This is topic Intrepid, Where Are You? in forum Starships & Technology at Flare Sci-Fi Forums.


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Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
 
In the first episode of Voyager, the Intrepid class is depicted as a brand new class with the latest in ship technologies. But I never saw any other Intrepid.
Starfleet send the USS Voyager out to the Badlands to fight some Maquis scum. So why didn't they use them in the Dominion War.
Has another class already replaced the Intrepids or are they not that suitable for fights anyway?

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"There will be an answer, let it be..."
Motto of the USS Sutherland


 


Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
 
The sad answer is probably that the DS9 people did not have access to the Voyager model when they needed it to put any Intrepids in the battle scenes. Although the USS Belerophon was seen in one of the Section 31 eps and she was Intrepid Class. I believe the Intrepid that Geordi mentioned in some TNG ep was the prototype for this class too, although she was never seen.

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"Resolve and thou art free."
 


Posted by Bernd (Member # 6) on :
 
My guess is that only few ships of the Intrepid class have been built so far, maybe only a batch of 4 or 6 ships, of which 3 have already been shown or mentioned. As for the battle capability, it is possible that Starfleet rather relies on well-known designs instead of this brand new ship class.

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"Naomi Wildman, sub-unit of Ensign Samantha Wildman, state your intentions." (VOY: "Infinite Regress")
 


Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
 
Then why do they use the other newer designs, such as the Defiant, Steamrunner and Akira?

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"There will be an answer, let it be..."
Motto of the USS Sutherland

[This message has been edited by Prakesh (edited December 15, 1999).]
 


Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
 
The Akira and Steamrunner Classes are NOT new designs. We may have seen them for the first time recently, but they have been around for quite awhile. Cjeck the registry numbers. NCC-5XXXX and such.

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"Resolve and thou art free."
 


Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :
 
Unless registries aren't chronological.

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"Ou tou kratountos h� polis nomizetai" - Creon
 


Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :
 
"...it is possible that Starfleet rather relies on well-known designs instead of this brand new ship class."

My first reaction to the above statement was "HUH?!?" If Starfleet felt it was necessary to invest the time, manpower, and materials in designing a warship of the Intrepid's reputed ability, I doubt they would refrain from using their best fighting ships in battle because they were fraid to lose their investment.

"The Intrepid? Well, of course it's one of our best ships, but we don't want to risk losing any in battle. Let's send all these less-capable vessels instead. Who cares how many extra lives we'll lose?"

Yeah.

Right.

My theory is this: as vast as Federation space must be, it's unlikely these vessels are all deployed in the same location at once. If you see one or two in the same battle, you've seem most of them. If you don't, remember that space is big. Really, really big. They might've been one of those distant dots in the background that you can't figure out what the hell it is.

That's my 2¢ worth, anyhow.

--Baloo

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"You got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there."
--Yogi Berra
http://members.tripod.com/~Bob_Baloo/index.htm



 


Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
 
Also, if the Intrepid ships really are as fast as Lt.Stadi claims in "Caretaker" (although I think she was just stammering in front of Tom "oops, you can read my mind" Paris and said "warp 9.975" when she meant "warp 9.75"), then Starfleet might wish to reserve them for certain special missions. One doesn't send B-52s to drop LGMs, or SR-71s to intercept bombers, even if B-52 is a bomb truck and SR-71 flies really fast and really high. The aircraft simply aren't designed for those missions and would put their special abilities to waste in them.

The high warp speed of an Intrepid would be utterly wasted in fleet action, where the fleet has to move at the speed of the slowest sorry excuse for a starship (Miranda, anyone?), and fight at impulse. Intrepids should operate either independently, or with their heretofore unseen peers; perhaps in slashing raids behind the lines, or perhaps just in important courier missions like the Romulus run of the Bellerophon.

The worst match would be an Intrepid flying with a Defiant (the fragile-boned gepard and the lumbering bull elephant), which is why we never saw an Intrepid in action with the DS9 heroes...

Timo Saloniemi
 


Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
 
I think there was some caution in producing/using Intrepids after Voyager was lost on its first mission... but when Starfleet got word of Voyager alive and well - I would say they are gonna get Intrepids out there FAST - since the Intrepids have proven themselves VERY capable...

or yes... along with those other ships - they are assigned to different sectors FAR FAR away from the vicinity of Bajor...

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"Its a CLOCK!" - Sisko, "Dramatis Personae" DS9.


 


Posted by Michael Dracon (Member # 4) on :
 
Janeway also said warp 9.975 in 'Relativity'.

And I agree with Andrew, the Intrepid class has proven to be very capable indeed.

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Life on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free annual trip around the sun!

(-=\V/=-)

[This message has been edited by Altair (edited December 16, 1999).]
 


Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
 
I like the idea of Intrepids being used on guerilla raids and such, but Janeway also indicated that the Intrepid class designed for tight manuvering when she told Tom in Caretaker that Voyager could handle the plasma storms in the Badlands when other starships couldn't.

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"Resolve and thou art free."
 


Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
There's no reason to think Voyager can't get up to W9.975. Just because it can get there doesn't mean it can stay there for more than a couple minutes.

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Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him to use the 'net, and he won't bother you for weeks.
 


Posted by Striker on :
 
The Intrepid as a warship? I doubt it. Sure it's got a bit of firepower, but I think it was meant more for scout and reconnaisance(sp?) missions. Afterall, it seems to get the butt kicked out of it alot in the Delta Quad. It's size and weapons would indicate to me that it could probably go one on one with a Galor Class ship.

I agree that it seems unlikely that Starfleet would invest in a brand new class of ships and then be unwilling to use them in battle. Again, a likely explanation is that they were being used for scout and recon missions.

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-Striker
kob.diabloii.net
 


Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :
 
Janeway told some alien that Voyager is a short-term explorer. Which, to me, means she's a scout.

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"The things hollow--it goes on forever--and--oh my God!--it's full of stars!" -David Bowman's last transmission back to Earth, 2001: A Space Odyssey


 


Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
Well, IIRC, Paris once mentioned to Kim that the ship was a warship.

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Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him to use the 'net, and he won't bother you for weeks.
 


Posted by Justin_Timberland (Member # 236) on :
 
I would think that Starfleet has only up to 6 Intrepid Classes in full operation (Four minimum). And Federation Space is vast. Remember when the Galaxy Class was new and then Enterprise-D rarely saw any other Galaxy Class during the run of the seven seasons. The other ships were at different sectors and on missions.

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He can't be unoriginal
The way I feel is sexual
The way I feel is sexual.

He can't be just intellectual
The way I feel is sexual
The way I feel is sexual
When you're next to me.
 


Posted by Striker on :
 
couple of things:

1)The Intrepid is like, 5 times smaller than a Galxay.
2)The Intrepid class was completed over 6 years ago.
3)The war would mean that Starfleet would use every resource they have, including very fast scout ships

So, I highly doubt that there are only 4-6 of them out there. IMO, it makes no sense.

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-Striker
kob.diabloii.net
 


Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
 
Tom actually says to Kim that the ship was built for combat performance, not musical performance. In my books, not being a flying Juillard does not equate to being a warship... This was just wordplay that would not have worked with anything else except "combat performance" - just try it with, say, "exploration performance" and you lose all the punch in the punchline. "Combat performance" is English, "exploration performance" is technobabble.

The Intrepids may not necessarily be easier to build than larger ships: they do feature complex technology like the folding nacelles and landing capability that probably would result in a low-performance compromise ship unless exceptional effort was put into the design. The ships could be "silver bullets" so that not only do they not operate in big fleets (because of their speed), they are also rather few in number in Starfleet overall (because of their cost). Perhaps the very similar Yeagers are built instead, featuring everything the Intrepids have except the superfluous landing capability?

Timo Saloniemi
 


Posted by Bernd (Member # 6) on :
 
Timo already further elucidated what I think about it too. If any ship is a smaller version of the Galaxy, then it's the Intrepid. A small explorer. The Intrepid has the finest in technology, bio-neural gel packs, foldable warp nacelles, Warp 9.975, landing gear, not to mention lots of shuttles . Probably none of these features is likely to be a great advantage in combat, but it is exactly what a ship akin to a Galaxy needs. The ship might have several visiting scientists on its usual missions, more than were present when Voyager serached for the Maquis ship. I think more Intrepids aren't being built for the same reason why there are not so many Galaxies. The combat performance vs. size and building efforts is better for other classes.

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"Naomi Wildman, sub-unit of Ensign Samantha Wildman, state your intentions." (VOY: "Infinite Regress")
 


Posted by Black Knight (Member # 134) on :
 
It could be possible that the Federation still wants to explore, despite the war effort. Since the Galaxys are being used for their full potential as warships and or diplomatic vessels (i.e. Bellepheron), the Intrepids are being used as a supplement until the Galaxys can return to their regular duties. As stated earlier, the Intrepids design innovations seem to be more suited for exploration than combat.

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Quark-"Stop. Or I'll disintigrate this hostage."

20th Century General-"With Your Finger?"

Quark-"With my death ray."

20th Century General-"Looks alot like a finger to me."



 


Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
 
Then why was Voyager send out to fight the Maquis?

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"There will be an answer, let it be..."
Motto of the USS Sutherland


 


Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :
 
It was sent to find the Maquis. And besides, why was the Defiant on a science mission if that's not her mission? Because they wanted her to!

And we know the Enterprise-E was exactly fighting in the war 24/7. She was off on diplomatic missions and such.

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"The things hollow--it goes on forever--and--oh my God!--it's full of stars!" -David Bowman's last transmission back to Earth, 2001: A Space Odyssey


 




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