'Nemesis' - Enterprise repairs and starship construction

[Deks]

I was wondering ... how much time passed from when the Scimitar exploded, up until the point we see the Enterprise-E in dry-dock being repaired?

If it was only several days, or even up to a week (I think 7 days is stretching it though given other events that took place) I must say that SF did a pretty great job reconstructing (about 95%) the frontal section of the Enterprise so quickly.

Doesn't this negate the idea it takes years for a star-ship to be constructed?
I agree on the premise it might take years to design a ship ... but actual production/construction should be far faster given their level of technology.

 

[trekkerguy]

I would think it's alot easier to replace component modules and hull plating
than it would be to build a ship from scratch, assembling the entire ship
infastucture and framework.

 

[ancient]

It's implied not to be too far of a jump in time since Riker's still there. Though he may have been straggling, like always. A month maybe?

 

[trekkerguy]

^^^ Probably had a bit of debriefing and such to do.

Plus IIRC from the novels sometime was spent assembling his crew.
A month would work out fairly well for the scenario.

 

[BolianAuthor]

I'd speculate it was maybe a month or so... even though the repairs were well underway, it was still very early in the overall process, because the warp coils were still exposed to space, and a large portion of the forward saucer section was still missing.

It was probably just enough time for Geordi and Beverly to finish up all their final scans and such of B4, before sending him to Picard, who would determine what to do with him, and to give the Titan time to arrive, to pick up Riker and Troi.

So, IMHO, about a month.

 

[kv1at3485]

If Sovereign's are in production, maybe they just cut off a chunk from a ship already in the works and glued it on to Enterprise.

 

[Plecostomus]

If Sovereign's are in production, maybe they just cut off a chunk from a ship already in the works and glued it on to Enterprise.

I think they did that with one of the Iowa-class battleships.

Here we go:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_class_battleship#USS_Kentucky_.28BB-66.29

In a nutshell the Wisconsin was damaged in a collsion with a smaller ship and they used the bow of the Kentucky to repair her.

 

[Deks]

I would think it's alot easier to replace component modules and hull plating
than it would be to build a ship from scratch, assembling the entire ship
infastucture and framework.

But we are talking about actually replacing areas that aren't there anymore which means, reconstructing infrastructure and framework on the frontal saucer section.
You saw the extent of the damage ...

And most of the damage was already repaired. Numerous hull plates were missing indeed, but it wasn't incredibly much.

As for the time frame being a month.
Color me crazy, but in my opinion that's way too much time for an officer to be debriefed and to depart to his next command.
By that analogy, it must have been decades for Janeway to undergo debriefing for her 7 years of being in the DQ.

Scanning B4 wouldn't take long at all ... give it half a day for thorough examination.
Besides, Picard wasn't entirely sure what to do with him either and left things open in that regard.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

The thing about the 1701-E being rebuilt is that it's almost certainly VERY FAR from being "completed" at the point we see it.

Looking at naval construction practices today, or aerospace for that matter... it's not terribly difficult to get the basic framing elements in place. The biggest issue, with the 1701-E, would be that they'd have to straighten (or entirely excise) the portions of the hull which were deformed only partially but not entirely destroyed... not JUST the portion that was peeled back.

SO...

1) Evaluate the ship's condition.
2) Identify sections which must be removed/replaced.
3) Remove damaged sections
4) Replace framing in retained sections.
5) Replace primary supporting systems in new sections.
(this is where the ship is when we see her in drydock)
6) Replace internal compartments, etc.
7) Complete major installations
8) Begin testing of new/modified subsystems (to avoid a "ST-V" situation!). This will involve leaving drydock at least a few times for "test flights."
9) Once all subsystems pass testing, "finish" the ship systems.
10) Perform non-critical installations (decor/trim, lighting, etc)
11) Perform shake-down cruise.
12) Load torpedoes (on Thursday)
13) Embark permanent crew.
14) Re-enter active service.

My point? There's a LOT to do... and the majority of it is the "fine" part of the work, not the "rough" part which seems to have been completed at the time you see it at the end of Nemesis.

 

[BCI]

They all did some extended holiday before visiting the ship in drydock. Several months to half a year. Why not? All villains are dead, and the Enterprise will be converted into a cruise ship for old people gazing nebula.

 

[Timo]

Really, is the only argument for this being a short period of time that Riker still hasn't departed to parts unknown? We don't know when his new ship would have been scheduled to leave: if it's a mission into the deep unknown (as the novels would perhaps have us believe), it might take a year or more of preparation. Hell, the ship might not have been completed yet!

The original script (as seen on TrekCore) had the final scenes take place at a slightly different order. First, we would get the toast in Data's memory. Then, without any exterior shots, we'd get Picard's chat with B-4 (not at spacedock; possibly while still underway towards Earth), and then the final Picard-Riker scene. Then, and the script says "a few weeks later", we would get our first glimpse of the ship under repairs, and all the interior scenes which would deal with Riker's departure, the new guy Madden's arrival and so forth would be inserted there.

In the final theatrical cut, the toast scene is followed by an exterior view of the ship at dock, and then comes the Picard-Riker interaction, and then, in an emotional finale, the Picard-B4 talk, now with rather silly background visuals of the spacedock. The whole timeline of events is changed, then.

Of course, the final version offers no explanation as to why Picard would choose to chat with B-4 aboard the broken starship, when neither of them has a good excuse of being there...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[BenRoethig]

It's implied not to be too far of a jump in time since Riker's still there. Though he may have been straggling, like always. A month maybe?

That depends on what condition the Titan is in. If its a PCU and still under construction, months could have passed.

 

[Cmdr Sho]

12) Load torpedoes (on Thursday)

it was actually Tuesday....

remember when kirk said "dont tell me, Tuesday." then the ship shook...

on the topic.... i have always wondered about that...
was the picard/b-4 chat before or after rikers departure?? cause there could have been a jump forward in time that we didn't see...

 

[jamestyler]

Stepping outside the movie and the idea that it takes years to build a ship - it's likely that whatever repair process they had that it was improved during the war.

The Dominion produced ships a lot faster than the Federation leaving them at a distinct disadvantage. With that problem I'd imagine Starfleet would find a way to make the process for both building and repairing their ships much quicker to counter the problem.

That being said, if Riker's move to the Titan is the best basis for time in the movie - he was just married and on his way to Betazed so probably had some leave between taking the Enterprise back to Earth and setting off on the Titan.

On a side note that Kentucky/Wisconsin link amused me a little. Naval cut and paste.

 

[USS KG5]

Of course, the final version offers no explanation as to why Picard would choose to chat with B-4 aboard the broken starship, when neither of them has a good excuse of being there...

Timo Saloniemi

Well Picard sees his ship as home - so it is logical he would be at "home" when doing nothing else.

Also the deleted scenes actually imply the Enterprise is off exploring again pretty soon - so the repairs could not take much longer.

I still find it pretty amusing the idea it takes years to build a starship - I'd say absolute top figure is one year, even for a Galaxy class, comparisons to modern construction are essentially meaningless.

 

[shapeshifter]

Was the Enterprise warp capable after the crash? Limping home on impulse or getting a tow would have added time to the process.

 

[Plecostomus]

Was the Enterprise warp capable after the crash? Limping home on impulse or getting a tow would have added time to the process.

I seriously doubt it.

Look at what they did to get the Cole home from Yemen. They used an ultra-heavy transporter to lift the ship up and bring it back to the yard.

One could speculate they have a warp-speed dock/ultra-heavy transport on standby for such situations.

As I mentioned, they might have "borrowed" prefabbed components from other Sovvies on the ways or if they follow the Galaxy Class build routine as listed in the Tech Manual... 5 or 6 initial builds with a few more partial builds in storage to be finished as needed. Given that it is post-war I would assume the yards are running around the clock, possibly in modular assembly-line mode. That makes it possible heck probable that sections were diverted from the line, flown in from Mars and prepped for install.

*shrug* Fun speculation for sure, but it's nothing that will ever be discussed on screen... too technonerdish.

 

[Timo]

The Dominion produced ships a lot faster than the Federation leaving them at a distinct disadvantage. With that problem I'd imagine Starfleet would find a way to make the process for both building and repairing their ships much quicker to counter the problem.

Sure - unless it was impossible to find such a way.

Also the deleted scenes actually imply the Enterprise is off exploring again pretty soon - so the repairs could not take much longer.

Let's remember that those scenes were written before the VFX on the ship at dock was done, though. The VFX was probably only finished after the movie was recut, so it may reflect different thinking on the status of the repairs.

Was the Enterprise warp capable after the crash? Limping home on impulse or getting a tow would have added time to the process.

Starfleet tugs might be capable of relatively fast towing. Witness TNG "Phantasms", where the Enterprise stalls, and an Admiral suggests that Picard accept a tug's services so that he won't be late from a cocktail party. Admittedly a bit tongue-in-cheek, but if taken even halfway seriously it suggests that the tug-plus-disabled-Galaxy combo can make almost as good time as a warp-capable Galaxy...

There are other examples of towing that didn't seem to slow down the combo unduly - say, Kirk pulling the Botany Bay. The only time when towing seemed to be a major chore was "The Battle", where the Stargazer was being pulled at impulse and the option of warp tow didn't seem to exist. Was that because the starship was too big for another starship to pull? A bit unlikely, if the 7th Fleet scenes in "A Time to Stand" are considered: a teeny weeny tug was pulling a starship the size of the Stargazer, admittedly at impulse, but supposedly after having done some interstellar pulling first.

Any other points of interest about towing? I fear I'm missing something obvious here.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[GodThingFormerly]

Any other points of interest about towing? I fear I'm missing something obvious here.

Final Mission (TNG).

TGT

 

[Timo]

Hmm... I'd prefer to isolate that by a Level 2 forcefield for being such a, um, special case.

But it might be made to make perfect sense, too. The barge to be moved was rather gigantic; it was also fragile, and we know tractor beams and fragile structures don't coexist peacefully. So the stage is set for it being nontrivial to impart any appreciable acceleration on the thing. Hence no simple Hohmann orbit: instead of an initial kick, the effort of getting the barge away from the planet would require an outward spiral of constantly applied, delicate pull for quite some time. Yet the desired end result would be as quick a removal as possible of the barge from lethal distance, so Riker would aim to give it as much speed as possible. And this further gains in urgency and desired duration of acceleration / final speed, when the effort to install propulsion modules damages the barge and increases the radiation leak rate.

Now, guiding the thing through the (ah so conveniently superdense, and probably not nicely two-dimensional) asteroid belt would require some active shepherding, that's obvious. But of course, under the initial plan, there would be no reason to have the starship loiter anywhere near the barge: the E-D could clear the path outside the lethal radius of the waste material while the barge coasted in.

However, this changes radically when Riker hears that Picard is in trouble. This means haste: it's now necessary to finish the process ASAP, or then put it on hold. But the "on hold" option would probably mean slowing down the barge again after the initial, necessary acceleration, or then altering the course from the sun to empty space - both of which might actually take longer than the other options. Not to mention that the barge would probably split open in the meantime and prevent further action.

So towing all the way, and maintaining as high an acceleration as possible (up to 3/4 impulse) does sound like a sensible option after all.

As for the countdown to "lethal exposure", that, too, makes sense in Trek terms. Radiation damage in Trek isn't cumulative if it can be reversed with this hyronalyn stuff (nanogoo that rapidly repairs cells?). So by all means have the computer count down till the computed moment when the weakest would suffer so much exposure that the hyronalyn in their blood can no longer cope - and then have everybody sigh in relief when the exposure ends and the hyronalyn gains the upper hand.

So what's there to hate? It's an excellent opportunity to flex one's imagination.

(Now, in terms of towing, this episode does tell us something interesting: that the tractor beam is the weak point when one tows something massive at impulse. The beam could "destabilize" if enough pull were applied.)

Timo Saloniemi