US Naval Academy Professor Argues For Single Ship Design Seen In ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Battle Of Coppelius

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US Naval Academy Professor Argues For Single Ship Design Seen In ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Battle Of Coppelius

Post by Nutso »

https://trekmovie.com/2020/07/05/us-nav ... coppelius/
A pivotal moment in the season one finale of Star Trek: Picard came above the planet Ghulion IV with the arrival of a Starfleet task force to turn the tide in the defense of the Synth settlement Coppelius, which was facing an attack from a Romulan fleet. The incident and composition of the Federation fleet has been the subject of much fan discussion and some controversy. It turns out this battle was also the subject of a discussion at the United States Naval Academy.
Battle of Coppelius at NavyCon 2020

Commander Claude Berube, USNR, PhD is the director of the United States Naval Academy Museum and an assistant professor of history at the Academy. In addition to holding three advanced degrees, Commander Berube has written and co-authored a number of books on naval history along with a couple of naval-themed fictional thrillers. He is also a fan of science fiction and particularly Star Trek, and he combined his passions with the launch of the first NavyCon in 2017, a sci-fi convention held at the Naval Academy Museum, focused on fictional navies.

The second NavyCon was held in June of this year and was done remotely. The subject of Commander Berube’s talk was “How the Federation Overcame the Shipbuilding Gap before the Defense of Coppelius in ‘Star Trek Picard.’” The commander has shared his presentation with TrekMovie, outlined below along with the full video of his presentation.
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Re: US Naval Academy Professor Argues For Single Ship Design Seen In ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Battle Of Coppelius

Post by McAvoy »

From what I heard it's actually two classes in that fleet. Very similar to each other of course that a passing glance you only see one.

The US Navy hardly operates a single ship Navy itself. Aside from different types from destroyers to subs to carriers. You also have the differences between a Super Carrier like the Ford and Nimitz but also the Wasp and brand new America class amphibious assault carriers.

Not to mention what the difference is between a cruiser and destroyer in mission profile where now its just size.

The reason why we just don't bother with destroyers or cruisers and simply build 21st century battleships is because of cost (not because battleships are obsolete). You could easily imagine Starfleet would have a similar roadblock.
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Re: US Naval Academy Professor Argues For Single Ship Design Seen In ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Battle Of Coppelius

Post by Coalition »

You also have the issue where if a mission only needs a destroyer or cruiser, you don't need to send a battleship or carrier. By using the smallest ship suitable for the job, you have the resources available to accomplish more jobs.

Figure the amount of resources needed to build a Galaxy class starship, vs an Intrepid class starship. If you only build Galaxy class starships you have a very powerful force that can only be in a relatively small number of locations, while if you only build Intrepid class starships you have a widely spread force that doesn't have a lot of capability per ship. By creating a fleet with two designs, you can send Galaxy class starships to locations needing their capability/flexibility, and Intrepid class starships to the more basic/simpler locations.

To me what a navy would want is as few and simple designs possible that can accomplish the missions that are assigned to the navy. A Galaxy class might do an excellent job at customs inspection, but a small set of police frigates might do the same job and need fewer resources. Similarly, when inspecting an alien structure near a flare star, the police frigates don't have the advanced science instruments, the ability to even mount them, or the ability for their shields to handle the flares. A Galaxy class has the instruments and the personnel to properly use them, plus its stronger shields can handle the flares much easier.
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Re: US Naval Academy Professor Argues For Single Ship Design Seen In ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Battle Of Coppelius

Post by McAvoy »

Which is why the wide spread amount of starship designs we saw between TNG to Voyager made no sense. Granted you got older designs that could be phased out over time, but it was a ridiculous amount. Especially the designs that are of more modern designs like New Orleans and the Akira class. Or the Cheyenne and Sabre class.

Maybe the Movie Era did keep the designs down like you got the Constitution refit, the Miranda, Oberth, and the Constellation classes. Perhaps a Saladin refit too. Built alot of them, and Starfleet just didn't have the resources or authorization to replace all of the older ships. So they built classes in smaller batches.

The reason why we saw more Akira and Saber classes for example was because they were not replacing any aging ships but to add to the fleet instead. And Starfleet needed alot of them.

I would have loved to see Galaxy class ships in Picard though. Maybe they had a major refit or something.
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