Prometheus class

[kv1at3485]

On the Prometheus/Defiant comparison, note that it would take three ships 4-times larger than a Defiant, or three ships larger than a Constitution, to match up to the volume of a Prometheus. I have no problem with such a "small" being suitable for "deep space" operations.

If we're accepting the whole notion of "surprising" the enemy with MVAM, it all means somehow preventing the enemy from identifying the class of ship by some technowizardry. In which case one may simply be able to disguise a squadron of ships as one big ship or whatever you want.

Two problems with that.
1) you assume that starfleet is "sending" them on a mission instead of just encountering an issue or being "the closest ship". By that theory, starfleet would operate like the klingons or romulans and send 2 or 3 ships everywhere, all the time.

So what are you going to do? Build every ship with MVAM? That's a waste. If you only built a few with MVAM, that's useless because the probability that there will be an MVAM ship exactly where you need it is low.

2) Sending 3 ships would require 3 crews, 3 captains, 3 first officers, etc.

Smaller ships need smaller crews. Is it acceptable to need slightly more personnel to man three smaller ships than to man one larger ship?

And if you're deploying a MVAM warship to an area to wait for trouble, then there's nothing wrong with deploying smaller warships in squadrons which are rarely intended to split up. That way you don't need multiple Captains and can get away with lower ranking officers "commanding" the other ships.

 

[kv1at3485]

On the Prometheus/Defiant comparison, note that it would take three ships 4-times larger than a Defiant, or three ships larger than a Constitution, to match up to the volume of a Prometheus. I have no problem with such a "small" being suitable for "deep space" operations.

If we're accepting the whole notion of "surprising" the enemy with MVAM, it all means somehow preventing the enemy from identifying the class of ship by some technowizardry. In which case one may simply be able to disguise a squadron of ships as one big ship or whatever you want.

Two problems with that.
1) you assume that starfleet is "sending" them on a mission instead of just encountering an issue or being "the closest ship". By that theory, starfleet would operate like the klingons or romulans and send 2 or 3 ships everywhere, all the time.

So what are you going to do? Build every ship with MVAM? That's a waste. If you only built a few with MVAM, that's useless because the probability that there will be an MVAM ship exactly where you need it is low.

2) Sending 3 ships would require 3 crews, 3 captains, 3 first officers, etc.

Smaller ships need smaller crews. Is it acceptable to need slightly more personnel to man three smaller ships than to man one larger ship?

And if you're deploying a MVAM warship to an area to wait for trouble, then there's nothing wrong with deploying smaller warships in squadrons which are rarely intended to split up. That way you don't need multiple Captains and can get away with lower ranking officers "commanding" the other ships.

but I am skeptical that each MVAM section could produce power equal to a full, independent starship.

Indeed. The inferior power to surface area ratio is not going away.

 

[sojourner]

As for the argument that you lose weapon ports when the ship is fully connected ... that's just rubbish since the ship has full coverage from all 3 sections in connected mode.
The secluded weapon ports and strips are there to provide full angle coverage for the sections in MVAM.
It's quite simple really.

Um, no, just no. In joined mode there are weapons that are unable to be fired because they are covered up by the other portions of the ship. A weapon that cannot be fired is useless. Therefore, in joined mode the promy is inherently less powerful than separated.

The Galaxy class had a secluded torpedo tube and phaser strip in fully connected mode which didn't become available until the ship separated.

Also, the Galaxy class saucer doesn't have warp capability (most likely an ability to sustain an existing warp field for a period of time).

And yet, it still can fulfill the scenario provided by SilentP. The Saucer stays at the planet to help with the medical crisis and the BATTLE section goes out to fight. With the phaser strip and torpedo tube ready to go.

Lets put the question this way. Can someone come up with sufficient reason to use a Promy over a ship that can launch Drones equipped with starship grade weapons? If you want a force multiplying capability without sending addtion full starships, drones are the better answer. Special launch racks can be retrofitted into the shuttlebays of existing ships at less cost and more versatility than MVAM. You could assign them only to ships in higher threat level areas. Your enemies would be even more uncertain of your capabilites than with a promy.

Enemy XO - Captain, the Fed scum are approaching with a Galaxy class and a Prometheous Class ship.
Enemy Captain - Hmmm, that Prometheous class gave us a surprise when it was first introduced, but now we know what to expect from her. The real question is whether this Galaxy has been fitted with those damn drones or not? No way to tell until she launches them.

 

[Anticitizen]

I can think of one advantage: fuel costs/efficiency. There are situations where more than one ship might be needed. You can say "then just send more ships", but perhaps the Prometheus is much more efficient as it flies as one unit.

It would also make sense if the sub-sections weren't warp capable on their own and were 'piggybacking' on the mothership... like a carrier, I suppose.

Otherwise, why have a shuttlebay? Why not just have the shuttles flying next to the Enterprise the whole time, right?

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

2) Sending 3 ships would require 3 crews, 3 captains, 3 first officers, etc.

I doubt crews are going to be a problem. The Federation likely has a population in excess of trillions. If they can't man a few thousand ships, they deserve to get conquered.

 

[Captain Fine]

I just liked the Prometheus because it was cool. Yet I find it reflects really poorly on Starfleet that the Romulans somehow took it over. What happened to Federation security?

 

[Praetor]

Section 31 was asleep that week.

 

[Kross]

They sent a Nebula!

 

[Praetor]

Poor Bonchune.

...Followed by two Defiants and an Akira, the latter of which to me is the lean, mean gym-going version of a Nebula.

(Was I the only one, watching that for the first time, who expected one of those Defiants to be the Defiant? How awesome would it have been for Worf to have been one of the guards who beamed onto the Prometheus bridge?)

 

[Kross]

Poor Bonchune.

...Followed by two Defiants and an Akira, the latter of which to me is the lean, mean gym-going version of a Nebula.

(Was I the only one, watching that for the first time, who expected one of those Defiants to be the Defiant? How awesome would it have been for Worf to have been one of the guards who beamed onto the Prometheus bridge?)

You want Worf in everything.

Speaking of the Bonchune, wasn't it mentioned it dialogue or something that the Prommy was being escorted by several vessels? That would explain the Bonchune catching up with her and the quick appearance of the Defiants and Akira.

I'm kind of surprised that battle at the end (and indeed the whole debacle) didn't apparently hurt relations between the Federation and Romulans.

 

[Kaziarl]

I just liked the Prometheus because it was cool. Yet I find it reflects really poorly on Starfleet that the Romulans somehow took it over. What happened to Federation security?

iirc, it was an extremely small skeleton crew that was on board the prommie. The reason the doctors were able to get the ship back so easily was because there were several toxins/pathogens that would drop the fleshies in a heartbeat and not effect the EMH's at all. And with EMH I's experience as the ECH (or was that later in the series) he had several idea's to pull from.

 

[Praetor]

Poor Bonchune.

...Followed by two Defiants and an Akira, the latter of which to me is the lean, mean gym-going version of a Nebula.

(Was I the only one, watching that for the first time, who expected one of those Defiants to be the Defiant? How awesome would it have been for Worf to have been one of the guards who beamed onto the Prometheus bridge?)

You want Worf in everything.

Fine, Sisko or Dax, then.

Speaking of the Bonchune, wasn't it mentioned it dialogue or something that the Prommy was being escorted by several vessels? That would explain the Bonchune catching up with her and the quick appearance of the Defiants and Akira.

I'm kind of surprised that battle at the end (and indeed the whole debacle) didn't apparently hurt relations between the Federation and Romulans.

I don't remember the mention of escort ships... but it would certainly make sense if it was some kind of test flight that they hijacked it on. And I, too, am annoyed that there was no later reference to the incident, but presumably the Romulans just chalked it up to neither side wanting to take blame for anything - the Romulans for stealing the ship, and Starfleet for destroying that warbird.

I just liked the Prometheus because it was cool. Yet I find it reflects really poorly on Starfleet that the Romulans somehow took it over. What happened to Federation security?

iirc, it was an extremely small skeleton crew that was on board the prommie. The reason the doctors were able to get the ship back so easily was because there were several toxins/pathogens that would drop the fleshies in a heartbeat and not effect the EMH's at all. And with EMH I's experience as the ECH (or was that later in the series) he had several idea's to pull from.

Didn't EMH-2 say that only a few people in Starfleet were even certified to fly her? More evidence for automation.

 

[Kaziarl]

I'm watching the episode right now, cause I happen to like the Prometheus, and I gotta ask... Are romulans stupid? How come they haven't noticed that he's not wearing the same uniform as the rest of the starfleet crew?

 

[Kross]

They must have figured it was laundry day and that was all he had left.

I feel sorry for the Romulan ambassador, that guy probably came out of the Fed President's office walking crooked. I'm assuming the Roms sent a representative to the Federation.

 

[TS-1838-SWATH]

Prometheus class may have been an attempt to correct the problem with the
Galaxy that the saucer(sp?) section is a sitting duck after it splits from the drive section since it is not warp capable

 

[Captain Fine]

Poor Bonchune.

...Followed by two Defiants and an Akira, the latter of which to me is the lean, mean gym-going version of a Nebula.

(Was I the only one, watching that for the first time, who expected one of those Defiants to be the Defiant? How awesome would it have been for Worf to have been one of the guards who beamed onto the Prometheus bridge?)

Hehe the Akira is very Nebula-like, but I think it's actually older based on the registry numbers, no?

Poor Bonchune.

...Followed by two Defiants and an Akira, the latter of which to me is the lean, mean gym-going version of a Nebula.

(Was I the only one, watching that for the first time, who expected one of those Defiants to be the Defiant? How awesome would it have been for Worf to have been one of the guards who beamed onto the Prometheus bridge?)

You want Worf in everything.

That could be taken the wrong way...

Prometheus class may have been an attempt to correct the problem with the
Galaxy that the saucer(sp?) section is a sitting duck after it splits from the drive section since it is not warp capable

Oh yeah good point. I think I had that thought too, years ago.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Prometheus class may have been an attempt to correct the problem with the
Galaxy that the saucer(sp?) section is a sitting duck after it splits from the drive section since it is not warp capable

Ok then. Experiment with a Galaxy-class if you want to see how that'd work then. Stick a special-built warp-capable saucer on it.

Wehere I come from we've got a saying. If you want to come up with a recipe for pizza... try it on pizza and not omelettes.

 

[Praetor]

I'm watching the episode right now, cause I happen to like the Prometheus, and I gotta ask... Are romulans stupid? How come they haven't noticed that he's not wearing the same uniform as the rest of the starfleet crew?

All Terrans probably look alike to them.

I feel sorry for the Romulan ambassador, that guy probably came out of the Fed President's office walking crooked. I'm assuming the Roms sent a representative to the Federation.

Poor Bonchune.

...Followed by two Defiants and an Akira, the latter of which to me is the lean, mean gym-going version of a Nebula.

(Was I the only one, watching that for the first time, who expected one of those Defiants to be the Defiant? How awesome would it have been for Worf to have been one of the guards who beamed onto the Prometheus bridge?)

Hehe the Akira is very Nebula-like, but I think it's actually older based on the registry numbers, no?

Actually, I think they're in about the same number range, circa NCC-60000. I like to think of the Akira as the Nebula's baby sister.

You want Worf in everything.

That could be taken the wrong way...

Oh, my.

 

[gwud]

Maybe the Prometheus class was designed specifically for situations where Starfleet needed to show the flag, there was a high probability of a fight breaking out, but where sending more than one ship would increase the chance of inflaming the situation.

Starfleet's big and old, maybe they can afford to have a ship for every possible mission type.

 

[Silversmok3]

Heres a fatal flaw of that ship type:

Its splits into 3 and multi-targets a ship. A smart enemy knows he cant fight all 4 sections at once or he'll exhaust his weapons and be overcome, so he would target is weapons on ONE section at a time. By destroying one part,the Prometheus would be an incomplete ship, AND any tactical formation dependent on 3 sections would be useless with two.

Worse, if the enemy destroys the command section the chain of command would be broken, unless the XO is ordered into the stardrive section as a backup.