lack of mention of saucer separation in TOS or DSC adventures that involve trouble with that other section of the ship. Might be it can't be done. Might be it can be done but is unwise in that specific situation. Might be it is only wise if reattaching then follows, and that can't be done.

It's pretty odd to have a saucer in the first place if it can't separate, though. Are these odd dangling bits and thin pylons used solely so that the dockyards have it easier swapping the components? Or is there a field application involved?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ronald Held]

Might be able to separate a saucer. Unlikely to reattach itself or land more than once. Not certain about 24th century ships.

 

[AresB]

Was that ever canon? Pretty sure it only came from manuals or novels rather than the shows themselves. With the huge tech upgrade Discovery's given the 23rd century, I've no doubt the Discovery or Enterprise could reattach their saucer without outside help.

Mentioned in TOS: The Apple as a last ditch effort, but apparently it's so rarely done that even Scotty didn't think of it until Kirk suggests it. Guess the idea of being stranded in outer reaches of space with only stl drive wasn't very appealing.

 

[Timo]

Might also be that separation has nothing to do with escape or evacuation or the like in the field manuals, which is why Scotty never considered it here. Perhaps the ship can be split into pieces for some other purpose entirely. Say, for updating of the all-important warp engines with minimum effort, or for swapping the mission gear by swapping the saucer.

Or then "discarding of the warp drive nacelles" is not an option, which is exactly why Kirk is suggesting it: he's trying to motivate Scotty into thinking outside the box. It could be Kirkspeak or Starfleetspeak for "go outside and push" or "light a fire under the engine".

Timo Saloniemi

 

[AresB]

That's what it sounds like in the dialogue, yes.
The TOS Writer's Bible doesn't mention saucer or nacelle separation, and at least I didn't find anything about it in Matt Jefferies' design sketches either. Only that the engines should be away from the main hull because of the power and radiation involved.
The Making of Star Trek book states that "Designed to operate separately from the rest of the ship, the saucer therefore contains all elements necessary for independent operation", but it's unclear where that quote came from.