Galaxy Class Capability

[acstull]

I am a newcomer, so forgive me if I repeat topics that have already been discussed. Does anyone have any thoughts on just how effective the Galaxy class was as a combat vessel? Of course, we know from the Next Generation, that it definitely has some survivability problems and that it certainly cannot take as much punishment as a Sovreign, Defiant, or Intrepid class. However, during seasons 6 and 7 of DS9, we see Galaxies repeatedly on the front line of fleet engagements in the middle of the fighting.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the tactical reasoning for this? I would assume that the 14 phaser arrays of the uprated version provide better beam weapon coverage that any other ship in the alpha quadrant , and this was particularly effective against the swarm techniques of Jem Hadar attack fighters and Cardassian Galor class ships.

[Mikey]

The GCS may have had drawbacks in terms of design issues, computer security, and survivability; but it's tough to argue against its offensive ability, especially in the uprated model (which visual evidence suggests may have included armor on key sections.)

[Deepcrush]

I would think that the Uprated models we see in DS9 have undergone services to repair many of the faults we see in TNG. Better weapons, shields and armour along with most likely a more stable warpcore and fewer crew. The uprated models would be a much better place to make any judgements as they didn't seem to suffer from Plot holes like many of the first GCS we've seen have.

[Sionnach Glic]

Welcome to the site.

The GCS appeared to be a rather powerful vessel, with good weapons and good shields. It proved capable of taking on many enemy vessels during the Dominion War and seemed to work as Starfleet's iron fist in battles.

There is, however, a number of problems with having the GCS in combat situations.

The most obvious problem is that it is clearly not designed with combat in mind. While it may have powerful weapons, its design is a major downside in combat. It is needlessly large with numerous vital systems (bridge, nacelles, etc) out in plain view of enemy weapons.
The numerous design flaws inherent in the GCS also make it highly unsuited for combat.

[Teaos]

While it is undoubtably powerful it is like Rochey said, not built with combat in mind. It has very poor agility and is needlessly large.

When it was built though it coul take on any other ship out there and win, so I would say it is rather good. The DS9 uprated ones would be even better.

[Mark]

As with any new design, the first run of the GCS ships had quite a few design flaws. With time though, these would have been corrected, and upgrades made. Say what you will about the Galaxy Class, she's a tough ship. But she was origanally designed to be a deep space exploration ship, with state of the art science labs and enhanced creature comforts for families. Tactical ability was second behind these. The Defiant and Soverign class were designed with combat roles in mind. The Intrepid class isn't more durable, just smaller and quicker. The Galaxy overrates that little ship in everything except speed. If I understand the backstage sources, after the first run of six ships was put in service, and additional six spaceframes were built and placed in storage. When war broke out, these ships were rapidly completed and commissioned, but were completed with a combat orientation in mind as well, so no doubt that is why they are more combat effective.

[Graham Kennedy]

Personally I think the Galaxy was a mixed bag when it came to combat. I don't really buy into the "flawed design" idea; we all know out of universe that the Galaxy suffered badly because of plot reasons which background designs like the Akira never faced. In universe, there's nothing to say any other ship would have fared any better in those situations.

That said, the Galaxy no doubt has its strengths and weaknesses like any ship does. In firepower she was the most powerful ship of her day, and I tend to rate her shields pretty highly as well. I also think she was probably one of the faster ships around. Not at all agile, though.

The biggest problem with the GCS is not so much the ship itself, but rather that Starlfeet has changed very rapidly since they came into service. Remember the E-D would have been only fifteen years old at the time of Nemesis; the whole class probably only a year or two older than that. Yet in that time even the upgraded Galaxy looks old fashioned next to the Intrepid/Defiant/Sovereign/Akira/Prometheus classes. The pace of change in Starfleet ramped up very significantly around the late 2360s - presumably a deliberate response to the sudden emergence of new threats. Lest we forget that period saw the re-emergence of the Romulans, the revelation that the Cardassians were arming for a new war, plus first contact with the Borg, and then the Dominion threat... It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the Federation had already at least doubled the Starfleet budget even before the immediate run up to the Dominion war.

Personally I still think the Galaxy has a lot to offer, though. While the huge spaceframe is certainly a big target, it also provides a hell of a lot of volume for useful things. We know there is a lot of unused volume even in a pre-war Galaxy. Surely they could pack the hull out with shield generators and weapons and restore a lot of the lost edge in firepower. And personally I'd like to see the phaser lance and third nacelle refit instituted as well. I think that would put the Galaxy up there in contention with the Sovereign and others as a major combat unit.

[Teaos]

In terms of shield I agree with GK that the GCS probably has some of the most powerful shields out there. Its power plant is huge.

[Deepcrush]

I think the biggest problem the GCS faced was plot. During the DW, the GCS performed greatly above that from what we have seen in TNG.

[Mikey]

Very true. As GK mentioned, we saw the GCS every ep, in the dangerous situation of the week. Law of averages almost guarantees that we'd see more problems with it, even if the incidence wasn't actually higher than any other ship.

[Deepcrush]

That and we heard of no trouble, or not even a loss of a GCS during the DW. We saw one get the hell pounded out of it yet the damn thing kept on fighting. Either something changed or the GCS is a lot tougher then TNG led us to believe.

[Mikey]

I may be showing my old-timer's disease, but I don't remember an incident in TNG of a GCS being endangered due to inability to defend itself; all the problems we saw, IIRC, were due to computer security issues, strange unexplained-danger-of-the-week, poor warp core safety protocols, or some such.

[Teaos]

But many of the problems were far worse than they should have been if the ship had even basic safety features.

[Mikey]

But many of the problems were far worse than they should have been if the ship had even basic safety features.

OK. What has this to do with anything I said? I was mentioning the fact that the problems with the GCS seem to be other than its ability to defend itself in combat.

[Deepcrush]

I also factor that by the time of the Dominion War, many of the problems in the GCS had been worked out. E-D's time of facing every danger they could think up must have worked out a lot of the bugs in the systems. By the time of the DW, the GCS was a more perfected design.