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Durations of Starship Service
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by MinutiaeMan: [QB] [QUOTE]Originally posted by TSN: Who said anything about keeping up w/ [i]Intrepids[/i] and [i]Sovereigns[/i]? They said the ship would still be useable, not top-of-the-line.[/QUOTE]When you're considering starship (or wet-navy) operations, there are two big factors to consider for almost any mission profile: speed and power. First off, does it make any sense to have a fleet of ships (that often could end up working in groups) where a small number of them are a whole lot slower? That would make for a serious handicap, especially in situations like the Dominion War -- because if Starfleet had been able to field only Akiras, Intrepids, and Galaxys (sic), then they could've travelled a lot faster than the Mirandas and Excelsiors who accompanied them. Then there's the cost/resource/energy factor for speed -- the slower a ship, the longer it takes to get somewhere and perform a job. And the crew would be stuck, too. In an era where a cruising speed of Warp 7 isn't unheard of, who wants to be stuck at Warp 5? (Warp 5 Warp 6 in the old scale.) On top of that, Starfleet can't afford to send out lightly armed ships any more. (Or at least, I hope they realize that.) I've just thought of the perfect analogy here. The USS [i]Constitution[/i] is still considered to be in "active" service. Now, would the Navy have any intention of sending that old, wooden sailing frigate out to support the actions in Afghanistan? Or even out on active patrol in the US coastal region, say for Coast Guard duties? I think not. And they wouldn't bother refitting the ship with a nuclear reactor and a missile battery, either. They'd just build a new ship and keep Old Ironsides docked in Boston Harbor where it belongs. Even simpler: let's take a World War I-era battleship. The ships served their purposes just fine when they were built. They were sufficient for peacetime naval patrols in the 1930's. And they were retained for duty after Pearl Harbor, serving in the Pacific but clearly out of their league in most respects. And after the war, they were never used in any important capacity again. The only real options left are point-defense duty and low-priority cargo transport. But I have never understood the idea of using old ships of the line as cargo transports. It makes no sense to have a ship with such an irregular hull serve as a supply ship. Yeah, you could use them for some small courier jobs, but even if you rip out most of the quarters and laboratories, I can't imagine it would be practical for carrying LOTS of stuff. Also, IMO using an obsolete heavy cruiser for Coast Guard-type duties is both ineffective and a waste of resources. Even considering wide use of automation, a starship that originally required 500+ people to run is not a good candidate for hanging out in planetary orbit and helping to get some kid's pet space slug out of the asteroid field. It would be resource-intensive, first in converting the ship to require less crew and refit the systems for its new mission profile, and also to maintain considering its large size with respect to the service it provides. Therefore, I see no real option for keeping these old ships around longer than necessary. Certainly some of the ships will remain in service until they can be replaced, but I would expect that the Mirandas and Excelsiors would be completely retired by 2400, with the Ambassadors and their contemporaries on the way out the door. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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