The true purpose of the Galaxy Class?

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

There's also no positive evidence that it was, as it was never referred to as such and was specifically per dialogue excluded from the post-Dominion War negotiations (and indeed evidence that it was even part of the War is semi-canonical at best).

OTOH, several Galaxy-class starships, including the Venture did serve during the War and in a flagship role in the ordinary sense.

Why take it away from it just to reassign it to Enterprise. I mean, we see the Enterprise lineage as special because those are the stories that we've seen, but other ships/lineages could have easily been the "Hero of Another Story".

Why not? There have almost certainly been Federation flagships not called Enterprise in the past. FWIW some official social media suggests that a late 23rd/early 24th Century predecessor (NCC-1777, Shangri-La-class) served as Federation flagship while the Enterprise-B (and Excelsior who I've always thought was a reasonable candidate) was in service.

More "bad fan service" rather than "bad fanfiction" IMO, but I agree

Admiral Beverly C. Crusher (nee Howard), MD. At last report was serving as Head of Starfleet Medical* and heading up the De-Borgification/Counter-Changeling Task Force.

* Either the Head of the Medical Branch as a whole (A post typically held by a senior flag officer IRL as they manage 100-1000s of physicans, and known as the Surgeon-General, Starfleet certainly doesn't have less and Starfleet did apparently have an SG during TOS) or merely the Head of the location known by the shorthand of "Starfleet Medical" (in full the Starfleet Medical Annex - San Francisco), which would be much more inline with her displayed rank of Commodore (and indeed her having held that post as a Commander or Acting Captain in the past).

#1 I'm not saying there's evidence the Ent-E "is" the flagship, I'm merely speculating it would make sense, given it's the same crew with a new ship, smaller, but just as capable.

#2 It's been a while since I watched DS9, Venture was that one Galaxy-class ship we kept seeing docked at DS9 and in fleet battles? I kind of like the idea that Starfleet assigned a Galaxy-class ship to lead the war front. I also liked that we saw several Galaxies fighting the Cardies and Dominion in the final seasons.

#3 If Starfleet wants Picard and crew to maintain flagship status and carry that over to the Enterprise-E, it's possible another ship could have carried the mantle for a year or two between Enterprises, then moved on to it's next mission, whatever that would be.

#4 I pay zero attention to Star Trek in social media, unless you count TrekBBS and YouTube. I just go by what's on screen in the TV shows, the films, and the behind-the-scenes stuff on the DVD's, Blu-ray, or stuff that pops up on YouTube and in online articles or Memory-Alpha, you get the idea.

#5 Bad fan-service, I guess, but yeah, I'm glad we agree on this. haha

#6 Is this a fan-fiction thing? There was Captain Crusher in the anti-time future of "All Good Things..." and retired Dr. Crusher in PIC S3, but "Admiral" Crusher?

 

[Brainsucker]

I disagree.

To the extent that the "Federation flagship" is a thing at all, my assumption is that the flag would have been transferred to another ship after the destruction of the E-D and that it would remain with that ship until it's destruction.

IMO, if a Sovereign-class was ever the Federation flagship, it was likely the USS Sovereign, rather than the Enterprise-E.

Given that they were both placed in the Fleet Museum, it wouldn't be unreasonable to suggest that either the Sentinel or the Wersching were the flagship at the least briefly (there is almost certainly something very special about one of them as otherwise including two of the class in such rarified company verges on bizarre.



Given that it appears to have been acting as flagship for the Frontier Day celebrations, I'd say it's plausible that the E-F was the outgoing flagship.

Given that the E-G is specifically a second or third tier vessel within the fleet (more like Voyager or the Cerritos than any previous Enterprise), I'd consider it unlikely that it's the Federation flagship, though it's more plausible that it occasionally as Commodore/Admiral Crusher's personal flagship.

I don't think that the status of Flagship is depend to the ship, but to the commanding officer and her mission. the Ent-D became a Flagship just because Picard was a Captain with an authority of an Admiral. Just look at TNG season 3 last episode (where the Borg invaded Federation. It mentioned that Picard was the one who responsible on the security of the sector. And guess what, that is the job of an admiral, not a captain.

To be honest, I think Picard should be already an admiral since the first day of TNG, or at least the 2nd season of TNG, and Riker will take the role of the captain of the ship. Picard stay in the Enterprise just because the Enterprise is his Flagship. And yes, Ent-D really fit to be called as a Flagship. in the battle against Borg, it is the only ship that can survived in a direct contact against the Borg.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

I don't think that the status of Flagship is depend to the ship, but to the commanding officer and her mission. the Ent-D became a Flagship just because Picard was a Captain with an authority of an Admiral. Just look at TNG season 3 last episode (where the Borg invaded Federation. It mentioned that Picard was the one who responsible on the security of the sector. And guess what, that is the job of an admiral, not a captain.

To be honest, I think Picard should be already an admiral since the first day of TNG, or at least the 2nd season of TNG, and Riker will take the role of the captain of the ship. Picard stay in the Enterprise just because the Enterprise is his Flagship. And yes, Ent-D really fit to be called as a Flagship. in the battle against Borg, it is the only ship that can survived in a direct contact against the Borg.

Picard was offered the rank of Admiral all the way back in Season 1. It suggests that Starfleet was torn between promoting Picard to Admiral vs. giving him command of the Enterprise-D. Picard wanted to fly a Starship, not a desk.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

#1 I'm not saying there's evidence the Ent-E "is" the flagship, I'm merely speculating it would make sense, given it's the same crew with a new ship, smaller, but just as capable.

That's kinda my point. We see the crew of the Enterprise as special because it's the Hero Ship, but in-universe is merely one of an "elite tier", so there's no reason why another member of the same tier couldn't take the role instead.

#2 It's been a while since I watched DS9, Venture was that one Galaxy-class ship we kept seeing docked at DS9 and in fleet battles? I kind of like the idea that Starfleet assigned a Galaxy-class ship to lead the war front. I also liked that we saw several Galaxies fighting the Cardies and Dominion in the final seasons.

Yup.

#3 If Starfleet wants Picard and crew to maintain flagship status and carry that over to the Enterprise-E, it's possible another ship could have carried the mantle for a year or two between Enterprises, then moved on to it's next mission, whatever that would be.

I think you're missing the point of the term "flagship", it's got very little to do with the crew (save perhaps a single flag officer) and everything to do with the ship itself.

If Jellico hadn't managed to rescue Picard and replaced all the senior staff with his own "yes-people" from the Cairo and/or elsewhere, then the E-D would still have remained the "Federation flagship" until it was decommissioned.

#5 Bad fan-service, I guess, but yeah, I'm glad we agree on this. haha

Me too.

#6 Is this a fan-fiction thing? There was Captain Crusher in the anti-time future of "All Good Things..." and retired Dr. Crusher in PIC S3, but "Admiral" Crusher?

Nope, it's in the closing scenes of the last episode of Picard, Crusher returns to duty as a flag officer and appears in uniform wearing the uniform of Commodore and is referred to as "Admiral".

I don't think that the status of Flagship is depend to the ship, but to the commanding officer and her mission.

See above.

the Ent-D became a Flagship just because Picard was a Captain with an authority of an Admiral. Just look at TNG season 3 last episode (where the Borg invaded Federation. It mentioned that Picard was the one who responsible on the security of the sector. And guess what, that is the job of an admiral, not a captain.

I think you've got several separate things confused there, possibly from Chain of Command and/or Descent. Certainly in latter, he was a Task Force/Sub-Fleet Commander under an Admiral which is a Fleet Captain/Commodore's billet (by rank, title or both)

To be honest, I think Picard should be already an admiral since the first day of TNG, or at least the 2nd season of TNG, and Riker will take the role of the captain of the ship.

See above.

And yes, Ent-D really fit to be called as a Flagship. in the battle against Borg, it is the only ship that can survived in a direct contact against the Borg.

The Galaxy-class is fit to be a flagship or command ship in the general sense certainly, but that the Enterprise was chosen for the "Federation flagship" role was more of an "informed attribute" in terms of it being a role rather a type as using in the civilian world.

 

[Will_Carter]

Perhaps the intended (but unrealized) mission profile was for the Galaxy Class to serve as a mobile command center. The Galaxy Class starship would be the central command, or flagship of a fleet or squadron of stsrships sent to explore a very distant or remote area of the galaxy. This command center would participate in and direct squadron operations, while also serving as mobile fleet support as well as offering a place for squadron crew to relax, unwind, make use of the holodecks, and general use the Galaxy Class ship as a substitute for a starbase.

So effectivly the command ship in an actual fleet, ala the galaxy wings of the dominion war?

Honestly it appeals to my sensabilities. Have the galaxy class ship activly be the command hub and processing center along with housing the facilities for crews from the fleet ships time to rest, relax, take in a holo novel, or even get a hair cut or day at the spa or even just... mingle with other crews on neutral ground, thus allowing more specialized craft.

Budgetary concerns render this a non option for TV of the day but man that just... I would have loved to see that fulfilment of the 'wagon train to the stars' motif pulled off.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

So effectivly the command ship in an actual fleet, ala the galaxy wings of the dominion war?

Honestly it appeals to my sensabilities. Have the galaxy class ship activly be the command hub and processing center along with housing the facilities for crews from the fleet ships time to rest, relax, take in a holo novel, or even get a hair cut or day at the spa or even just... mingle with other crews on neutral ground, thus allowing more specialized craft.

Budgetary concerns render this a non option for TV of the day but man that just... I would have loved to see that fulfilment of the 'wagon train to the stars' motif pulled off.

Because there's just so much of the Ent-D we never saw, I love finding and saving concept art of things we "could have seen" had there been the budget to show it.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

So effectivly the command ship in an actual fleet, ala the galaxy wings of the dominion war?

That's probably the "high end" of what I'd envison. Mainly I'd see it as more of a support ship for a flight or squadron of runabouts or "mission scout ships", maybe a couple of small "escorts" for intermediate "quick response".