Oddly enough, we rarely see it doing something that it should do best;
actualy DEFLECT something...

My theory is that the ships are so advanced by the 24th century, the deflecting aspect of the dish is so simple the equipment takes up virtually no space, this would explain why the Miranda, Constellation, Oberth etc have no deflector. I'd say that "Deflector Dish" is a term carried over from the early days of the NX, in reality the structure does all kinds of scientific stuff, and basically has all the equipment in one place. Certain less versatile ship could have a deflector system that's hardly noticable, becaure they don't really require the dish itself.

Interesting...
Never thought of it like that... But now that you've brought it up, it DOES make sence. Most of the sensory equipment is in the deflector anyway...
But did they make it so dominating in the GALAXY class design. The ship is ceurtainly an advanced one.
For aditional sensor cappabilites, perhaps?

I agree with SOM's theory. It makes sense when it comes to why some ships that werent made for science do not have a big deflector dish, but newer ships like the Galaxy and Soverign have a large deflector dish/array.

No matter how advanced your ship is, you are going to need a bigger deflector dish if you have a bigger ship!

Sovereigns and Galaxies are massive ships, especially in comparison to say a Miranda - they will need a more powerful deflector, even if they are small in size.

On top of that, Galaxies and Sovereigns are ships of exploration - remember a Sovereign is a 'Battle-enhanced exploration cruiser' - basically a scout with more weapons than normal. By design, they will have far more sensors than a pure battleship.

It's likely that the Sovereign was designed to have as many anti-cloak scanners as well, further adding to the large amount of sensors it has.

Of course we know it's more than that, but that is it's designation.

Your theory definitely makes sense SonOfMogh, and it fits in with what I have just said.

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Come to think of it, that's a mistake in my Starship creator warp 2 program - Sovereigns are only able to be equipped with two sensor packages - Intrepids are able to have six! Surely that is a mistake?

The Sovereign class ship has only appeared in 3 feature films and has never been given a designation, ever.

Very few ships have actually been given a descriptive designation. The Galaxy was constantly referred to as a ship of peaceful exploration, I tend to go with the non-canon term 'Explorer' for her. The Defiant was named as a 'Warship', but was officially classed as an 'Escort'. The Nova was designated a 'Planetary Surveyor', and the Oberth class Grissom was called a 'Science ship'.

Any term you hear to describe a Sovereign has been extrapolated by one fan or another, I personally think terms like 'Enhanced Battle Exploration Defender' etc just sound so immature and silly. I'd go with Explorer, or Battleship.


Regarding your game, that does sound a little silly. The Intrepid is a small all-rounder with a scientific bias, the Sovereign is a massive all-rounder with a combat bias. The best an Intrepid could hope for is roughly comparable sensors.

I agree, Warp 2 seems to be giving the intrepid more credit than its worth.

Some of those four or five word descriptions do sound a little funny, dont they SOM? But you still have to admit the the Soverign fits into more roles han just Explorer or Battleship. Maybe a Tactical Explorer/Scout?

Enhanced Deterrence Explorer
That's what DITL made up.

Combat enhanced explorer sounds ok to me

By sensor packages, I mean actual sensor types, not numbers (Like graviton particle sensors, EM-detectors, and the like)

In the game, the Sovereign was portrayed as purely an advanced Battleship, while the Intrepid was equipped with the K-class warp drive (By definition, this means it's got Transwarp!)

I think the programmers just didn't do their research, before they started.

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I'm not questioning what you say SOM, but I could have sworn that I remember the Sovereign class being designated...my brain must be making up memories again, I suppose...

Constitution was a Heavy Cruiser, that is actually canon. The Miranda would probably fall into the Destroyer of Cruiser category.

But exactly like you said, the Constitution was a Heavy Cruiser, I'd bet the Excelsior also had that designation, despite being better in every way.

Just my opinion, but I see the Miranda puely as a destroyer. The Cruiser designation seems to be giving it a little too much.

I know how you hate non-canon sources, but 90% of the sources i've checked so far list the Excelsior as a Battlecruiser, although they also list the Lakota as a Command cruiser.

I know she was heavily refitted, but that does seems a bit strange, to totally change her class...perhaps you are right about sticking to canon afterall...

The Kirov and New Jersey classes are also listed as Battlecruisers on the various sites, so this designation hasn't been creted simply for the Excelsior though.

About the Lakota refit;
I've always found it a bit akward they give a refit a completly new designation. They gave her a paint job, updated her weapons to the modern standards and uprated the shields.
If the ships purpose was for example, cruiser, a few new guns can't realy change that designation to, say battlecruiser, because the designation was given way back in the construction and desing period.

Actually, battlecruiser is a genuine military designation. I can't be bothered to look this up so if there's a military whizz out there please feel free to correct me, but I believe this is the order;

Corvette
Escort
Gunboat
Destroyer
Frigate
Cruiser
Heavy Cruiser
Battle Cruiser
Battleship


Now, I think I'm missing one or two, please feel free to correct me I know for sure those are all traditional naval terms and they're in order of size.

Now, in Trek terms, Roddenberry was really keen on Federation Starships not having the word 'Battle' anywhere in their title. Reason being, Starfleet is not supposed to appear to be a military force.

You can see from those terms how certain ships are named. The Klingon Battlecruiser would obviously have been a mean mother in it's day, because of tradition it's still referred to as a Battlecruiser, the second highest designation. The Negh'Var is no doubt a Battleship. The large Jem Hadar ships we frequently saw are often called Battlecruiser, yet the big fu**er in 'Valiant' was a Battleship.

I have no problem with the Excelsior being a Battleship, although Roddenberry invented the term Explorer for the larger Federation ships, just because it sounds a bit friendlier. To be fair, the Excelsior really was the Sovereign of her day, rather than the Galaxy of her day, she's very streamlined and very mean, with less mod cons than certain other classes.

11 seconds

I've done a quick look for other Naval classes, and as yet haven't found any (Doesn't mean there aren't any though)

Even though I totally agree with the order, there is one thing that bothers me...

Defiant = Escort...

So basically, the Defiant is the second weakest class of ship that the Federation can field! 8O

I fear for their (Non-existant) Battleships!

there is one other term, Fire Support (long-range vessel, usually fairly small), although ive never seen a star trek ship classified as such

There's also what's called a "Large Cruiser", somehow different from a heavy, and Cutters, which are another small ship (never seen these used in ST either)

Fire Support Cruisers are in the Starfleet Command games, but I didn't know they were actual Naval classes.

In the games, they tend to be ships with low firepower, but short recharge times (So their weaponry is more phaser/missile-based rather than heavy weaponry-based like photons and plasma which take a lot longer to load/arm)

Fire Support Cruisers tend to have weak defenses, and so fire from a distance, keeping out of the fray, but their long-distance weaponry is able to wear down enemy shields, so that stronger Battleships and Carriers can get in close and do real damage to the enemies hull.

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The large crusiers I have heard of...but i'm not sure where, and I certainly didn't know they were another Naval class.

Well you really do learn something new every day!