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Posted by Starship Freak (Member # 293) on :
 
I just noticed this shuttle to the far left. What is that? I mean under the excelsior is the standard shuttle inside spacedock, but the one to the left is clearly not the same. A "new" shuttletype? I never noticed it before, what with the "pre-enterprise" top left, and the "garbage scow" in the middle...
 

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Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
 
Looks the same type of shuttle as the one under the Excelsior to me. Just from above and from the left.
 

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Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
 
How cool would it be, to be able to stand inside the core of Spacedock and look out at the coming and going starships!
 

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Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
 
Is that a magazine on Russia on the table in this picture!?!

http://movies.trekpulse.com/album/displayimage.php?album=35&pos=22
 

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Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 
And why is that man sneering at the Enterprise. Does he think the ship's arrival has just interrupted his chance to score with it-might-or-it-might-not-be-Rand?

Never noticed those cigarette trays before, either.
 

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Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
 
Man, Rand really went downhill....
 

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Posted by Starship Freak (Member # 293) on :
 
I disagree, the shuttle to the right has protruding nacelles which the one to the left doesn�t have. Also the one on the left has what appears to be glowing nacelles on the side.
 

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Posted by HerbShrump (Member # 1230) on :
 
It looks like the same shuttle that Bernd's site lists as an "Exceutive Shuttle," although he says there it wasn't seen before ST:VI

quote:

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General description
The executive shuttle is used to transfer (important) personnel from Earth's surface to Earth Spacedock.
Gallery: Other Small Federation Vessels Known shuttles
(Name unknown) NAR-25820
(Name unknown) assigned to USS Farragut
� Annotations
�1) The only time the executive shuttle could be seen was in "Star Trek VI" when it took our heroes to the Spacedock. It is uncertain whether the shuttle is equipped with warp drive. There are two flat cylindrical structures that resemble Galaxy-class warp nacelles on the underside, but such warp nacelles shouldn't exist as early as 2293.
2) The miniature was later converted to represent a large starship, the Sydney class, by adding many rows of windows, a bridge module and Constitution-type warp nacelles. The remaining similarity between the small shuttle and the large starship must be a coincidence. It is absolutely wrong to call the shuttle "Sydney class", as it is done in the Fact Files.
3) I assume that the "blue shuttle" that picked up survivors from the saucer of the Enterprise-D in Generations was of this type too. This shuttle is attached to the Farragut, as indicated by its hull number NCC-60597. The size of the blue shuttle which can be seen floating above the saucer is consistent with the structural analysis of the shuttle model.

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quote:

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Originally posted by PsyLiam:
And why is that man sneering at the Enterprise. Does he think the ship's arrival has just interrupted his chance to score with it-might-or-it-might-not-be-Rand?

Never noticed those cigarette trays before, either.

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quote:

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Quoth Wraith: I smell non-canonicity...

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You say that like it's a bad thing.

Unlike most of the names Jackill comes up with, "Clydesdale" doesn't suck. I'll use it until something better comes along.


Marian

[ January 04, 2005, 11:18 AM: Message edited by: MarianLH ]
 

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Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
 
I didn't mean it as a bad thing! I like the name too.
 

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Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
 
I'm probably alone in this, but I've never been a fan of giving shuttles class names, largely because Starfleet seams to churn through so many designs that they'll either start running out of names or just confuse the hell out of people.
To me it seams more realistic to give them alpha numeric designations, like most modern aircraft.
I actually came up with a system for assigning these a while back when I was doing allot of shuttle designs and needed a consistent system to keep track of them and how they fitted into the canon designs.
I think it went something like..."SC1-T17" where "SC" stands for "shuttle class" and "T" naturally stands for "Type".
This is based on the theory that the "class-2" shuttles are the ones we're most familiar with (Galileo, Justman, Cochrane etc.) While the Class-1's are the small shuttle pods (El-Baz, Pike) and the Class-3's are the larger cargo shuttles and people carriers (type-9 from the TNG tech manual, "executive shuttle" from ST:VI & VII, possibly Delta Flyer.)
This of course conveniently compensates for the writers on Voyager not paying attention to the tech notes.
Now for the "Spacedock Tug" I'd call it something like TC1-T6 if you assume it's just a light tug, however we see it parked planet side and perform a sea rescue in ST:IV so I'd rather think of it as a light cargo shuttle, so it'd be something like SC3-T6 instead.
 

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Posted by Ace (Member # 389) on :
 
Well, we could combine the two and give it the nickname "Clydesdale," sort of like the F-14 Tomcat and the F-15 Eagle...so the SC3-T6 Clydesdale?
 

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Posted by MarianLH (Member # 1102) on :
 
Or it could just be an unofficial nickname, the way the P-47 Razorback was known as the "jug."

Sorry, Wraith. I meant to include a in that post, but I forgot.


Marian
 

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Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
 
Nicknames I'm fine with. It's when you start sticking "class" on the end that things get a little silly.
For instance can you imagine how many shuttle, travel/inspection pod, work bees, tugs, cargo haulers and other such small craft the federation has used over the last 200 or so years? Imagine if each and every model and variant had a different class name. That's what some of these fan made manuals and RPG groups seam to believe, they even think the dry-docks have class designation! I mean come on! Its glorified scaffolding for goodness sake and who in their right mind would name scaffolding, beyond a generic design label?
Not only is it unnecessary it'd be horrendously confusing when you inevitably start recycling old names and using the same class names that are already taken by starships. [/rant]
 

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Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
 
RE: The origin of the name Clydesdale. I mentioned it to Eric Kristiansen (Jackill) and here's what he has to say on the subject.

quote:

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"As far as the shuttle, the only official reference used for the shuttle
is "Sub Orbital Shuttle" which is more of a classification that covers
a lot of shuttles than a real type. I decided to make it a Shuttle Tug
(Shutug) and named it the Clydesdale class since this was a strong
workhorse.

Talk to you later
Eric"

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quote:

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Originally posted by Reverend:
For instance can you imagine how many shuttle, travel/inspection pod, work bees, tugs, cargo haulers and other such small craft the federation has used over the last 200 or so years?
Not only is it unnecessary it'd be horrendously confusing when you inevitably start recycling old names and using the same class names that are already taken by starships. [/rant]

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Just replace "shuttle" with "car" to make this a contemporary rant.

B.J.
 

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Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
 
I want a Canyonaro class Runabout.
Bad antimatter milage, but it seats 36!
 

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Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
 
"Shutug"? Sigh...

I've never liked some fans' propensity to make up new words like that. Works sometimes, but for the most part it's pretty groan inducing. Not to mention confusing... Ever notice how regardless of its canonicity, no one has EVER used "photorp" in dialogue?

Mark
 

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Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
 
Or "M/ARA", for that matter.

Starfleet seems to be a pretty curious working environment in the respect that no abbreviations, groan-inducing or otherwise, are substituted for full-length technobabble. The various Tech Manuals thus ring a bit untrue with their assorted TLAs. Apparently, Starfleet does not believe in "EVA"s but in "spacewalks". Which, IMHO, is a positive thing...

I completely agree that shuttles shouldn't get formal "class names". They should get nicknames, though - AND fancy manufacturer names optimized for marketability, even if Starfleet does not adopt those. "Clydesdale" could be of the latter sort. Something similar to "shutug" would no doubt emerge as well, although spelled out like all technobabble and not abbreviated.

Any reason to think this actually is a tug of some sort?

Timo Saloniemi
 

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Posted by Axeman 3D (Member # 1050) on :
 
It would explain the strange rear end with the nacelle ends protruding and the weird looking discs at the rear. Maybe they're some sort of magnetic shoes for locking on to stuff? It also explains why spacedock is pretty much the only place we seem them in action in numbers.

Can I just say that the word 'Shutug' is one of the worst things I've heard in years. Awful. And wasn't the word 'PHOTORP' written in big red letters on screen on the top of Spocks makeshift coffin?

I would think that shuttles would just be known officially by type or design numbers, like the Type-9 cargo, Type-7 Personnel, etc. I imagine designers would name them though, and that might well become the unoffical name amongst pilots, or they might invent their own such as the Clydesdale.
 

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Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
 
I had always assumed that those nacelles were extra powerful, focused impulse thrusters.
For me the weird feature is that bloody great radiator looking structure on it's back.

Again, I still have a slight problem with this being a pure bred tug, since we also see it parked outside UFP HQ in ST:IV and it's also one of these that apparantly rescues the crew from the sinking BOP, so there has to be room for eight passengers plus the two blokes sat up front.
Aside from that there's also the fact that we never see these "tugs" actually towing anything, just flitting about like all the other light craft in spacedock.
Not that I even pretend to have an intellegent solution or anything, yet the problem remains.
 

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Posted by Irishman (Member # 1188) on :
 
Klingon ships have radiator-looking structures/....what do they do there? I would imagine some sort of heat sink
 

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Posted by MarianLH (Member # 1102) on :
 
If only filmmakers would have some consideration for us poor fanatics who try to make sense of their creations, instead of just going "oh, that would look cool. Put one of those there!"

I rather like the idea that it's a tug, since no other shuttle looks quite like it. I'm sure with a little brain sweat any number of explanations could be contrived for why one would be on the ground, or used for a water rescue. For instance, maybe it was the same tug--it was on the ground, say, for Academy engineering cadets to study tractor emitters hands-on, and because it was on the ground, it was under the still-clearing storm and able to reach Kirk & Co before anyone else.


Marian
 

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Posted by SoundEffect (Member # 926) on :
 
I thought the big red glowy things were tractor beam emitters for towing starships around the dockyards. Like the newer shuttle seen towing an Excelsior Class out of the combat zone during the Dominion War. (Opening shot of a season opener.)
 

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Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
 
I've always considered that tug to be Klingon in origin.
It's hull is green with red glowing engines and in a fleet of both federation and klingon ships after all.

Not too many Fed ships fit that bill.

The "spacedock shuttle" may also be for hauling a string of Workbees to their daily assignment (stuff is pretty spread out in earth orbit for those lil' yellow coffins).
 

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