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Yeah kind of. Federation ships look aerodynamic. Dominion ships look like bricks.

It needs to have nice lines.

I didn't mean to say not useful, obviously the Dominion found battleships to be useful, and in the context of massive fleet battles, they are very useful (especially in a universe where fighters play a very limited role). But on their own they would be vulnerable to a "wolf pack" of cruisers and lighter warships.

I don't think it would be patrolling, per se, rather I would see Federation battleships at the center of the defense fleets of key systems, and almost never move without escorts, especially in wartime. (The RN learned that the hard way after Japan entered WWII and sank the HMS Prince of Wales and a cruiser).

Indeed, a couple of battleships around Earth would solve a few problems the federation had previously.

I could see every key world having one or two complete with escorts, basically assigned to that sector or region. (kinda like the original twelve battlestars in the original BSG)

Rochey wrote:Indeed, a couple of battleships around Earth would solve a few problems the federation had previously.

A couple of ships of any type would help. The number of times Earth has been threatened by V'ger or the whale probe or the Borg or the Dominon or the Breen or whoever, and there's only been one ship (usually the Enterprise) to assist beggars belief.

Makes you winder why the hell they don't do that anyway.
Nearly everytime we see a federation planet its completely undefended.

Because if it was well defended, there wouldn't be a movie/episode involving our beloved crew going out to save the day.

I find it hard to believe earth doesn't have some sort of orbital defence platforms. Maybe the Federation is so sure of themselves that they dont think anyone could reach earth

But yes a battleship would need to be in a mini fleet.

But I think they would need to be on our boarders.

These are going to be big powerful ships easily capable of taking on 2 or 3 capital ships of the other powers. With there mini fleet of support vessels in tow (A intrepid, defient, akira) I don't think the risk would be that great unless there was a massive fleet action.

Chances are if they were assembling a fleet that big we would probably see it coming. These things are deterents to stop agression. Their mere pressence would stop anything but that most massive attack.

The Solar System has several lines of defense within it, up to and including orbital defenses (if one or two of the novels are to be believed)

I don't mean for these capital ships to wait around for stuff to come to them, only that they generally patrol key sectors and respond to any incursions that routine border patrols can't handle. That would take fewer ships than it would to properly patrol the border.

I could see these battleships being a bit slower than a regular sized starship of the same era, simply because of their mass. So if I were, say, a Tholian in charge of the next Random But Lethal Attack on Earth, if the capital ships just patrolled the border, I would wait until they passed far enough away that I could sprint past them. If I were faster than the battleships, there would be no chance of them catching up before "doing the deed". Rather, if they were stationed in a core sector, they could come out and intercept me. (Not to mention if Earth was the target, by the time I got there, I would probably not only be dealing with the Earth taskforce, but also with Vulcan's, and Andoria's, and Tellar's, etc.)

Yeah, the best place for vessels that big would be defending important worlds.

I've always wondered why Earth was pretty much uninhabited. Although I think Generations absolutely takes the cake as far as "only ship in the sector syndrome" goes. The Enterprise-B was in the Sol system and they were the only ones in range to intercept the Lakul. Is there seriously nothing else in the Spacedock, or any of the other shipyards in the Sol system?

Well, if Starfleet was smart they would have PDF fleets.
But then again, these are the guys with the worst equipped ground army in all of Sci-Fi.

True it would make more sense to have them a bit behind the line ready to be deployed.

I was saying that having in the core would be a waste but so long as they were out by the boarders they would do their job.

Also I think the writers are just idiots about not having ships about.

You only just figured out the writters were idiots now?
Where have you been for the last few series?

Seriously, it was probably just down to them not having enough of a budget. Still...

I understand not wanting to keep your latest model capital ships sitting around waiting by Earth; but if movie-era ships were pressed into use for the Dominion War in DS9, wouldn't it make sense that these older ships which are not ready for retirement be used to bolster the non-border, relatively quiet picket duties for the inner worlds?