Were they in service prior to ST:TMP?. if so, did they have the same configurations, but used the Constitution Class nacelles?
Miranda-class starships
- Thread starter Ronald Held
- Start date
who knows, I like to think so, but if wishes were targs we'd all have a merry federation day...sorry...
I've always kinda envisioned both classes starting out "Matt Jefferies" style and slowly evolving into the TMP era designs as each new ship in those classes incorporated innovations in technology tits predecessors lacked.
I see the two vessels as having complementary roles. The Constitution Class goes out to explore the galaxy and deal with the Federation's far flung colonies and distant diplomatic obligations. While the Miranda stays close to home territory as more of a "rapid response" role.
I've always kinda envisioned both classes starting out "Matt Jefferies" style and slowly evolving into the TMP era designs as each new ship in those classes incorporated innovations in technology tits predecessors lacked.
I see the two vessels as having complementary roles. The Constitution Class goes out to explore the galaxy and deal with the Federation's far flung colonies and distant diplomatic obligations. While the Miranda stays close to home territory as more of a "rapid response" role.
The New Voyage fan films have a miranda style, ship. The Conpernicus.
If you can find a set of the Avenger class frigate blueprints look at the last page.
The Vanguard novels featured a Miranda class ship around the time of the first season of TOS. Either the author or editor said here that they specifically mentioned the ship's cylindrical warp engines with their glowing red globes so no one would get the wrong idea and think they intended it to have movie-era styling.
Ablative_Oberth
Lieutenant Commander
My first exposure to Treknology came from the Franz Joseph manual, and I always assumed that many of those "tug" ships were converted into "Avengers" and "Mirandas" perhaps in response to some percived threat (other than the Klingon and Romulans).
Starfleet needed a new class of ship so they took the tugs and rebuilt them as cruisers... Weapons and increased shielding in external pods. The aft-ends were built up considerably to give them extended range and capabilities.
That explains the references to the Reliant being an old "scow" she was a conversion, then upgraded.
Prehaps that brief glimpse of a secondary hull on one of the display screens could be justified if you squint, maybe it's leftover programming from when the ship was in service to tow pods and starship sections...
Then again... like the NX, maybe the Mirandas COULD dock with a secondary hull module in some mission modes. The NX allegedly was supposed to receive a secondary hull in the Never Going To Happen Now Season Five.
Perhaps for the mission at hand, the Secondary Hull was left behind for whatever reason.
I've done much speculation on these ships and how they fit in the universe, and how they manged to outlive the Constitution Class in service.
Them and the Oberth-class.
...humorous observation but I can picture a planetary government sitting down and discussing the need to call for help. Someone comes in and announces Starfleet is sending a Galaxy Class to help. They all cheer.
Across the quadrant a planetary Governor is shocked to find Starfleet is sending a Miranda or Oberth... "My God... why are they so angry! What did we ever do to them?!"
Starfleet needed a new class of ship so they took the tugs and rebuilt them as cruisers... Weapons and increased shielding in external pods. The aft-ends were built up considerably to give them extended range and capabilities.
That explains the references to the Reliant being an old "scow" she was a conversion, then upgraded.
Prehaps that brief glimpse of a secondary hull on one of the display screens could be justified if you squint, maybe it's leftover programming from when the ship was in service to tow pods and starship sections...
Then again... like the NX, maybe the Mirandas COULD dock with a secondary hull module in some mission modes. The NX allegedly was supposed to receive a secondary hull in the Never Going To Happen Now Season Five.
Perhaps for the mission at hand, the Secondary Hull was left behind for whatever reason.
I've done much speculation on these ships and how they fit in the universe, and how they manged to outlive the Constitution Class in service.
Them and the Oberth-class. ...humorous observation but I can picture a planetary government sitting down and discussing the need to call for help. Someone comes in and announces Starfleet is sending a Galaxy Class to help. They all cheer.
Across the quadrant a planetary Governor is shocked to find Starfleet is sending a Miranda or Oberth... "My God... why are they so angry! What did we ever do to them?!"
There is no canon evidence available to answer this question. The only canon Federation Starfleet vessel ever shown before the timeframe of TOS was the Kelvin.
Non-canonically, several TOS type classes appear in Ships of the Star Fleet (the Surya and Coventry classes being examples) which were later refitted to movie era tech (Avengers and Mirandas etc.). FASA had the Miranda (called Reliant class since it was published before TNG) being a development of the Anton class cruiser.
There are, of course, the Coventry and Surya classes from Ships of the Star Fleet. Both are Miranda-like pre-Reliant designs. But totally non-canon.
http://www.inpayne.com/models/coventry.html
http://www.inpayne.com/models/illusive1.html
http://www.inpayne.com/models/coventry.html
http://www.inpayne.com/models/illusive1.html
I like to think that the Miranda-class was developed in conjunction with the Constitution-class the same way the Nebula-class shares similarities with the Galaxy-class. The Miranda-class may have entered service at the same time as the Constitution-class or even may have beat it out of the gate by a year or two, if those ships could be built in less time than Constitution-class ships, IMO...
There is another possibility, for those of us who watch/participate in the TrekBBS Art forum.
Starscape from the UK created an ingenious TOS-era starship called the U.S.S. Spitfire. (2, 3, 4, 5) I like to think that it would make a worthy TOS-era predecessor in the TMP-era Miranda line, perhaps with some slight modifications.
Starscape from the UK created an ingenious TOS-era starship called the U.S.S. Spitfire. (2, 3, 4, 5) I like to think that it would make a worthy TOS-era predecessor in the TMP-era Miranda line, perhaps with some slight modifications.
I like to think of the Surya-Class as the only true TOS Miranda type of ship, as its lines are the most faithful and true to the Miranda, but of course, no TOS version of the Miranda is truly canon.
Good point on the timeframe. Some Nebula class registry #'s are earlier than Galaxy class ones.
That doesn't necessarily mean they appeared first, but planned first.
Even if not canonical, I thought that the Mirandas might have been used around the same time as the Constitution class vessels got their refits in the 2260's
Looks like there are logical design-lineage elements in both of these designs. Both are interesting, though both seem flawed to me.
So, you say the Illusive is a "Surya" design by Aridas? Interesting. I like the "Cage" / "Where No Man..." elements. Most of all, I like the smoothness of the main hull that gives the best TOS feel to it. I have to agree that the "elbowed" nacelle wings seem a bit odd, though. Some people like to trash the dish-on-a-stick concept, too. I could live with it, but your Coventry offers another possibility...
Where the nacelle wingy thingies seem to come up through the Coventry's upper hull, why not continue with short, finlike winglets with small, smooth egglike pods on the upper tips of each one? The front of each pod could serve as a platform for mounting a small deflector dish. Each of these stereo pods could also house an aft torpedo bank. This would fit in with the Mirnada design lineage well and still keep the simpler, smoother TOS look.
Over at memory Alpha there's a sketch of the Miranda class starship as it was originally intended, as seen in the movie and on tv it's upside down. So, what'll that do to the current topic being discussed here!?(just curious)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Miranda_class(scroll down to DESIGN and you'll see the sketch)
I have to say the original idea for the Miranda isn't bad.
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Miranda_class(scroll down to DESIGN and you'll see the sketch)
I have to say the original idea for the Miranda isn't bad.
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Well, it does nothing, because that design was never used.
It depends on how you interpret design and engineering in the TREK Universe. The "original" Reliant drawing is actually very similar to the final design if you just look at the primary hull. The nacelles are topside instead of projecting from the belly of the TWOK ship. And the torepdoes are opposite the final design as well, plus they are missing that weird "roll bar".
It boils down to how you look at the role of the nacelles in the overall design. If your school of thought is such that you regard the placement and configuration of the nacelles as fundamental to the structure and design/flow of the ship, then it's clear that the early drawings of TWOK's Reliant are not of the same family as the final TWOK design. If you don't regard the re-orientation of the nacelles and weapons pods as a big deal, then maybe the early drawing could give clues to either what earlier versions of the Miranda looked like or what other related (but unseen) starship designs looked like.
I tend to think the nacelle arrangement is a major factor in starship engineering and purpose-driven starship design. So in that light, this early drawing would not give clues to a Miranda ancestor, but to a Miranda variant of some kind.
It boils down to how you look at the role of the nacelles in the overall design. If your school of thought is such that you regard the placement and configuration of the nacelles as fundamental to the structure and design/flow of the ship, then it's clear that the early drawings of TWOK's Reliant are not of the same family as the final TWOK design. If you don't regard the re-orientation of the nacelles and weapons pods as a big deal, then maybe the early drawing could give clues to either what earlier versions of the Miranda looked like or what other related (but unseen) starship designs looked like.
I tend to think the nacelle arrangement is a major factor in starship engineering and purpose-driven starship design. So in that light, this early drawing would not give clues to a Miranda ancestor, but to a Miranda variant of some kind.
