Fleet to hold DS9

[Teaos]

I was thinking while watching a re-run.

Given the fleet we assume was available to the Federation during the war, an what ships are needed elsewhere for boarder patrol. What is the composition of the fleet that you would have be on permanent guard of DS9?

[BigJKU316]

I was thinking while watching a re-run.

Given the fleet we assume was available to the Federation during the war, an what ships are needed elsewhere for boarder patrol. What is the composition of the fleet that you would have be on permanent guard of DS9?

Depends on the objective. To stop the Dominion from coming through? My first thought is a lot if you don't have mines and other such things there in the way. Frankly with a good minefield, even normal ones, so long as you hold DS9 a few dozen ships could do a pretty fair job of things, assuming you are capable of replacing mines and provisions as they are expended and your plan is to just choke the exit with wreckage that does a good chunk of the work for you.

However if you are talking about stopping the Dominon and CU already in the quadrant from taking the place we don't have enough information to answer. The simple military version is you need as many ships as it takes to stop them (unless the profits have stopped all further traffic in which case DS9 is no more important than any other base near the warzone really) even if that means leaving Earth uncovered. They get control of the wormhole where they can bring ships through and you lose. Its pretty simple.

[Teaos]

Yes I was meaning once the war had starrted and the wormhole was closed. Just holding the station.

[Coalition]

Once the wormhole has been mined, I'd be tempted to let the C/D forces hold DS9. It puts their forces in an exposed position, that I can use to pick off ships. If I try to hold DS9 before I have a fleet advantage, Cardassia Prime (only a few light years away from Bajor), can easily send ship to raid me.

The more places I can make the C/D forces tie themselves down defending for no return, the better I will be. The locations will be hurt, but the loss of ships to the Dominion will hurt them more. Jem'Hadar breeding rates means killing JH is not that effective, but ships take longer to build. I need to kill ships, yards, and Ketracel White facilities as often as possible. The more the C/D forces spread out, the less defenses behind the lines, and the more fun Klingons can have.


If I actually have to protect DS9, I'd use mainly phaser armed vessels, to reduce the need for photorp resupply. The base itself might serve as a strategic center, where Romulan D'Deridex vessels operate as tenders to Klingon raiding parties. Instead of a Bird of Prey going out from DS9, hitting the Dominion, and returning, a raiding group goes out, along with a D'Deridex for additional supplies. The D'Deridex captain plots out his maneuvers to avoid being spotted, and communicates his destinations and time frames to the Klingons. The Klnigons would go out, shoot up a bunch of stuff, and return to the expected coordinates for quick repairs, resupply, etc. If the Klingons miss the resupply times, they return to DS9. All the ships would be cloaked for the entire mission (except when the Klingons are attacking).

[Teaos]

Its also a trade off of weather you man it with cannon fodder Miranda class ships or more capable but more needed newer models. Probably a toss up of both and have a balenced defence fleet based around one or two capital ships, several medium class ships then just Defiant style short range attack ships.

[Graham Kennedy]

It's hard to judge because we don't really know the threat level. DS9 seems to have often been used as an assembly point for forces going to Cardassian space, even Cardassia itself, which implies it wasn't far from the front. But what forces where between DS9 and the front, on average? If the Dominion could pull a lightning fast strike straight through to the station, then it needs a whopping fleet there to defend it; at least 200+ ships I'd say. But if there are two or three allied fleets between the front lines and the station, then I'd happily drop that number tenfold on the grounds that any attack on the station will be chewed up badly before it ever gets there, and would give them the time to call for reinforcements anyway.

[Teaos]

It always seemed to be no more than a couple of days away from the action. So I doubt there could be fleets between them,probably nothing more than bparder patrols.

[Mikey]

A couple of days at warp 6+ is a VERY large distance. There could indeed be fleets as well as support columns and reserves within that distance.

[Teaos]

Distance isnt important, its the speed with which you can cover it. Why would you have a fleetbetween DS9 and the boarder if a fleet that was stationed at DS9could get there in hours?

[Mikey]

I didn't say I would. I was merely replying to your assertion that there couldn't be.

[Coalition]

A couple of days at warp 6+ is a VERY large distance. There could indeed be fleets as well as support columns and reserves within that distance.

Warp Speed - light years per day
6 - 1.07
7 - 1.8
8 - 2.81
9 - 4.15
9.2 - 4.52
9.6 - 5.23
9.9 - 8.36

This is from the TNG warp chart. Also, remember that ancient Bajorans (and commander Sisko) were able to use a Solar Sailer to get to Cardassia (with the tachyon boost), so Cardassia is not that far from Bajor. That would make DS9 a front-line position, especially given the importance of the wormhole.

[Mikey]

There you go. 2 - 3 LY is a lot of space.

[Teaos]

Not really, its not even the distance to our nearest star neighbour. Not even one system.

[Captain Seafort]

*snip*

To reinforce that point, the "official" TNG warp scale generally underestimates how fast the ships are. Voyager would max out at over 50 ly/day and the E-D at roughly half that, if we go by canon. While those speeds can probably only be sustained for a few hours rather than days, they nonetheless expand the effective support radius considerably.

[Deepcrush]

Rather then a large fleet I would prefer just a the Defiant, a few Excelsiors (refitted), DS9 refitted and a larger number of the mines that could be replicated. Cloak the mines and just put them off to the size disarmed and then keep making them until the day comes you need them. Taunt the Dominion into attacking and then activate the mines once the Dominion fleet is inside the mine field. Instant hellfire and brimstone with a ton of surprises that the enemy wouldn't be ready for.

DS9's shields withstanding Dominion weapons, Excelsiors which are a near match for the Defiant and a hidden mine field.