USS Grissom - why?

[Maurice]

^The Stargazer was never described as being a science vessel, much less underpowered. The Tsiolkovsky or Lantree might have been described that way...

I dont recall if it was worded this way in the final episode, but from the Relics script:

PICARD
The first ship I ever served
aboard as Captain was called the
Stargazer... it was an overworked,
underpowered vessel that was
always on the verge of flying
apart at the seams. In every
measurable way, my Enterprise is
a superior ship.
(beat)
And yet... there are times I miss
that cramped little Bridge very
much.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

I think that was right, actually.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

^The Stargazer was never described as being a science vessel, much less underpowered. The Tsiolkovsky or Lantree might have been described that way...

I dont recall if it was worded this way in the final episode, but from the Relics script:

PICARD
The first ship I ever served
aboard as Captain was called the
Stargazer... it was an overworked,
underpowered vessel that was
always on the verge of flying
apart at the seams. In every
measurable way, my Enterprise is
a superior ship.
(beat)
And yet... there are times I miss
that cramped little Bridge very
much.

Hmmm...that's interesting. I don't remember that part. Doesn't mean it wasn't there, of course.

The Stargazer was a Constellation-class starship, which first appeared late 23rd century. By the time Picard gets command (which ends in the 2350's, based on the events at Maxia Zeta) the class would've been around for at least 40-50 years, and would be reaching decommissioning. So his description does make sense.

 

[Timo]

...Also, Starfleet would probably be pushing the old design harder than originally intended, to make her competitive with newer and faster designs.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Kryton]

Is it true the new movie will have a ship named USS Schirra and that the entire crew comes down with head colds on it?

 

[trevanian]

No, that was supposed to be in the movie CONTACT.

 

[Kryton]

OH! That would have been funny if he weren't so well-known for hawking SudaFed on TV!

 

[trevanian]

OH! That would have been funny if he weren't so well-known for hawking SudaFed on TV!

Hey, I just HAD to take the shot. (I thought he was the Actifed guy myself.)

 

[Kryton]

I stand corrected!

During the Apollo 7 mission, Schirra caught what was perhaps the most famous cold in NASA history.[1] He took Actifed to relieve his symptoms upon the advice of the flight surgeon. His grumpy behaviour served as a distraction to the flight controllers and this behaviour may have led him to never fly in space again. His crew never flew in space again as well. Years later, he became a spokesman for Actifed and would appear in television commercials advertising the product.[2]

Also, RIP, Captain Schirra...I guess I somehow missed the news of his passing just over a year ago from a heart attack related to mesothelioma.

 

[dave_R_treker]

Unfortunitly The Grissom isn't the only starship to suffer this klnd of fate. Ships named after other great people, and other things (ships and things from novels and stuff) and the ships seem to always get destroyed.
Did anyone get the Ships of the Line calender, well The Columbia suffers a horrable fate.

 

[Kryton]

Don't forget the Tsiolkovsky in TNG!

 

[Peach Wookiee]

And the Oddyssey in DS9...

 

[cardinal biggles]

I'm pretty sure Captain Keogh's final words weren't "My God... it's full of stars!"

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

And the OTHER starship Grissom was destroyed in a ball of flame during the Dominion War - 6 survivors out of a crew of 1250.

Who knows? Aside from Enterprise, are there any ships with a worse fate record?

Mark

 

[cardinal biggles]

Well, first you'd have to figure out how many ships have been repeated names.

 

[Timo]

Really, folks, the underlying facts of this are that

a) starships are things that tend to go kaboom, and

b) nobody names (star)ships after people, events and places that aren't famous

(unless we're speaking about in-jokes involving the hometowns or close relatives of production personnel, of course).

If it weren't USS Grissom blowing up, it would be USS Glenn or USS Washington or USS Mandela or whatever. Ships today are always given names at the risk that those names go to the bottom of the sea - and thus sometimes renamed when the risk grows too high and names like Deutschland or United States start to burn at the necks of the Department of Propaganda.

Would we really be better off if Starfleet chose to operate a starship USS Chairman Mao in the hopes that everybody would cheer at the news of her demise?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[cardinal biggles]

^Suddenly, I'm imagining a Hitler-class, with ships named after the galaxy's most horrible people, being deployed as cannon fodder in the Dominion War.

I should be ashamed of myself.

 

[chancellorjake]

Who would serve on those ships, though?

 

[Maurice]

I'm pretty sure Captain Keogh's final words weren't "My God... it's full of stars!"

Who said that? Dave Bowman sure didn't in 2001 (the film)!

 

[TremblingBluStar]

I honestly thought Grissom was named after a doctor or scientist who discovered something important, not an astronaut.

Perhaps this guy, who in 1902 committed suicide after being declared insane.