Spoilers Starship Design in Star Trek: Picard

[Gonzo]

The Galaxy was the break in the mold because Picard talks about how he was uncomfortable with children on board (in Farpoint), with his previous command being the Stargazer, a Constellation class from the mold of the Constitution Refit, original Excelsior runs and the Ambassador class.

IIRC the Odyssey offloaded all her non-crew at DS9 prior to going into the wormhole and subsequently being destroyed.

The shift towards more tactical ships had started earlier, I think the Akira class were already supposed to have been in service in 2368, right around or after Wolf 359

Having families on board was never going to end well.

The Excelsior class is an excellent platform that lasted a long time with upgrades and refits but sooner or later the limited volume was going to be a problem, hence the development of the Ambassador class and then the Galaxy class.

The Akira was a direct response to Wolf 359 along with a few other classes like the Steamrunner, they tried a few different designs with the Defiant being one of them, they were generally small to mid size ships that were quick and easy to build with more weapon mount points (launchers usually) and improved fields of fire in comparison to their size, their crew requirements were quite small as well.

If you need a real world comparison think of them as being pocket battleships that are agile, hard hitting and can be built quickly with the Defiant being one/two steps beyond even that, the Defiant is the equivalent of a Navy Destroyer or even a Frigate with front twin mounted rapid fire cannons that spit torpedoes, its a warship nothing more and nothing less.

In fact its probably the first true warship/escort that Starfleet ever built, the E comes close but it can do other things and is too big to mount such weapons, it would not be able to capitalise on them except against bigger and slower ships.

If it was me I would put some of the Defiant's front cannons into turrets and mount them along the sides of the E maybe even in recessed pods, give the enemy a face full of rapid fire torpedo broadside but it would chew up ammunition so bad.

The B, C and D were all built with the same exploration/diplomacy focus and the E was a serious switch in that regard, it was designed by Montgomery Scott and he was a product of an earlier time when nothing was taken for granted.

It shows in the design of the E.

 

[Gonzo]

I imagine Scott was still in the transporter buffer when the Sovereign was on the drawing board and construction. It was only two to three years between him being rescued and the Enterprise-E launch in First Contact.

Hmm strange I recall he designed it but cant think where I saw that, it could have been a non canon book.

 

[BillJ]

Hmm strange I recall he designed it but cant think where I saw that, it could have been a non canon book.

"Relics" starts out at stardate 46125, First Contact at 50893. Which would be about five years between the two. I understand that Scott is a miracle worker, but five years is a pretty short timeframe to teach yourself all new technology, design and then build a starship.

 

[Tomalak]

The point of the Galaxy class wasn't that it carried kids, it was that it was full of civilians, including families.

It was stuffed with scientists and specialists like Keiko O'Brien, plus service staff like Guinan, Mr Mot and Ben the waiter.

It wasn't just another ship, it was an experiment in a new type of space exploration. It didn't last long though.

 

[BillJ]

It wasn't just another ship, it was an experiment in a new type of space exploration. It didn't last long though.

It simply couldn't. No matter how much it made actual sense, it simply couldn't survive bad press from incidents like the Yamato or Odyssey.

 

[cooleddie74]

"Relics" starts out at stardate 46125, First Contact at 50893. Which would be about five years between the two. I understand that Scott is a miracle worker, but five years is a pretty short timeframe to teach yourself all new technology, design and then build a starship.

Four years and nine months, roughly.

 

[BillJ]

Four years and nine months, roughly.

You're working really hard for that nerd of the year award. Slow down, it's only January!

 

[Noname Given]

"Relics" starts out at stardate 46125, First Contact at 50893. Which would be about five years between the two. I understand that Scott is a miracle worker, but five years is a pretty short timeframe to teach yourself all new technology, design and then build a starship.

Plus Mr. Scott himself said in TNG S6 - "Relics":

PICARD: Seventy five years is a long time. If you would care to study some technical schematics or

SCOTT: I'm not eighteen. I can't start out like a raw cadet. No, there comes a time when a man finds that he can't fall in love again. He knows that it's time to stop. I don't belong on your ship. I belong on this one. This was my home. This is where I had a purpose. But it's not real. It's just a computer generated fantasy. And I'm just an old man who's trying to hide in it. Computer, shut this bloody thing off. It's time I acted my age.

^^^
So yeah I don't see him at this point suddenly going - "Hey let me learn everything about 24th century tech so I can build on of te most advanced Starships of the 24th century..."

 

[Racefuel]

The notion that Scott was involved in the design of the Sovereign class comes from Ship of the Line, the non-canon book where Morgan Bateman was the first CO of the E-E

 

[BillJ]

Four years and nine months, roughly.

Actually, you got me thinking. According to the log, the Enterprise had been in space for a year, which further compresses the timeframe.

LAFORGE: Captain, we've been out in space for nearly a year now.

If the Sovereign beat them out of the gate, it means maybe three years between "Relics" and the launch of the class.

 

[BillJ]

The notion that Scott was involved in the design of the Sovereign class comes from Ship of the Line, the non-canon book where Morgan Bateman was the first CO of the E-E

That is all kinds of wrong. Bateson would've only been in the 24th century for a couple of years himself. I might have to pick that book up!

 

[Racefuel]

IIRC the "writers bible" for the E-E has a backstory that she was very far along in construction when 1701-D was destroyed. Starfleet then immediately renamed the ship that was under construction from what she was originally supposed to be, something like Honorius or Sentinel, to Enterprise.

 

[Gonzo]

"Relics" starts out at stardate 46125, First Contact at 50893. Which would be about five years between the two. I understand that Scott is a miracle worker, but five years is a pretty short timeframe to teach yourself all new technology, design and then build a starship.

He designed the ship but the technologies used were designed by many other people and teams, I would say it is doable with the resources at Starfleets disposal, I have no doubt that Mr Scott was given whatever he needed as Starfleet were never going to give up the chance of having him create a new ship for them.

Cant say I blame them really.

The groundwork could have been started early but the fact it had no families or children does kind of hint that it was not, otherwise it would have had room for them like the D.

 

[Gonzo]

It simply couldn't. No matter how much it made actual sense, it simply couldn't survive bad press from incidents like the Yamato or Odyssey.

Yeah too many failures and question marks over the design, especially the last one when the D was destroyed.

The kinks were ironed out I am sure but the damage was done.

 

[Gonzo]

The notion that Scott was involved in the design of the Sovereign class comes from Ship of the Line, the non-canon book where Morgan Bateman was the first CO of the E-E

No its somewhere else as I never read that, it may have been the Shatner books but I faintly remember seeing it somewhere else as well.

Its no big deal though.

 

[BillJ]

He designed the ship but the technologies used were designed by many other people and teams, I would say it is doable with the resources at Starfleets disposal, I have no doubt that Mr Scott was given whatever he needed as Starfleet were never going to give up the chance of having him create a new ship for them.

Four years, at the most, between Scott hoping out of the transporter and the launch of the Enterprise. I see that as tough to pull off. The Sovereign likely launched earlier.

 

[cooleddie74]

You're working really hard for that nerd of the year award. Slow down, it's only January!

I learned TNG Era stardate conversion long ago.

 

[Gonzo]

IIRC the "writers bible" for the E-E has a backstory that she was very far along in construction when 1701-D was destroyed. Starfleet then immediately renamed the ship that was under construction from what she was originally supposed to be, something like Honorius or Sentinel, to Enterprise.

The first of any class is normally named after said class so the first should have been the USS Sovereign.

They could have switched it though certainly on the destruction of the D, never mind it must have been something non canon.

 

[Racefuel]

It's never been said The E-E was the first of her class. Sovereign has been established as first ever since the Star Trek Encyclopedia was updated for First Contact

NX-75000

 

[StewMc]

The notion that Scott was involved in the design of the Sovereign class comes from Ship of the Line, the non-canon book where Morgan Bateman was the first CO of the E-E

One of many weird things in that book that don’t make any sense and are best forgotten.

But yeah I think the same thing might have popped up in Shatner’s Spectre, I’m sure Scotty was meant to be the chief engineer of the Sovereign or something as well.