Usage of Galaxy class starships in the Dominion War

[Picard578]

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And realized that he is correct. In Sacrifice of Angels, after the initial push is over - in which we do see two Galaxies supporting the Defiant - all Galaxy class starships apparently simply wander off, strolling through Dominion lines and happily murdering whatever they come across with no regard for anything going on around them. And nothing and nobody seems able to stop them, with one Galaxy actually coming onto the screen from direction of Domonion lines without showing any signs of damage.

So they are definitely used as battleships. But do we have any indication of Galaxy class ships being used as battlecruisers? Something like what battlecruisers were intended to do, or else German commerce raiders: big ships that just go wandering off into enemy territory, destroying anything and everything they come across with nothing able to stop them. Galaxy class starships definitely seem capable of doing something like that, considering they were originally designed for exploration.

 

[DonIago]

Canonically, the only place that would have occurred would be DS9, and no, there's no evidence of Galaxy class ships being used as battlecruisers in the manner you describe, to my recollection.

 

[MarkusTay]

Canonically, the only place that would have occurred would be DS9, and no, there's no evidence of Galaxy class ships being used as battlecruisers in the manner you describe, to my recollection.

True, but it is implied that such 'activities' are not beneath the Federation.

There is a blockade. The intent is to stop supplies coming through. Yes, that means supplies in the usual sense from military vehicles (which are legitimate targets), but I can recall at least one episode in which a civilian ship trying to carry supplies across the lines was boarded and their cargo impounded. That infers that had they not stopped, a civilian vessel would have indeed been 'shot out of the sky' as it were. Do they say this directly? No... not exactly... but I very much doubt that people who are technically smuggling are such law-abiding citizens they always stop when the UFP tells them to, and don't try to run. The very existence of a blockade infers armed force to stop things 'at the border', and 'armed force' is meaningless if you don't intend to use it. Star Trek doesn't like to show the dark sides of having to run the largest, most law-ridden states in space.

 

[Citiprime]

Sisko refers to the Galaxy Class starships being structured in a “Galaxy wing.”

The US Navy has carrier air wings, where the operations of multiple squadrons of different aircraft are centered around a specific aircraft carrier.

I’m guessing that’s how it worked during the Dominion War battles. Sisko and the Defiant are the supreme commander of the fleet and command ship, but each Galaxy Class starship commanded a section of the fleet, with fighters and other classes acting as support.

 

[DonIago]

True, but it is implied that such 'activities' are not beneath the Federation.

There is a blockade. The intent is to stop supplies coming through. Yes, that means supplies in the usual sense from military vehicles (which are legitimate targets), but I can recall at least one episode in which a civilian ship trying to carry supplies across the lines was boarded and their cargo impounded. That infers that had they not stopped, a civilian vessel would have indeed been 'shot out of the sky' as it were. Do they say this directly? No... not exactly... but I very much doubt that people who are technically smuggling are such law-abiding citizens they always stop when the UFP tells them to, and don't try to run. The very existence of a blockade infers armed force to stop things 'at the border', and 'armed force' is meaningless if you don't intend to use it. Star Trek doesn't like to show the dark sides of having to run the largest, most law-ridden states in space.

Which episode was this, and are you sure you're not thinking of an episode involving the Maquis and/or the DMZ and/or Cardassian territory pre-war?

In any event, Starfleet vessels typically have plenty of non-lethal options available for detaining civilian vessels if they're so inclined, so unless the civilian vessel opened fire on the Starfleet ship, I question your claim that they'd be 'shot out of the sky'.

 

[Dukhat]

Sisko refers to the Galaxy Class starships being structured in a “Galaxy wing.”.

I don’t think there was actually any correlation between Sisko’s ‘Galaxy Wing’ statement, and any actual Galaxy class starships. At least not that I saw on screen. Now if he also said ‘Excelsior Wing’ or ‘Akira Wing,’ that would have been more definitive.

As for the Galaxy class being used for the Dominion war fleet generally…no, I don’t think anyone had any intentions about the specific class being used in a specific way, other than ‘generic Starfleet vessel.’ None of the ship classes used in the fleets did anything other than fire their weapons or get blown up. The Galaxy class ships didn’t really do anything any differently than, say, the Miranda class ships did.

 

[DS9forever]

But there is a scene soon after with two Galaxys engaging Cardassian ships.

 

[fireproof78]

Galaxy class starships definitely seem capable of doing something like that, considering they were originally designed for exploration.

Even in "Angel One" the Enterprise is being directed to the Neutral Zone as "insurance" against the Romulans sending a battlecruiser to patrol along the Neutral Zone. Be rather odd to send a ship as a show of force as insurance against a Romulan battlecruiser if it couldn't do something.