posted
I always thought that the "scout-class" vessel was supposed to be the BoP. Chekov said that it was there for a moment, and if it were the Grissom, wouldn't he be able to detect its destruction (unless he were monitoring some sort of technobabble warp signature thing)? OTOH, if it were the BoP, it just could have cloaked.
Which ship is NCC-71325?
------------------ Frank's Home Page - free pencil with every visit!
[This message has been edited by The Shadow (edited September 15, 1999).]
posted
They detected a scout class vessel but couldn't identify it beyond that. Kirk jumped to the conclusion that it was the Grissom. It was really the BoP.
The conclusion we can draw is that the term scout class refers to a range of ships and that the BoP and the Grissom both fall within that range, at least for what could be determined by a quick scan. Most likely it simply refers to something simple like a combination of size/mass and drive signature.
posted
I think almost all of this comes down to sloppy use of the words class and type. Which isn't really strange, or even much of an error. We're hearing these words in an informal context, and in such instances class and type can be interchangable. Kirk knows what Sulu means by "scout" even if he didn't phrase it in official Starfleet terminology.
And regarding registries...from our soon-to-appear Forum FAQ:
Q: Are starship registries chronological? Or, I have this great system to organize Starfleet ship registries!
A: As reported to us by forumgoer Hobbes, here's the word from Mr. Okuda himself.
[registries are] "Semichronological, to my way of thinking, at least. I've always assumed that whoever is in charge of registry numbers tends to issue them chronologically, but does not always do so. There are some numbers that have been reserved, others that were assigned to projects that were cancelled, but might later be reassigned. And other oddities that invariably occur whenever you have a big organization with many individual operating units. One reason for this assumption is the fact that the registry numbers for the Constitution-class ships in the original Star Trek series ranged from 1017 to 1371 to 1701, so they could not have been assigned in a sequential block of twelve. Further, if the Constitution was 1700, the numbers could not even have been chronological. Naturally, of course, there are others who have equally ingenious theories about these matters.
Hope this helps.
-Mike"
Take from that what you will.
------------------ "Recombination, then Viacom; Safeway." -- Soul Coughing
posted
The idea of blocks of registry numbers being assigned to a specific class is fine and dandy by me, but NOT on the scale you are talking about. 100 starships just for one class is unlikely. Maybe blocks of 20 - 30 would seem more reasonable.
Also, the Oberth class. People say that the Oberth's numbers are not sequential, they just belong to the block system. They claim this due to the fact that the Oberth looks so new, and therefore couldn't have been around during TOS. Well, some might forget, ships can get refit. I mean, does the refit Constitution look much like the original? There probably was a much more basic design for the TOS era Oberth. As for the age of the Oberth, even if she was new in the 2280s, wouldn't she still be nearly 100 years old by now? That's old. 150 years is even older, but not that unbelievable. I mean, the US uses Titan Vs, which are just upgrade on the Titan Missles from the 50s
Also, why would you need 100 of one class of starship? There are AT LEAST 50 classes of ships, building so many of one class doesn't seem so smart.
The idea is simple. Starfleet wants 25 xxxxx class starships built, they are assigned registry numbers NCC-xxxxx - NCC-xxxxx, and they sent out the orders to all the fleet yards. Also, these smaller orders are a lot more reasonable. I mean, if a lot of Miranda class starships are being destroyed, you know to order so more blocks of numbers. If the Excelsiors have only lost a few ships, then you don't really need any new ones. But if you do blocks of 100, well, then you must have been losing a LOT of ships, and that class would seem pretty useless if that many were lost. And the NCC-71325 was seen on a shuttle in "Caretaker"
------------------ "I am Sci-Fi" -The 359
[This message has been edited by The359 (edited September 15, 1999).]
posted
Wha? I thought the shuttle in "Caretaker" came from the Enterprise-D, went to Earth, picked up Paris and Stadi, watched Voyager leave drydock, and then followed them.
------------------ Elim Garak: "Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. Now, good day to you, Doctor. I'm so glad to have made such an... interesting new friend today." (DS9: "Past Prologue")
posted
Well, I suppose it's possible that 'Fleet considered the Constitutions that were outside the 1700 range a different class (light or medium cruiser, or something like that), but that's a bit of a stretch. Upon reflection, I tend to agree with a modified shipyard theory. Each shipyard has a range of #s it can use, and whenever a given shipyard is handed a number of ships to build, it takes a block and uses #s from it until project completion, then moving on to other projects, leaving the other numbers unused. Explains why some ships of the same class have near registry numbers, why some don't, and why the numbers are in the 70000 range. I never believed that 'Fleet could build near 1000 ships a year.
And I'd personally use blocks of 100, if only for ease of use. That way, you'd only have to remember three digits to be able to tell what class a ship was and where is was built. Personally, I think the last two digits are assigned arbitrarily, but that's just my opinion.
------------------ "By all means, take the moral high ground -- all that heavenly backlighting makes you a much easier target." - Solomon Short
posted
Y'know, I think I like JEM's theory about individual shipyards' having sets of numbers to work with at their discretion. I hadn't thought of that before...
------------------ "Maybe they're trying to breed them..." -guy in my math class, suggesting a reason for there being two overhead projectors in the classroom
posted
What Mike Okuda said (in Sol's post) definately makes sense.
I also support The359's theory on the Oberth-class. Their is no reason why all the Oberths we've seen can't be type II of that class. The Grissom was probably a refit but the newer ships would have been built to that spec from scratch.
------------------ "Forgive me if I don't share your euphoria!" (Weyoun to Dukat, DS9 'Tears of the Prophets') Dax's Ships of STAR TREK
posted
Wow..okay.... And I just asked if there was any correlation between the NASA space shuttle and the Constitution-class.
------------------ "Let's make sure that history never forgets the name...Enterprise." Federation Starship Datalink - Yet another site based on the popularity of starships.
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