The Way of the Romulan.

[Captain Seafort]

However, the E-D is shown throughout TNG to be incredibly fragile and yet the DW era GCS appears much more solid.

Aye, and the Odyssey, despite her loss, might be the best example of the improvement. Her port nacelle was hit hard during the first Jem'Hadar run and she was venting plasma badly, but she not only held together but there was never any indication that she was in any danger of being lost prior to the ram. Given the E-D's notoriously poor performance under virtually identical circumstances in Cause and Effect, that's very impressive improvement.

[McAvoy]

The Galaxy class seen in DS9, such as the Odyssey, was an impressive beast. The GCS We see at the first battle of Chintoka gets truly hammered by the ODP platforms and keeps on firing through it all.

Even got a huge chunk blown out approximately where the warp core is supposed to be.

Well either the GCS was always this and the E-D sucked or the GCS had teething issues. Perhaps the technology in the GCS was so new that it took a while for Starfleet to figure it all out.

[Reliant121]

I wouldn't be surprised if the E-D, being an early version, suffered a lot of performance issues because she was a new design. That being said, I thought that the Nebula preceded the GCS and used much the same technology.

[McAvoy]

Perhaps or the Nebula used an older version of the technology. Who knows really.

[Teaos]

I think they were made at the same time since they used the same tech. The GCS might just have taken a longer build time.

The biggest issue in the original GCS IMO was the warp core. Once they stabilise that with practice the rest of the ship is pretty good.

[McAvoy]

Yeah, E-D had a pretty bad one. Come to think of it only the E-D had an issue with it. They even replaced the original one.

[Reliant121]

Yamato also suffered but that's hardly their fault.

[Deepcrush]

I don't think anyone is blaming the crews so much as the design. Yamato was lost because a virus got in her system and they didn't build in a purge option for the ship.

[Praeothmin]

The GCS was indeed filled with new technology when introduced, and so, as mentioned, it would only be normal for the original vessels to have some issues if they were pushed in production too fast...
But we did see throughout TNG the E-D receive upgrades, and even have her Warp Core replaced...
Remember that in GEN, the E-D suffered at least 14 direct hits from the Duras Sisters' BoP while its shields had been breached, before the Warp core became an issue...

The GCS in general, after upgrades, is a very solid vessel...
As mentioned before, during the DW, it usually required more hits from Dominion forces to destroy one than required to destroy a Der'idex Warbird...

[Granitehewer]

As mentioned before, during the DW, it usually required more hits from Dominion forces to destroy one than required to destroy a Der'idex Warbird...

Cite evidence please...

[McAvoy]

As mentioned before, during the DW, it usually required more hits from Dominion forces to destroy one than required to destroy a Der'idex Warbird...

Cite evidence please...

The only one that we saw that got destroyed up close was the Odyssey. But the USS Galaxy herself took quite a few shots that even in the same battle a D'Deridex couldn't take.

However, there was a Galaxy class engineering section floating around after the Battle of Chintoka. Same scene when the Defiant was destroyed. Doesn't mean anything though. Could have been magical farts of Unicorns that destroyed it for all we know.

[Granitehewer]

But how many hits does it take to destroy a Warbird ? Has someone compared it to the amount of hits that a Galaxy class can take or is this just something pulled out of the air?

[McAvoy]

Going by the E-D? Blowing your nose. Who knows. However, if you watch the first Battle of Chintoka, a warbird took a three or four hits before spiraling out of control. The USS Galaxy, took just as many and kept on going.

[Granitehewer]

Oh poo drops! I thought the D'D would be awesomely resilient.

[Teaos]

They seem to have rather poor shielding. Not suprising since the shields have to be so massive to cover the ship.