Why is the Bridge on top?

[Slappy The Vulcan]

I'm sure everyone of these questions have been asked before, but I can't seem to find them, the first question is...why is the bridge of a starship, probibly the second most critical part of a starship (next to the warp core) so exposed, this "flaw seems to be present on most major power ships in the show...in fact, the only 2 powers I can think of that don't have exposed bridges would be the Romulans and the Borg. from a tactical standpoint, and given the accuracy of of phaser/disruptor type weapons, this has never made sense to me...it's been shown that a starship can take multiple torpedo/beam hits and not suffer excessive hull breaching, so I don't buy the whole, "once the sheild is down..it does not matter where the bridge is" theory. I just wondered if there was a technical explination for this, or a really good theory, thanks

 

[Cary L. Brown]

Two answers, yet again:

1) The "production" reason... it made for a cool visual (the audience knew where the Captain was sitting), and they could look in or out through the big windowed ceiling.

2) The "in-universe" reason... the bridge sits atop the "spinal cord" of the ship's computer system. It's a removable module. It can be pulled and replaced fairly easily at a starbase. And, in emergency conditions, the crew can evacuate, and the bridge can "pop off" as a lifeboat of sorts, allowing the crew to keep the ship operational to the last possible moment.

Neither of those is REALLY consistent... sometimes we see (or hear) evidence that the writers were thinking in those terms, and at other times, the writers totally disregard these issues.

SO... the only reason that really counts is the "real" reason, I guess. It was done for "kewlness" effects.

But I prefer the idea that it's the "head" of the ship... and it sits atop the main computer stack (the "spinal cord" of the ship).

 

[Mister_Atoz]

I'd say it's the same reason no one ever really seems to target the Bridge. I think we've only seen that suggested once (by Garek or Dukat in DS9) and witnessed it happen once (an episode in Enterprise's Xindi arc?). So all you need to do is think of an in-universe explanation for that

 

[Psion]

If one has weapons that can punch completely through the hull after shields fail, does it matter where the Bridge goes for tactical reasons? And if one can't punch completely through the hull, then putting it completely on one side means that the ship can be maneuvered such that the rest of the ship stands between the bridge and the attacker.

 

[Ronald Held]

The bridge would be most secure deep inside the ship, but how much dramatic tension would it generate in a battle? I suppose the "kewlness" factor wins out.

 

[starburst]

Seeming theres no need to see out of the bridge as there are no windows then there is no reason why it shouldnt be deep within the hull like the Battlestar Galactica.

Windows are one of the biggest weekspots in Stargate ships, but its obviously a dramatic reason to do that as they obviously dont want to use viewscreen type technology like Trek or rely on submarine style controls like BSG

 

[Alexander Burke]

Also, I'd imagine that it is something of a holdover from wet navy designs. Look at the DY-100, it had a conning tower.

 

[FalTorPan]

Ronald Held said:
The bridge would be most secure deep inside the ship, but how much dramatic tension would it generate in a battle? I suppose the "kewlness" factor wins out.

How often does the bridge's location contribute to a story? Not very.

 

[Christopher]

starburst said:
Seeming theres no need to see out of the bridge as there are no windows then there is no reason why it shouldnt be deep within the hull like the Battlestar Galactica.

Do you mean the one in the current series? Because the original Galactica had its command center/bridge/whatever at the top/front of the ship with windows looking out. They would often do an FX shot with the camera closing in on the bridge windows just before cutting to an interior shot, and would sometimes have ships flying by or explosions going off outside the windows during a battle scene (though the windows did have a blast shield that lowered in place). Which, come to think of it, sums up two of the main dramatic reasons why fictional starships have their bridges prominently located on the outer hull.

 

[starburst]

Should have specified sorry, NuNSG

 

[nx1701g]

Alexander Burke said:
Also, I'd imagine that it is something of a holdover from wet navy designs. Look at the DY-100, it had a conning tower.

I remember reading (I think it was in the TOS Sketchbook) that Jefferies/Roddenberry decided just that. Both were military men I believe and the bridge was usually located centrally inside a tower. That may have led to their decision.

 

[Non Sync]

I seem to recall a shot in BSG where that window was blown out during an attack.

 

[nx1701g]

Christopher said:
Do you mean the one in the current series? Because the original Galactica had its command center/bridge/whatever at the top/front of the ship with windows looking out.

Yeah, the CIC of the new BSG is described in an episode as being located centrally in the ship and not at the front.

The window

The window is shown in Season 1 of nuBSG as being there on the new Galactica too. It's an crew/observation lounge.

 

[Christopher]

^^Yeah, I seem to remember that -- didn't a Cylon heavy raider crash into it or something?

 

[Ronald Held]

Onscreen there was the usual flaming/sparking consoles and other damage.
In some novels, the bridge became unhabitable and had to be evacuated.

 

[Slappy The Vulcan]

Christopher said:
^^Yeah, I seem to remember that -- didn't a Cylon heavy raider crash into it or something?

A raider tried to crash into it...but was blown up by a viper at the last second. You may be thinking of the heavy raider crashing into the landing pod.

 

[David cgc]

nx1701g said:
Yeah, the CIC of the new BSG is described in an episode as being located centrally in the ship and not at the front.

"Razor" gives an idea of where the CIC might be on Galactica. On Pegasus, it was shown to be at the front of the central trunk of the ship, just behind the alligator head, a little below the vertical centerline. It stands to reason that the Galactica CIC is probably in a corresponding area.

Ronald Held said:
Onscreen there was the usual flaming/sparking consoles and other damage.
In some novels, the bridge became unhabitable and had to be evacuated.

Kirk seemed to be worried that was about to happen in TMP. He was a second away from evacuating the bridge while V'Ger has having it's "tantrum."

 

[Christopher]

^^I think, rather, that Kirk's evacuation of the bridge was a way of defying V'Ger, showing the probe that he and his crew would refuse to cooperate with her instructions.

 

[philbob]

The reason the bridge is on the top of the ship is homage to old ocean going vessels. Its more artisitc direction then anything eles

 

[jayrath]

There's no "up" or "down" in space. For all we know, we've been looking at the ship the wrong way all these years, and the bridge is on the bottom!