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Enterprise E Saucer Separation

USS Valkyrie said:
I know that it is said that since the shuttle bay goes so far down into the ship that it's inconcievable that the Enterprise E could separate.

Can you explain what you mean by 'goes so far down'. Do you mean vertically down or forward deep into the hull? I'm looking at pictures of E-E and am not understanding people's POV that it can't separate. Maybe I'm thick or something.
Thanks.
 
^^As I said upthread, I believe they're referring to the cutaway diagram on the E-E's bridge, which shows the forward shuttlebay extending down several decks below the level of the doors.

http://www.strekschematics.utvinternet.com/cutaways/orginalcut/orgentecutaway.jpg

But as I said, the bottom of the shuttlebay as shown there is not inconsistent with the separation plane suggested in Eaves's concept sketches. The only conflict I can see is at the top/rear of the shuttlebay, where it tapers back to a point that extends beneath the curve of the "hump" on the back of the engineering hull just behind the saucer. The separation plane would be just at the front edge of that "hump."
 
Yeah, but what happens if the warp-core ejection fails?
Saucer-separation.
And if you can't do that, escape-pods and shuttles.

Yeah, I'd say it's a belt-and-suspenders thing. Warp core ejection and antimatter fuel pod ejection for preventing immediate kabooms, lifepods if you have a few minutes to prepare, saucer separation for atmospheric escape or long term survival if you can spend about ten minutes preparing for it.

Which would explain why only the Feds seem to go for saucer hulls: they are the only ones to care enough about multiply redundant means of evacuation. Other species find lifepods sufficient, or then have separating sections that are less lavishly equipped for survival (possibly including Galor bridge sections or K't'inga forward pods).

The capability to divide the ship into two functional halves would probably be unique to the Galaxy class - added as an afterthought when Starfleet wanted to build a showcase vessel, a Nebula-with-all-the-bells-and-whistles-and-don't-hold-the -mayo. All other ships would typically leave behind a crippled stardrive section when separating.

Timo Saloniemi
 
Here's that picture of the Ent-E separation:

sovsep.jpg
 
Hmm... actually the contour of the separation plane in that sketch does seem to clash with the shuttlebay proportions shown in the MSD cutaway. But of course it's just a concept sketch, not actually binding. If the "steps" pattern on the top of the lower portion were shaped differently, dropping off faster from back to front, it could correspond to the shuttlebay underside seen in the MSD.

And as I said above, I don't assume the MSD cutaways themselves are absolute gospel, since they're just set decorations meant to convey a visual impression. If anyone ever wrote a good script that required making assumptions about a ship that contradicted the MSD, no sane producer would ever say "Sorry, we have to scuttle that story because it contradicts a few barely visible lines drawn on a piece of set decoration."

Heck, if the TMP Enterprise can have a rec deck that can't fit inside the saucer and an engineering corridor that extends farther forward than the front of the hull, and if a TOS shuttlecraft can be bigger on the inside than the outside, we pretty much have to accept that the proportions of fictional starships are intrinsically ambiguous things.
 
Christopher said:
And as I said above, I don't assume the MSD cutaways themselves are absolute gospel, since they're just set decorations meant to convey a visual impression.

Agreed 100%.
 
^^No, but there's plenty of middle ground between "discounted" and "absolute gospel." They're worth considering as a source of precedent but shouldn't be seen as proscriptive.
 
i actually own a toy-model (one of the japanese ones (not Furuta but from that series in scale to each another) which looks like it could seperate (indeed the top portion of the secondary hull, which goes in the saucer is modeled, including windows).
 
Funny how Peter David doesn't mention it once in the follow-up to Resistance... (different author I know but still...)
 
The cloak in Resistance was for emergency use only, requiring special authorization from the admiralty.

The lack of cloaking in Starfleet vessels post-TOS is not a matter of ability, but of law and practicality. It's forbidden by treaty, and its power demands are so great that it's impractical for anything other than a stripped-down warship.
 
The cloak in Resistance was for emergency use only, requiring special authorization from the admiralty.

I'm aware of the in-universe reasons why traditionally federation ships have never had cloaks But from a story-telling point of view, once you have opened the door...
 
^^The door was opened in "The Enterprise Incident." And again in "The Search" on DS9, with the introduction of the Defiant. Resistance didn't set any new precedents.
 
Christopher said:
^^No, but there's plenty of middle ground between "discounted" and "absolute gospel." They're worth considering as a source of precedent but shouldn't be seen as proscriptive.

I'll agree with that.
 
the ship has to separate when needed. it would be used as a tactical advantage and not to defend families.
The impulse engines of the saucer would be located at teh trailing edge of teh saucer under the shuttle bay.
the half oval shaped pod behind the saucer and on top of the engine hull would be full of weapons, pahsers, torpedo launchers, hidden uses or just full of torps and it would have it's own impulse engines to blast it clear of te hship so it can fly and ram into a Borg ship and wreck it. similar function as to a Defiant class ship nosecone
 
^^Err, the saucer's impulse engines aren't the problem -- they're clearly visible on the model and are ahead of the separation line, so they would undoubtedly stay with the saucer. The problem is that, unlike the Galaxy class, the Sovereign class has no evident impulse engines on the stardrive section. (Although, as I've said, I see no reason why warp engines couldn't drive a ship slower than light if necessary.)
 
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