Hi! What's the difference between a ship being commissioned and a ship being launched or is there a difference, because on some of the dedication plaque, it said commissioned and some say launched, for example, the Enterprise-D was launched on stardate 40759.5 and the Sutherland was commissioned on Stardate 44820.5, So what up with that!
Posted by CaptainMaxwell (Member # 932) on :
LAUNCHED means the first time a ship leaves the construction facility with own propulsion. COMMISSIONED means the date when the ship has been accepted by the navy (or Starfleet) and declared operational.
They should only use one on the plaques, preferrable the launch date.
Posted by TheWoozle (Member # 929) on :
Actually, a ship can be launched and pulled by tug,to the fitters. Just depends on the shipyard.
Posted by Intruder1701 (Member # 880) on :
A ship isnt considered part of the fleet until it has been commissioned. It can be fully completed in the shipyard ready to fight but it isnt considered part of the fleet until it has actually been commissioned.
Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
Also, some ships are commissioned more than once. It has at times been customary to decommission a ship when she departs regular service for a lengthy overhaul or modification, and to recommission her at service re-entry. If Starfleets abides to this practice, it would be easier to explain some oddball commissioning dates on these blasted plaques...
Perhaps Starfleet uses launch date on the plaque only for ships that have not yet been decommissioned and recommissioned in connection of a major overhaul? That is, "virgin" ships of sorts?
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by CaptainMaxwell (Member # 932) on :
Changing the (commission-)dates on those plaques every few years would render them senseless...
Correct me if I'm wrong but the plaques (brass? bronze? gold? ivory? latinum?) are made when the ship is constructed (I remember a pic of the plaque of a navy destroyer) and are the most holy part of any ship. So messing around with them would be something very respectless...