Topic: How many Photon launchers does the Constitution class really have?
Anduril
Ex-Member
posted
I'll drop this in here too as everybody seems to have an opinion on just about everything.
While going through the dvd of "Journey to Babel" and getting screenies of the ship I heard James T. utter this line.
"On my order fire Photon torpedos 2, 4 and 6." And they fire in rapid succession.
I know what's out there, Franz Josephs stuff (not all that accurate to the studio model in my opinion), Steven Coles stuff from his game and various other 3rd party tech manuals. But this says more to me than any of that stuff.
It could be 2 launchers loaded with 3 torps each. It could be three launchers with 2 torps each. Or even a whopping 6 of them. I really doubt that they could reload one tube fast enough to shoot two giving you one tube that shot one and a second that shot 2. And that last one wouldn't make sense as the numbering scheme wouldn't seem right.
Just food for discussion if anybody is interested.
My next one will be the phrase "midships phaser" and it's location.
posted
mmmmm, WTF is a / are screenies???? Sounds like something out of a no budget Z-movie....
If, according to the TNG:TM, the E-D can load 10 at a time, then it is possible that more than 1 could be loaded in a launcher on the E-nil.
screenies..... lol
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Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
This doesn't tell us anything about how many torpedoes there are, only about the number of launchers.
The simplest explanation is that there are two launchers with torpedoes numbered like this:
Launcher 1 Launcher 2
1 2 3 4 5 6
That's exactly how the Defiant's quantum torpedoes are numbered -- the first pair to be fired is numbered 1 and 2, the second pair 3 and 4, etc. (as seen in "For the Uniform.").
Kirk was probably firing torpedoes from one launcher only when he gave that order. You can't have too many launchers on the Ent-nil, because the VFX always show them leaving essentially the same location (though I believe I've seen some torpedoes fire more to the left of the dome than others).
Boris
[ April 27, 2002, 09:26: Message edited by: Boris ]
Registered: Sep 2001
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Anduril
Ex-Member
posted
Screenies are screenshots.
I'm taking them to remake my bussards. Amongst other things.
I'd agree with the 2 launchers so far...
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posted
Y'know, Ritten, this is the "Starships & Technology" board. If you think anyone who talks about Treknology is a fanboy, you might want to consider browsing someplace else.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I haven't said that.... just the 'screenies' thing has me......
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
A scene during one of the battles in Star Trek II showed the torpedo bay with a plaque in the back saying TORP BAY 4. We had seen this identical room before when Kirk and co. entered as well as during Spock's funeral as TORP BAY 2.
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Registered: Mar 1999
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Anduril
Ex-Member
posted
Well since it's right at the beginning of scene 6 it's easy enough to find.
The quote is as I put it above.
You can add "Widest possible spread" right after it too.
I'm not thinking that I "heard" launchers. What I'm musing is how many launchers it may have based on what he said and the topedo loadout within them.
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Saiyanman Benjita
...in 2012. This time, why not the worst?
Member # 122
posted
Isn't the torpedo launcher in TWOK in the "neck" of the ship? If so, then there may be four bays (2 forward, 2 aft). As for TOS, they shot out of the saucer, so 2 would probably be most accurate. However, there may also be one or two under the shuttle bay in the aft of the ship, but that's only a suggestion.
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Registered: Apr 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Saiyanman Benjita: Isn't the torpedo launcher in TWOK in the "neck" of the ship? If so, then there may be four bays (2 forward, 2 aft).
Nice idea, but no. Look at the ship again. No external "ports" for aft firing torps in the neck.
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
There's another possible location for the "torp bay 4" - namely, the very same location that was used in TOS. A bay situated at the bottom of the saucer would have externally identifiable torpedo tubes (the rectangles surrounding the sensor dome, or at least the forward-pointing rectangle), airlocks to port and starboard (as required by the interior set), and a logical positioning considering that the pre-refit ship used to have torpedo launchers here. This would also mean that Miranda class ships have torpedo launchers even when they do not have the dorsal torpedo pod - a requirement stemming from "Emissary" and the podless Saratoga which nevertheless armed her torpedoes when going into battle.
Then again, IIRC, "Bay 4" was used for Spock's burial scenes, and was thus firmly identified with the exact same bay Kirk had used for boarding the vessel originally - the bay that was just as firmly established as "Bay 2".
For the TOS ship, I suspect a single launch tube with a revolver-type, six-chambered launch mechanism, situated below the saucer. There's no real evidence for aft-facing launchers in TOS.
As for the "amidships" phasers, the likeliest location IMHO would be the underbelly of the secondary hull, since the refitted ship certainly has phaser emitters there.
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