Then somebody better tell Picard "Dude, you're getting screwed."
Why No Federation Ships Bigger Than A Galaxy Class?
- Thread starter Dayton3
- Start date
I don't think the Federation really needs ships bigger than the Galaxy class. The Ent-D showed that the Galaxy class has big enough to do all the important types of missions from military, diplomaty, medical or exploration. Anything bigger would be a waste of resources. We need to keep in mind that the Federation is really big. It needs a large number of ships to be able to cover all that space. Building 2 ships to go in 2 places is better than 1 big ship than can only help in one place at a time.
The Federation might still need an ore freighter that is two hundred times the size of the E-D. Or a tugship that has a thousand times more powerful engines. Starfleet warships and explorers would be compromises, optimized for multiple tasks at once, and that would dictate a certain minimum and maximum size. More specialized vessels might well be significantly smaller or larger than that, without denoting any change in Federation technology or doctrine.
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
hellsgate
Commodore
There's the Poseiden-Class (Prometheus/Sovereign-Class variant)
http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/file/Poseidon2;24821
Class name: Poseidon
Type: Cruiser/ Deep Space Exploration
Dimensions:
Length: 425 meters
Beam: 105 meters
Height: 90 meters
Ships in service: USS Poseidon NX-78010; USS Voyager NCC-74656-A
http://screenshots.filesnetwork.com/8/files2/20652_5.jpg
http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/screenshots/File/24821/3
http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/file/Poseidon2;24821
Class name: Poseidon
Type: Cruiser/ Deep Space Exploration
Dimensions:
Length: 425 meters
Beam: 105 meters
Height: 90 meters
Ships in service: USS Poseidon NX-78010; USS Voyager NCC-74656-A
http://screenshots.filesnetwork.com/8/files2/20652_5.jpg
http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/screenshots/File/24821/3
And as the OP for this thread... that's really your decision to make, although I do tend to agree with Vance's point, honestly. Getting into fanon ship design, you're inevitably going to end up discussing the "Enterprise 1701-Z, with ten gallion uber-quantum-torpedo tubes and a crew of... several planet's worth of population.
OK this is the reason for StarFleet to build a huge warship.
The Defiants four pulse phaser cannons have proven to be an effective weapon.
So StarFleet decides it wants a ship mounting not four pulse phaser cannnons..........but 100.
And the power systems to power them at all times. Plus massive reserve shielding strength, plus massive numbers of skilled crewman for damage control and boarding operations against a Borg ship (say 2,000 trained personnel for boarding alone).
And StarFleet wants to put all tis on one ship.
Because after all, the Borg only send one ship at a time. So there is no need to spread all these resources out.
There, a viable reason (though you might disagree with it) for Starfleet building a giant superstarship.
The Defiants four pulse phaser cannons have proven to be an effective weapon.
So StarFleet decides it wants a ship mounting not four pulse phaser cannnons..........but 100.
And the power systems to power them at all times. Plus massive reserve shielding strength, plus massive numbers of skilled crewman for damage control and boarding operations against a Borg ship (say 2,000 trained personnel for boarding alone).
And StarFleet wants to put all tis on one ship.
Because after all, the Borg only send one ship at a time. So there is no need to spread all these resources out.
There, a viable reason (though you might disagree with it) for Starfleet building a giant superstarship.
But the Borg only send one ship at a time as a plot device. Realistically they'd never do that, but then it'd be hard to write new stories for the characters.
I dunno. I've never bought into the fan myth that Starfleet doesn't build dedicated tactical warships, but I also doubt they'd build such a supership unless they were really expecting to go up against a threat like the Borg and the Collective.
I dunno. I've never bought into the fan myth that Starfleet doesn't build dedicated tactical warships, but I also doubt they'd build such a supership unless they were really expecting to go up against a threat like the Borg and the Collective.
I would imagine that Starfleet would have to decide which would be more effective: one uber-huge warship, with all the design and maintenance challenges with building such a vessel, (I would imagine they would increase disproportionately with size) or simply build 25 Defiant-class escorts. If I were a Starfleet admiral and a gambling man, I'd be inclined to place my bet on a task force with 21 Defiants, 3 Soveriegns, and maybe a transport/tug with hospital pods attached to bring up the rear.
It actually isn't fan myth. It actually started with onscreen dialogue from DS9's "The Search" regarding the introduction of the Defiant. But there were rumblings of the sort as far back as TNG's "Peak Performance" though.
(Still, I think it was more of a case that Starfleet just didn't build starships solely for combat.)
True fan myth is that Starfleet has nothing but warships. I recall once seeing the hapless Oberth-class referred to somewhere as a light destroyer with a half dozen torpedo launchers or something like that...
Fair enough.
It is interesting to note that Trek ships seem to be fairly small when compared to their counterparts in series like B5, Star Wars and BattleTech.I forget exactly what was said in "The Search" about the Defiant; was it said that she was unique as a warship, or just as one of the few dedicated warships designed by Starfleet?
Picard does say in "Peak Performance" that Starfleet is not a "military organization" but it seems clear that's not particularly accurate. Just as money does exist in the 24th century, just outside the Federation. I've always gotten the impression that some fans, and particularly Gene, didn't want humans to be "militarized" as the good guys. It's a little like claiming the U.S. can't be a truly benevolent republic when we have the strongest military on Earth. The two aren't necessarily connected.
True fan myth is that Starfleet has nothing but warships. I recall once seeing the hapless Oberth-class referred to somewhere as a light destroyer with a half dozen torpedo launchers or something like that...
I've never heard that interpretation, or seen that version of the Oberth. I have seen some fan subclasses (mainly Jackill's) which are clearly part of the same design family, and are smaller support vessels. Those make sense.
IIRC, there were design variants of the Oberth that replaced their sensor platforms with torpedoes and other weapons.
Which seems a reasonable usage of resources.
Incidentally, back in Star Trek: Communicator, a career military officer who was a long time Star Trek fan had an article where he said point blank
"StarFleet is a military organization no matter how many times it is denied".
He based this on the mountain of onscreen evidence.
But he pointed out that military organizations routinely do nonmilitary work.
Search and rescue, diplomatic assignments, survey work, even alot of exploration (he gave examples of the U.S. Navys ocean and polar exploration work).
Just thought I would stick this in here.
Which seems a reasonable usage of resources.
Incidentally, back in Star Trek: Communicator, a career military officer who was a long time Star Trek fan had an article where he said point blank
"StarFleet is a military organization no matter how many times it is denied".
He based this on the mountain of onscreen evidence.
But he pointed out that military organizations routinely do nonmilitary work.
Search and rescue, diplomatic assignments, survey work, even alot of exploration (he gave examples of the U.S. Navys ocean and polar exploration work).
Just thought I would stick this in here.
Similar threads
