The Narada

[Corradus]

Honestly, I've been wondering about the Narada too.

I mean, I wasn't really thinking it had been modified much, you know those Romulans, it would be just like them to build a mining ship so damn spooky-looking that it would scare the living crap out the asteroid and then strip it bare as it quaked in fear.

It took me a couple of watches of the movie (mostly because JaJAbrams doesn't seem to be comfortable with letting us just LOOK at stuff and instead he has to shake the camera and use lens flares like some glamor photographer told to take "art" pictures of a nude bag-lady) to realize the ship had no beam weapons and was using small torpedoes that could just have easily been mining charges to get the job done. As far as them penetrating a shields, well, these mining charges WERE really advanced...and I would imagine Romulans didn't mess around when it came to anything to do with explosives...

I tell you what made me cringe though (on a slightly tangential note) Was it my imagination or was the evacuation of the Kelvin not like, the LONGEST abandon ship in Starfleet's history? There was these scenes of everybody running around in circles for a while like they were trying to remember where they'd left the shuttles...good thing Nero wasn't really interested in wiping out the Kelvin immediately or those poor buggers would never have had a chance to get into their shuttles with the Meat Department Curtains at the back. I won't even get into wondering why there were no escape pods....

 

[Clancy_s]

Does anyone have a size comparison chart showing the Narada with other ST ships?

I haven't seen a chart. An article I read (not bookmarked) quoted it as 5 kilometres long...

Personally, it would be easier for me to believe that the Narada was never a mining ship, but was an experimental super-battlecruiser that Nero stole. But then it has the drilling cable, which a warship wouldn't have. Damn it...

If Countdown provides a semi-canon explanation

Spoiler: Countdown

Originally Borg.

 

[Wes-Cutting]

Narada question?

Doesn't Nero say that it was a simple mining vessel?
If so, can some one please explain to me why a mining vessel would such massive firepower. I understand the idea that its from the future but we are talking around the time of TNG and I don't even remember a Romulan Warbird having that much firepower.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Re: Narada question?

In Countdown (the prequel comic), Nero upgrades his ship with secret Romulan/Borg technology (from a secret Romulan base) before beginning his crusade.

 

[Shazam!]

Re: Narada question?

Doesn't Nero say that it was a simple mining vessel?
If so, can some one please explain to me why a mining vessel would such massive firepower. I understand the idea that its from the future but we are talking around the time of TNG and I don't even remember a Romulan Warbird having that much firepower.

Dunno, but expect somebody to reference Countdown.

 

[Wes-Cutting]

Re: Narada question?

In Countdown (the prequel comic), Nero upgrades his ship with secret Romulan/Borg technology (from a secret Romulan base) before beginning his crusade.

Wouldn't that mean he planned his crusade before Romulus was destroyed?

 

[F. King Daniel]

Re: Narada question?

Doesn't Nero say that it was a simple mining vessel?
If so, can some one please explain to me why a mining vessel would such massive firepower. I understand the idea that its from the future but we are talking around the time of TNG and I don't even remember a Romulan Warbird having that much firepower.

Dunno, but expect somebody to reference Countdown.

Too late!

 

[David cgc]

Re: Narada question?

In Countdown (the prequel comic), Nero upgrades his ship with secret Romulan/Borg technology (from a secret Romulan base) before beginning his crusade.

Wouldn't that mean he planned his crusade before Romulus was destroyed?

It was between Romulus being destroyed and Spock actually getting there to contain the nova.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Re: Narada question?

In Countdown (the prequel comic), Nero upgrades his ship with secret Romulan/Borg technology (from a secret Romulan base) before beginning his crusade.

Wouldn't that mean he planned his crusade before Romulus was destroyed?

No - he got the co-ordinates for the base from the Praetor's staff, who escaped Romulus in a shuttle. He killed the Praetor.

It was, however, after he shaved his head and got his tats.

EDIT: Damn - beaten to it!

 

[Timo]

Re: Narada question?

Of course, sheer size must count to something.

A mining vessel would have stuff intended to slice and dice the rock and metal it is mining. A big mining vessel would have a lot of that.

Also, a big vessel would be well protected. There would be a lot of bulk to be sacrificed before the enemy could hurt any truly vulnerable and critical parts.

Now remember that the mining "weapons" and "shields", even if civilian in their basic nature, would be a hundred years more advanced than the Starfleet stuff. Then note that Romulans have always been portrayed as bellicose or at least suspicious, meaning that their "civilian" hardware and vessels might well have a military tint to them. And then note that Nero would probably have had at least a little time to equip his vessel for this mission of vengeance in the 24th century, plus almost thirty years in the 23rd century.

The result should be impressive all right. If a band of mercenaries today decided to arm an oil rig with what their money could buy, and then sent it via a time tunnel to the Battle of Skagerrak in WWI, they'd probably be able to sink both the British and German fleets of dedicated warships there easily enough.

And none of that takes into account red matter. Essentially, every syringeful of that stuff was worse than the warload of an ICBM. If Nero had access to that stuff in all his fights, and not merely the one against Starfleet in Vulcan orbit, it's a wonder that he could be defeated at all. (But apparently he obtained the red matter from Spock's vessel, which he only captured shortly before attacking Vulcan.)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Wes-Cutting]

Re: Narada question?

In Countdown (the prequel comic), Nero upgrades his ship with secret Romulan/Borg technology (from a secret Romulan base) before beginning his crusade.

Wouldn't that mean he planned his crusade before Romulus was destroyed?

It was between Romulus being destroyed and Spock actually getting there to contain the nova.

But Spock said he had little time to act to stop the Galaxy-Destroying-SuperNova(this is another thing that bugged me). The way I understood was that Spock just missed the bell to class and had to get a tardy slip vs. him not going to school that day.

Anyway I still think the Narada is crazy powerful

 

[Wes-Cutting]

Re: Narada question?

Of course, sheer size must count to something.

A mining vessel would have stuff intended to slice and dice the rock and metal it is mining. A big mining vessel would have a lot of that.

Also, a big vessel would be well protected. There would be a lot of bulk to be sacrificed before the enemy could hurt any truly vulnerable and critical parts.

Now remember that the mining "weapons" and "shields", even if civilian in their basic nature, would be a hundred years more advanced than the Starfleet stuff. Then note that Romulans have always been portrayed as bellicose or at least suspicious, meaning that their "civilian" hardware and vessels might well have a military tint to them. And then note that Nero would probably have had at least a little time to equip his vessel for this mission of vengeance in the 24th century, plus almost thirty years in the 23rd century.

The result should be impressive all right. If a band of mercenaries today decided to arm an oil rig with what their money could buy, and then sent it via a time tunnel to the Battle of Skagerrak in WWI, they'd probably be able to sink both the British and German fleets of dedicated warships there easily enough.

And none of that takes into account red matter. Essentially, every syringeful of that stuff was worse than the warload of an ICBM. If Nero had access to that stuff in all his fights, and not merely the one against Starfleet in Vulcan orbit, it's a wonder that he could be defeated at all. (But apparently he obtained the red matter from Spock's vessel, which he only captured shortly before attacking Vulcan.)

Timo Saloniemi

That makes a little more sense, but there would only be so much you could put on a oil rig that would do any harm to the past battleships.

 

[M'Sharak]

Re: Narada question?

Doesn't Nero say that it was a simple mining vessel?
If so, can some one please explain to me why a mining vessel would such massive firepower. I understand the idea that its from the future but we are talking around the time of TNG and I don't even remember a Romulan Warbird having that much firepower.

Merging this with the other Narada thread, in which this question has also been discussed. Hold onto your drinks, everyone...

 

[OneBuckFilms]

The Narada, if the Countdown Comics are to be taken as gospel on the matter, included some hybrid Borg technology that was fitted to it after Nero arrived at a just-destroyed Romulus, killed the Senate and took that ceremonial staff (the one used to kill Robau) to declare himself emperor.

Being Emperor, in the absense of any other form of government, allowed him access to a Romulan facility that was working to combine Borg technology with Romulan weapons systems, leading to the green-glowing missiles we see, and the haphazard appearance of the Narada, whose core is still a small mining vessel.

He then went after Spock, and on a vengeful Rampage, believing that Spock and the Vulcans/Federation conspired to let the Hobus nova destroy Romulus rather than give him the Red Matter to collapse the star (as Spock eventually did, but too late).

Typical Romulan paranoia, combined with the rage of losing both his home and his wife (with unborn child), simply drove him over the Edge.

In chasing Spock down, the Narada gets pulled into the Hobus Black Hole, then slightly later, the Jellyfish is also pulled in.

They emerge 25 years apart, the ships ovviously built with the technology necessary to survive the trip. Narada had Borg regenerative capabilities, while the Jellyfish was designed for extreme environments, so both ships survived rather than disitegrated under the stresses normally associated with Black Holes.

That, in a nutshell, is the way it went down. That is also why the Narada is the beast it is.

 

[Triton46]

Re: Narada question?

In Countdown (the prequel comic), Nero upgrades his ship with secret Romulan/Borg technology (from a secret Romulan base) before beginning his crusade.

I haven't read countdown but did read the reasoning on the DVD for the size/weaponry of the Narada.

My only question is when did he have time to build it? The DVD says that it was built up when Romulus was destroyed, but Spock was on his way when Romulus was destroyed...in Vulcan's fastest ship. After Spock arrived ("I had little time") he was intercepted by the Narada and both were sucked into the blackhole.

So, was the time between Romulus' explosion and Spock's arrival months?

 

[kes7]

What's really not clear to me is how the Narada could take out 47 well armed Klingon cruisers with the weapons we saw. Maybe an infinite number of the weapons we saw... fine... i'm sure they have plenty of reason to "mine" with cluster bombs. BUT why would the Narada have anything other than minimal shields? And yes, any one Klingon ship might be 150 years out of date, but 47 all firing away?

We learned in TNG's second season (the Outrageous Okona) that the shields of Starships could absorb certain types of weapons fire. In the episode I mentioned the Enterprise-D encounters ships that are roughly 100 years behind the Enterprise technologically and Picard says that their phasers wouldn't even be able to penetrate the navigatonal deflectors let alone the full deflector shields of the Enterprise. The Narada, most likely, benefits from similar advancements due to the age of the Federation's weapons when compared to the Narada's technology being from the late 24th Century.

We've never seen a torpedo beamed. I would imagine that de-materializing it would have an adverse affect on the containment fields holding the antimatter in place, resulting in catastrophic detonation.

They did it once in VOY, but I don't know the episode title.

Dark Frontier. They transport a photon torpedo aboard a Borg Probe (a rectangular scout ship) that detonates next to a plasma conduit and destroys the ship.

They did it in Child's Play, too, IIRC.

 

[Myasishchev]

The more I think about this movie the less I like it. Pools of liquid inside a starship, beaming people halfway across the solar system, Nero lurking around the galaxy for 20+ years waiting for Spock Prime to arrive, and Kirk's experience as a starfleet officer wiped out just to name a few problems with this movie.

And don't get me started on the Narada. I agree with a earlier post that it would have been more interesting if the Jellyfish was Nero's ship and it wiped out entire fleets with it's late 24th/early 25th century technology.

I could actually see that. Why not just have Nero travel back in time just to fuck up Spock's life, anyway? It would've explained a coincidence I don't think anyone's mentioned, which is that the black hole in the "supernova" very transported Nero to a point in spacetime with convient Spock access. Plus it would've obviated all that red matter nonsense.

A montage of alternate-Spock murders/Vulcan-excoriations from 2400 back to 225x would've been neat, too. Spock-1 could've been chasing him, kind of like a combination Sam Beckett, H.G. Wells from Time After Time, and the Terminator. Spock-2, our (new) Spock is just the Spock that wound up getting saved. Thanks to James "Douchebag" Kirk.

What do you need a drilling rig for when the Enterprise-D used it's phasers to drill into a planets crust. You don't need that big of a hole to drop that small container of red matter into.

I still say the Narada is a black hole miner, breaking up big black holes into smaller, usuable power sources. Of course, Countdown says it mines "decalithium," because Countdown is a giant piece of garbage with few redeeming features and one--I counted--one good line.

The result should be impressive all right. If a band of mercenaries today decided to arm an oil rig with what their money could buy, and then sent it via a time tunnel to the Battle of Skagerrak in WWI, they'd probably be able to sink both the British and German fleets of dedicated warships there easily enough.

This seems reasonable, but I'll just point out that about any major combatant at Jutland theoretically would have the firepower to sink or heavily damage any modern ship, though (including the destroyers, with their torpedoes). It's not like the CSS Merrimack or the HMS Warrior something, we're talking second-gen dreadnoughts. A QE-class could I reckon still sink any ship afloat if it were allowed to fire on it.

I guess this isn't really analogous, though, since our deflector shield technology has not noticeably improved since Jutland.