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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Guardian 2000: [QB] Starships aren't planes, or casings for electronics, or WW2 battleships. They are starships. First, all a C-141B need do is fly the cargo it can carry, which is the exact same mission it originally had (unlike, say, the A-10, whose TF34 engines are driven much harder than originally intended due to the modern preference for lower-altitude, higher speed operations). It need not outpace other aircraft such as a starship might need to outpace another starship. The only way the C-141 might need more power is if it could carry more cargo . . . but then, it would be a C-5 or C-17 anyway. Second, turbofan engine design hasn't changed all that much since the 60s (when titanium became a common engine material), much less since the early 80's when the modern C-141 fleet (B-type) was constructed, and earlier models were converted. Also, there's economics involved . . . replacement of an engine, if required, would be expensive with a brand spankin' new ubertech engine, but much less expensive if you keep making the same parts for the same engine. Casings for electronics? That's fine. Computer casings haven't changed all that much in the past couple of decades. However, a warp nacelle is hardly a computer casing. A better analogy might be mobile data storage device . . . we've gone from huge floppy disks holding 360kb, to 5.25 disks holding 720kb, to 3.5 disks holding 1.44mb . . . until a friend of mine recently showed me his digital camera, with a tiny memory stick the size of an isolinear chip holding 64mb. Now, I suppose that if they'd really wanted to, they could have put the memory stick inside the casing for a 3.5 floppy, but I really don't see why one would bother. As for WW2 battleships . . . well, the Iowa Class (such as the USS New Jersey) did undergo a major internal refit to her engines, switching them from burning black oil to Navy distillate fuel in the early 80's. This was rather like the refit of the Texas (BB 35) which was switched from coal to oil in the 20's. In both cases, major modifications were made to the ships internally . . . all the pumps, half the valves, and most of the foundations for these were rebuilt from scratch on the New Jersey. Sure, the screws were still there just like on any other ship, but short of going MHD on it, there's not much you can do with a propeller. The difference there is that, with the exception of the screws, the propulsion of a battleship is all internal. The warp nacelles are outboard equipment, and we know that these can be switched in their entirety when the technology is updated (ST:TMP). [/QB][/QUOTE]
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