Production and Commissioning

[Anon]

I have several questions about Production and Commissioning.

When is a ship commissioned? Is this when the prototype is first fielded? Or is it when the first ship of the class comes off the production line? Does DITL include an initial "low rate" production before entering a "full" production line?

[Sionnach Glic]

I think it would be when the first actual ship of the class comes into service. IIRC, that's what it means with reference to modern militaries.

[Reliant121]

I think you are right. Take the Excelsior's launch. She was still testing the Transwarp system when Enterprise was stolen so technically she wasn't Comissioned (I think). She would be comissioned when she enters full time service.

[Mikey]

Sounds logical - so it can't be right for 'Trek.

[DarkOmen]

From the Wikipediaz in regards to naval ships


Ship naming and launching endow a ship hull with her identity, but many milestones remain before she is completed and considered ready to be designated a commissioned ship. The engineering plant, weapon and electronic systems, galley, and multitudinous other equipment required to transform the new hull into an operating and habitable warship are installed and tested. The prospective commanding officer, ship's officers, the petty officers, and seamen who will form the crew report for training and intensive familiarization with their new ship.

Prior to commissioning, the new ship undergoes sea trials during which deficiencies needing correction are uncovered. The preparation and readiness time between christening-launching and commissioning may be as much as three years for a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to as brief as twenty days for a World War II landing ship.

Regardless of the type of ship, the brief but impressive commissioning ceremony completes the cycle from christening and launching to full status as a warship of her nation.

[Sionnach Glic]

And that answers that question.

[Mikey]

With Starfleet's fixation on "shakedown cruises," I think it's safe to say that the process for Starfleet vessels is similar.

[Anon]

DarkOmen excellent response. The Galaxy Class appears to agree with DarkOmen's answer. The Galaxy was launched in 2357 and not commissioned in 2362. But the Defiant Class of ship seems to contradict this information. The Defiant was a prototype ... i.e. it was a test platform. It was sent into combat before it was even finished being built. It had no formal commissioning. There was not a formal production decision until 2370. Yet the class was commissioned in 2367. I was confused by this.

[Mikey]

Well, the Defiant is a bad example of the design/production process. IIRC, and I think I do, The Defiant project was shelved because of the SIF problems, and only made operational by Sisko and O'Brien when Sisko had it assigned to DS9 as his pet project. Once they had it sorted out, they would have used it, even though the procedures a/o mechanisms might not have been in place to formally commission it. True production wouldn't have started until Sisko and O'Brien's results were compiled, pored over by Starfleet engineering, proven in the field, etc.

[Anon]

Right! Well I think in the Defiant they found a ship that they could build start to finish in less than a year which made it very desirable considering the Dominion threat.

Let us take the Galaxy Class ship. The first ship was completed in 2357, and it was not commissioned until 2362. When did they start building the Galaxy? In 2350? Was she the initial prototype? After 2357 is this when she was used in operational test? There is a big difference between getting a ship space worthy, and collecting data to decide if the class should enter a production run.

Usually a new technology does not enter full production. It enters a low rate production to iron out quality and production issues. After it is demonstrated that the technology can be produced efficiently and at a satisfactory quality full production is approved.

So if the Galaxy didn't enter low production until it was commissioned in 2362, then the first low rate production models would not start appearing until probably the late 2360's. When was the Galaxy Class Enterprise commissioned?

[KuvahMagh]

The dedication plaque gives its commissioning date as 40759.5, which was intended to represent October 4, 2363.

-From the Wikipedia Article on the Enterprise-D

It is likely that the Galaxy herself would be the 'prototype' although it is also very possible that much of the new technology intended for the Class would be tested to some degree in existing ships along side the development of the Class. I can't really imagine that Starfleet would build a ship that massive without first testing the basic pieces that will make up the ship, although it is possible.

Most likely what happened was that several space frames were laid down, Galaxy, Yamato & Enterprise. Work went slowly on the second two while most of the effort was put into the Galaxy. When the Galaxy was launched the other two had the basic frame built but little else. As the Galaxy proved itself in tests work picked up on the other two, with replicator technology being fairly advanced and the fact that much of what they needed could have been stockpiled during the construction to be installed once the basic design proved successful, it may not have taken that long.

Once launched they underwent only basic testing, mostly centered around the work done to install the equipment rather than the new equipment since it by that point would be well tested.

Just a theory but it could explain why there was such a short time between the Galaxy and Enterprise Commissioning considering you have to fit the Yamato in between the 2.

[Mikey]

Well, Starfleet seems to consider operational service ships as testbeds for new tech. Ex.: The Ambassador-class features the new technology of phaser arrays. While I guess we can't assume that there wasn't a full R&D effort, there would probably have been a refit onto an existing class with such a project; instead, it seems that the class was fitted with this new tech, and the Ambassador's actual service was in fact the largest-scale test.

[Anon]

Here is what I'm reading, and how I'm going to piece it together. Once again for the Galaxy Class of Ship.

• In the early 2340's (2343?) the technology and system development for the Galaxy Class began.

• In the late 2340's (2348?) the Galaxy class design, down to the smallest component, was completed.

• In early 2351, all of the subsystem and lower components have been tested, and a decision is made to make initial production run of 3 ships (Are there more than 3? I thought I remembered 10 in the initial production).

• The Galaxy is started in mid 2351, the next 6 months to a year, the Federation gathers data on quality and production errors and makes corrections to the production process

• The Yamato is started in mid 2352, and a similar process is started of data collection and fixes.

• The Enterprise is started in early 2353, and a similar process is started of data collection and fixes.

• The Galaxy is finished in late 2357, and enters "Shake Down" and Operational Test. During this construction period, production process corrections were periodically passed down to the Yamato and Enterprise construction efforts. At the completion of 2357, these corrections were compiled for a production decision and also passed down to the Yamator and Enterprise

• In mid 2358, the Yamato and enters "Shake Down" and Operational Test. A subsequent set of production and quality "fixes" have been generated and passed down to Enterprise.

• In early 2359, the Enterprise and enters "Shake Down" and Operational Test.

• From this point on the production information from the Enterprise, Yamato, and Galaxy were compiled and analyzed for optimization of the production process. Operational Test data is collected.

• In 2362, a full production decision is made for the Galaxy Class.

• In 2366, the first full rate ... final configuration (this could be the uprated model) models of the Galaxy come off the line.

So how is that for a timeline? Is that reasonable for what we know of ship development? Does the Galaxy class ship take longer to produce than four years?

[Blackstar the Chakat]

Actually 12 ships were initial order, with only six being finished initially. There's at least 7 Galaxys so that suggests the last six frames were completed. So that would mean there are as many as 9 Galaxy-class ships in service, the other 3 being destroyed(Yamato, Enterprise, Odyssey). Any additional production would be pure speculation.

[Jordanis]

Well, all the galaxies completed so far aren't necessarily the initial order. I would like to see a canon reference to how many Galaxies there were supposed to be when and what order. I really don't know where most of this info comes from.