Had the saucer section not crashed in Generations...

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If the saucer had survived, Starfleet would have probably kitbashed it. There are other classes that use the same saucer, and some of them have much smaller (or, in the case of the Freedom class, none at all) secondary hulls. It would surely have been easier to use the saucer for one of those.

 

[Bones2]

lol, I've just looked up the Freedom class. What a silly looking ship.

 

[Crewman47]

Wasn't there a Galaxy Class being constructed at Utopia Planitia in a flashback scene in a Voyager episode? I think it was set during the initial launch of Voyager which would've placed the year in about late 2370 which I realise is before Generations but the ship was still in the framework stage so it could've been used as a new Enterprise.

 

[JB2005]

...would Starfleet have constructed a new battle section?

Nah...they would have just waited for another Galaxy class ship that had major saucer damage and then used its stardrive section to mate to the Enterprise's saucer section.

I'm sure they still have bean counters in the future.

In a world without money?

They still have beans...

 

[USS KG5]

Nah...they would have just waited for another Galaxy class ship that had major saucer damage and then used its stardrive section to mate to the Enterprise's saucer section.

I'm sure they still have bean counters in the future.

In a world without money?

They still have beans...

Well also practically why waste such a massive structure?

 

[JB2005]

In a world without money?

They still have beans...

Well also practically why waste such a massive structure?

Would depend how damaged the Saucer was, like if it was barely scratched then maybe building a new ship would be a waste, but if you had to expend so many resources on repairing/refitting the saucer at the same time, would make sense to just build a new ship.

 

[James Wright]

How old were the Galaxy class ships as a group when the E-Ds' stardrive section exploded?
I thought the Galaxy class starships were the top of the line in technology when the E-D was launched and would remain so for many years to come with upgrades!?

James

 

[C.E. Evans]

The Galaxy-class had presumably been in service for over a decade by the time of Generations, IMO, but I think some of the technologies first developed for the Galaxy-class was already being implented into newer starship designs.

Depending on what theory you subscribe to, development of the Sovereign-class could have began sometime during TNG's fourth or fifth season...

 

[JB2005]

The Galaxy Classes were designed to go for a Century before needing a significant overhaul according to some source or other (bit far-fetched, but that was the intention...)

 

[James Wright]

The actual reason the E-D was replaced with an entirely new ship was because the Galaxy class ship was built for the tv series not the movies, I guess the Galaxy class wasn't properly detailed or "something" for movies.
Why not build a new Galaxy model for the movies?

James

 

[JB2005]

Why bother re-doing what's been done before when you can try something new and different i suppose the argument would be...

 

[Alrik]

The actual reason the E-D was replaced with an entirely new ship was because the Galaxy class ship was built for the tv series not the movies, I guess the Galaxy class wasn't properly detailed or "something" for movies.
Why not build a new Galaxy model for the movies?

James

Actually B&B would have liked to have axed the D during the series, but the budget wouldn't allow it. They got to the point that they felt that the D wasn't 'kewl' enough. With Generations they saw their chance, and went for it.

 

[James Wright]

Why B & B didn't they like the D?

James

 

[C.E. Evans]

The Galaxy Classes were designed to go for a Century before needing a significant overhaul according to some source or other (bit far-fetched, but that was the intention...)

In the TNG Tech Manual, it was suggested that the Galaxy-class in general was designed to last 100 years (with periodic major upgrades every 20 years), but the lifespan of individual ships in the design varied depending on how much wear and tear each was subjected to. In the "All Good Things..." alternate future, the Enterprise-D was going to be decommissioned after only 30 years in service.

 

[Maxillius]

Designed to last 100 years, but only if it's used as a luxury liner and not an exploration vessel.

Starfleet design beurau dropped the ball on the Galaxy project like they did on the Excelsior. Difference being that Excelsiors don't explode when little ships shoot at their neck.

 

[JB2005]

The Galaxy Classes were designed to go for a Century before needing a significant overhaul according to some source or other (bit far-fetched, but that was the intention...)

In the TNG Tech Manual, it was suggested that the Galaxy-class in general was designed to last 100 years (with periodic major upgrades every 20 years), but the lifespan of individual ships in the design varied depending on how much wear and tear each was subjected to. In the "All Good Things..." alternate future, the Enterprise-D was going to be decommissioned after only 30 years in service.

Ah my mistake! Still a class that lasts a hundred years even with major overhauls seems a little bit unrealistic...after all a hundred years ago we were still making the leap to metal-armoured battleships...

 

[nx1701g]

^ Not really when you think about it though. LaForge said in Relics that many of the systems that were designed in the 23rd Century and used aboard the Jenolen were pretty much exactly the same as those used on the Enterprise-D with a few minor differences. We saw ships from that era still in use.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Designed to last 100 years, but only if it's used as a luxury liner and not an exploration vessel.

Starfleet design beurau dropped the ball on the Galaxy project like they did on the Excelsior. Difference being that Excelsiors don't explode when little ships shoot at their neck.

I disagree. The Excelsiors and the Galaxys were both good designs and have served Starfleet extremely well.

The 100-year projected operational lifetime for the Galaxy-class covers the time the entire design is expected to remain in service in Starfleet. The Excelsior-class probably exceeded its projected design life because it was a well-made "workhorse" design that was fairly easy to upgrade with new technologies as they came about.

While the Galaxy-class might not be a workhorse and may never be mass-produced in fairly large numbers like the Excelsior-class, the TNG Tech Manual indicated that it was designed with the ability to incorporate new technologies to stay current with the fleet throughout its design lifetime. We could see Galaxy-class ships still in service until the 2450s, although I suspect actual production of those ships could end well before then.

I think most current 24th-Century designs are built with that kind longevity in mind...

 

[Forbin]

Still a class that lasts a hundred years even with major overhauls seems a little bit unrealistic...after all a hundred years ago we were still making the leap to metal-armoured battleships...

Ah, but the real USS Enterprise (CVN-65) is approaching 50 years old and still in service, and it's not even built out of 24th century materials!

 

[thedude]

Interesting thread...

I never understood why the whole separation concept didn't get explored further... in theory, Starfleet could have designed multiple interchanable "saucer" sections for the Galaxy-class stardrive section. Each could be a different size and shape, offering multiple configurations, each mission dependent, but all offering the speed, support and multi-vector attack capabilities of the Galaxy-class ship. They could have developed a streamlined "battle" saucer with heavy armaments (and an auxiliary warp drive); a large, bulky design for troop transport; a mix of the two for exploration/scientific study (I suppose that was the original design though) and a giant bubble apparently suited to medical needs (ie the Olympic class ship in TNG:AGT...). Could have been a neat concept to explore. Oh well.