Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site tilt.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!princeton!tilt!chenr From: chenr@tilt.UUCP (Raymond Chen) Newsgroups: net.startrek Subject: Re: ships (and books) LONG... Message-ID: <128@tilt.UUCP> Date: Thu, 24-May-84 01:03:22 EDT Article-I.D.: tilt.128 Posted: Thu May 24 01:03:22 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 26-May-84 12:31:35 EDT References: <1877@pur-ee.UUCP> <2790@alice.UUCP> <127@tilt.UUCP> Organization: Princeton Univ. EECS Lines: 109 >> From: alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) >> >> From the technical manual: Scout/Destroyer Class, Transport Tug, Heavy >> Cruiser, Dreadnaught. >> >> Note that the Destroyer and the Scout have the same basic design (external >> appearance) except that the Destroyer has more weaponry. The dreadnaught is >> listed as ''under construction'' >Pfui. The "Starfleet Technical Manual" contains lots of, let's say, creative >material... Agreed. If you want an idea of the ships in the Star Trek universe, go read the books. Most of them try to be consistent and not do anything too drastic to the universe (with the notable exceptions of the Phoenix series, Triangle and the Wounded Sky). Nevertheless, let me list what I believe to be a fairly accurate, although not conclusive list of ship types. Federation: Heavy Cruiser (Constitution and Constitution-II class) Light Cruiser (remember Reliant ?) Destroyer (mentioned in more than one book and makes sense) Scout (ditto) Survey Ships (you know, the ones that were constantly getting lost) Transport Ships/ Tug (no real evidence for this, except for the Tech Manual, but it makes sense) Hunter-Killer/ Fighter Ships (Mentioned in the Final Reflection and in various other books. In one of the books, Sulu almost transferred to an H-K group. Also, Carriers are mentioned in The Wounded Sky) Carriers (see above note) Defender-Class Dreadnoughts(?) (mentioned in The Wounded Sky, makes sense to have a *large*, not necessarily fast, planet-defender type ship) Klingon: D7 Cruiser (Klingon equivalent to the Constitution Class) D6 Cruiser (predecessor to the D7) Destroyer Scout (both mentioned in books and scouts were mentioned in Friday's Child, I believe. I may be wrong, but a non-D6/D7 ship was definitely mentioned) D8 (?) (The new Klingon ships in ST:TMP that got Star Fleet so worried and got totally trashed by Vejur. These ships have photon torpedoes -- watch out !) Romulan: Warbird (Bird of Prey ship seen in Balance of Terror -- no warp drive) War Eagle (Warbird with warp pods added, not mentioned anywhere, really except for Star Fleet Battles, which when it first came out, tried to be accurate. They're kludges which have probably been phased out by now) KF5R (Klingon ships provided by some treaty -- armed with plasma torpedoes, though, that replace some of the disruptors) Note: Many of the Federation ships were probably under construction at the time of the beginning of the series. According to the Final Reflection, warp speeds of warp 4.8+ have only been available for the past 40 years (dating from ST:TWOK). It would seem logical that Star Fleet concentrate first on building up a fleet of ships that could patrol, explore, and fight -- the Heavy Cruiser Class. Also, remember that the Enterprise is over 6.5 years old by the time ST:TMP started. (Remember, too that Pike commanded it for a while, only we don't know for how long) By ship-of-the-line standards, the Enterprise is *old*. My guess is the reason behind the Enterprise upgrade to Constitution Class II is that they were developing new technology, but needed a stop-gap class of ships. So, simply upgrade the old ships until the new ones come out. (This has been done frequently in the Wet Navy and in the Air Force. Remember the B-52? Those things are older than I am.) So, the Excelsior. Using perhaps the safe variant of the inversion drive implied in The Wounded Sky. One last thing. For those of you who enjoy reading Star Trek novels, I highly recommend the Final Reflection, The Web of the Romulans, and The Wounded Sky. The Final Reflection gives you a look at the Klingon view of the Universe, as does Web of the Romulans for the Romulans. Both are well-written (I *really* like John Ford), and very consistent. The Wounded Sky is simply amazing. It's the best Star Trek book I've ever read. Period. Plot, character development, and an incredible story combine to make this an utterly amazing book. (God, I wish they could make a movie out of it). Star Trek at its best. Also, for a look at the friendship of Captain Kirk and Spock, and to see both of them at taking on the worst (or best) enemy they'll ever encounter, read The Price of the Phoenix and The Fate of the Phoenix. They do some irrevocable things to the Star Trek universe, but they're *good*. One last thing. I tend to trust The Wounded Sky when it comes to Star Trek details. The writer, Diane Duane, is a protoge of David Gerrold, who has been heavily involved in Star Trek for a while now. (and who wrote The Trouble With Tribbles, etc., etc.) -- The preceding message was brought to you by -- Ray Chen princeton!tilt!chenr