WIP: TOS Battleship

[Go-Captain]

I read a post which says the Enterprise's and Reliant's armaments in Wrath of Khan were seen as an afterthoughts since they're both science ships. That got me thinking about what a proper warship would look like in TOS if what the Enterprise carries is the bare minimum.

Spoiler: Design Notes

I rationalize the bridge on top rule as an all or nothing armor scheme which implies weapons should be on the bottom of the ship. So all the main guns are down there. The nav sensor and deflector is down there too to protect against radiation, same as why the warp engines are normally away from the hull on Fed ships.

I treat the sensor domes like the fire control radars of missile cruisers, but for the Type 12 phasers, and as secondary phaser mounts and as torpedo mounts. For this I imagine the Enterprise using a Type 8 phaser as the main gun, and a Type 6 as its tail gun. I might also add main sensor dishes facing every direction, not just forward, but only if it looks good.

The main hull is not saucer shaped, at most it's oval shaped, making the over all profile a little cylindrical or cone like. Going for a saucer is too common and doesn't suit this design. The danger is in going too 20th century battleship but I think I got around that problem by breaking the fore-aft symmetry. Also, by keeping the ship somewhat narrow it will make rotation around its long axis much easier, so if attacked from the top it can just roll to line up its main guns.

The deck house bridge structure has an extra deck for a Combat Information Center and flag staff facilities.

I intend to give it eight impulse engine exhaust ports and four warp engines, but who knows, maybe it looks best with two warp engines. I also have no idea if it will look good or make physical sense from the top and bottom, so here's hoping.

I'm reusing the tank phaser but the intention is the ship's phaser is significantly larger.

 

[Imaus]

I like the middle saucer design; if it was symmetrical it would basically be a 'defense platform' with engines and warp with the silhouette of old aquatic battleships. Something the Federation churns out when something HAS to be stopped in a system, with full coverage. The one with the guns from the bottom give more of a 'siege ship' or Siege Variant vibe, something to bomb planets from orbit with - that has a niche use, too.

 

[publiusr]

I like the top- most image... a nice flat but layered saucer.

I might have the turrets scaled down and semi-recessed into the saucer bulge...

 

[Atolm]

I'd opt the second picture's top idea. I like the dynamacy of the shapes. Especially having a deflector/sensor pod separate,it offers for a lot of possibilities

 

[Go-Captain]

Once I work out all the shapes on the I'll be able to mix and match more easily and try out the earlier sketch designs. For now here's my progress. I think it's at the point where it really needs the warp nacelles to get a sense of its actual balance.

[edit] That took a lot less time than I thought it would.

 

[Atolm]

Very intriguing

 

[Go-Captain]

Here are the three ships. I actually like what I'm calling A and B more than I thought and might just go ahead and make all three especially since they're not all that different. In comparison to B and C, A looks like it will snap in half but that's not a bad thing with a Star Trek design since the original Enterprise is notably for being fragile and impossible looking.

For the warp engines I was going to connect them all to the saucer but now I think I'll just attach them to the secondary hull with straight Constitution class pylons, because that's weird looking and perhaps good looking. It also goes with the idea that the warp engines have their own engine rooms inside, so I will have two warp engines supplying power straight to the shielding systems of the secondary hull. I will have another two warp engines supplying power directly to the saucer for weapons for a total of four warp engines.

A - 16 x Type 14 phasers, 4 x Three Aperture Type 9 phaser banks, 2 x Four Aperture Type 8 phaser arrays, 6 x Photon torpedo launchers.

B - Has two secondary hulls.

C

 

[Atolm]

I like A and B...But I also enjoy C....I look at it as Subclasses. Vessels built from different yards, or at different times.

 

[Go-Captain]

I like A and B...But I also enjoy C....I look at it as Subclasses. Vessels built from different yards, or at different times.

That does work, now it reminds me of the paper designs which lead to the Iowa class. In this case we can just imagine Starfleet built all three paper designs, instead of choosing one, to test them all against each other before settling on one. That’s also kind of like what was done with the LCS competition, and how jet fighters are chosen.

 

[Go-Captain]

I tried a more complex hull shape, and a variation on a saucer with tail, but nothing really did it for me aesthetically and functionally until I went with this simpler diamond-ish shape. Whether it works or not depends on if I can illustrate the slightly arched top, like a metal arch shed. I probably put one too many guns in each turret, which limits traverse and requires steeper sides on the turrets if I want them kind of pinched off vaguely like a variation on the M60A2 Starship turret.

The phasers are a shrunk down version of the tank's phaser, because the projects are not scaled to each other, so I plan a one or two gun version with the non shrunk tank gun. My concept for the phaser numbers is the phasers will fire simultaneously in a slight wide beam with overlapping edges, like a ven diagram. The overlap is where the target is most likely going to be, while the edges cover less likely space. It is supposed to increase effective range be creating a higher hit rate and compensating for intensity loss of wide beam fire. The reality is overlapping diffuse fire is more likely to result in system disruption rather than critical damage, which is useful for getting into effective range. Alternatively each phaser uses a high focus beam mode to fire on the most likely predicted positions. Such fire can result in at least one shot landing and a greater chance of serious damage but less over all chance of hitting at all.

The alternative is the use of one very large phaser per turret. The more powerful phaser can accelerate phaser particles to higher velocity, cutting time of flight, and rely less on dispersion and prediction to compensate for enemy evasion. The singular large phaser cannons draw more power than the combined batteries of smaller phasers, and have greater maintenance requirements, higher crew requirements, and more precise monitoring requirements to avoid self inflicted damage or catastrophic overload.

 

[Atolm]

wow! not how I was thinking for a top view. I was looking for a huge saucer. still cool

 

[Go-Captain]

wow! not how I was thinking for a top view. I was looking for a huge saucer. still cool

I was too! Then I thought to myself everyone has done big saucer with a tail for Federation carriers and battleships. The only thing other than the diamond which felt close to being right was a double wide flat cylinder, like a Russian sub. There's no reason Federation ships have to be saucers, and a lot of the Connie concepts don't use saucers, so I gave it a shot.

 

[Atolm]

Cool