How big was the Enterprise?

[BK613]

That Duranium is very dense...

Starships don't actually have to float...so it can be.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

The weight is also completely different. Notice that I say "weight ", and not "mass". The USS Enterprise NCC-1701 '" displaces"' 190,000 versus the displacement of the USS Enterprise CVA-65.

USS Enteprise (CV-6)
Displacement
May 1938 - October 1943
19,800 tons standard
25,500 tons full load
From October 1943:
21,000 tons standard
32,060 tons full load

USS Enterperise (CVN-65)
Displacement
93,284-long-tons (94,781 tonnes) full load

USS Enterprise (CVN-80)
Displacement (Projected)
About 100,000-long-tons (100,000 tonnes) full load

The USS Enterprise NCC-1701 weighs about 90,000 tons more than her carrier predecessor's. Where is all the extra weight coming from?

 

[Zycho32]

USS Enteprise (CV-6)
Displacement
May 1938 - October 1943
19,800 tons standard
25,500 tons full load
From October 1943:
21,000 tons standard
32,060 tons full load

USS Enterperise (CVN-65)
Displacement
93,284-long-tons (94,781 tonnes) full load

USS Enterprise (CVN-80)
Displacement (Projected)
About 100,000-long-tons (100,000 tonnes) full load

The USS Enterprise NCC-1701 weighs about 90,000 tons more than her carrier predecessor's. Where is all the extra weight coming from?

1. Significantly denser alloys on outer hull that may withstand a glancing blow from an object while traveling at relativistic speeds as well as all manner of radiation, heat, and cold that one encounters in the vacuum of space.
2. Denser fuel in order to travel at relativistic speeds for distances that would otherwise be impossibilities. No matter how efficient Matter/Anti-Matter mixtures actually are, you still need a lot of it to go from star to star.
3. Denser alloys in certain internal machinery, such as the fuel tanks and engine components, organic/non-organic processors, virtually all of the nacelles, the turbolift system, etc.

Those are the bits I'm sure of. Other possibilities include a greater cargo storage capacity(I don't think the Carriers ever had to theoretically be deployed for five straight years without any kind of replenishing of supplies) as well as a significant increase in internal equipment as compared to the carriers themselves.

 

[knightgrace]

Assume that 25 percent of the mass, is hull...

Closed loop recycling is absolutely required. Meaning little in the way of supplies. But for emergency support services, that is another question.

The USS Enterprise NCC-1701 could be made of politicians...

A long time ago there was a Sentor Proxmire, who, according to one wit said that he absorbed Neutrinos.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Yeah, I always cringe a little when they use "displacement" for a spaceship. Displacement indicates the amount of water pushed away when a ship is in it.
What is it displacing in a vacuum?

It's for when they hide the ship under water