posted
Ambassadors are huge. Far too big to become glorified freighters of the future. Sovereigns are probably too big too, really, for such a role.
Registered: Mar 1999
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EdipisReks
Ex-Member
posted
In my view of the Ambasador class, the last ships made (sometime in the 2350's) would be technologically similar to the first nebula class ships. i'm certain that they were upgraded on a regular schedule, and even the first run ships (from the 2320's) would still be decent. i think that the Big A's would still be exploring out on the fringe. probably why we didn't see any of them during the Dominion War.
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quote:Originally posted by AndrewR: I like the idea that it replaces the Excelsior class... although shouldn't the Ambassador have done that?
The existing VFX alone makes it pretty clear that the Ambassadors didn't replace the Excelsiors. I do think that the Galaxy-class made the Ambassadors redundant though.
As for the Sovereigns being too big for an Excelsior replacement, the Sovereign volume is still a little smaller than the Ambassadors. In fact, the size relationship between the Excelsior and Sovereign-class would be very similar to between the Ambassador and Galaxy-class.
posted
i don't think that the Galaxy class made the Ambassador redundant. it certainly replaced production, but the Ambassador class was, and presumably still is, a ship with high capabilities.
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posted
Agreed about the Ambie... I hope they were still out there on the edges of the Federation. Maybe they would eventually be phased out by the prevalence of the Galaxy class. Surely the Trek universe won't be 'under fire' from Dominion, Borg etc. etc. for the next century - and they (The Feds) Can get back to sending out their Galaxy class ships... (of course with much greater tactical resources than at the start of 2364).
Andrew
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
posted
I agree that the Ambassador is probably still out there... if the technology is a bit behind the cutting edge, it might not be assigned to the high-priority or high-risk areas for exploration, but its sheer size (despite being smaller than the Galaxy) means that it's still got to be useful for long-range exploratory missions.
And with Starfleet pulling back so many ships for defense duty, many Admirals may not want to totally abandon some of the outlying sectors that weren't under threat of attack, and so relegated the Ambassadors to patrol those regions.
Either way, just because we didn't see them doesn't mean they didn't operate elsewhere.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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EdipisReks
Ex-Member
posted
the Ambassador class is kind of my pet starship class, so indulge me for a moment. in my mind, the Ambassador was built in blocks:
block I: (mid 2320's-early 2330's) similar to the Enterprise-C, it is considerably behind the times now, despite upgrades. probably relegated to static defense and patrol duties. more than a match for a Galor, but not up to high threat duties.
block II: (mid 2330's-early 2340's) similar to theExcalibur and has stayed up to date enough that it would be out on mid threat exploration and would be cataloging areas that the Federation has been too but hasn't done systematic exploration of.
block III: (mid 2340's to early 2350's) the last group of Ambassador class ships. it shares much of the same tech as the first Nebula class ships (which would be entering production at the end of the Ambassador line), and would therefore have shared in similar upgrade cycles. i imagine that it would now have similar capabilties to modern Nebula class ships, though not quite as up to date. the block III ships would be capable of standard, high risk, exploration. afterall, some of them are only 25 years old and are of similar effectiveness to the Nebula class.
modern warships go through design upgrades throughout their entire manufacturing history, so i don't see why it would be any different for ships in Starfleet
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posted
My views 1. Miranda supplements Constitution 2. Excelsior supplements Constitution (though originally planned as replacement) 3. Ambassador supplements Excelsior and replaces Constitution 4. Nebula supplements Miranda and planned to eventually replace them 5. Galaxy supplements and acts as limited replacement of Ambassador 6. Sovereign supplements Excelsior and planned to eventually replace them.
-------------------- Is it Friday yet?
Registered: Feb 2000
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Anyway, I've also had the notion that the Sovereign wasn't built to replace the Galaxy class (as fanboys and Starship Spotter, unfortunately, state). A class like the Galaxy with a huge design timeframe is replaced when not even one ship has reached it's designed max. life of 100 years? I don't think the USS Galaxy herself was even 20 years old when the Enterprise-E arrived on the scene.
In TNG, the Enterprise-D didn't do as much "seeking out new life, exploring strange new worlds, and going boldy where none have gone before" as one would think an "Explorer" type ship would do. In fact, she did quite a bit of ferrying, defensive patrolling, and just running back and forth within the Federation. So...
Perhaps this is what the Sovereign was meant to do? Take on the tasks of ferrying (she's got the speed), defensive patrolling (she's got the teeth), and just running back and forth (she lacks the resources to go out on an 8 year mission). And, while people always like to criticize the Galaxy class for having families, would anyone with a loved one want to go out for 8 years by themselves? With the exception of Picard's senior staff, I doubt every Starfleet officer who wants to see the unknown is single (and yes, I know about certain $spoilers$ for Nemesis).
So, now that Starfleet has their new Sovereign, the Galaxy class ships go back out like they were designed to do in the first place and explore the far reaches of, how fitting, the galaxy.
Registered: Jul 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Ace: Perhaps this is what the Sovereign was meant to do? Take on the tasks of ferrying (she's got the speed), defensive patrolling (she's got the teeth), and just running back and forth (she lacks the resources to go out on an 8 year mission).
*snip*
So, now that Starfleet has their new Sovereign, the Galaxy class ships go back out like they were designed to do in the first place and explore the far reaches of, how fitting, the galaxy.
I totally agree. And suddenly I don't feel so crazy anymore...
Registered: May 2002
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posted
Oh, and to finally answer EdipisReks' question: Captain Nowan stars in the Jerry Oltion novel "Star Trek: Captain's Table: Star Trek: Where Sea Meets Sky". (The second "Star Trek" is there to specify this is a TOS-era contribution to the miniseries. Boy, the covers of those books got crowded....)
We also know the distinguished gentleman by another name, which isn't quite spoken out loud in the book.
posted
Regarding the Sovereign being smaller than the Galaxy:
Doesn't the tech manual state that large portions of the Galaxies internal space are incomplete? A line which snuck into that season 7 episode where Picard snogged a man, I believe.
If so, and taking that to mean that even 7 years after launch there were still parts of the Galaxy unfinished, perhaps this implies that Starfleet realised that it simply didn't need a ship that big. Components wise, everything fit in nicely, and crew wise, everyone had plenty of space. Sure, you could make everyones quarters bigger, but that's fairly impractical.
Perhaps when designing the Galaxy the engineers were under a "make it really, really big" remit, after the higher-ups in Starfleet had gotten pissed off at one too many size comparisons with Star Wars ships (not that the Galaxy comes off much better anyway). When the Soverign was being designed, they realised that it would be much more cost effective to produce a slightly smaller ship with much less internal volume. A smaller crew could do the same job as a bigger crew, and the ships could be produced faster and maintained much more easily.
Registered: Mar 1999
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