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Excelsiors, Birds of Prey?
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Omega _Glory: [QB] The Constitution/refit a defective design? Yeah, thats a good joke. The reason we didn't see but one shot of a Constitution-refit hull (BOBW), was that the ship design was far too recognizable. It's use would have overshadowed the series that it was used in (TNG, DS9, VOY). That class is too typecast as Kirk's ship. The studio minature is now on permanent display at the Franklin Mint. There was Constitution-refit wreckage in the debris field in Best of Both Worlds II. Starfleet was pulling ships out of mothballs in that one! Now for a Star Trek reason why the Constitution-refit class was canceled: The original Constitution class ships numbered perhaps fifteen or so by the end of Kirk's first 5 yr mission. It is likely that several of the destroyed ships were replaced (Constellation, Defiant, Intrepid, Ecalibur) and the ships that were heavily damaged were likely repaired (Lexington, Hood, Potmepkin, Exeter). Initially it makes sense that the orig ships would be refitted after the Enterprise had proven the design in testing. With the aggressivness of the Klingons and Romulans in TOS, Starfleet would likely have increased their fleet. Smaller, faster, specailized ships would be developed to help the Constitution-refits insure the security of the Federation. This would lead to the development of ships like the Miranda class and the scout ships (mentioned in ST:TMP). Also it would lead to research on the feasibility of much larger ships, the Excelsior class. So, during the refit era of the Constitution class (2269 to the 2290's or so), there would undoubtably be some new construction of these, but we would also see lots of Mirands, possibly in several configurations (research, destroyers, light cruisers, ect). Mirandas are likely much less expensive and less time consuming to build than Constitution-refits. And although they are not their equal in combat(thats why Kahn had to attack the Enterprise when her shields were down, otherwise he had no chance) or in a general purpose role, they could be tailored for specific roles or missions and likely be better for that niche. For example, a Miranda set up soley for research is probably a better science vessel than the Enterprise since the E has to be a mulitpurpose (science, combat, diplomatic, rescue, ect) vessel. The same logic would follow for other specialized ships. Imagaine a Miranda "Heavy Destroyer" giving up its research and VIP facilities for additional weapons, power, and shielding to counter the Klingon K'Tinga's. It would probably be a pretty tough little ship. So we have increased prodution of specialized hulls that are easier to build and deploy than the Constitutions. This would lead to drydocks with no room for Constitution-refits. Add to this the increase in friction with the Klingons during the 23 years between ST:TMP and ST:VI and Starfleet would definitly want an increase in fleet size. The quickest way to get ships out is to build smaller, more specialized hulls. I am sure the Constitution-refit fleet would get some new construction ships during the last thirty years of the 23rd century, but not as many as the smaller, mission-specific classes would get. And then, by 2290, the Excelsior has completed her trial runs and her design is a success. By the time of ST:VI, there are probably several Excelsior class hulls in drydock. Indeed, the Enterprise herself was going to be decommissioned because...............the Enterprise-B was due to launch six months after ST:VI and they needed the "Enterprise" name. Evidently the Enterprise was put into mothballs after being decommissioned since Scotty mentioned that in Relics. Perhaps maybe she was converted into a fleet museum since the most legendary Captain of them all was her commmander. So with Excelsior class hulls being laid down in the late 2280's and early 2290's, one could assume that any unstarted Constitution-refit contracts would be cancelled and current ships under construction would be the last ones built. So perhaps this (or something like it) was the reason for the lack of Const-refit hulls in the latter 24th century. Or maybe its just that Berman/Braga just don't give a rat's backside about continuity. Certainly appears so with Voyager. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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