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Topic: Starship Building Time

KXZ
Member
Member # 119

posted

According to Utopia Planitia (when it was still up), it took one class of ship, (I forget if it was the Excelcior, Galaxy or Intrepid) 20 years to build. Doesn't this seem long. Maybe 20 months. Which seems more realistic?

Registered: Apr 1999 | IP: Logged

Aethelwer
Frank G
Member # 36

posted

IMO, once a few ships of a class are completed, it's probably easy to mass-produce them.

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"I could never sleep my way to the top, 'cause my alarm clock always wakes me right up." - TMBG

Registered: Mar 1999 | IP: Logged

Sunspot
Wasting Away
Member # 77

posted

I agree. You spend time building the first one, taking time to iron out the bugs. Then with the subsequent ships you can zip through them since you know what to look for where when something goes wrong.

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"Just remember...you're the queen!"
Tom Paris to Janeway, "Bride of Chaotica!"

Registered: Mar 1999 | IP: Logged

Hobbes
Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat
Member # 138

posted

You could try comparing them to cars. The first car of a new model will take a while to build. You'll want to check if everything runs right, the design, crash safety and so on. But once you get everything working right and you know exactly want you want, where it goes it's easy to mass produce on an assemebly line. So I'm sure the first Galaxy-class ship took 20 years to build, but the following ship most likely took less time.

Hobbes
9907.5

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Federation Starship Datalink

Registered: May 1999 | IP: Logged

Mikey T
Driven
Member # 144

posted

Hobbes is right, it can't take that long after the prototype is buit to mass-produce a starship, it's just like cars. Now, if only we know exactly how many Federation fleet yards there are...

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"...the sky's the limit."

Picard's last words in "All Good Things..."

Registered: May 1999 | IP: Logged

Black Knight
Active Member
Member # 134

posted

probably not 20 years to build, but 20 years from the first request from starfleet, and basic designs to building the shell, fitting the interior, test flights, and final production.

That might take alot of time.

Then from 2-5 years (maybe more) to build each sequential ship.
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"If I get lost, I'll just follow the ship infront of us."-Ensign Nog

[This message has been edited by Black Knight (edited July 07, 1999).]

Registered: May 1999 | IP: Logged

Federation Shipmaster
Kai Tak Pilot
Member # 15

posted

A better example would be aircraft. The first 777 took several months to build, but now they're making 33 a year.

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Registered: Mar 1999 | IP: Logged

jh
Ex-Member

posted

I would hazard the guess that it could take even less time to build these ships if the Federation is on war footing. Plenty of examples from WWII come to mind: Didn't the Boston ship yards average a ship a week? Granted they were transports mostly but I still think that cuts down the overall time significantly. Not to mention the Yorktown was nearly destroyed at the coral sea and yet was refitted and turned back out in three days with round the clock efforts in San Francisco. I'd say after the prototype, normally it takes a year to complete a ship. On war production schedules, maybe a few months per crew? That's another question: How many people does it take for a construction crew and how much do you increase the rate of production by increasing the number of people working on it? By contrast the Jem'Hadar probably can produce a bug a day with only one fairly small construction crew.

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Proverbs for Paranoids, 3: If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.

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Federation Shipmaster
Kai Tak Pilot
Member # 15

posted

Er.....teh Yorktown was repaired at Pearl Harbor. Why go from the Coral Sea to Pearl Harbor to San Francisco to Pear Hrbor to Midway if you can just stop at Pearl?

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Registered: Mar 1999 | IP: Logged

jh
Ex-Member

posted

Don't know why I did that. I'm sure of a similar feat for one of the carriers being performed at SF though, but I can't remember which (Saratoga, maybe?) or as a result of what action the repairs were needed. Hmmmm. Have to look into that.

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Proverbs for Paranoids, 3: If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.

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grb
Ex-Member

posted

On the number of people it tqakes to build a ship, we have to take into account that alot of the construction could be done robotically. I'm sure you don't need a top-grade starfleet officer to put on some hull plates or install crew quarters. Taking this into account, there's more need for people in designing the ship than actually building it. Maybe a few thousand people, for an advancd prtotype, like the USS Prometheus or USS Soverign. Perhaps a few hundred for an advance production ship like a galaxy or something, and perhaps as little as 50 to 100 for a really old production ship, like an excelsior.

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Mikey T
Driven
Member # 144

posted

When I read the TNG Technical Manual, I read somewhere that the habitat modules on the Enterprise-D were installed by using the transporter. Also, I remember in a TNG episode someone suggesting to beam out an entire area of the ship into space for some reason.

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Registered: May 1999 | IP: Logged

Federation Shipmaster
Kai Tak Pilot
Member # 15

posted

When the Saratoga was torpedoed off Pearl Harbor a few months into the war, she was repaired at Bremerton.

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Registered: Mar 1999 | IP: Logged

jh
Ex-Member

posted

Well, I know my WWII Pacific history isn't that bad but I must be getting confused somewhere. Obviously San Francisco did major work in the war but...oh well.

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Proverbs for Paranoids, 3: If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.

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Epoch
Geology Rocks
Member # 136

posted

I have to agree with robots doing most of the work. Once the major stuff is out of the way the people come in and check everything. However I don't think Starfleet is building ships on an assembly line, so building one ship might take some time. Remember size does matter they don't have this huge factory that pumps out a ship every few months. The ship stays in the same spot until it moves to a different station to complete the work.

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If you need it I can build it. Just as long as there is a box of junk for me to use.

Registered: May 1999 | IP: Logged

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