U.S.S. Enterprise - how many decks?

[Citizen Cook]

It is my understanding that the Enterprise from TMP had 21 decks.

1. Did the series Enterprise also have 21 decks before the refit?
2. Did the Enterprise A also have 21 decks?
3. Finally, how were the decks divvied up? How many were in the dish, neck, and secondary hull respectively?

 

[Tosk]

I have no idea.

 

[T'Girl]

The Making of Star Trek (iirc) said the TOS Enterprise possessed 24 decks.

If Starfleet refit/redecorated the Enterprise (as oppose to completely gutting her) the TMP version would presumably have the same deck count.

The Enterprise A is a different ship, and the number of decks there are unknown (although there apparently is a deck 78).

 

[Timo]

Or perhaps a turbolift shaft that runs between decks 7 and 8...

In TOS, the same corridor sets were used for portraying both saucer and secondary hull facilities. In TMP, the secondary hull decks were supposed to be higher than the saucer ones - which might well mean the loss of three decks.

Mere window row counts don't tell the whole truth about TOS or TMP, but the 20-deck ballpark is obvious from the latter, and we're supposed to think this ship is the rough same size as the former. Both the TMP refit and the E-A are externally identical, so it's difficult to see something as major as deck count being different there, even if the two ships were refitted or built somewhat differently.

We know what Andrew Probert intended for the TMP ship and her 21 decks, so we can pretty confidently force the other two ship versions into the same mold. The saucer would then have 11 decks (from 1 to 11, or from A to K), the secondary hull would have eight (from 14 to 21, or N to U), and the neck five (from 9 to 13 or I to M).

For the TOS ship, fudge a few more decks (of reduced height) into the secondary hull and/or the neck, but keep the saucer like above: its shape doesn't change all that much, and e.g. in "Errand of Mercy" we hear that Klingon weapons slam onto Deck 11 while only lower saucer hits are shown...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Citizen Cook]

Or perhaps a turbolift shaft that runs between decks 7 and 8...

In TOS, the same corridor sets were used for portraying both saucer and secondary hull facilities. In TMP, the secondary hull decks were supposed to be higher than the saucer ones - which might well mean the loss of three decks.

Mere window row counts don't tell the whole truth about TOS or TMP, but the 20-deck ballpark is obvious from the latter, and we're supposed to think this ship is the rough same size as the former. Both the TMP refit and the E-A are externally identical, so it's difficult to see something as major as deck count being different there, even if the two ships were refitted or built somewhat differently.

We know what Andrew Probert intended for the TMP ship and her 21 decks, so we can pretty confidently force the other two ship versions into the same mold. The saucer would then have 11 decks (from 1 to 11, or from A to K), the secondary hull would have eight (from 14 to 21, or N to U), and the neck five (from 9 to 13 or I to M).

For the TOS ship, fudge a few more decks (of reduced height) into the secondary hull and/or the neck, but keep the saucer like above: its shape doesn't change all that much, and e.g. in "Errand of Mercy" we hear that Klingon weapons slam onto Deck 11 while only lower saucer hits are shown...

Timo Saloniemi

Thanks very much!

 

[MantaBase]

It is my understanding that the Enterprise from TMP had 21 decks.

1. Did the series Enterprise also have 21 decks before the refit?
2. Did the Enterprise A also have 21 decks?
3. Finally, how were the decks divvied up? How many were in the dish, neck, and secondary hull respectively?

The Plans from Franz Joseph and also FASA show 25 decks - but only 22 normally occupied I think. Enterprise A? I have no idea, but it was my impression that the refit and the A were basically the same ship design.

TOS Enterprise
Dish: Decks 0 (not really a deck) to 11
"Neck": Decks 8-14
Secondary Hull: Decks 15-24/25 (not really a usable deck for people)

Drawing for the refit vary from 21 to 25. For 21 decks basically a number of the lower decks are combined for a very tall cargo space.

In one of the movies there is a deck "78" I think, however, There is not enough room for that many decks and the deck numbering is reversed, so the number likely referred to something other than the total number of decks.

 

[Shark]

The Enterprise-A apparently had 78 decks.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

I checked the USS Defiant MSD. It shows 11 decks in the saucer. I was not able to gauge how many decks there are in the connecting pylon (the "neck") and the engineering hull. The hangar bay is at least three decks high, based on the MSD.

 

[Albertese]

Although, if you really dig into that MSD, you will find by comparing objects shown with full size versions of them (for instance, doors) you will find that the whole ship has been scaled up by an additional 50% or so to fit it all in there.

I am very happy to dismiss that particular graphic out of hand.

--Alex

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Or perhaps a turbolift shaft that runs between decks 7 and 8...

Or not.

 

[Mytran]

Although, if you really dig into that MSD, you will find by comparing objects shown with full size versions of them (for instance, doors) you will find that the whole ship has been scaled up by an additional 50% or so to fit it all in there.

I am very happy to dismiss that particular graphic out of hand.

Of course, the Defiant is not the Enterprise. I can certainly accept that Starfleet may have produced a limited run of "dreadnought" scaled up versions of the Enterprise's class (heck, the Klingons did it all the time with the BOP), prior to the technological breakthrough which gave rise to the TMP designs.

 

[Citizen Cook]

Or perhaps a turbolift shaft that runs between decks 7 and 8...

Or not.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

The Hero ships do have an issue with the number of decks. As well as the original E and the refit E, both the Defiant and the Enterprise-E have contradictory sources for the number of decks.

 

[MantaBase]

Or perhaps a turbolift shaft that runs between decks 7 and 8...

Or not.

Well, so you see decks named things like 77 and 78 or 64. But if you watch the sequence, there are only 10-12 decks. Fact is, there is not enough physical space for 78 decks in a connie. that would make it at least 800 feet tall.

So, maybe in their haste they used parts from a station to build the thing. Those doors were on the inside of the shaft, not meant to be seen were they?

 

[Avro Arrow]

^ Yeah, that whole sequence was weirdness all around. Based on those images, they've got the deck numbers increasing from the bottom, like an apartment building or something. Other than this, Trek has always shown Starfleet ship decks increasing from the top down.

 

[blssdwlf]

SCOTT: U.S.S. Enterprise, shakedown cruise report. I think this new ship was put together by monkeys. Och, she's got a fine engine, but half the doors won't open, and guess whose job it is to make it right?
​

If the builders got the doors wrong, it wouldn't be too hard to assume the rest of the ship, except for the engines, would have some issue with them like mislabeling, not working, etc...

 

[Albertese]

I could accept that they are not labels of which deck it is, but which stop it is. And the "deck" label is at the position of the floor.

A little weird, but no weirder than the rest of the movie.

--Alex

 

[Richard Baker]

IIRC the deck numbers in that turbolift escape scene also repeat them selves at times. Personally I ignore that whole bit as a desperate attempt of adding excitement instead of having any logical basis in how the ship was designed and labeled.

 

[Timo]

What's really weird about those scenes is that the turboshaft seems to be a dead end. No doors of any sort on the walls!

There are three or four types of corrugated panels for the wall segments, and while we might squint and see "seams" in some, none look anything like the well-documented insides of turbolift doors.

Nor is there an actual lift in that shaft, for that matter. And the only side openings, the ones at the bottom deck, don't really look like they would wish to disgorge or swallow a regular turbolift, let alone one fitting neatly inside that hexagonal shaft.

So what is this feature? Most spacecraft in future history appear to feature at least one poin... ah, bottomless shaft for the purpose of dumping bad guys in (the E-E does, too!). Perhaps Starfleet couldn't really afford to build a ship tall enough for the bottomless part, so they tried to fake it with those labels.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Galileo7]

The Enterprise-A apparently had 78 decks.

I am still shocked and disappointed they allowed such a massive mistake to appear in TFF.