Why The Galaxy Class Failed...
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- Опубліковано 9 чер 2024
- Today we take ask the Question: "did the Galaxy Class live up to all the hype?" Andrew Probert Discribes his legendary design as being a quantum leap in deep space exploration. Able to sustain a large onboard population of servicemen, scientists, and civillians for years at a time.
Despite these incredible capabilities, we see the enterprise spending most of its time running errands and odd-jobs for starfleet rather than its mission to explore strange new worlds... how did this happen? and Why?
music:
• Leaving Home
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The Enterprise-D is not doing Galaxy class missions, it's doing *Flagship missions* - _showing the flag_ within regions which need to have a reminder of how impressive the Federation really is.
Even the make work logistics task could be a way to point out to nearby factions that you shouldn't mess with new Federation colonies.
And as for diplomacy, the mobile city is a useful diplomatic tool that isn't as outright threatening as sending a gunship (you don't use the Defiant for first contact). That overwhelming statement is a deliberate move to encourage diplomatic ties ... if you're thinking of joining the Federation, the Galaxy class is a great advertisement. _"We want to be on that team! No one will mess with us. "_
And for potential adversarial situations, _"We better not mess with them, that's just a diplomatic Explorer with families onboard! Their warships must be fearsome."_
So when negotiating with the Sheliak over the fate of a lost colony, the size and capabilities of *the Galaxy class is a deterrent,* one that could prevent a war.
The Enterprise-D probably prevented a lot of conflict by just pointing out that the nice friendly peaceful Federation were a sleeping dragon. And if this was their peaceful ship of exploration and general duties, you better not, as the Andorians say, _"Push the pink skins onto thin ice."_
Charting new regions could be what happens when the Enterprise-D isn't needed at that time to wave the flag!
It might not be a coincidence that a lot of the general leg work that the Enterprise-D did, ended up being far more than it seemed at first.
*Starfleet intelligence:* There may be trouble brewing in this sector, let's send the Enterprise there.
Any resupply missions in that area that can be assigned to it?
100% CORRECT but Venom Geek Media doesn’t comprehend that major fact. Many times he gets things wrong that from doing in-depth research as a Star Trek Author I’ve learned where he is wrong… a lot. I’ve even explained why the Enterprise-D is treated differently than the rest of her class as the Federation Flagship for the Federation isn’t going to risk their Flagship on the frontier when it can be out to better use else where in Federation Space and areas close to the border of other galactic powers by showing the presence of the Federation’s Mighty Flagship.
But the Enterprise did take on a lot of medical supplies and take them to Federation colonies etc when they happened to be in the area.
@@mickeyholding7970 that’s actually part of the duties assigned to a Flagship, for in the Established Star Trek Canon it’s shown as well as stated that the flagship makes routine stops at Federation Colony worlds, especially those near the border to show the colonists that they haven’t been forgotten and to show those bordering those colonies that the colonies have a Federation presence. It wasn’t about being in the area, it was being assigned to those areas for the purpose of being the Flagship in the first place, if it wasn’t Canon has shown a non-Galaxy-class ship would undertake the mission, like even a Miranda-class.
As shown in Star Trek: Vanguard where the Miranda-class undertakes such routine missions… and the USS Bombay was ambushed and destroyed on such a routine resupply mission by 6 Tholian battlecruisers over Ravanar IV
Yes my thoughts exactly Starfleet didn't just come rolling in kicking down the door Starfleet always let them know we have been watching you for some time this is what we have and we are friendly
This is where we get the term "showing the flag."
It can be a battleship off the coast trying to be intimidating, it can be a medical mission or delivering food to the starving. It can even be just having a presence in the area.
Nerd battles aside. We should all remember that the real driver here is a TV script and that makes the whole thing subjective.😊
Personally, I feel that the Galaxy class was simply a ship designed for an era that never came. The Federation, and Starfleet by extension, anticipated that peace with the Klingons would allow them to consolidate their vast territory. To do so, they would require a class of ship capable of bringing the Federation with it to the frontier, in a very literal sense.
But while the Galaxy was being designed, the Tzenkethi, the Cardassians, and then after it launched the Romulans, the Borg, the Dominion . . . all of these things got in the way of that golden idea.
HOWEVER.
Despite that, the things that made the Galaxy a platform to literally take the federation with it wherever it wished to go likewise made it a powerful platform as flagship. Even well past the Dominion war, nothing in the Federation's fleet can match the raw tonnage of the Galaxy class, without getting into specialized super-carrier territory. Properly refitted, her shields must have been incredibly powerful. Her engines were mighty indeed, capable of pushing her to warp speeds that rivaled the Intrepid and Sovereign *without* any of the benefits of improved Warp Dynamics.
The Galaxy class was not, itself, a failure of a ship. She, and her crews, were simply not prepared for what they would encounter. And once they *were* prepared for it . . . I believe they came out swinging hard.
I generally agree. The Galaxy was designed for the utopian Federation of TNG season one, where the conflict-free future closely aligned with Picard's constant idealistic speeches. Unfortunately for the Federation (and fortunately for viewers of the show) this vision was mugged by the reality of a dangerous and conflict-ridden galaxy.
However, I will note that, at least for the first six Galaxy class ships, there were serious problems in both tactical technology or systemic command failures. The Yamato exploded due to the 24th century equivalent of having your anti-virus software turned off. On first contact with the Jem'Hadar, the Odyssey had shields that didn't work against anti-polaron beams, and then its commander let the ship get into a position where a Kamikaze attack could destroy the ship. Finally the Enterprise (after near weekly warp core breeches and catastrophic holodeck malfunctions) was destroyed through a combination of an insecure webcam and Troi driving.
That's a minimum 50% attrition rate within the first 10 years of the class' service, hinting at some fairly fundamental flaws for what was supposed to be the crowning jewel of the fleet. The tactical and command issues may have gotten resolved once the Dominion War got going and the ship moved into a more fundamental combatant role, but all evidence points to a design that had serious problems from the start.
@@CaptainMojo While I'd agree with everything else, Troi's "driving" probably was barely a factor in the issues with the Enterprise-D's destruction. Considering her only shown piloting experience was during a training simulation it's unlikely she hadn't improved since. Due to the fact the ship was meant to demonstrate the power and prestige of the Federation it's limited strengths made the Galaxy appear almost like it was akin to a "glass cannon"
Pro: Very insightful. Con: TLDR
I always felt the galaxy was a sign of design creep for all the things necessary for a deep space exploration made it too valuable for just exploration. I have a list in another comment.
@@raw6668 Links to the comment?
The Nebula got more exploration done than the galaxy class. DS9 made that abundantly clear when Bashir was talking to his classmate.
It's unfortunate, but the philosophy and construction of the Galaxy class became a reality when any new strange new worlds to be explored where in quadrants that where under someone else's control: Beta - Klingon & Romulan; Gamma - Dominion; and Delta - Borg. Sure, unexplored pockets of the alpha quadrant are unexplored due to being territories of the Gorn and Herogen, but for the most part, the Galaxy class is a big fish in a small pond.
I’m not sure that’s quite fair. I’d say, rather, there are a lot more Nebulas than there are Galaxies, just as there were more Mirandas than Constitutions.
No it didn't, both ships actually don't exist. 😊
@@ThomasMarxJeetKuneDoIFO oh, look how edgy you are, pointing out that our discussion of a fictional franchise that we are well aware is fictional is, in fact, fictional.
Dude, we know neither ship classes REALLY exist. You haven’t caught us on anything. Go touch some grass and hangout with some real people outside of a keyboard and screen.
@@ThomasMarxJeetKuneDoIFO , Dude. That was the saddest, most pathetic thing ever.
Why did you come to a lore channel if you don't want to talk about lore?
Maybe you should go spar some more. Get your little baby anger out in a different way. Because you just look derpy. You aren't a good troll.
I don't think the Galaxy class was a failure so much as the last gasp of an era of Starfleet that was "fat, dumb and happy."
To me the point of Star Trek has always been to show that the future of humanity could be fat, dumb and happy 😊
Agreed. It is not a failure of the ship. It is the failure of the philosophy in employing the hardware. In the episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" it was made clear that in another timeline in a war with the Klingons, the Enterprise was a battleship.
To have civilians and children onboard was absurd on a warship, but as Guinan pointed out that the Enterprise (which could be extended to other galaxy class ships) was meant to be a ship of peace. A very nice sentiment, but as the galaxy would demonstrate time and time again, the galaxy isn't a place of peace, and a ship of peace is a ship out of place. (***COUGH!*** Odyssey ***COUGH!*** COUGH!***)
If the Galaxy class was a failure, it was a failure in its intended role as a ship of peace. The Dominion War showed that as a warship, the Galaxy class was quite formidable, once equipped and armed appropriately.
The Enterprise D, is a bit of an exception, since it was a flagship, but other Galaxy class ships performed similar roles, and that is the role of capital ships. The Galaxy, Nebula, and Sovereign Classes can all be considered capital ships. I personally like the design of the Ross class, but see it as a bit superfluous.
The designers designed it for a purpose and then the Admirals saw it and decided to use it differently. Probably the Border Wars, Borg invasion, Romulans being active again, Klingon Civil War, and the bugs in the neck led them to want to keep them close at hand.
I would actually argue that despite what was put on paper the fact that the Galaxy-class - at least at first - was configured in such a way as to be a flying demonstration of all that the Federation had accomplished and could offer to potential members. It was never actually intended to be a frontline explorer even if it was marketed as such. It was intended to be an "ambassador" showing off the best the Federation had to offer.
Like those Royal Yacht that the British monarch used to tour the empire. Much much more capable of course.
The shiny, and purposeful "First contact mission" ship, yeah?
This is what I've long thought as well, regarding the Ambassador class, that the Ambassador Class was so tremendous in its day so as to demonstrate Federation superiority, the name of the class being no accident. The Galaxy being a successor to that role.
Aye. despite it's showing against a BOP in Generations, the Odyssey showed what a pounding that ship could take without it's shields against 3 Jem Hadar warships AND remain operational enough to keep firing and attempt a withdrawal. Add to this the Galaxy wings of the Dominion war and the Galaxy's spaceframe has the potential to be incredibly versatile and robust... if she's configured that way. The downside? Because she's big, she takes up alot of resources to field that could keep many smaller ships in service.
I mean I think it's pretty self-evident the Galaxy class was from the beginning designed to be a different sort of vessel than say a traditional warship the Galaxy class was always intended to be a long-term long-duration exploratory vessel were combat had a secondary role of importance
Weather casualty of story lines directions from the riders or simply plot lines the ship was always indicated to be substandard in many occasions due to technological stagnation and overly complacent political agendas within the Federation and Starfleet as a whole that being said I think it was an absolutely wonderful Starship you know a wonderful vessel but it was sadly Under Armour and under armed as far as a vessel of its size and caliber goes although time went on did seem to become more capable vessels but in disputed way it was as you mentioned in your video they were long-term deep space exploration Starships which did have a vast amount of roles that they were capable of completing if assigned it but mundane and border patrol missions while it's certainly within its realm that's not what it was meant to do
As far as a failure serve you're entitled to your opinion but I think the Galaxy class did what it was asked to do and then it was thrust into roles that it was not designed for and was sadly lacking certainly in the aftermath of the Dominion War the existing Galaxy class starships were certainly enhanced and were more capable but the Enterprise D during her Arrow was an exploratory vessel she lacked many accouterments we would have expected from a true Battleship or a Dreadnought of her size but that being said she is like most technological devices are a product of their era
They really should've thought of the star drive and saucer, especially after the borg and dominion as swappable platforms. Dropping off the saucer for a weapons platform that could augment the star drive or using the saucer as a mobile command base would've made this set up make tons more sense.
That's how I used them in a Star Trek RPG I ran. Having a number of swappable Saucers for different missions, including a weapons platform, a mostly hollow carrier variant, a logistical ship tender, a colony-builder, a science station, etc... The Stardrive section patrolled between dropped-off Saucer sections to expand the range and versatility of Federation/Starfleet operations.
Ooooooh I got chills with this idea - very nice - kind of like the Vor'cha-class disrupter module that could be swapped out.
@@witchdoctor1394 I really like the idea of a hollow carrier variant - that has a lot of potential.
Ironically and admittedly on a much smaller scale, that ehat i envision the true design of the OBerth. That the SHIP is just the upper portion, while the lower portion is a mission module …. It can be dragged around, or dropped off either in deep space, in orbit, or even on the surface….. infact the whole point of the negative space between module is as a place that a squadron of Runabouts can be docked in transit and act as warp capable transports …. Also tucked in that space is a couple of very compact warp nacelles that can be mounted on the top of the pylons after the Oberth mothership is detached, Just incase the mission module needs warp ability.
That's what the Nebula is for. They have a pod that allows them to specialize in combat or exploration.
Maybe another reason the Galaxy class was kept close to home was the same issue as what often saw Battleships being sidelined. The Galaxy class was so resource intensive to build and so rare(at first) that they didn't want to risk it on true deep space exploration. But they needed it DO SOMETHING, so they use it for "busy work" inside the Federation, with some light exploration close to the Federation borders. They just didn't want to risk such an expensive and powerful asset by allowing it to go too far. After the Dominion War, the Galaxy class proved to be too useful as the Core of a Fleet to allow it to go too far out.. Realistically the Intrepid class or something like it is a better explorer, blisteringly fast, capable of most tasks but not as intimidating and overbearing for First Contacts.
I mean I really feel like they are more like a luxury shipliner with battleship weapons and armor.
I agree that the Galaxy class has some good concepts but that it was simply too big and powerful for it to function as a true explorer. I see having family's on board were a way to reduce crew stresses to deep space exploration. However this really became a detrement when the Galaxy class was used in major combat roles. They were essentially risking civilians unnecessarily. I was thinking that the Galaxy class needed and was repurposed as a command and control vessel without the civilian element, leaving the Sovereign as a heavy front line combat vessel and the Intrepid class as a deep range explorer. What I suspect is that the Federation needed a larger Intrepid class that could include families for deep space exploration. Leaving more heavily armed vessels for front line combat duty.
yep and even voyager go lost in delta quadrant. the intrepid class starship was successful deep space explorer. it was not too small nor it was too big.
@@spark300c Voyager, I think was almost the perfect size for its stay in the Delta Quadrant. While the Equinox was tiny, it showed what I believe would happen for anything under Voyagers weight class to a greater or lesser extent. Meanwhile a larger ship would likely fare much better against the likes of the Kazon or the Vidiians, but once they hit the Borg the larger ship just isn't powerful enough to bull through and isn't small or fast enough to pull some of the things Voyager did. There is also the fact that Voyager and Chakotays ship were snatched out of the Badlands(not sure where Equinox was pulled from, but maybe from the Badlands as well) a region notably treacherous to navigate by anything larger than an Intrepid class(at least until newer computers were installed.)
One factor may have been the loss of the Yamato. After that Starfleet was afraid to risk loosing any more of its largest class by sending them on long-grange exploration missions. Historically it was usually frigates/cruisers that did the exploration while the largest ships remained close to home. Starfleet then developed the Intrepid as a cheaper and more expendable ship alternative that could still fulfill the long-range exploration role envisioned for the Galaxy.
Just imagine the media s***storm that likely would have followed the loss of the Yamato considering the whole load of civilians they kept stuffing into Galaxy-class ships. If they lost another one, it likely would have been devastating on a public perception front for Starfleet!
They lost USS Galaxy, USS Yamato, USS Odyessey, USS Enterprise, and a few more its design was considered until refit to be a glass canon
@KertaDrake for sure the most divisive aspect of the galaxy was the fact it was designed for families. Probably not the best of ideas when exploring the unknown.
I'd say the most reasonable explanation that I can think of is that the enterprise is an early galaxy class and may have some problems in its design that were unable or unfeasible to fix in the older ships, so starfleet holds these ships back in more of a reserve role, especially the Enterprise since it's the flagship
This also explains why the USS Odyssey last so long unshielded against the Jem'hadar while the enterprise lasts 2 minutes against a singular 50 year old bird of prey
I like this idea
Ross Class has Oblative Armor ?
I think the Federation is well aware of the impressive nature of the Galaxy. It’s an advertisement for the Federation and Starfleet - it flexes their technological muscles and serves as a gentle giant with enormous firepower but comfort and luxury - all things that you too can experience if you join the Federation!
Talk softly and carry a big stick is probably reflective of where Starfleet ended up!
But wait, there's more! Wait till you experience our holodeck characters that can become sentient and threaten the ship! Or our android crewman, who thanks to his hidden programming, can imitate the Captain and commandeer the ship. Sending it light years off course to a distant planet to visit his aged "father"!...
I really don't think it was a complete failure, I think once the Dominion War started the Galaxy Class finally got some power to it.
The Galaxy Class was a Marriott hotel and convention center with a matter/antimatter annihilation reactor strapped to it. Even after the Dominion War refit, it was still a tempting target.
It feels like the galaxy changed to a point where the Galaxy just wasn't suited for the roles it was relegated to. Picard S03 pretty clearly shows that even a salvaged Galaxy class can still toss down with the best (a Borg-controlled) Starfleet can toss at it
In my head canon, the reason we see less exploration by the D is that, at that point in the Federation's history, the Federation was over-extended in size for the number of starships that Starfleet had available. That's why we often hear that there were no other starships in a sector during missions: Starfleet was stretched too thin.
As I see it this is not actually a failure at all. Rather it is the ship fitting into a great need the Federation did not know it have before they made it. Basically they ended up designing a ship that was far better for other duties then the intended one.
The Galaxy class have many interesting capabilities: It has a huge passenger and evacuation capacity. It have large meeting room and aulas and large and luxurious quarters which can be adapted for various environments. Important qualities for diplomacy and transportation of dignitaries. More extensive and varied medical capabilities. Several large and powerful computer cores . A large cargo carrying capacity. A large amount of laboratory space combined with very varied and powerful sensor capabilities. And also great transporter capabilities and flight operations. Coupled with good speed for its time and somewhat ok combat capacity for its size (Although not durable enough.) What you get here is a large multi role work horse cruiser, something the Federation did not have before it to that extent. That it then came to fill that role rather then a much more specialized one. That a vessel ends up doing other things then the designers intended may well not be a failure if it ends up filling a more critical role to the society.
That said, you can say that large portions of the crew are greatly overqualified for various of these missions it ends up doing. Something to keep in mind is that when it was made it was twice the size (And quite precisely so.) of its closest competitor, the Ambassador class, it has no equal in many of its capacities.
The Galaxy handled the JH attack ships at least as well as the Vor'cha and the DD warbirds did. I would say even better watching how the Odyssey handled the 3 bugships vs how the Klingon fleet dealt with bugships when they started ramming. Odyssey lasted over 10 minutes with no shields vs one ramming attack at the "neck" of a Vor'cha. Other than that, I agree with your assessment for all the reasons the Galaxy class was a success.
@@briankriens5645 Yes, I did mean that it is a bad combatant it is more that it is mediocre compared to its gigantic size and so kind of a waste to put into such situations. Of course it was only later on Starfleet got clearly better options with the wave of ships that came later. and then a big war still made its presence essential.
@@MrPalp Oh, and compared to the DD and the Negh'var the Galaxy class is the smallest. Let's not even consider how massive the Dominion's JH Dreadnaught. Probably bigger that the other 3 combined LOL! Criticizing the size of a Galaxy class, which is only slightly larger than an Ambassador class is really not fair, and seemingly just picking at straws to find a reason to hate on a great ship. Hell, the JJPrise was as big as a Galaxy class, and the other ships shown in JJ's first horrible "trek" movie were considerably larger than the JJPrise. If everyone wants to hate of some starships, how about hating on ships deserving of hate.
@@briankriens5645 Well, it is not slightly larger then the Ambassador, it is almost exactly twice as big. And yes, the D´deridex and Dominion battleship is substantially larger, I am not so sure about the Negh´var though, Klingon ships are rather compact in comparison. And yeah, I have always rather liked the Galaxy, in part because it was not a specialised vessel which served well to tell varied stories involving it.
@@MrPalp Negh'var is 686 meters, so it is larger than a Galaxy class. I keep forgetting that the Negh'var that Mirror Worf was in was greatly upsized compared to the versions we saw in the series finale for TNG :)
It is an intriguing introspection, not an issue with the ship but the crew. There are probably some people who actually would do very well in such an environment, however most of those people aren't the kind of people who would join Starfleet. So a catch-22 there.
I have not watched the video yet but I will never forget just how hard Jellico had to work to feel confident with his new command.
My immediate thought was that as the Galaxy class was rolling out as it were, is about the same time the romulans reemerged with that great big monster of a wild bird,
Which would necessitate the need to Patrol the Neutral Zone with a ship a little bit more imposing than a Miranda or the like, for the purposes of power projection maybe
THe Galaxy class was an amazing, forward thinking design. It was just almost never used for that purpose. Which is more of a doctrinal and deployment issue than anything else.
In one of the novels, Picard addresses the huge heavily armed issue. The Galaxy is a city, with families, children, it is the Federation in microcosm.
There's a video floating around showing how empty the Galaxy class actually is. There's so much empty space even with a full crew compliment it makes sense why we often don't see anyone else except in the main hal
Both the Federation and the Galaxy class are more statement than substance. Meant to sound good, but you have to wonder if either is a good idea.
@@0utc4st1985I think that video is made by EC Henry; the same guy who calculate the internal volume of Enterprise and Miranda.
@0utc4st1985 the empty space is also handy for any guests that might be on board. Not just dignitaries, but refugees, people who have been evacuated or rescued when their ship is dead in the water.
@@0utc4st1985 It really is a mobile space station.
The Galaxy Class ships were still in their “shakedown” period during the events for TNG. Look at how many times they had to get overhauled or undergo primary maintenance. Also remember that Geordi had to do a lot of reconfiguring to get the Enterprise to work as intended, much to the…irritation of Dr. Leah Brahms. The 5-year mission I think was on the horizon, once enough were built. It’s initial missions were the do this, do that, as a way to showcase the new Ship and what she could do.
Then the Borg happened, Galaxies were prioritized to get something that was ok at dealing with the Borg while the Borg busters were being developed.
The Dominion War broke out at this time, luckily a lot of Galaxy frames were available to be pressed into service, only really having their Combat systems installed and where possible reinforced.
I think at this time so many other specialized ships had come into service, and that the intended role of the Galaxy was put on hold for reconstruction efforts, by the time the Federation got back into the exploratory role again the Galaxy was outdated.
Agreed we also need to remember that the Enterprise-D was the 3rd Galaxy Class hull being built.
Which is ironic considering its supposed to be out in deep space for 10 years at a time before coming back for major dry dock time and a 100 year spaceframe life
By the time of Picard season 3 the galaxy they should’ve only been on their 3rd maybe 4th 10 year mission, hell the original Connie’s did 3 or 4, 5 year missions before coming back to do the major refits and the galaxy’s were FAR MORE technologically advanced, hell a galaxy would’ve been just fine getting lost in the delta quadrant for 70 years making its way back home home
It wouldn’t be going out for 10 year missions until after a big shakedown period. Especially for a new Class. Aircraft Carriers have months of shakedowns, I was on one, after major overhauls, and between major deployments.
I agree.
i think a large thing with the galaxy class, is at the time of the next generation the Galaxy Class was Starfleet's newest top of the line ship, and a lot of the busy work included ferrying various delegates and admirals around, so i feel that the galaxy class was being more "Shown off" to the quadrant and its powers via these busy work missions as well as trying to juggle the mission profile of the class itself.
I mean if you were on your way to a fancy admiral's negotiation/party deal would you want to show up in an excelsior class that could be from the 2280's, or Starfleet's fresh off the dock yards Galaxy Class that still has the cling film on the touch displays?
I was always of the mind that the Galaxy Class was a "jack of all trades and master of none"
I think the Galaxy Class *was* an attempt to address the psychological issues inherent in deep space exploration. The fact that there were holodecks, civilians researchers, families, unlimited replicator access, that even ensigns and enlisted personnel had private quarters, the fact that you had a thousand people on a ship that could easily hold 15,000 to prevent anyone from feeling overcrowded. The Galaxy Class wasn't so much a ship as it was a mobile pocket Starbase. It failed as an idea, largely because sending families and civilians out into the unknown is just a horrible idea.
As other have already stated, the Galaxy class was designend at the end of the longest time of peace the federation ever had. It was supposed to be the pinnacle of their technological achievements. The pride of Starfleet. However, the era that the Galaxy was supposed to shine in never came. In fact, in the shows we saw the federation slowly descending from its own self assumed moral high ground into the reality of many brutal conflicts, culminating into the bloodiest conflict in its history, the Dominion war. After this, we see a totally different federation, one where a ship like the Galaxy class wont have a place anymore.
The Enterprise-D retrofit with Warp 13, a cloaking device, and phaser lance was the perfect Starfleet ship!
i kind of always assumed that maintaining the mental health of the crew during deep space missions was the reason therapists and holodecks became the standard on star fleet ships. tho i also always thought there should be a whole department of therapists especially on a galaxy class, not just one person.
Well yeah... question is can you spend 10 years seeing the same people every single day....
@@venomgeekmedia9886 the population of a galaxy class is larger than some small towns and well beyond the limit of a single persons social group. if crew members and civilians are allowed to freely move from department to department, like shown in LDS s1e2, i don't see that problem being relevant?
good point@@siaa9992
What if we had backup crew in stasis, who could take over the duties of burned-out crew after several years? That would allow burned-out crew time to decompress amongst the city-sized Galaxy-class's amenities for some time, before either returning to duty or getting in a stasis pod. After all, there seems to be a considerable amount of un-used space on the Galaxy-class, that could creatively be put to use to make those long voyages of exploration a reality...
I don't think it would be lonely at all in space with 900 people.
I'd prbly make more friends than I have right now 😅
When you're that cooped up with that many people doing challenging work you will make many strong bonds I think. Plus the Galaxy class has a lot of things to do on board.
But the galaxy class is so big you could go a week without running into anyone, if indeed it only has 1014 people on board.
@@CaptainJonathan
it has points of interest like the bar, holodecks and work locations like labs, classrooms, prbly offices of some kind.
If you want to stay isolated for a week you definitely could though 😅
900 is more than enough to be a community which for long range missions is ideal and enough space not to go stir crazy. Gymnasiums, Holodecks, and the arboretum have a lot of space to walk around in rather than just cramped hallways.
The galaxy class not only carries a large number of civilians and family members of the crew but a wide variety of activities on board the ship to keep them occupied during deep space missions. It is as you mentioned essentially a flying city. Also at the time not only is enterprise the flagship but galaxy class ships we the most advanced ships and the pride of the federation. Their presence in orbit or in a sector is a display of the federations capabilities in all aspects from Battle to diplomatic missions so it only makes sense that it is used so widely.
In all fairness, the Galaxy class entered service in the mid-ish 2360s. The galaxy changed a lot in the years following. Also, Golden Age design arriving at the unexpected end of the Golden Age so it kinda ended up the right ship at the wrong time.
Personally, I consider the Ambassador and Galaxy classes as "Large Cruisers" (technically, the counter to enemy battle cruiser/battleship type designs), and so they just aren't built to the numbers of heavy cruisers (like Excelsior or Nebula). As a result, they end up somewhat hindered much like real world capital ships were due to the investment in them. The Ross class I treat as a "lessons learned" version of the Galaxy (like Cleveland>Fargo, Atlanta>Juneau, Baltimore>Oregon City) designed late/post-Dominion War that replaced the Galaxy in production. (For diplomacy, I tend to think of the Norway fitting that role.)
The Odyssey is silly in Picard. It entered service in the mid-2380s (based on Ent-F's service life)... but when did the Utopia Plantia yards get shanked? Wasn't it the mid-2380s? How did they build all the Odysseys we see in S3 while at the same time the Titan-A is supposedly using 20 year old nacelles or whatever?
You have to remember Utopia was the largest but it wasn't the only shipyard in Starfleet. The second largest was San Francisco fleetyards over earth which had a rivalry with Utopia.
The dominion refit galaxys were actually pretty beastly. I wouldve argued to put armor on then as well and that would of really put them over the top gor combat . Any galaxy class would of veen slower then voyager but would of fared better with self sustainability. Also in Tng Picard was confident in a 1v1 with a warburd. At very least he knew he would taken them with him if he had too.
Just as a note whatever happens to a ship named Enterprise should not be taken as normal. Starfleet keeps ships named Enterprise in commission to attract all the weird stuff so the universe will leave the rest of the fleet alone. For it to function in that role it has to be major design.
I really liked that episode in which Riker got crazy... On what kind of Starfleet vessel would regular theater productions and concerts by crew members be possible and these events would even prove a "stage" for all kind of poetic drama that has nothing to do with space, war, conflict etc. The Galaxy class is like the Titanic a luxury cruise ship with a Philosopher as captain. It´s perfect. :)
The trouble with Galaxy class is that one does not simply send out a flagship for exploratory purposes, they could be easily picked off and destroyed. The destruction of the odyssey was huge blow to federation policy and ship design, instead of going for huge multi mission explorers, they went for smaller, faster Borg killer vessels.
Basically the Galaxy is too huge, too important to send out into the unknown, where a smaller ship could do the job of exploration and first contact, much better.
Mm...I dunno. You gotta remember that during the TNG era, the Galaxy-class was pretty much hot off the yards, and it was a more or less unproven design. Lotsa math and design work went into it, but it wasn't really a _proven_ design in actual service at that point. So it makes a lot of sense to keep it around doing busy-work to make _absolutely certain_ that it's not going to do something unpleasant out in the hinterlands. Like spontaneously explode. (Yeah, I just rewatched "Contagion," how did you guess?) The busy work provides a wide variety of things to do and potential challenges that could, hopefully, uncover hidden design flaws before they showed up in the back end of beyond where there wasn't any nearby support to fix them, and then report back about the problem to fix other Galaxies before they ran into the same problem.
There's also a bit of organizational calcification going on at that point, too. It's not Archer's Starfleet that's eagerly heading out into the unknown, or even Kirk's Starfleet where _his_ Enterprise is just given the equivalent of "Don't get into too much trouble, and be back by ten!" Although even Kirk got handed side missions by Starfleet from time to time, too, so we can see some evidence of that military calcification happening then, too. But that sort of thing happens to anything that's been around more than a century or so, and it can be _really_ hard to break away from those traditions when they're in the way of doing your job properly.
But mostly...I think it was designed for a time of generalized peace and consolidation, which _was_ occurring at the time the Galaxy went into service. Nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition--uhh, I mean, the Borg threat (Thanks, Q!), nor the Dominion War (Thanks, Prophets!). The Galaxy class wasn't designed for fighting wars, because Starfleet hadn't had to _fight_ a large scale conflict in more than a century. Border skirmishes can be plenty nasty, but that's not the same thing as an all out war. You don't have to mobilize _everything_ for those. The Sovereign, Defiant, Akira, Steamrunner, Norway...those classes _were_ designed to fight wars, and it shows.
I thought the issue with the Galaxy Class was the Federation's usage of it and it not reflecting the ever changing landscape of the Cosmos. For example, by the time we see them in DS9, they are being turned into heavily armed warships and grouped in attack wings.
You're not wrong. Imagine if the Enterprise-D was stricken as Voyager was in the Delta Quadrant. They would have had a much better time finally living up to the challenge the ship was made for. Unfortunately lost-in-space themes always pick on the unprepared and under equipped.
That isn't a bad idea for a video. If a Galaxy class had been stuck in the Delta Quadrant one wonders if they would have made it.
The Enterprise was almost stuck on the other side of the universe in a very early episode, thanks to the Traveller. 6.5 seasons of their voyages in a completely unknown region, possibly traveling to different galaxies trying to get home instead of voyaging within the same galaxy would have been a truly ambitious outing for the first Star Trek series since TAS. No previously established races like Klingons or Romulans, but perhaps some stories continuing the mysterious and potentially extragalactic entities like the Doomsday Machine, the Giant Space Amoeba, the origin of the various TOS androids, the machine world of V’ger, and so on.
Of course the Starfleet intrigue would be absent, but foes such as the Borg and Q could still have played a part.
The galaxy was much slower than the intrepid, it could only go warp 9.6 for a few hours before having to drop out of warp I believe warp 8 was its maximum sustained speed whereas the intrepid has a max sustained speed of 9.6. Although if you look up how long it would take via a warp calculator at voyagers top speed it would only take 13 years whereas 68 years at warp 8
@@donkdat Voyager's journey was expected to take 75 years until they accessed the Borg transwarp conduits.
Voyager acted like a Galaxy class in practice. It was able to manufacture almost everything it needed to stay in peak condition, and some trade and mining missions addressed any deficiencies.
I've noticed issues with this as well. The Enterprise is meant to be 'out in the frontier', yet seemed to return to earth awfully easily when the plot demanded of it. This is one of the reasons why I maintain that warp is faster than the geometric model would allow, but that's another story.
I think the Ambassador class was so named in that it was largely meant to be just that for Starfleet. Plus, of course, to perhaps justify the construction of such a big ship in an era largely of peace. There was something of a 'battleship diplomacy' aspect to the Ambassador class, but one could also say that it was a fairly lightly armed ship for its tonnage. Anyway, it was meant as a long distance explorer, meant to awe and impress those it contacted or otherwise had dealings with; but I'm sure that some of them were kept near borders for THAT sort of diplomacy as well. The Galaxy project designing ships meant to have efficient warp geometries, New Orleans, Nebulas, etc., culminating in the Galaxy class to eventually phase out the Ambassadors. Other than an even more impressive scale, and some further refined, updated weapons to counteract the D'deridex, it was meant to operate in an era of Starfleet superiority.
The truth seeming to be that the Enterprise-D DIDN'T spend much time in the frontier. Other than 'Farpoint' which was supposedly a far off space station, much if not most adventures took place in 'mid-range' distances. In some cases, the Enterprise making amazing discoveries in blank areas on the map, or areas that weren't known to be 'blank', that were relatively close to home. To be fair, regions like Bajor and the border with the Cardassian Empire were probably meant to be far away, but the revelation of decades of history, and the ability to get there and back to earth quickly, just made that arena seem rather close.
Ultimately, the Federation seems to be hemmed in on a 2d basis by galactic neighboring empires, and may have 'tendrils or corridors' of travel around or over (or under) other empires to explore the greater galaxy. There may well be other Galaxy class ships doing just that, but Flagship and others were kept in the bounded area. Problems with neighbors, and much worse, the advent of the Borg, and later, Dominion, made sending huge assets too far away to recall in an emergency, untenable. The 'Flagship' especially being needed to be kept closer to home for its utility for diplomacy with unruly neighbors or to drum up support.
But the problem exists even in TOS. Yes, there are several episodes where they are on the frontier, or at least exploring blank areas of the map. But many episodes have the crew making discoveries closer to home on already discovered planets, or following up on lost missions or outposts, or doing diplomatic missions.
In the end, the Galaxy class was designed in an era where the Federation was dominant over all its neighbors, and could peacefully explore the galaxy with Starfleet strong enough to enforce that peace. The biggest problem was needing to 'leapfrog' over the territories of other empires, and to operate far from home. Unexpected threats in the form of the Borg and the Dominion put an end to that. Starfleet wasn't able to use the Galaxy class for its intended purposes. And newer, more martially designed classes would render the Galaxy obsolete, at least as a principal heavy cruiser only about a decade or so after the first production Galaxy Class ships were launched.
The Galaxy might still have a role as an explorer,, science ship, or colony support ship, which was more its original intent, or a command and control ship in a fleet role; albeit, the Ross would likely take that role--the Ross being SO much like the Galaxy that at first glance it looks like variant, but is basically a very similar design with more muscle and less 'fat'. The long distance, family nature in the design of the Galaxy greatly limits the roles for the class if Starfleet needs to be efficient.
I think a lot of the busy work would have been done by any available ship in range but certainly the Enterprises assignments look like a Flagship, patrol of the Klingon border, patrol of the Romulan Border, Patrol of the Cardassian border. But I think one of the misconceptions that probably doesnt carry well on screen is its a multi mission ship, while the episode may focus on one assignment (for example charting a nebula) you also have different departments working on their own thing whether hydroponics research, engineering trials, medical research, taking shuttles to survey planets. It may be carrying an ambassador from one place to another but it could also be dropping off scientific research teams on planets as it passes. At the most basic level though science isnt a quick one time event, teams within a department may spend months planning an experiment that takes the ship a couple of days to perform and then more months cataloguing and analysing the results. You may have an Oberth spending a couple of years studying a single phenomena but that would be the only thing the crew were working on at the time.
Finally I would point out that there were far larger dedicated warships like the D'Deridex, Jem Hadar Battleship, etc.. with minimal additional combat potential while totally lacking the ships scientific facilities.
This is an understated point. Ton per ton, the Galaxy far exceeds the utility of other dedicated capital ships like the D'Deridex, Jem Hadar Battlecruiser and Battleship, and the Neghvar without sacrificing any tactical value. The Galaxy is many times more useful than those ships and a match for any of them and even superior when refit.
Not to mention that the Enterprise-D (and the Galaxy-class in general) was built to explore deep space and (as you pointed out) be self-sustaining for extended lengths of time. However, during the E-D's run, she was either recalled or forced to come back to Earth FOUR TIMES! (Conspiracy, The Best of Both Worlds, The First Duty, and Time's Arrow) The poor ship never really got much of a chance to go deep into uncharted territory.
That poor ship got sent 7,000 light years away by Q, and that was a laughably short distance compared to where the Traveler boosted the Enterprise to, between 2 and 3 million light years on the far side of the Triangulum galaxy, a.k.a. M-33. How's that for where no one has gone before? Enterprise D earned it's place in a Museum and a Legend in History.
Keep in mind, during the first part of it's lifetime, there were very other ship classes available for a lot of those roles and many of them were very limited in ability due to age. Perhaps in response to both that and the cosmic kick in the junk that was Wolf 359 did you see an absolute flurry of new designs to suit specific needs.
Wolf 359 happened because Picard, in his arrogance, decided to annoy Q, the equivalent of a trickster god.
@@travisbishop782 If you remember in Enterprise's Regeneration, the the borg had already been informed about humanity, and while it is indeed a predestination paradox, it's still true.
@@raideurng2508 true. But the Collective probably wouldn't have gone back to Alpha quadrant if Picard wouldn't have opened his mouth. I mean, Q was trying to bait Picard into doing or saying something.
Biggest fail for the Galaxy class (and Nebula class) was interchangeable saucer sections with mission specific focuses that can be swapped out quickly near starbases. Also has the advantage of getting the civilians and families out of harms way before a mission where confrontation is likely.
The Nebula class was a Galaxy class compressed into a smaller footprint. It had the same capabilities and superior firepower with a weapons pod. Smaller shield area and more manuverable.
The other problem with the galaxy class is not only the design flaw with the shields going down after a few hits and the Warp core getting damaged and the ship explodes but the other flaw the ship has exploding consoles with rocks behind them
thats why i am always on Star wars side when star trek vs star wars is brought up at least Star wars ships get explosion on the ship AFTER the shield is down , meanwhile on trek ships shields are at 70% and you already killed half the bridge crew because the controls keep exploding in their faces 😆
I feels like a missed opportunity for Starfleet to have built up tactical saucers to keep in storage for war time
It's telling that Enterprise-D was doing a LOT of missions that the Ambassadors and Excelsiors could do and arguably would be better suited for. There were multiple Admirals that would have an Excelsior as their flagship because it could do the job without the same expense as a Galaxy (and let's face it: Starfleet only built 6 Galaxies by the time we get to TNG).
I always thought of the Galaxy Class as being more of a mobile star base then anything else. With it having a civilian population on board it is literally a city in space. The Galaxy Class always seemed a perfect multi role ship, one that could run around and do the Federation's "Busy Work" and explore the far reaches of space. To planets that were not apart of the Federation, she was an ambassador, one that was fully equipped to handle most situations. To Federation worlds, it was there to assist any and all of their needs. On the flip side, as an explorer, the Galaxy Class, was able to operate without assistance for extended periods of time, the ship even had the ability to generate its own fuel. Just because we didn't get to see the Enterprise do this, does not mean that the Federation didn't have Galaxy Classes assigned to deep space exploration.
The only role that I felt the Galaxy Class was ill equipped to handle, from initial design, was combat roles. Its combat capabilities seemed to be secondary to everything else, but that was more due to the Federation lowering their guard during their extended era of peace. Of course this all changed with both the looming threat of the Borg and the Dominion.
I'm not sure I agree with that last about people not being able to phycologically handle deep space exploration. The galaxy class lets officers bring families, there was the arboretum, numerous holodecks, 10 forward, various exercise facilities. Like you said, they were floating cities. I could understand if you made this point with smaller vessels, but with so many amenities on the Galaxy class, they were tailor-made to help allievete that kind of madness.
Agreed. We even see it in the show -- look how crappy the Equinox, a little Nova-class, ended up compared to an Intrepid. For Voyager to end up in the same bad shape it took the Year of Hell. (Granted, Equinox had some issues between chair and viewscreen ... )
One of the purposes of the holodecks was to give crewmembers something to do to temporarily take them mentally "outside" of the confines of the ship. It's a stopgap to be sure, but I'm certain that it did provide some respite on long-duration missions when stops at a starbase was not really an option.
The Enterprise D absolutely DID perform at least TWO deep space exploration mission in series. They went to the Plieades cluster and to one of the galaxy's globular clusters in two separate episodes.
They are both at significant distances away from Federation space.
I've always been of the mind, had the head canon that groups like Section 31 had influence over things as mundane as ship design and production. Models being mothballed but not scrapped, and more current classes being ostensibly built for science, exploration, diplomacy, etc. but they were surprisingly quick to retask and repurpose when the Dominion War came around. Especially after the militarization following Wolf 359.
The Gakaxy with a few modifications apparently made quite the destroyer and cornerstone of squadrons during the war. Onscreen we see that one or two of them focusing fire on a Galor to punch a hole in the lines had to be a harrowing fate for the opposing crew. Doesn't really jive with the video per se, but I thought I'd say as much.
The Enterprise being close enough to the core of Federation space to just casually spring back to Earth on several occasions did always strike me as odd. But as others have pointed out, she was the flagship. That comes with baggage that means she's more often going to give "face time" within established borders than truly exploring the unknown beyond them.
Its funny because in Tng the galaxy class suffered from a whole host of malfunction. In the episode emergence the subsystems of the enterprise D converge and made the enterprise a semi sentient enough to create an anomaly.
Perhaps there's also an element of "a ship in port is safe", where the Galaxy class ships were kept a bit more close to home than actually intended because the Admiralty wouldn't want to put the shiny, new and very crew-intensive figurehead ship in unknown and very dangerous situations far from Federation support.
I imagine the disaster of the Yamato had a pretty severe impact across the whole Federation, an entire freshly-commissioned ship lost with all 1000+ souls on board, which maybe shaped how Starfleet Command employed the Galaxy class
I read your first paragraph and thought of the IJN Yamato. It cost so much they couldn't risk sending it out very often. And it was built for an era that ended about the time it was commissioned.
Pretty sure the Odyssey was built in the 2380s becuase Starfleet would have had to deal with 2 or 3 classes of of jumbo sized dreadnaughts. Which was probably not helped when Janeway showed them Voyager's scans of a Borg tactical cube.
I think the Galaxy points to a number of in-universe problems with the Federation during this time period:
1) The Federation seems to push for this 'one ship to handle all things' role, which results in the Galaxy having these mixed requirments heaped on it. It takes the Borg massacre at Wolf 359 and the rise of the Dominion Wars for them to realise that actually they need a range of vessels completing various roles
2) The Galaxy also is created in an era where the beaurocratic nonsense of the Federation seems to be at its height. The mis-managment of the early phases of the Marquis, the problems around the Dominion etc highlights a Federation that is too often led and influenced by those on Earth, and not those in the field. On paper the Galaxy looks like a great design, but if your in the field having to handle the limitations of this design you probably think differently.
3) The Federation seems to have a weird trait in this period to be still using the Excelsiour and the Miranda class vessels quite a lot in its forces, while the Ambassador Class (the natural replacement for the Excelsiour) seems to end up barely utiliszed at all. I can't help but feel that the Galaxy, the Ambassador and the Excelsiour should all be being used in unison for different missions and should be far more common than they seem to be.
The Galaxy-class made a statement: the Federation has arrived.
The Sovereign made a different statement: Starfleet has arrived.
Galaxy class was not just for Exploration, its well suited for colony work.
A ship class that has a hull service life of 120 years had every ship of its class retired after barely 40 years. Only to have the ship rebuilt from the ground up with better technology and was simply better. The Ross Class. Really says something that Starfleet retired the Galaxy line so early.
I think Starfleet gets Federation approval for their Next Big Ship by always emphasizing the Exploration. Size and power wise it was a supreme Capital ship and thus had the usual thing of the Dreadnoughts in that operationally they were kept close to home as they are too valuable.
The Galaxy class was designed for an era that was coming to an end as they came online and they needed to adapt to the changing needs of the federation. As we moved toward the end of TNG and into DS9, the federations programs of science and exploration had to be drastically curtailed as the Borg created a need to increase border security as well as increase general tactical readiness as the conflict with the dominion ramped up. There was also the clear building of tensions and aggression from Cardassia near the end of TNG and increased Romulan activity throughout TNG.
In short, the needs of the Federation were more tactical and military in nature as Galaxy class ships came into service, versus the intentions of peaceful exploration as evidenced in the designs of the Galaxy class.
STO, which is both non canon and constantly retconning itself every few months, doesn't even really do the exploration angle of trek at all. It's all combat and ship battles, which when you look at early TNG, it was obvious they were working hard to look for show conflict that avoided warfare. Instead, the show caved into more base desires in viewers and gave them warfare and fighting in ever increasing amounts. And the Galaxy class met those needs just fine, spearheading the dominion war efforts. Calling it a failure, even in the nuanced way you're trying to describe is hardly fair.
They could’ve modulated the shield frequency, they also could’ve fired a spread of torpedoes and phaser banks at the bird of prey, easily, defeating it before sustaining that much damage. The reality is they gave the Enterprise D a cheap and contrived death so they could have a different shooting model.
Ironically, they only used the E model for one movie before going full CGI.
Excellent analysis.
Maybe the federation's thoughts were they were going to use it as a workhorse like they did excelsior class ships. That's why they did busy work and not to mention you know one of them taking on the borg
Well by the Dominion War they did have a lot of them.
@@Hartzilla2007 yeah they definitely did have to have a lot of Galaxy classes their command ships and they had to upgrade them and a galaxy-class starship during the Dominion war is an absolute beast of a battleship weigh more advanced weapon wise and shield wise than its counterpart from the beginning of the Galaxy class project
In the episode “ where no one has gone before” data suggested suggest they explore that new space but Picard choice not to and rather go back to federation space and bring a “purer science vessel to do even more” science vessel’s handle exploration better it seems.
The vulnerability of the Galaxy Class was shown early in the series, when the USS Yumato was destroyed from malfunctions caused by an alien probe....
the galaxy as a concept shows the utter hubris of the federation in the early 24th century
The newer classes, such as the Odyssey, incorporate all the advancements made during the war, as well as those brought back from the delta quadrant by Voyager. The Galaxy-class found itself in the unfortunate position of being obsoleted.
As for the crews going crazy from isolation, the Galaxy was intended to solve that problem by being a city. They aren't isolated. They're inside a flying city, with all the amenities of a city. And that seems to have worked out as intended. We never see anyone experience the stresses of people isolated on a tiny ship during TNG.
It's interesting that the Enterprise at least avoided the fate of so many 'prestige ships'; that is to become a floating hotel for Admirals and leaders of the Federation.
🎉The Galaxy Class was ready and i think even the crews were ready for long term deep space missions. But I think it was Starfleet that got cold feet.
They never really forgot just how many Constitution Class ships never came back from five year missions and could never bring themselves to commit to sending 1000 plus people (mostly civilians) out there for the very mission they were designed to undertake.
Especially after the Yamato was destroyed on what amounted to a short hop to the Romulan Neutral zone.
I though that always was clear? While TNG was an era of big ships, it was also end of the Second Dark Age of Federation, known commonly as the Lost Era. After signing peace with Klingons. Federation was strongly limited in number and types of ships they could made. For almost a half of century rehashing old TMP designs. Forming alliance with Klingons, unlocked massive modernization of the fleet, but Starfleet basically become civilian organization it was pretending to be. Galaxy was always sarcastically compared to a cruise ship. With not only many labs, but also things like kindergartens. It was large, noble ship. But was it good? Good for its time. But even in the show, we see that Enterprise has comically under-powered shields. Its design also was wonky. Starfleet assumed decoupling and evacuating saucer, whole secondary hull stay for the combat. This solution proved to be useless, because it seriously weaken ship and in practice it was safer to stay connected. But some weapons were designed only to be used in decoupled form, with whole torped launcher placed under saucer. It is why in my head canon I prefer to assume that Nebula was actually later design, addressing this problem. Battleship variant Galaxy was powerful, but Sovereign was objectively a better ship. And even today my favorite. Shame it was not in the Picard.
*[warning … long essay]*
While considered by many as outdated by the time the neighbourhood got really rowdy, that was just the configuration of the Enterprise-D - it's chief *_Diplomatic_* ship, as well as a mobile University research department.. With a Cruise ship and daycare package installed as well.
It was specified for maintaining diplomatic relations.
The Enterprise-D was the ship you send to say that the Federation is benevolent and not going to invade you (but you better not try either).
But a Galaxy class set up from the shipyard as a warship (not a hasty Dominion war Galaxy-X refit that left 65% space empty and still had all those roomy apartments) would be a terrifyingly powerful ship.
What if with the design being very customizable and modular, different captains could get different options fitted
*New Galaxy Captain:* Ok, I'll get the full science pack as well, along with extra sensors, that'll stop them fighting over access, and detecting problems at long range is always preferable. A _tachyon detection grid_ as well, I want that running full time. Skip the civilian stuff beyond standard facilities for passenger transport that can also be used for troops, and dual use assembly areas, just stick in a couple of extra Holodecks to take up the slack if necessary. Any crew reproducing can be handled on a case by case basis depending on their species maturation cycle. Ship brats grow up fast anyway and can be assigned monitoring AI software to keep them out of the way, the Holodecks can take care of schooling ect.
Actually double that to 32 Holodecks total, they can be used by the science teams for bespoke labs and simulations if necessary. I intend for the rest to be used for crew training to keep everyone in top form. They're great for boarding action and intruder alert rehearsals as well, everyone's to have full combat training and basic medical, first aid and damage control training. Oh, and the database, I want holo experts and advisors in every imaginable skill area. Also I definitely want it to run on a separate isolated system from the main computer, with its own power supply that has a physical manual override - I've heard some horror stories about holodeck malfunctions.
Replicators - as well as the standard personal ones I want a industrial replicator next to each shuttle bay, with cargo holds adjacent, one each by engineering and main medical. And a extra large one, colony rated, by the main shuttle bay, and cargo transporters next to each, can you combine them into one unit as they both use matter energy converters? No,… really should look into that, a combo replicator/transporter/holodeck for small science vessels such as that proposed Oberth replacement would be useful.
Anyway the walls should be pressure doors to allow movement of large items, just copy the hanger door design for safety. I want a independent back up power supply for the largest replicator for damage control.
Also stick a couple of holodecks next to main medical, just in case of mass casualties.
As for the Bridge, no it's going to be located in the centre of the saucer section on the vertical plane.…We don't use windows anymore, so why?
Install viewers on all surfaces, just copy the astrometrics displays so we get full 720° coverage … if you suffer from vertigo you shouldn't be on a spaceship. Stick Astrometrics next to it anyway, we'll need quick access.
And I want the _Away_ teams ready room next to the Bridge and large holoviewers so they can be kept apprised of the situation…seriously? What sort of *idiot **_uses bridge crew on Away missions?_* …yes, besides the First Officer…Who controls the ship? The second stringers? And swapping over in an emergency is just asking for trouble. With over a thousand crew, I'm sure I'll have more than _ten competent crew members._
In fact, stick a couple of extra seats on the Bridge for some Away team members, they can act as bridge security in the meantime. Have a full security station nearby as well, the main Bridge is often a target in boarding actions. Put in another main security station next to engineering, both should be set up for defensive actions for the same reason…you've never had Cardassian borders try to take over your ship, have you?
Set up the Battle Bridge with exactly the same layout as the main bridge for crew familiarity. Another security station next to it, don't want to leave a vulnerability.
Now as for the warp core, in addition to _2 spares in storage,_ I want the full replicator pattern in the main replicator, just in case…well, install a holodeck next to the replicator, it can make bespoke factories to construct the non replicatorable components and we just assemble a core from the ground up.
I also want one warp core and drive installed and running in the saucer section, so it can move at full warp if necessary…without the _dolphin tanks and the arboretum_ there'll be enough space, and besides the extra power could be useful. But don't skimp on the battery back ups, I want mini generators for life support in each section as well, and emergency suit lockers in every room, …fine, I'll keep the dolphin tanks, but no arboretum. Just a greenhouse in life sciences, but purely for research and as a emergency air processor, not recreation. It's weird how it becomes unbreathable as soon as _life support goes offline?_ I want some give in that system. So, emergency mini air processors in every room powered by batteries, and suit lockers with fold up basic EV suits.
The old bridge location at the top of the saucer…no, not an observation lounge, I want the biggest phaser you can mount with full coverage…something meant for planetary defense, that's another reason I wanted the extra warp power nearby, besides for the colony replicator and Saucer escape. A second deflector dish nearby, a bit in front, the saucer would need it for independent warp travel and having vital system backups is part of my design paradigm. Oh, spare computer cores as well, kept offline, with the basic programs already installed.
Yes, and stick extra phaser strips, here, here, here, here, here here, here, and here.
Now as for the photons, 10 extra launchers, how much extra space do we have with everything included so far? … Well 5000 torpedoes … yes, you heard me right, 5000…I know we can replicate torpedoes, but not in the middle of a battle. That's right, make that 10 extra launchers above the standard 2…no 7 in front, 3 behind, 1 each above and below. That'll allow a 35 torpedo volley in front as a opening shot.
And before I forget, that second warp core, I want heavy power conduits leading to the secondary deflector array…so we can feed *warp power* to it without overloading the main drive of course. Never know when we'll need to create an *inverse tachyon pulse* - and there's a trick with feeding the entire warp core through a dish, but it disables warp drive.
Speaking of the power conduits, ever heard of circuit breakers?…well, just don't run them behind the control interfaces, keep them behind armoured shrouds and run the controls through isolinear cabling. *And stop using rocks as insulation!*
I want seat belts at all vital bridge stations. No inertia dampers aren't perfect, they only compensate for the ship's drive, not pot shots taken at you.…and that's why I want security personnel permanently stationed on the bridge, if the weapons officer is in hand to hand combat they can't shoot enemy ships.
Stick a pattern disperser on the bridge with a _manual on/off_ switch. I lost my left arm and both eyes to a Cardassian hand disruptor when our shields dropped once … damn right I want a separate second shield emitter grid, that was a great suggestion, and some ablative armour, especially on the pylons, nacelles and neck, any chance of thickening the neck? My previous command was an Excelsior and that's a pragmatic neck design.
[musing] Y'know it was a mistake to sue for _peace with the Cardassians,_ we had the upper hand and could have steamrolled them if we brought the Klingons into it with treaty obligations. They'd have loved a *good war by our side,* _I know what they thought._ Mark my words, someday we'll have to fight Cardassia again, and they may get allies. Now you know why I want a battle wagon - and we don't know who else is out there, and they're possibly not friendly.
Yeh, _both artificial,_ got a exographic sensor installed in the left eye, the bulky fake one with the surrounding plating, and a tricorder and phaser installed in the left arm, linked to my optic nerves.…really? A Vulcan officer on the USS Strata suggested it? Micro transporter and projectile weapon? I'll look into it thanks…hang on, he's just been resigned to the Grissom according to Starfleet … I've also got a PADD linked into my cybernetics.
The right eye is just a standard cybernetic, I'm actually *full Betazoid* but you can't tell without my natural eyes. Don't worry, I'm not reading your mind, learnt some Vulcan focusing techniques to keep me polite …that's only the _females,_ in my species the romantic roles are the reverse of humans.… yes, I've imagined what a human male would do with my abilities. I've met Commander Riker as well…you pushed the image into my mind, Vulcan discipline training notwithstanding… and you're right, that's why I got training in shutting out other minds, _that man's thoughts are a sewer,_ only empaths can tolerate him for long.
[Sigh]…okay, I'll check what your partners feelings are about his ex, but only as a favour for the teleporting bullet suggestion, I don't make a habit of it and I don't want you distracted from your work… _humans!_
How long will the ship installation take with the customization?…
Don't worry, I'll get clearance from the Admiral.
[Smirks to himself, humans and their sexual insecurities, no wonder telepaths make them nervous].
Maybe the galaxy was kept close and sent on weird specific missions as an extended live shakedown period because it was a lot of apples in a single basket and they didnt want them randomly failing 10,000 light years from any help.
I feel like we keep forgetting that the Galaxy Class was 2 ships; a Exploration Cruiser and Diplomatic platform. That lower half was the Battleship or Battlecruiser (depending on how you look at it). I think the issue with how we see the Galaxy Class is all in the concept introduced in TNG S1E1 of the ship separating to be, as Tasha Yar says something to the effect of the Enterprise being quite a formidable warship when relieved of it's additional mass. This was setup because the intention was to "raise the stakes" in a show when the D separated. I think "realistically" all the Galaxy Class ships in DS9 fighting in the Dominion War should have been Saucer-less. They weren't because that's not what people want to see, they want to see the whole Galaxy Class crashing down on enemies so it wasn't. The idea of a "battle wagon" with a Diplomatic District on top kinda falls away because it wasn't used enough. I think this was all to make sense of having families and kids on board; this opened up writing opportunity by also dismissing, to a point, the question of why would families be on a starship.
I always assumed that TNG only showed us the most exciting or noteworthy "adventures" of the Enterprise. That all the boring stuff, uneventful missions, exploring and charting systems that turned out to contain nothing of note and so on was simply not shown.
I've been saying this for years. Starfleet built the Galaxy as basically a starbase with a warp drive, designed to crush a Kirk-style 5 year mission.
But what starfleet *needed* was a battleship. Something to show the flag and put out fires.
So *Enterprise-D* gets used as a battle ship, for which it is not well suited, and gets her ass repeatedly kicked until a BoP kills her.
(yes i know the Galaxy can be made *into* a battle ship a la the dominion war refits, but those Block 1 ships like Enterprise and Yamato are NOT the same as the dominion war ships)
Honestly the Sovereign/Ross duality is what starfleet should do as a matter of course. Instead of one biggest and baddest all rounder, you develop two ships at the same time from the same tech base, related on a system level and of broadly similar tonnage, but one is the dedicated explorer and the other is a dedicated warship.
I wonder if it's more the Federation being afraid to actually lose any of this small-run of very advanced ships whose apparent loss in technology and prestige was out of proportion to the ships themselves. As others have said, it represents an embodiment of the Federation and its ideals before the Dominion Wars.
Seeing the Galaxy class in miranda class ship in sto is ironically huge, and somewhat intimidating, also felt like the intrepid was the perfect size for first contact, still a big and wonderous federation ship, but not the galaxy class.
The galaxy class was built out of hubris in Starfleet's golden age. It was perfect as it was originally designed based only upon that state of the union. The political climate however changed rapidly in the 2370s and the fleet was slow to adapt.
First run of Galaxy ships I believe was 6 and Yamato was lost in the second year of service I believe. So yeah I'd imagine the block 1 ships were doing flag ship things rather than being a long range explorers.
I would have loved to see a show or read a book series about a Galaxy class focusing on its intended role. Sort of the reverse of Voyager, the story would follow a large fixed crew and civilian population exclusively exploring further and further away. Maybe the story starts with them already a 5 year flight away from Earth. And you get to include the largest holodecks, the aquariums, the airport-style main shuttle bay, and occasionally be forced to show their insane firepower. Maybe they start out with closer to 2000 people aboard, and occasionally they induct new crew from civilizations they encounter.
My complaint is that TNG often allowed the Enterprise D to engage in a lot of fights for story purposes it had no business fighting; and frankly would not fight in reality. 1) Its weapons and shields while the most advanced Starfleet...were defensive in design and only there because they at least acknowledged that in exploration you need something. 2) The Galaxy class as of 24th century were the capital ships of the fleet. Capital ships usually do not fly solo nor engage in combat because their function tends to be more command and control. 3) I actually don't mind the civilian/family component given the type of ship and mission the Enterprise D enjoyed. However, we know that it actually had bad defensive capability and design it would need for such a crew. They knew about ablative armor but didn't have it, they knew about layered shielding but didn't have it, they knew the neck was a weakness in design but never actually did anything to protect it............
This is a very fair review of the much beloved galaxy class and I agree 👍 good job bro
As of the Picard era the federation has tossed all the remaining Galaxy class in the trash, none are in service. You have this massive asset they didn't even try to refit to make it more modern. In contrast the Miranda and Excelsior lasted 100 years in active service.
It makes me wonder how much better off Starfleet would have been choosing to focus either on Nebula or Galaxy class but not both at the time of its development. Either that or make one a serious warship and the other a pure science and exploration ship.
I always thought the Nebula was a budget Galaxy, like the Miranda to the Constitution. There's the big glamourous cruiser, and then the smaller yet similar pretty good ships around for other things.
It was a great ship but came at the wrong time. The Federation forgot the wisdom of the ancients: si vis pacem para bellum. They thought there were no threats, and they sunk so many resources into this thing and risked so much. The Galaxy had so MUCH empty space. It was ridiculously over-designed for the duties they gave it.
Actually, if Voyager was a Galaxy Class, it might have fared better. THAT was a mission for a Galaxy class, being on it's own for a LONG, LONG time.
Space is a major factor. In the TNG technical manual it says the Galaxy has a lot of empty space for future upgrades and modifications. Voyager had newer tech, but it couldn't make up for the bigger engine and power reserves of the Galaxy.
There's really a historical-technical controversy around the Galaxy Class these days, and I love that.
Several videos posited the Galaxy being a fail in one way or another. This is an interesting spin on it.
What is also important to consider, though, is when this class was developed. That was a pre-Borg Federation, stable, assuming there wouldn't be many crisises in the near future. And while this class can do a lot of things, we do see a shift towards more tactically capable ships ever since the Borg.
As @vp21ct said: It was a ship build for a golden era that never came.
Uss venture was lime the 6th galaxy might of gotten hit with some deleys after the dystrucion of uss yamoto and enterpise d problematic power transfer cirits and power cofflers to the warp nacelles expeciaply the port nacelle. Maybe uss venture was deleyed lunch to late 2368 starfleet might og wanted to irion out all the bug before sending uss venture back in to dry dock to test out hybird sovergine/galaxcy tech and systems on to galacy class by the start of the domminion war. Based on what the venture was able to do during the domminion war her shields and weapons had to be upgraded same as all other galaxy class ship after very late 2371 amd reupgraded again after the second battle of chin'taka
No, it makes sense than Odyssey classes would exist earlier. After the Battle of Wolf 359 and the Dominion war, all prior ship designs were not good enough anymore and not worth manufacturing. Sure all the existing ships would still be used until they wore out but there would be no new units of those ships manufactured (excepting for those already planned). In real life, aircraft carriers can serve for 50 years but their designs don't last nearly as long. Look at the actual war time Essex design - it was only in use for 3 years for manufacturing.
NO NO NO NO NONONONONO The Galaxy Class is not only a fan favourite she is one of The Best Ships out there has endured way above her weight and power Class and has earned The Respect and Admiration of The Whole Galaxy she is LEGENDARY Good Sir.
You have gone Mad dear Venom we will call Lore to give you your Meds.
Respect and keep up the epic work.
He's Gone Mad Folks...
The Galaxy class is the ship you would want if you went through a wormhole and ended up _more than 70 years away_ from Federation space.
The D'deridex might be better suited with its quantum singularly for fuel free running (although a Galaxy class could probably mine and refine its own dilithium, building the necessary facilities onboard) and of course its cloaking device. Although Starfleet obviously know how to build cloaks, they just choose not to - something that Federation ships in other Quadrants should remember, the treaty of Algeron only covers areas the Romulans know about!
But the D'deridex doesn't have the scientific facilities. There's beta canon about a deep space explorer variant that was designed for long range missions, but with the slightly different goal of finding new civilisations to disstabilise and eventually conquer for the Empire. With the longer Romulan lifespan it did 10 - 20 year missions.
Hang on... What if one originally met the Borg and that's what encouraged a Cube to come visit Romulan space?
But anyway back to the Federation, getting thrown into a whole new galaxy? you want the Galaxy class.
You know how big the d'deridex Is... it easily holds scientific facilities much like the galaxy there's nothing it can't do.
Great insight. I think the answer may also lie with the Romulans. When they appear at the end of TNG S1 they haven't been seen for a long time and suddenly they announce they are back with absolutely massive warbirds. Whatever plans Starfleet had for the Galaxy class may have been shelved to keep them much closer at hand should the Romulans try anything on. Fat lot of good it'd be if all of your largest and most powerful ships are too far away to help if the Romulan fleet invades. Better to keep them nearby just in case and start building a few more of them and the Nebula class too for that matter. The Borg threat would be the final nail in the coffin for the deep space aspirations of the Galaxy class. Far better to send much smaller vessels like Intrepids to do that.
I don’t think it’s fair to judge the Galaxy class by the missions we see the Enterprise performing. As the flag ship of the fleet it’s expected the Enterprise would face significant political constraints on its movements. This is why it’s always being ordered about on “busy work”. Those were really “show the flag” missions meant to achieve political impact by putting the Enterprise in particular sectors at particular times.
The real reason the Galaxy class “failed” is that it was the embodiment of the golden age of exploration that came to an end at Wolf 359. Not only because the impact of the Borg threat forced Star Fleet to reconsider putting families on star ships and investing in deep space exploration, but also because it prompted a rapid technological push which rendered the Galaxy class obsolete before its time.
My thought, it was a production nightmare in the resources needed for construction. Ambassador classes, Norways, Akiras, and others could be put out into the field in a much faster timetable. They tried to fit it into the excelsior mold. The other thought is that it was in need of constant maintenence either due to design and fabrication errors or unexpected wear and tear.
A significant portion of Trek fandom has always taken issue with the very idea of an exploration ship with not just civilians, but children on board. And it's a fair point! Given the situations we see the Enterprise get into, it really does seem like a foolish proposition.
So why on earth did they do that? And is there any way that it *could* work?
My guess as to the why: the Federation broadly, and certainly Earth in particular is a post scarcity society. The billions of people who live on Earth and other mature colony worlds have it very easy - but this comes with a certain amount of ennui and existential angst. What is the purpose of life if you don't have challenges? So my assumption that Starfleet is very popular for this reason. You sign up, you get a structure that might not be found many other places, and you get to actually take part in challenging situations and hopefully make a meaningful contribution to society. But enlisting in Starfleet is not going to be for everyone. In addition to strict standards, it is very much a STEM focused organization. Not a lot of call for artists and poets.
So in a way, the Galaxy class may be Starfleet's attempt to make space exploration accessible to the civilian population.
But is this sensible? Aren't they signing up to risk their lives every time the ship runs afoul of a crystalline entity or something? I'd argue that in a more realistic, less *made for television drama* version of Starfleet/The Federation, it would be reasonably safe to send a ship like this out to do survey type missions for planets, Nebula, etc. that have already had an initial once over by more traditional exploration vessel. Especially if it's reasonably close to Federation territory.
But that said, it doesn't (to me anyway) seem like a good idea to send a ship like that out into deep space exploration mission, facing the unknown.
good points💯💯👍
The Galaxy Class was designed to be modular, in theory, it's a good idea as was allowing crew members to serve with their families, in actuality, it was a terrible idea. The Galaxy Class served much better as a battleship during the Dominion War and the space frame and powerful Type X phaser array, one of the largest every built for a Federation ship was exceptional in combat.
I always kind of felt that the excessiveness of the Galaxy class as a diplomatic ship was Starfleet putting its "best foot forward" or waving a very absurd flag. As if to say "We could send a transport, but we sent this kilometer across space hotel instead. Because we can. Sup." That was always my head canon hand wave for why it did what it did. The TNG era was considered the golden age of exploration for the Federation. When it was created the Borg and Dominion weren't threats yet. The Klingons were more or less allied and the Romulans were still biding their time. So the resources that could have gone into several tactical ships were used for these luxurious monstrosities with carpeting on the floors, rocks & hoses in the ceiling, and consoles made of explodium.
The points you make are valid but you have to consider the fact that the Galaxy class ( Enterprise D) was in a tv series. Would people watch a show that a ship just do monotonous long research for hours at end?
Perhaps Big D's stated mission was simply a victim of her Captain's reputation. Picard was so damn capable that any Admiral within hailing distance would call on him to sort their problems for them. No wonder he found himself missing the Stargazer, he likely had a freer hand commanding a beaten up old cruiser than he had as master of the Enterprise. While it was the crowning achievement of his career, the political responsibilities that went along with that command straightjacketed the explorer in him.
Well, I think the idea of the Galaxy class *as* basically like a university town in space almost was actually rather intended to help with the mission durations, though it's unclear how many of them really ended up that far out there. Does seem they built tons of em, anyway.
A classic North American university town in space is an excellent way to describe the Galaxy class that I've never thought of before.
It's South Bend, Indiana; or Kingston, Ontario, traveling out in space.
@@speciesto3065 With that Irish episode, it's clearly Boston, Space.
The Enterprise "Suffers" from its greatest assets for its roll. 1- it was a very FAST ship, as such it could actually GET places fast, and while other ships might be physically closer to an emergency, the speed difference between warp 8.5, warp 9.1 and 9.6 sprint, 9.8 burst. is massive. it could be days shorter for the enterprise to race somehere at 9.6 in 12 hours vs a calie class plugging along at warp 8 or some of the even slower ships at warp 5-6.
next the enterprise REALLY suffers from being a luxury hotel in space. With gyms, holodecks, concert halls, swimming pools, and family home sized cabins... Any diplomatic mission, big negotiations, major events... you'd want it there instead of a "warship" with more barracks style quarters.