Are galaxy class star ships underarmed?

[draynay]

Well the Jem'Hadar had Phased Polaron Beams which was an unfamiliar technology and it took the Federation time to adapt. They ran into similar trouble later with the Breen Energy Dissipator.

[the game]

Stopped or not it gave us one of the best TNG episodes with the phase cloaking.

Love it when Picard gets a chance to go full paladin.

It also gave the series finale for Enterprise.

[Deleted]

The Galaxy-class (NCC-1701-D for example), is more of a luxury cruiser, with a huge number of civilians on board, with their families, and it's meant for exploration. It's not a war ship, so it's armaments obviously aren't significant.

The Sovereign-class (NCC-1701-E), is a war ship. It stood its ground against a borg cube, a borg sphere, and a bunch of other vessels.

[Hammerfest]

I think they were over-powered for the peacetime era depicted on TNG. For the Dominion War, they were underpowered... a huge waste of ship real estate.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I don't think the Federation build their ships with more than very basic self-defense in mind.

They're not like Klingons and Cardassians whose ships are generally designed purely for combat operations.

This. Starfleet ships are like the Coast Guard; they are lightly armed compared to combat-dedicated Naval ships and are meant to be utilitarian. Klingon and Cardassian ships can't do have the things that Starfleet ships can.

[Hammerfest]

I don't think the Federation build their ships with more than very basic self-defense in mind.

They're not like Klingons and Cardassians whose ships are generally designed purely for combat operations.

I definitely think this was true between the end of the TOS era and the start of the Dominion War. One working theory regarding the Starfleet ships of this era is that they had superior shields to the ships of most other Alpha/Beta Quadrant powers... including the Klingons and the Romulans. This would be a good in-continuity reason why the various hero ships, like the Enterprises, could survive so many attacks from these enemies while the enemy ships were being destroyed left and right.

During the Dominion War, Starfleet clearly beefed up their ships. Even aged Miranda class ships became viable tactical platforms and one can see that their weapons and propulsion effects had been subtly changed in the effects shots on ST: DS9. While it isn't canon, one Dominion War novel mentioned that Galaxy class ships had been re-purposed as basically fighter carriers... having their massive saucers essentially hollowed out to hold dozens of fighter craft.

[Revik]

What about a Nebula class starship? Benjamin Maxwell on the Phoenix was able to destroy a Cardassian warship even after it was given the prefix codes without much issue.

[Hammerfest]

What about a Nebula class starship? Benjamin Maxwell on the Phoenix was able to destroy a Cardassian warship even after it was given the prefix codes without much issue.

At that time, Cardassian ships were vastly inferior to Starfleet's newest. This was expressly stated by Riker in one of their first appearances.

[Sharein]

What I never understood is that the flagship of the Federation apparently has children and families on board. The Enterprise D's design seems way too friendly and soft to be intimidating.

The Enterprise E, though.. that is a proper warship.

[Hammerfest]

What I never understood is that the flagship of the Federation apparently has children and families on board.

That was, at least for Picard, a very questionable policy. Personally, I think the Enterprise D was a product of the era in which it was designed and built. With the exception of the Cardassian Border Wars, the Federation hadn't been in a major conflict in at least 80 years. That'll soften any fleet. Peacetime can really erode a service's tactical readiness. In fact, many in Starfleet didn't consider it to be a military organization anymore, as discussed in the TNG episode "Peak Performance."

- - - Updated - - -

As far as the Galaxy Class ships and their perceived supremacy, let's not forget that the Enterprise D was destroyed by an out-of-date Klingon Bird Of Prey. A lot of fans found that unacceptable. I thought it was spot-on, particularly given how they actually did it. Watch what happened...



... the BoP's opening salvo of two torpedoes went right through the Enterprise's shields as if they weren't even there. That's key to why the Enterprise was destroyed from this encounter. The Enterprise D was essentially destroyed by a much inferior ship that had intel.

We then look at the next Galaxy Class ship to get destroyed in the Star Trek continuity... the USS Odyssey. This was the first time Dominion forces engaged a Starfleet vessel...



... it's clear that the Dominion ships had the ability to penetrate the Galaxy class's shields. Unlike the Klingon BoP, however, the Dominion's ships were simply able to do this by design, without needing any specific intel on the Odyssey. This idea was later reinforced by Weyoun. During the Dominion's assault on Deep Space Nine, he mentions that "Federation shields have always been useless against our weapons." This clearly changed as Starfleet compensated for that deficiency. The Klingons also improved their stuff too, as Martok (who was like the Captain Kirk of the Klingons) was able to take on three Dominion ships with one BoP...



All in all, my feeling is that the Galaxy Class was a ship designed for peacetime... with more agile and tactically-minded ships replacing it as conditions changed. The Galaxy Class was an armed luxury condominium compared to pretty much every other Federation ship we saw from that and subsequent eras. Heck, the Intrepid Class was basically a scaled down, cost effective alternative to the Galaxy Class in terms of capability... as if to say the Galaxy Class as an idea was outdated.

[Teph]

Is it ever explained why their space battles are always on so close quarters other than "coolness"?

[Hammerfest]

Is it ever explained why their space battles are always on so close quarters other than "coolness"?

That's an interesting point of discussion. On TOS, original effects, it looked most of the time like the space battles were taking place over astronomical distances simply because you seldom saw two ships fighting in the same shot. I would say "coolness" is the reason why later shows and movies depict them fighting in seemingly shorter distances from each other. It's akin the reason why ships almost always approach each other right side up and along a horizontal angle.

[draynay]

Is it ever explained why their space battles are always on so close quarters other than "coolness"?

Minovsky particles

no wait, that's something else