If voyager was a Galaxy class star ship???

[Deks]

True ... but one has to ask themselves, was surface area for the sensor grids that important by the time Voyager was released into active service or ever at all?

I could imagine it really doesn't make a difference because each design would have just enough sensor grids as it's needed.

Plus, if I recall correctly, during TNG, once a large phenomenon was discovered, Picard on several occasions stated they would have to send a dedicated science vessel to conduct detailed studies of the said phenomenon (even Janeway mentioned it once if I'm not mistaken).

Dedicated science vessels can come in various forms and sizes of course ... usually small ones in Kirk's time like the Oberth.
The Nova class could be TNG's replacement of the Nova because it's roughly the same size (if not a bit larger) ... although, I recall that Janeway mentioned how the Nova was designed for interplanetary assignments, not long range tactical missions.
True ... a purely scientific endeavour further out from home is not a tactical mission, so the Nova and other science class ships would likely be sent when needed and stick to planetary assignments the rest of the time.
It's just a theory of course.

 

[C.E. Evans]

^^^
Works for me. I always envisioned the Nova-class as being a science vessel, generally doing the more extensive follow-up research initially started by a larger exploration vessel. Rather than move onto the next star system, a science vessel could spend weeks or even months at time studying a single planet.

 

[exodus]

I'm aware of the differences in internal volumes when the Galaxy class is compared to the Intrepid.
However, on-screen representation gives us an impression that crew quarters for example are larger on the Intrepid.

It's a similar thing with the bridge and captains ready room.

Which might be placed into perspective through following reasoning:
The Intrepid class is a new ship ... automation has taken over plenty of systems by 2371, so SF decided to slightly increase the size of personal quarters and similar rooms on that particular class, resulting in the ability to cater to a smaller crew as a luxury liner.
If the Ent-D was described as a luxurious hotel ... then the Intrepid is essentially also a luxurious hotel ... albeit with a smaller capacity.

That and The Enterprise is an escort ship for Ambassidor's. The holodecks & Arboredum are designed just as much for the entertainment for those ambassidors as much as the crew. Voyager isn't meant to be for much comfort beyond it's crew.

I think it's less about size than it is what was the intent/function behind the design of each ship. I think Voyager still wins because it did on the show exactly what it was designed for. It's a scout ship.

 

[Deks]

Voyager was designed for deep space exploratory assignments.
If a definition of a 'scout' fits into that category, then ALL Federation ships are scouts by that account.

 

[exodus]

Voyager was designed for deep space exploratory assignments.

......and to go into places no other starship was designed too and why it has minimal labs but mostly cargo space. So yes, that's a scout.

I wouldn't be surprised if Starfleet is using an Intrepid class ship to scout & chart the badlands going forward.

 

[Guy Gardener]

And what about disposability and expendability?

Sure Voyager might have designed as a scout, but after the annihilation of the Odyssey, a freaking Fortress, they couldn't just waste such massively expensive (resources + manpower, no money remember.) Star Ships if they weren't as UNSINKABLE as their shipwrights promised on dinky little thrashings against the unknowable.

If the Odyssey hadn't been destroyed, it's a fair cop that that would have been their mission to tag and bag the Indian. Hells, if the Odyssey hadn't been destroyed, Sisjo might have got them as an attack dog instead of the defiant.

Thinking small on purpose.

This is why so many empires consider the Federation on the decline and a choice doable target.

 

[exodus]

And what about disposability and expendability?

Sure Voyager might have designed as a scout, but after the annihilation of the Odyssey, a freaking Fortress, they couldn't just waste such massively expensive (resources + manpower, no money remember.) Star Ships if they weren't as UNSINKABLE as their shipwrights promised on dinky little thrashings against the unknowable.

If the Odyssey hadn't been destroyed, it's a fair cop that that would have been their mission to tag and bag the Indian. Hells, if the Odyssey hadn't been destroyed, Sisjo might have got them as an attack dog instead of the defiant.

Thinking small on purpose.

This is why so many empires consider the Federation on the decline and a choice doable target.

That can't be, Voyager was introduced after DS9's "The Scearch". There is no way they could have designed, built and tested a proto-type and then build the first finished model in that short of a period.

Voyager was planned after WOLF 359 during the rise of the Maquis.

 

[Guy Gardener]

And what about disposability and expendability?

Sure Voyager might have designed as a scout, but after the annihilation of the Odyssey, a freaking Fortress, they couldn't just waste such massively expensive (resources + manpower, no money remember.) Star Ships if they weren't as UNSINKABLE as their shipwrights promised on dinky little thrashings against the unknowable.

If the Odyssey hadn't been destroyed, it's a fair cop that that would have been their mission to tag and bag the Indian. Hells, if the Odyssey hadn't been destroyed, Sisjo might have got them as an attack dog instead of the defiant.

Thinking small on purpose.

This is why so many empires consider the Federation on the decline and a choice doable target.

That can't be, Voyager was introduced after DS9's "The Scearch". There is no way they could have designed, built and tested a proto-type and then build the first finished model in that short of a period.

Voyager was planned after WOLF 359 during the rise of the Maquis.

Oh, I agreed with you.

Designed as a scout.

But then on paper the defiant was an "escort" ship according to Sisko.

What a ship is designed for and what task it is eventually put to can be radically different considering how quickly the political climate tends to change in that region of space.

In the wake of Wolf 359 just proves my point entirely however. All those ships they lost, would have had mission times pencilled in for the next 50 years, to do this and that as the federation expands, and after losing 37 ships in a battle which took minutes if not seconds for some, they could never again be so certain about a ships work calendar ever again.

Besides from some of the battles we saw in DS9 with HUNDREDS of ships dogging it out, the loss of 37 ships seemed almost irrelevant. And for a substantial number to so quickly become irrelevant would have meant a drastic change in Starfleets shipwrighting policies... Not that they were'n't building Sovereigns, which i suppose were technically "shorter" than the enterprise D, but then it didn't have to cater to a malignant civilan poplation... Actually? How small would the Enterprise have been if it didn't have civilans on board? Or would they just have had room for another three phaser arrays?

 

[C.E. Evans]

I dunno, wouldn't a scout ship be a smaller vessel than the Intrepid-class? Perhaps something even smaller than a Nova-class, with a low visibility for missions of a sensitive nature?

 

[Deks]

You mean, something along the lines of a runabout-sized craft that Data flew in 'Insurrection' movie?
If I'm not mistaken, that WAS described as a scout vessel

 

[exodus]

I dunno, wouldn't a scout ship be a smaller vessel than the Intrepid-class? Perhaps something even smaller than a Nova-class, with a low visibility for missions of a sensitive nature?

..but you'd still need labs & cargo space to bring back samples of what you scouted for. You'd still need a computer system to to accurately chart where you've been so others after could follow it and a ship big enough to send down a survey crew. A smarller ship could never have fit a full starfleet crew and have room for Chakotay's crew and his ship to bring them back to Federation court.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I dunno, wouldn't a scout ship be a smaller vessel than the Intrepid-class? Perhaps something even smaller than a Nova-class, with a low visibility for missions of a sensitive nature?

..but you'd still need labs & cargo space to bring back samples of what you scouted for. You'd still need a computer system to to accurately chart where you've been so others after could follow it and a ship big enough to send down a survey crew.

I agree. That's kinda why I think the Aerie-class (or Raven-class) was probably a scout ship. Comparatively, it's only marginally smaller than a Defiant-class and seems to have space for a computer system, labs, and cargo space, etc.

A smarller ship could never have fit a full starfleet crew and have room for Chakotay's crew and his ship to bring them back to Federation court.

Yeah, that's the other thing that has always puzzled me. Maybe the Intrepid-class is a long-range multipurpose cruiser or something. A fast, well-armed ship that could do anything from deep-space exploration, to tactical reconnaissance/interdiction, to even routine courier missions.

You mean, something along the lines of a runabout-sized craft that Data flew in 'Insurrection' movie? If I'm not mistaken, that WAS described as a scout vessel

Oh yeah, I forgot about that one.