Starfleet (at the end of the series)

[willg]

My assumption is that had the series continued that the Romulan War would almost have certainly been covered. However, I got the impression throughout the series that Starfleet wasn't very big. I suppose that assuming Enterprise followed its predecessors and went for 7 season that season 5 might have seen increased tensions with the Romulans and therefore Starfleet aggressively builds up it's strength for the war in Season 6-7. I suppose that they could also have Vulcan, Andorian and Tellarite ships contribute much to the war effort too.

Thoughts?

 

[Skywalker]

Starfleet could have had dozens of ships, just none of them were as fast or as advanced as the NX-01. Perhaps for the war they started building more of those smaller and cheaper designs but upgraded them to the Warp Five engine to make them capable of defending Earth against a distant Romulan Star Empire.

Plus with the founding of the Coalition of Planets prior to the start of the war, it seems to me that TPTB were aiming for the Romulan War to be fought between the Romulan Star Empire and the Coalition of Planets, which would then lead to the formation of the United Federation of Planets. I like that concept a lot better than "Earth beats the Romulans in a war, and all the other aliens fall into line in their new Federation."

 

[ChristopherPike]

As in real history, the greatest technology advances occur during wartime when there's impetus and are then put to greatest use for peaceful means later. Obviously more NX (Enterprise-class?) starships underwent construction but not enough, so civillian and merchant vessels had to be pressed into service... alongside the types shown like the Warp Delta and that configuaration the Intrepid had.

You look at the design for the Romulan Bird of Prey in classic Star Trek and the first thing you notice are the distinctly Starfleet nacelles... Then there's Stiles' immediate suspicion there must be spies aboard Kirk's Enterprise. That may be down to the fact he's just discovered Vulcans and Romulans share a similar appearance. Then again, another interpretation is... humanity might not have widely known the truth (Stiles' ancestors clearly didn't) but that race certainly knew all about us. How could they not?

What was it the Romulan Commander said in Balance of Terror, "First study the enemy..."

 

[TheQman]

Starfleet could have had dozens of ships, just none of them were as fast or as advanced as the NX-01. Perhaps for the war they started building more of those smaller and cheaper designs but upgraded them to the Warp Five engine to make them capable of defending Earth against a distant Romulan Star Empire.

I think this comment is very accurate. However, I don't believe that starfleet would be a match for them without help from the vulcans and the rest of the federation.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Starfleet could have had dozens of ships, just none of them were as fast or as advanced as the NX-01. Perhaps for the war they started building more of those smaller and cheaper designs but upgraded them to the Warp Five engine to make them capable of defending Earth against a distant Romulan Star Empire.

Plus with the founding of the Coalition of Planets prior to the start of the war, it seems to me that TPTB were aiming for the Romulan War to be fought between the Romulan Star Empire and the Coalition of Planets, which would then lead to the formation of the United Federation of Planets. I like that concept a lot better than "Earth beats the Romulans in a war, and all the other aliens fall into line in their new Federation."

I like this idea too. Earth just doesn't seem like any sort of a match for the Romulans at this point. If the war was between the Empire and the Coalition, it would be more believable.

However, that does bring up the question of - why is it called the Earth-Romulan War?

 

[Nerys Myk]

Might have started with Romulans attacking Earth colonies and ships and then the CoP gets involved as the "allies" mentioned in "Balance of Terror"

 

[Skywalker]

Yeah, and it could also just be one name out of many, depending on one's perspective. What we called World War II in the United States and Western Europe, they called the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union. The American Civil War also had many different names, such as the War Between the States, the War of Northern Aggression, etc. Maybe for a native Terran like Jim Kirk, it was just the Romulan War, whereas for someone with more of an outside perspective like Spock, it was the Earth-Romulan War, since they were the two primary antagonists.

The name "Earth-Romulan War" seems kind of strange to me anyway, since one is the name of a planet and the other the name of a species. "Terran-Romulan War" or "Earth-Romulus War" would make more sense. Though that could also be a term applied by human colony worlds like Mars or Alpha Centauri who might not have taken part in the conflict.

And I just put way too much thought into this.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Yeah, and it could also just be one name out of many, depending on one's perspective. What we called World War II in the United States and Western Europe, they called the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union. The American Civil War also had many different names, such as the War Between the States, the War of Northern Aggression, etc. Maybe for a native Terran like Jim Kirk, it was just the Romulan War, whereas for someone with more of an outside perspective like Spock, it was the Earth-Romulan War, since they were the two primary antagonists.

Interesting, I never thought of it that way. I should have, since I knew of all those different names of wars.

Just for fun - my favorite name for the American Civil War is The War to Prevent Southern Independence.

 

[Middleman]

I'll shamelessly plug Michael Martin's book "The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor's Wing" and suggest you read it. There is an excellent take in there on what Starfleet was like, the technology and what it's growing pains were.

 

[T'Girl]

Just for fun - my favorite name for the American Civil War is The War to Prevent Southern Independence.

Ah ... you mean "That East Coast War."

Spock referred to the outposts in "Balance of Terror" as earth outposts, maybe it like the coalition in iraq where america, UK, poland and dozens of other countries have their own areas of responsibility, in some places their own bases/outposts. The outposts were built by Humans, crewed, maintained, supplied by Humans.

The war may have been primarily between earth (people) and romulan (people), with other planets bringing some or nothing in way of support. The problem I've alway have had with the romulan war is that it usual referred to as a short war, a few years. The NX-01 is usually traveling less then warp five, the frieghters less than warp two. The episode BoT implies that the neutral zone is far away from earth, I have no problem with 22th century earth's industry/infrastructure building a sizable fleet of warships and a large supply train too, but they would have had to engage the enemy (near earth?) push them back, peel the romulans out of dozens or hundreds of systems, over the distance of certainly hundreds of light years, to get to the location of the persent (Kirk's era) neutral zone. Think of the romulans expanding out of their home system in a growing sphere. That to me sounds like more than a three or five year war. Decades?

 

[Admiral Shran]

It could be that after the war one of the peace conditions was the creation of a neutral zone far from Earth, or any of its allies, that the defeated Romulans could not cross. That way, not only does the Neutral Zone itself protect Earth and the forming UFP. The unclaimed/unexplored space in between the UFP core and Romulan terrority would serve as a second buffer zone.

Once the Federation is founded, it then expands its terrority in the direction of Romulan space up until they meet the Neutral Zone border.

 

[Timo]

Obviously more NX (Enterprise-class?) starships underwent construction

Or then not. That was, after all, a pathfinding design and thus probably a failure. Ships of a more refined design would surely be attempted next - and if the war so required, ships of a less ambitious design might also be created.

..why is it called the Earth-Romulan War?

To nitpick, it isn't. The closest we get is a single mention of "Earth-Romulan conflict".

Which may refer to the war, or to some subset of it. In the context of that phrase, it might refer to the latter parts of the war, or to postwar events...

Timo Saloniemi