Was the Enterprise D a gross misallocation?

[KhanSolo]

So I'm sure this subject has been debated before, but I just have to put in my two cents. All ships bearing the name Enterprise have been primarily exploration vessels (the Enterprise E is sort of on the fence as the Sovereign class is technically a battleship). Nonetheless, the Galaxy was designed as an exploration cruiser. It no doubt could hold its own in battle, but even then it was highly susceptible to inferior ships. You would think that the flagship of the Federation would be better equipped to handle a wider variety of tactical situations. Not just that, but families were present on the Enterprise D. Even though it was an exploration vessel, it seems inappropriate to have families on board a ship that could encounter a hostile alien race at any given time. Finally, the Enterprise D was destroyed by an "outdated" BOP, with some cheating of course, but nevertheless it took 4 or 5 disrupter blasts to its nacelles and neck? A BOP has 10,000 TerraWatt disrupters against a duranium hull with 9 cm of high density armor. Even an unshielded Constitution could withstand more of a beating than this. All opinions are welcome lads

 

[Tosk]

It's hard to argue when the thing that really destroyed the Enterprise-D was bad writing.

 

[The Wormhole]

The Galaxy class is somewhat reliable. We only know of three which were destroyed, and in each of those cases there were extenuating circumstances, alien computer virus, getting rammed by another ship, and the enemy having access to the chief engineer's eyes, so to speak. In the case of the Enterprise D, despite a warp core breach which obliterated the secondary hull and sent the saucer crashing, there were no deaths among the crew. A pretty impressive feat considering the rather embarrassing destruction.

 

[danielcw]

Finally, the Enterprise D was destroyed by an "outdated" BOP, with some cheating of course, but nevertheless it took 4 or 5 disrupter blasts to its nacelles and neck? A BOP has 10,000 TerraWatt disrupters against a duranium hull with 9 cm of high density armor. Even an unshielded Constitution could withstand more of a beating than this. All opinions are welcome lads

It wasn't just some cheating. The cheat made the shields, the primary defence mechanism, useless.

Where did you get the other numbers from, and how do you know how to apply them?

 

[HIjol]

Original OP Question: Was the Enterprise D a gross misallocation?

Answer: The Enterprise D was a thing of Sublime Beauty.

Losing the Shields is like us losing our skin...how long 'till we bleed out?

 

[at Quark's]

I'd say no. We got a good solid 7 year run out of it as viewers, and I'm still watching the reruns.

In universe though, perhaps. I've always found it a bit weird that you would go 'deep' exploring in potentially hostile territory, with families and all amenities on board. At least, that was the theory.

In practice the Enterprise-D seems to have been used more to just explore unexplored crannies and nooks in territories that were known at large, rarely being really far from the Federation, always being at close call when they needed to ferry dignitary such-and-so, which would indeed better fit her design.

As to the question whether the E-D was destroyed too easily, I don't know. It's a different era than our age, and shield technology is everything. Wich that technology being so advanced, I don't know how 'sturdy' the vessels themselves would have to be. Perhaps the attack that destroyed the E-D could be more likened to a few hackers securing some important passwords to a computer network, and then incapacitating said network, than to an inferior combat unit attacking and destroying a superior one just by surprise.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I don't think a single Trek writer actually knows or cares how many terrawatts there are on Klingon disruptors, or how many centimetres of high-density space armour was on the Enterprise. So trying to use any of that to justify what they make happen on the show is pretty pointless, IMO.

The reality is: Disruptors hurt as much as the episode/movie needs them to.

 

[Mage]

(the Enterprise E is sort of on the fence as the Sovereign class is technically a battleship).

No it's not. There is NO official statement anywhere about this. The only sources claiming this are fans who feel so because it kicked as in First Contact, and because some comments about how some of the ships in the battle in First Contact were designed purely to fight the Borg. This somehow sparked a believe that ALL ships seen in First Contact where batttleships.

As has been stated over and over again, Starfleet doesn't construct pure battleships/warships. Only the Defiant is seen as such, and even that one is officially classified as an escort. The Prometheus was also designed as a starship designed for deep space tactical assignments.

The entire concept of a Starfleet that is made out if explorers, battleships, destroyers, escorts, supports.... That's all from fandom wanting a fleet structure that closely resembles what we know in our day and age. And sure, it probably makes sense that they would have different kinds of ships for different kinds of roles.

But please, PLEASE, stop classifying the Sovereign class a battleship.

 

[Relayer1]

I don't know, but it was damned ugly.

 

[KhanSolo]

Well it was to my knowledge that the sovereign was a battleship. In any case, the point Im trying to make is that the Enterpise seems like it was inappropriately used as an exploration vessel. Yes it was designed as such but it was always deployed to diffuse some type of conflict or patrol federation borders. Technical specs aside, you would expect an unshielded Galaxy to able to withstand more than what the BOP could inflict. I understand that it is what the writers make it but I digress.

 

[BillJ]

Technical specs aside, you would expect an unshielded Galaxy to able to withstand more than what the BOP could inflict. I understand that it is what the writers make it but I digress.

Just because the Bird-of-Prey was twenty years old, doesn't mean its weapons were as well. I work on the assumption that the weapons were upgraded based on the pummeling it gave the Enterprise.

 

[Albertese]

I would say that the shields are really the ships only defense. In TUC, Chekov says that if they get hit without raising the shields they will not be able to respond. In "Day of the Dove" they blew up Kang's unshielded ship with little to no effort. Same thing when the Lantree is destroyed in "Unnatural Selection."

So the E-D getting killed as a result of its shields being effectively out of the way doesn't seem to be out of line from what we've seen elsewhere.

Also, let's not forget that the original intent was for the saucer to run and hide with the kids on board while the intentionally named "Battle Section" turned around and fought the battle. This didn't get much actual play on the show, but that was the idea.

--Alex

 

[RunawayStarShip]

I would assume that the Enterprise-D has two primary power allocation profiles: "a science ship with weapons" (basically anytime the crew isn't expecting a fight), or "a heavily armed ship that can do science" (anytime the crew expects a fight, like in BOBW, "Chain of Command", etc.). It seems like a reasonable way to reconcile how a ship and crew that can face off against a Borg cube singlehandedly for a short time could also fall victim to "inferior" foes... at least for those who believe that a superior combatant should always defeat an inferior one.

Although the Enterprise-D was destroyed in "embarrassing" fashion, one has to remember that in real life, battleships, cruisers, aircraft carriers, and such were often victims of much punier combatants like submarines and planes with bombs and torpedoes that failed 20% of the time. Heck, in the Battle off Samar, destroyer USS Johnston managed to destroy heavy cruiser Kumano with some well-directed shots from it's puny 5-in. surface guns.

I think many people are used to fictional heroes always winning despite the odds being against them, so it's disconcerting to see fictional heroes failing when the odds are heavily stacked in their favor. Sometimes shit happens.

 

[Goji]

The outside is actually quite beautiful. The interior sets are damn ugly though.

How it met its end is one of Generation's sins, but not nearly its biggest. Not a great movie.

 

[C.E. Evans]

From all onscreen material, the Enterprise-D seemed like the ultimate multipurpose vessel, capable of carrying out pretty much any kind of mission Starfleet needed her to (in that respect, she was like several smaller single-purpose starships in one, IMO). One could argue, though, that she was built with future crew and onboard facility expansion in mind, but went way before her time.

I like to think that had she survived Generations, the Enterprise-D probably would be a noticeably different vessel today than it was when she was initially launched, adapting to whatever changes in Starfleet and Federation policy that would occur.

 

[Xerxes1979]

The giant volume of the Galaxy class somewhat implies it was for deep space long duration exploration. 99% of Starfleet missions are spatial mapping and planetary surveys. Hardly dangerous stuff.

Is Earth really that safe when you can die in house fires or playing Parrises Squares? Obvious the dramatic demands of tv require a very dangerous universe, but really that would not be the case.

I enjoyed the diverse crew. A no family policy would mean these deep space missions were crewed only by empty nesters or the infertile. Picard himself may have been absent since he occasionally mulled retirement.

The ship was clearly a long duration design as Farpoint station was on the periphery of Federation space. Obviously the show's premise was rewritten but the children were not removed for some reason.

 

[Ithekro]

Several rule sets and some on screen combat scenes would suggest that Federation starships have the equivalent of a glass jaw. Their shields are practically their only defense against full on combat. With the shields down, starships tend to get hulled and destroyed very quickly.

However, if I recall correctly, the coolant leak/warp core breech on USS Enterprise was suppose to be one of those things that was nearly impossible to happen due to all the safety features the ship had. However, in at least two instances, heavy gire from Klingon weapons caused enough damage to cause several system failures that lead to the ship exploding after a few minutes. It was so implausible that when said problem happens, there is nothing the chief engineer can do about it. Not even ejecting the core. A warp core-less Enterprise would sort of stuck, but the ship would be intact. Perhaps it could strain the saucer sections drives to get them to a nearby starbase, or just wait for a tow.

 

[LeadHead]

I don't find the ship to be a misallocation at all. It's true, there were civilians and families aboard. Some of these were family members of Starfleet officers assigned to the ship, others were specialists in their own right. (Keiko O'Brien being the best example)

Is the ship a dangerous one to be on? Absolutely. She's also well armed and shielded, probably on the balance more secure and safer than civilian ships. Combine that with it being the fastest ship in the fleet with some of Starfleets best and brightest aboard, seems like a reasonably safe ship to be on in a dangerous universe.

 

[Relayer1]

I don't know, but it was damned ugly.

The outside is actually quite beautiful. The interior sets are damn ugly though.

Really ?

I found it squashed, squat, unbalnced and ungainly.

If it was a dog it would b a pug.

 

[T'Girl]

As has been stated over and over again, Starfleet doesn't construct pure battleships/warships.

Other than the single utterance in the episode where the Defiant was introduced, what over and over again?

Starfleet deploys ships heavily armed with weapons of mass destruction, basically roving death machines, that have the additional ability to engage in exploration-diplomacy-transportation-etc.