Yeah, using pure speculation and not know where they got their information from id assume the water tanks were for the replicator system. Replicators change the form of matter so why not use water as its easy to store in tanks.
Funny thing was the only way Romulans would let the federation borrow that cloaking device was if it was operated by a romulan crew member. They kept this up for like 2 episodes then never brought up again.
This ship actually continued to change sizes in DS9. It was made to look larger when docked with DS9, but their size differences where huge. The ship varied in size for whatever the writers deemed was necessary for the episode.
According to somebody's cannon, there are 6(six) different variants - sub classes for this space frame Adamant San Paulo Galant Vigilant Valiant & Defiant - Defiant A. Somewhere between 185+ to 250+ m. 🤔 I like the 173m reference.
Would love to see a Star Trek series where a USS ship gets pushed into an alternative universe by the Borg at Wolf 359... There survivors of USS ?(smaller Excelsior type ship) find them self's on a critically damaged ship( Nacelle's missing, deflector missing, front section of the saucer missing) but have basic propulsion.... Shields are top priority for ship integrity..... In this Alt-verse they are forced to Rebuild the ship with parts found that are from different timelines/periods.... Nacelle`s replaced with 2 USS Defiant Class ships(70 years after DS9).... Deflector from a Jenolan gen ship(30 years before Relics )..... Saucer section is now a front section of a Klingon ship(Star Trek Motion picture generation) The defiant replicators are use to replace systems that were destroyed.
After the original series, and except for the refit Enterprise itself, scale has always been goofy. Right there, with the first movie, the shuttle bay on the back of the Klingon battle cruiser is too small to function, and from there, it steadily gets worse.
I'm glad you covered the warhead in greater detail, it's a surprisingly overlooked aspect of the ship. Also, its kind of wild to imagine evacuating the crew to the 'warhead', and having 30 people cram into a massive antimatter bomb that is armed with full a compliments of torpedo's and a couple of bedrooms.
@@Halfscreen Most military's have a A-B protocol where you can fit the maximum number of people into the smallest available space. A-B refers to A-hole to Bellybutton, crew comfort is not an option. ;)
The Defiant is an interesting little ship. Part of it's weirdness though is due to a scaling up decision that was made during it's finalization stages that mixed a few things up. The bridge was orginally in the nose piece and would serve as an emergency escape module while the docking port was on the backside.
The small med bay is easily explained, it was not meant to operate independently for an extended period of time. So the sick bay was intended to essentially keep the wounded alive. until they could be transferred to another ship or station with better medical facilities.
@@MichaelJohnson-vi6eh I believe bashir was disgusted the first time he went aboard. As there was NO sickbay. Only some medkits. As the Defiant was designed to beat on Borg ships. It makes sense, most crew will be dead or assimilated againt the projected Borg cube fights. Everyone forgets the Defiants were supposed to use pack tactics, not go it alone againt the Borg. Most ships would not have survived.
@@Yandarval Bashir said "the medical bay is practically nonexistent, he downloaded as many files from the station as he could...this ship simply wasn't design to handle many casualties." The ship had a small medical bay, it just wasn't large like the one Bashir had on DS9 or any of the other Star Fleet exploration ships because it's an escort ship...as Sisko said "It's essentially a war ship." Re-watch DS9 S03E01 The Search, Part I again.
What I find humorous is that this was considered a small ship. Step outside and find a point 170 meters away and 134 meter in breadth. That is quite a large area and now multiple that by 3-full levels (1 through 3) not counting the minimal area of decks-4 and 5. This is borne out by the cutaway views which have figures to scale standing in hallways that look like aircraft hangers. That is a lot of volume. The hand drawn areas views like Sick Bay, Mess Hall and Crew Quarters are incredibly out of scale in relation to the scale of the deck cutaways. As to the detachable (warhead) I too think this was more of a mission pod, but did have a last stand use prior to ship self-destruction. And yes, it should have a second navigational deflector behind the mission pod.
I could see the logic behind it. Regular duties: Science station/extra crew quarters. Borg incursion? One big ass suicide weapon to cripple the borg ship so friendlies can finish it off. At that point it doesn't matter if the ship is defenceless or crippled it saved the federation or it failed and would be destroyed either way.
I could see it being conceptualized but not really deployed. If it's a last ditch weapon that effectively strands the vessel where it is then the ship is probably in pretty bad shape. I imagine the general rule is, torpedoes are not loaded with antimatter until they are about to be fired, or else racks and racks of loaded torps are a huge risk should the vessel take a hit in the wrong place. So, if you are facing that dire situation where the ship is all but lost, what are the chances you'll get all that antimatter fed into those warheads without the whole thing going up like a powder keg as the enemy keeps pounding away at you? Otherwise, we have to assume that ships just fly around with dozens or hundreds of individual antimatter containment vessels, and just hope that they are all perfectly reliable.
Not being critical but observant. Many Star Trek ships are laid out like an apartment or office building. With everything stacking neatly and lots of space. Take a look at current ship architecture, many bits of equipment built into the walls. Large equipment built around, very little free space. Nothing stacked like neat little boxes in a warehouse. Turning, acceleration, deceleration and turbulence causes lateral forces. Lots of blast tight doors and bulkheads, not long running hallways.
I agree, and I think it's a combination of things: Master System Displays on TV, which show evenly-spaced decks, which might be schematic; tradition ever since the "Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual" of neatly-packed compartments; trying to rationalize the TV sets; and a mindset which is graphical ("what fits in this corner? let's doodle..") rather than engineering ("how much volume would these functions need, and how much piping between them? let's start with a spreadsheet...").
@@phillipthorne8363 also, operating in space with inertial dampeners in a post scarcity society basically eliminates all the pressures that cause these modern space saving design choices. If cost wasn't a factor, and size/mass had no impact in speed, maneuverability, and efficiency, you'd likely see larger and more spacious military ships as well.
Starfleet still doesn't think like warship designers, so you can expect some mistakes. I'd like to see a sci-fi show set in a realistic ship design, but it would probably be prohibitively difficult to film in. Even the Expanse made their ship interiors oddly roomy.
@@stevenscott2136 It's not Starfleet thinking like naval ship designers. It's the artist not thinking like Naval ship designers. Ships get designed with engines, bulkheads and other large pieces placed into the hull. Then the little things like storage and crew quarters. Answering other post, with inertial dampeners and other scifi magic is just adding to over simplified designs cause nothing ever fails. Just looking at the cover page. Huge unused area lets make the ship smaller or fill those spaces. You've got storage drums? Why isn't that stored in a tank like fuel to be used. Why carry lose in storage, place it into the system for use as needed. "Hey call Robert in the warehouse our plasma relays are a few gallons low." Star Trek artist need to look at real world designs. Maybe a few glimpses at Star Wars, those little ships are packed tight.
Interesting video, I always read that the Defiant had only one shuttle and it was installed in the centre section as a drop bay like the NX-01 Enterprise used. It was installed in an area that was 'for future expansion and development'.
I love the Defiant. I was heart wrenched when they destroyed her in Season 7 but then of course gave birth to her again a few episodes later. It was a ballsy move to destroy the Defiant and a lot of fans didn't like that. Actually the Engineering station was the front console left of the Conn/Ops station. Tactical was on the right side of Conn and Ops as seen in the various episodes. Science I believe was on the left of the Captain's Chair and Communications was on the right of the Captain's chair. See the episode when the Defiant is destroyed. Bashir regarding assigning Odo to quarters in "The Search": I'll handle it, sir. I need to check out what is laughing called "The Sickbay" to which Sisko thanks the Doctor. Edit: Also there's no indication that the Defiant was able to fire AFT QUANTUM torpedoes. It only showed firing regular torpedoes with the aft launchers.
if you don't expect to limp away at light speed you don't need a deflector, see the Galaxy Class Saucer Section. I think the warhead was for situations where you in a critical position to end the battle. Although, to me the design always looked more like this could eventually be a modular section with different attachments. A big escape pod for example with its own cloak
Thank you for putting the impulse engines in the right spots. Most diagrams and artwork put them in the rear cowling, as does the (incorrect) plan in the DS9 tech manual.
Its easier to point out the stuff that was correct in the DS9 tech manual. That book for a travesty. In addition to falling apart quicky, due to cheap materials.
Just stumbled across this gem. Now, although the detachable warhead is totally impractical, it does add a bit of flair to the "Ramming Speed" line in First Contact.
I'm always amazed at how the best Starfleet ships are no match for Klingon, Cardassian, Roman or Dominion ships. The first fight the Defiant had was against the Dominion and they nearly destroyed it.
This is because in literature the hero's journey commonly starts out with a setback, the hero's journey is in learning how to overcome adversity. Federation are the heroes.
Great video... however where is the holedeck, like the episode where ds9 crew worked with the Dominion to counter the rouge Dominion? Will watch the video again if i missed it. But this is my favorite ship, so is the romulan warbird, enterprise nx01, and ds9.
I'm trying to figure out the DS9 timeline. So Wolf 359 happened, with Sisko there. Did he then start developing the Defiant after that, then when it was mothballed he was posted to DS9? I love the idea that after the borg attack, Sisko made it his personal mission to design a ship to fight the borg, kinda like revenge
Sisko didn't have anything to do with the beginning of the design of the Defiant. It was started after Wolf 359 to fight the Borg, but the Borg threat seemed to loosen and the Defiant was running into a lot of design errors, like Sisko told his crew, the first testing of the Defiant and it nearly shook itself apart, so it was mothballed. After the threat of the Dominion seemed to be more of a reality than the Borg, Sisko went back to Earth and implored Starfleet to reexamine their look on the Defiant as a deterrent now to the Dominion.
@@rodneytrotter3725 Ehh, I think he did. There was a time gap between Wolf 359 and Sisko taking command of DS9. I was under the impression that he worked at the shipyard designing ships(Defiant, among others like the Akira and Steamrunner-classes), and then he was transferred to DS9. You are correct that Starfleet temporarily mothballed the anti-Borg ships(after one ABSOLUTE hail-Mary victory.....), and later re-examined them after the Dominion-threat. This is likely what led to Sisko's reassignment.
I love this break down. I find it interesting that the defiant carries literal water for hygiene instead of using sonic showers. I wonder what the lore reason would be for that? Also why not replicate water instead of carrying it? 🤔
Not every ship has Cetaceans on board. Originally, it was only the deep space explorer types that had them, to assist in navigating the vast emptiness. Ships like the defiant are not equipped for that sort of mission.
The warhead was meant as a last resort weapon against a Borg cube. I don't think anyone was expected to survive at that point making the need for a deflector a moot point.
I liked the Defiant! It was a small, powerful ship that could move real fast and fire off multiple shots! Since it was a small ship, it's size gave it an advantage over larger starships.
And I thought those external 'windows' (next to the tankage bay) on deck 4 all facing to the middle of the ship was for crew quarters. Also it would have been so interesting to of had a scene involving the warhead/lifeboat/crew quarters/ telescoping docking port, something fitting in S6,E22 'Valiant'.
When it docks to DS9 it with front module "the warhead section" -- how does the crew transfer back in forth between the ship and the docking ring? Did I miss the hatch and walk way?
It’s above the deflector in the nose section. You can see it clearly marked in the diagram shown in the middle of the video, although it’s modelled below the deflector on the cgi in the video. It wasn’t modelled on the model used in the show but we can assume it’s behind a hull panel on the actual ship, like the two on either side of the refit Enterprises saucer section.
@@redbynight I am curious how you know that the entire world says it differently. lol. No matter my version is how it is pronounced on the show so that pronunciation is cannon. 😁
wonderful visualisation : excellent presentation : absorbing breakdown : thorough design-programme : a complete and functional warship . . . the ONLY thing truly missing in this a worthy naval-architectural / structural breakdown of the keel, ribs, shells, cells, joints, mesh and webbing . . . but - hey - these are film sets not real spaces ;)
SF blueprints and cutaways tend to overlook the volume that should be occupied by structural elements. For saucer-shaped vehicles, they tend to overlook unusable space caused by sharply-curved upper and lower hulls; Trek blueprints include turboshafts, but overlook all the space for Jefferies tubes and power conduits -- presumably big ones, feeding phaser strips and shield grids. Plans for the Defiant in particular have to interpret the official excuse of "that feature exists, but it's hidden behind a retracting hull panel, trust us."
Some issues here and there, but otherwise a fine breakdown of this design. But FYI: Starfleet vessels use sonic showers, so do not need a water supply. Nor do they need potable water tanks as all the water the crew needs for drinking and food come from the replicators. I'm not aware of any need for water, except perhaps for cooling of equipment and machinery.
It's really based on the schematic on the internet, and information can vary greatly depending on resources given. www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/cyd-defiant.php
We have to remember Commander Benjamin Sisko was in charge of the design and construction of the U.S.S. Defiant when it was built at the Utopia Planitia shipyards in orbit of Mars.
Yeah, as if you could oversee the construction of a ship while working full time on a space station halfway across the quadrant... Jadzia Dax -:"Did you say Ben was just visiting Bajor? Because no one has seen him for three years."
@@krashd I suspect it was more of a figurehead position. The real US Navy does some similarly silly stuff when it comes to making captains feel special.
Great video, but I doubt the shuttlebays two and three and especially the included Workbees. The Defiant is too small to have such a big complement of auxiliary craft.
Very nice video, i had to go back and look when i sent you an email about how disappointed i was with that last Defiant video. 6/16/2023, But good to see you updated your info and model. Nice work.
I want to know how big the runabouts are. The episode with the crashed upside gemhadar ship they showed up with like 13 people then when warf and dax take bashir the waitress and quark to risa , quark complians about being in a broom closet. Make it make sense?
I think instead of them saying it was a warhead they should of stuck with the idea of it as a larger detachable ship similar to the saucer of other ships but used for transport and evacuation of troops and others in the battle field.
Given the limited crew space, it begs the question, was sickbay equipped with an EMH? Double the medical care available, without an extra body to require a berth, supplies, etc.
Probably all the doctors go on strike because they think they are being replaced by holograms. They're right. Might as well add an ECH while you're at it, get rid of all those useless commanders and captains to make more space for quantum torpedoes.
It is stated that each ship was to be equipped with an EMH. That said with Defiant being so small, it may not have been, either due to it's small size... Or the bulk of the power being used for combat and defensive systems... Not mention the sickbay as stated was not much more then a field hospital.... Obviously only intended to stabilize the injured until they could be transferred to a larger starship or a space station.
Was there ever a instance where the nose-section actually detached from the rest of the ship? I think I have seen every episode of DS9 back in the day and don't recall that ever happening, or any of the characters mentioning that it could do that. It seems to me the assumption that it actually can detach is just speculation based on nothing but the fact that it somewhat looks as if it might do that and that we know that the D-class can detach its saucer section. Back in the 90s, when the show was still new, where I grew up (Germany) there was this subscription service that would send you new data sheets and articles to put into a clip folder that would over time make a complete compendium or encyclopedia of Star Trek. There were cutaway renderings of Federation and Alien ships too and I remember that the one featuring the Defiant didn't show any detachability (if that is a word) either. I assume this existed in other countries too, but I am not sure, because this kind of stuff was quite common and typical in Germany back then and it might have been something that only existed in the German speaking world (including Austria and Switzerland). There were all sorts of such subscription services. They would always start by sending you a laminated, fancy clip folder and then you would get new pages to file into it every month, which would over time make up a encyclopedia. In the case of the Star Trek one, it was 5 or 6 pages every month, if I remember correctly. They were color coded and you had to put them into categories, like "Alien Races", "Federation Ships", "Alien Ships", "Characters", "Technology" and "History" or something along those lines. You would then get one blue sheet with a cutaway or made up blue prints for a Federation ship, a green one about a Alien ship, like a Klingon Bird of Prey for example, a white sheet with a encyclopedia article about some character, a brown one about the Cardassian home world for example and so on. There were cooking recipe books that were sold like that, DIY car repair instruction manuals or fandom stuff like the Star Trek encyclopedia I mentioned above. I had 2 subscriptions, the Star Trek one and one about military aircraft. Was that a common thing in other countries too?
Can you please do some on real battleships that existed like HMS HOOD or other ships like that. I really like the Star Trek ones but would love to see the interior design of the battleships.
I think that there is a demand for something like that as there are a lot of videos on battleships and there really popular now. If you did some of the interior I think people would be really interested in them.
I was wondering, just where did the crew enter and exit from? I always thought they did it through the “nose” that was on the front. Oh and just how many shuttles did that little ship need? I wasn’t the biggest DS9 fan, did they ever use a shuttle from that ship?
If I recall correctly, the show's staff have admitted that the model design, scripts, and set building budget (producing different sizes of shuttle in different seasons) didn't always coordinate. The official size of the ship got larger, so there was suddenly room for extra docking bays with extra specialized secondary craft. (I think there's one episode in which they're pursuing a Changeling, fire a phaser down a ladderway, and there are clearly more than five decks. This kind of mistake happens on a weekly TV show.)
It was all about putting the firepower of the Galaxy class in the smallest possible frame. A big part of the allure was it's use as a test bed for experimental and illegal tech, plus the power plant and main systems were so overpowered for so small a hull that it's integrity was always collapsing from it simply shaking itself apart with it's own power. In layman's terms, it was more likely to destroy itself than the enemy was in most situations.
Why they call it a warhead? And how did have a docking port AND able to launch a probe (the probe was in the middle, seen in Season 4 Episode 7 I believe ).
I find it funny that the shuttle bay of the Defiant was in the center of the ship and the way the shuttles were launched reminds me of the NX Class as their shuttlecraft were launched in a similar manner through the launch doors built into the ventral hull.
Does make sense though considering her intended use. If you've gotta put a big empty space that vents directly into space do everything you can to minimise the chances of it getting hit in combat.
As seen on the show, it docked nose-first on the outer ring, at the base of a pylon. There's no visible docking port (as with movie refit-Enterprise and Enterprise-D) but it's under a retractable panel -- that's how the show's technical staff explained any oversights in the filming model.
Wait, so all those windows on the underside/belly (decks 4 and 5 I believe) are looking in on water tanks?? Why put windows there at all then... I'd always assumed the crew quarters were down there, maybe the mess hall (rooms that actually might benefit somehow from windows)
I think they were intended to be crew windows but the writers couldn't decide of how big the ship was and cant really fit enough deck space down there for quarters.
From a pure combat point of view, I am not sure about butting up the computer core directly next to the turbolift - a direct hit could channel the damage along all three decks and create damage to the CC - otherwise a great design and not a "little Ship"
32nd century ships are powered by unicorns. It would be just a large hamster wheel with one or two unicorns running on it. Granted they would probably have some sort of wiring harness hooked up to their horns to make it look technical or maybe just to prevent tachieon partials from building up?
Hypothesis: the warhead module was originally envisioned to deliver heavy alpha strikes against Borg cubes before they could adapt. But the ship was already pushing the limits of what they could accomplish in such a small space, and once they did some early testing of the spaceframe they realized they didn't have enough room for all the ship's systems and accommodations. Solution? Move some crew quarters... and then the impulse fusion reactors... and then the main deflector into the warhead. This allowed them to size up other ship systems, allowing the prototype to just barely operate without shaking itself apart.
What are my thoughts? Well it was overhyped when debuted but didn’t live up to the hype especially when it faced the ENEMY IT WAS DESIGNED FOR in the movie first contact
I've always thought that the detachable warhead was a stupid idea and made zero sense. As you said, that's where the deflector is at. They must have brought a temp in that day to write the detachable warhead into the canon of the ship.
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Tough little ship.
Little?
@@Eviltot I understood that reference.
Little?
@@CaptainSovereignI understood that reference.
She needed O'Bryan to fix her power problem, as she was over powered at first!
My all time favorite star trek ship. Period.
Same with Prometheus right behind it
Defiant more than likely had Sonic Showers, so the use of the water from water tanks was not needed.
Yeah, using pure speculation and not know where they got their information from id assume the water tanks were for the replicator system. Replicators change the form of matter so why not use water as its easy to store in tanks.
@@tiegepike6076 the storage tanks were likely deuterium and tritium, aka heavy water.
Funny thing was the only way Romulans would let the federation borrow that cloaking device was if it was operated by a romulan crew member. They kept this up for like 2 episodes then never brought up again.
It was also only to be used in the Gamma Quadrant.
@@Paradigmfusion That Romulan ended up being a Bajoran Maquis, who ended up being a Cardassian spy !
She died during first encounter with Dominion.
@@sw-gs Technically, no, she didn't. It was a simulation. And if no one knew, it's the same actress that played Seska, Marsha Hackitt, I think.
the question is, why no klingon cloaking device? at this moment the starfleet and klingons are not in war.
Defiant and Voyager are my two favorite ships
This ship actually continued to change sizes in DS9. It was made to look larger when docked with DS9, but their size differences where huge. The ship varied in size for whatever the writers deemed was necessary for the episode.
According to somebody's cannon, there are 6(six) different variants - sub classes for this space frame
Adamant
San Paulo
Galant
Vigilant
Valiant &
Defiant - Defiant A. Somewhere between 185+ to 250+ m. 🤔
I like the 173m reference.
The person who designed it should know its true size.
Yeah I always thought it was too small for what they did with it, I was always surprised to see more rooms in a tiny ship
Would love to see a Star Trek series where a USS ship gets pushed into an alternative universe by the Borg at Wolf 359...
There survivors of USS ?(smaller Excelsior type ship) find them self's on a critically damaged ship( Nacelle's missing, deflector missing, front section of the saucer missing) but have basic propulsion....
Shields are top priority for ship integrity.....
In this Alt-verse they are forced to Rebuild the ship with parts found that are from different timelines/periods....
Nacelle`s replaced with 2 USS Defiant Class ships(70 years after DS9)....
Deflector from a Jenolan gen ship(30 years before Relics ).....
Saucer section is now a front section of a Klingon ship(Star Trek Motion picture generation)
The defiant replicators are use to replace systems that were destroyed.
After the original series, and except for the refit Enterprise itself, scale has always been goofy. Right there, with the first movie, the shuttle bay on the back of the Klingon battle cruiser is too small to function, and from there, it steadily gets worse.
I'm glad you covered the warhead in greater detail,
it's a surprisingly overlooked aspect of the ship.
Also, its kind of wild to imagine evacuating the crew to the 'warhead', and having 30 people cram into a massive antimatter bomb that is armed with full a compliments of torpedo's and a couple of bedrooms.
I felt that 30 people seem a bit too much, but that is based on the spec on the blueprint.
@@Halfscreen Most military's have a A-B protocol where you can fit the maximum number of people into the smallest available space. A-B refers to A-hole to Bellybutton, crew comfort is not an option. ;)
@@nriqueog Nice to know. : )
The Defiant is an interesting little ship. Part of it's weirdness though is due to a scaling up decision that was made during it's finalization stages that mixed a few things up. The bridge was orginally in the nose piece and would serve as an emergency escape module while the docking port was on the backside.
The small med bay is easily explained, it was not meant to operate independently for an extended period of time. So
the sick bay was intended to essentially keep the wounded alive. until they could be transferred to another ship or station with better medical facilities.
Agreed this would be part of an attack group with other ships possessing better sensors, more facilities, more troops, etc.
@@MichaelJohnson-vi6eh I believe bashir was disgusted the first time he went aboard. As there was NO sickbay. Only some medkits. As the Defiant was designed to beat on Borg ships. It makes sense, most crew will be dead or assimilated againt the projected Borg cube fights. Everyone forgets the Defiants were supposed to use pack tactics, not go it alone againt the Borg. Most ships would not have survived.
Yes, as an escort it was never intended to operate independently for extended periods.
@@Yandarval Bashir said "the medical bay is practically nonexistent, he downloaded as many files from the station as he could...this ship simply wasn't design to handle many casualties." The ship had a small medical bay, it just wasn't large like the one Bashir had on DS9 or any of the other Star Fleet exploration ships because it's an escort ship...as Sisko said "It's essentially a war ship." Re-watch DS9 S03E01 The Search, Part I again.
Fantastic video. I love these.
Only one note: "Dorsal side" is the top of the ship, and "ventral side" would be the bottom of the ship.
Ah yes the Defiant otherwise known as Sisko's Motherfen Pimp Hand.
D***t you beat to it.
Worf's Apartment.
you're gettin gso much better with every video! bravo! loving the accurate livery and coloration!
Glad you like it!
What I find humorous is that this was considered a small ship. Step outside and find a point 170 meters away and 134 meter in breadth. That is quite a large area and now multiple that by 3-full levels (1 through 3) not counting the minimal area of decks-4 and 5. This is borne out by the cutaway views which have figures to scale standing in hallways that look like aircraft hangers. That is a lot of volume. The hand drawn areas views like Sick Bay, Mess Hall and Crew Quarters are incredibly out of scale in relation to the scale of the deck cutaways. As to the detachable (warhead) I too think this was more of a mission pod, but did have a last stand use prior to ship self-destruction. And yes, it should have a second navigational deflector behind the mission pod.
I could see the logic behind it. Regular duties: Science station/extra crew quarters. Borg incursion? One big ass suicide weapon to cripple the borg ship so friendlies can finish it off. At that point it doesn't matter if the ship is defenceless or crippled it saved the federation or it failed and would be destroyed either way.
I could see it being conceptualized but not really deployed. If it's a last ditch weapon that effectively strands the vessel where it is then the ship is probably in pretty bad shape. I imagine the general rule is, torpedoes are not loaded with antimatter until they are about to be fired, or else racks and racks of loaded torps are a huge risk should the vessel take a hit in the wrong place.
So, if you are facing that dire situation where the ship is all but lost, what are the chances you'll get all that antimatter fed into those warheads without the whole thing going up like a powder keg as the enemy keeps pounding away at you?
Otherwise, we have to assume that ships just fly around with dozens or hundreds of individual antimatter containment vessels, and just hope that they are all perfectly reliable.
@@DrewLSsix all true, but I still side with Kirk. I too don't believe in the no win scenario. ^~^ now to find the programing for this Holodeck.
3 Kilometer borg cube: go bite my shiny Metall outer hull.
@@nagash303 Yep Bender, and it's housing a normal 130,000 Borg drones at any given time. She be Thicc.
Thank you for this extremely detailed video. This ship (and the Sovereign Class Enterprise) are my favourite ST ships.
Not being critical but observant. Many Star Trek ships are laid out like an apartment or office building. With everything stacking neatly and lots of space. Take a look at current ship architecture, many bits of equipment built into the walls. Large equipment built around, very little free space. Nothing stacked like neat little boxes in a warehouse. Turning, acceleration, deceleration and turbulence causes lateral forces. Lots of blast tight doors and bulkheads, not long running hallways.
I agree, and I think it's a combination of things: Master System Displays on TV, which show evenly-spaced decks, which might be schematic; tradition ever since the "Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual" of neatly-packed compartments; trying to rationalize the TV sets; and a mindset which is graphical ("what fits in this corner? let's doodle..") rather than engineering ("how much volume would these functions need, and how much piping between them? let's start with a spreadsheet...").
@@phillipthorne8363 also, operating in space with inertial dampeners in a post scarcity society basically eliminates all the pressures that cause these modern space saving design choices. If cost wasn't a factor, and size/mass had no impact in speed, maneuverability, and efficiency, you'd likely see larger and more spacious military ships as well.
If you want to know what it's like to live on a federation ship, stay in a Red Lion for six months.
Starfleet still doesn't think like warship designers, so you can expect some mistakes.
I'd like to see a sci-fi show set in a realistic ship design, but it would probably be prohibitively difficult to film in. Even the Expanse made their ship interiors oddly roomy.
@@stevenscott2136 It's not Starfleet thinking like naval ship designers. It's the artist not thinking like Naval ship designers. Ships get designed with engines, bulkheads and other large pieces placed into the hull. Then the little things like storage and crew quarters. Answering other post, with inertial dampeners and other scifi magic is just adding to over simplified designs cause nothing ever fails. Just looking at the cover page. Huge unused area lets make the ship smaller or fill those spaces. You've got storage drums? Why isn't that stored in a tank like fuel to be used. Why carry lose in storage, place it into the system for use as needed. "Hey call Robert in the warehouse our plasma relays are a few gallons low." Star Trek artist need to look at real world designs. Maybe a few glimpses at Star Wars, those little ships are packed tight.
HT, Always enjoy viewing your latest commentary. You are the master.
Thanks for watching Dale! Hope you're doing well.
Interesting video, I always read that the Defiant had only one shuttle and it was installed in the centre section as a drop bay like the NX-01 Enterprise used. It was installed in an area that was 'for future expansion and development'.
my favorite ship!!!
A tough little ship
I love the Defiant. I was heart wrenched when they destroyed her in Season 7 but then of course gave birth to her again a few episodes later. It was a ballsy move to destroy the Defiant and a lot of fans didn't like that.
Actually the Engineering station was the front console left of the Conn/Ops station. Tactical was on the right side of Conn and Ops as seen in the various episodes. Science I believe was on the left of the Captain's Chair and Communications was on the right of the Captain's chair. See the episode when the Defiant is destroyed.
Bashir regarding assigning Odo to quarters in "The Search": I'll handle it, sir. I need to check out what is laughing called "The Sickbay" to which Sisko thanks the Doctor.
Edit: Also there's no indication that the Defiant was able to fire AFT QUANTUM torpedoes. It only showed firing regular torpedoes with the aft launchers.
Still trying to figure out how you boarded the ship through the main deflector.
hmmm.... perhaps it has a door built into it like those giant clock tower clock faces. lol
@@guywithinterwebs Great -- they hired Batman to design that part of the ship. 😁
Great video and a bold effort , given the variable size of the ship onscreen! Not to mention the changing number of decks 😉
Thanks! 👍 I have trying to update these videos for errors and new additional information.
What about all these windows apparently located in the housing of the fresh water tanks...?🤔
Sometimes, the 3d assets don't exactly fit the blueprint diagram, hence a miss alignment. I didn't model the Defiant.
They are used for Finding Nemo...
@@Halfscreen We're not asking if the 3D assets match the blueprint, we're asking why you modeled exterior windows next to water tanks?
Cetacean Ops my man.
@@macavitythemysterycat I didn't model the exterior, only the interior, and my model is just a close approximation.
if you don't expect to limp away at light speed you don't need a deflector, see the Galaxy Class Saucer Section. I think the warhead was for situations where you in a critical position to end the battle. Although, to me the design always looked more like this could eventually be a modular section with different attachments. A big escape pod for example with its own cloak
Thank you for putting the impulse engines in the right spots. Most diagrams and artwork put them in the rear cowling, as does the (incorrect) plan in the DS9 tech manual.
Its easier to point out the stuff that was correct in the DS9 tech manual. That book for a travesty. In addition to falling apart quicky, due to cheap materials.
I liked the claustrophobia bridge design. It made the ship feel like a submarine.
Reminds me also on a bird of prey bridge. Well designed .
My favorite little Starfleet battleship
Just stumbled across this gem. Now, although the detachable warhead is totally impractical, it does add a bit of flair to the "Ramming Speed" line in First Contact.
I always thought that the Captains quarters should be near the bridge. Just seems to make sense.
Great video. Thanks for your hard work
My pleasure!
Tough,compact & nimble.
Exactly what you needed for war⚔
I'm always amazed at how the best Starfleet ships are no match for Klingon, Cardassian, Roman or Dominion ships. The first fight the Defiant had was against the Dominion and they nearly destroyed it.
This is because in literature the hero's journey commonly starts out with a setback, the hero's journey is in learning how to overcome adversity. Federation are the heroes.
Always my favorite ship from Star Trek!
Great video... however where is the holedeck, like the episode where ds9 crew worked with the Dominion to counter the rouge Dominion?
Will watch the video again if i missed it.
But this is my favorite ship, so is the romulan warbird, enterprise nx01, and ds9.
I will have to look into that. 🤔
I really liked this ship when i was a kid. Was excited when it first got introduced in DS9, oldschool series sure could change things up
I'm trying to figure out the DS9 timeline. So Wolf 359 happened, with Sisko there. Did he then start developing the Defiant after that, then when it was mothballed he was posted to DS9?
I love the idea that after the borg attack, Sisko made it his personal mission to design a ship to fight the borg, kinda like revenge
Sisko didn't have anything to do with the beginning of the design of the Defiant. It was started after Wolf 359 to fight the Borg, but the Borg threat seemed to loosen and the Defiant was running into a lot of design errors, like Sisko told his crew, the first testing of the Defiant and it nearly shook itself apart, so it was mothballed. After the threat of the Dominion seemed to be more of a reality than the Borg, Sisko went back to Earth and implored Starfleet to reexamine their look on the Defiant as a deterrent now to the Dominion.
@@rodneytrotter3725 Ehh, I think he did. There was a time gap between Wolf 359 and Sisko taking command of DS9. I was under the impression that he worked at the shipyard designing ships(Defiant, among others like the Akira and Steamrunner-classes), and then he was transferred to DS9. You are correct that Starfleet temporarily mothballed the anti-Borg ships(after one ABSOLUTE hail-Mary victory.....), and later re-examined them after the Dominion-threat. This is likely what led to Sisko's reassignment.
I never learned that much about the Defiant. NOW I know why Worf enjoyed her so much.
The Defiant didn't come with ablative armor, that was a later "per-Sisko" upgrade.
I love this break down. I find it interesting that the defiant carries literal water for hygiene instead of using sonic showers. I wonder what the lore reason would be for that? Also why not replicate water instead of carrying it? 🤔
But.. how do they navigate? Where's Cetacean Ops??
Smaller ships don't need it. Only long range ships need it
They have a goldfish in the mess hall
Not every ship has Cetaceans on board. Originally, it was only the deep space explorer types that had them, to assist in navigating the vast emptiness. Ships like the defiant are not equipped for that sort of mission.
One of the VERY few saving graces of DS9.
Your "impulse Fusion Generator" structure at timecode 11:03 is identical to your "Emergency Life Support Systems" on Deck 1 at timecode 7:45
Nerd...
@@Dead_Kerbal You must be truly mentally challenged if you didn't notice under which video you made your comment 😂😂😂
@@O-.-O And the obvious reference passed over your genius head, mate.🙄
There’s a lot more room to move than this is given credit for. May be little by 2370s standards, not ours.
Little, given that before this, most of Starfleet were used to serving on ships with gyms, schools, science labs, etc.
The warhead was meant as a last resort weapon against a Borg cube. I don't think anyone was expected to survive at that point making the need for a deflector a moot point.
I liked the Defiant! It was a small, powerful ship that could move real fast and fire off multiple shots! Since it was a small ship, it's size gave it an advantage over larger starships.
I didn't realise the Defiant was so big, I thought it was much smaller.
I think you did a great job explaining deck 5.
🖖
And I thought those external 'windows' (next to the tankage bay) on deck 4 all facing to the middle of the ship was for crew quarters. Also it would have been so interesting to of had a scene involving the warhead/lifeboat/crew quarters/ telescoping docking port, something fitting in S6,E22 'Valiant'.
Thanks for the info on the USS Defiant!
When it docks to DS9 it with front module "the warhead section" -- how does the crew transfer back in forth between the ship and the docking ring? Did I miss the hatch and walk way?
but where's the docking hatch for DS9?
It’s above the deflector in the nose section. You can see it clearly marked in the diagram shown in the middle of the video, although it’s modelled below the deflector on the cgi in the video. It wasn’t modelled on the model used in the show but we can assume it’s behind a hull panel on the actual ship, like the two on either side of the refit Enterprises saucer section.
@@peteb81 at 11:58
Just a FYI it is pronounced Ah-BLAY-tive. 🙂
It sounds like AI.
He uses a tts for his videos.
Nah it's pronounced correctly. The whole world except the US pronounces it like in the video 😊
@@redbynight I am curious how you know that the entire world says it differently. lol. No matter my version is how it is pronounced on the show so that pronunciation is cannon. 😁
i like how it is designed like a giant dart board with the bridge as the bullseye. do they put maximum shields there?
wonderful visualisation : excellent presentation : absorbing breakdown : thorough design-programme : a complete and functional warship . . . the ONLY thing truly missing in this a worthy naval-architectural / structural breakdown of the keel, ribs, shells, cells, joints, mesh and webbing . . . but - hey - these are film sets not real spaces ;)
SF blueprints and cutaways tend to overlook the volume that should be occupied by structural elements. For saucer-shaped vehicles, they tend to overlook unusable space caused by sharply-curved upper and lower hulls; Trek blueprints include turboshafts, but overlook all the space for Jefferies tubes and power conduits -- presumably big ones, feeding phaser strips and shield grids. Plans for the Defiant in particular have to interpret the official excuse of "that feature exists, but it's hidden behind a retracting hull panel, trust us."
like the space 1999 eagle cockpit :) wholly Tardis-like on the inside 😂
I want an explanation as to why so many models only have the top two pulse phaser cannons.
Some issues here and there, but otherwise a fine breakdown of this design.
But FYI: Starfleet vessels use sonic showers, so do not need a water supply. Nor do they need potable water tanks as all the water the crew needs for drinking and food come from the replicators.
I'm not aware of any need for water, except perhaps for cooling of equipment and machinery.
It's really based on the schematic on the internet, and information can vary greatly depending on resources given.
www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/cyd-defiant.php
65th as a Huge fan..and a kid when TOS aired.....I appreciate how they are explained as IF they're REAL...... my Fave ship is Voyager
We have to remember Commander Benjamin Sisko was in charge of the design and construction of the U.S.S. Defiant when it was built at the Utopia Planitia shipyards in orbit of Mars.
Yeah, as if you could oversee the construction of a ship while working full time on a space station halfway across the quadrant...
Jadzia Dax -:"Did you say Ben was just visiting Bajor? Because no one has seen him for three years."
@@krashd I suspect it was more of a figurehead position. The real US Navy does some similarly silly stuff when it comes to making captains feel special.
He could have been doing it before being reassigned to Deep Space Nine.
@@krashd You do know there's a time gap between Wolf 359, and Sisko taking command of DS9, right?
Missed out a bunch of other weapon ports in the overview...
Great video, but I doubt the shuttlebays two and three and especially the included Workbees. The Defiant is too small to have such a big complement of auxiliary craft.
I still have a Playmates USS Defiant in my toy collection. It's my favorite.
Very nice video, i had to go back and look when i sent you an email about how disappointed i was with that last Defiant video. 6/16/2023, But good to see you updated your info and model. Nice work.
Live and learn, It seem like most of my viewers are more knowledgeable about about these ships. : )
I want to know how big the runabouts are. The episode with the crashed upside gemhadar ship they showed up with like 13 people then when warf and dax take bashir the waitress and quark to risa , quark complians about being in a broom closet. Make it make sense?
All ships are as big or as small as the writers need them to be for the story being told in that episode.
I think instead of them saying it was a warhead they should of stuck with the idea of it as a larger detachable ship similar to the saucer of other ships but used for transport and evacuation of troops and others in the battle field.
Given the limited crew space, it begs the question, was sickbay equipped with an EMH? Double the medical care available, without an extra body to require a berth, supplies, etc.
Probably all the doctors go on strike because they think they are being replaced by holograms. They're right. Might as well add an ECH while you're at it, get rid of all those useless commanders and captains to make more space for quantum torpedoes.
It is stated that each ship was to be equipped with an EMH. That said with Defiant being so small, it may not have been, either due to it's small size... Or the bulk of the power being used for combat and defensive systems... Not mention the sickbay as stated was not much more then a field hospital.... Obviously only intended to stabilize the injured until they could be transferred to a larger starship or a space station.
Was there ever a instance where the nose-section actually detached from the rest of the ship? I think I have seen every episode of DS9 back in the day and don't recall that ever happening, or any of the characters mentioning that it could do that. It seems to me the assumption that it actually can detach is just speculation based on nothing but the fact that it somewhat looks as if it might do that and that we know that the D-class can detach its saucer section.
Back in the 90s, when the show was still new, where I grew up (Germany) there was this subscription service that would send you new data sheets and articles to put into a clip folder that would over time make a complete compendium or encyclopedia of Star Trek. There were cutaway renderings of Federation and Alien ships too and I remember that the one featuring the Defiant didn't show any detachability (if that is a word) either.
I assume this existed in other countries too, but I am not sure, because this kind of stuff was quite common and typical in Germany back then and it might have been something that only existed in the German speaking world (including Austria and Switzerland).
There were all sorts of such subscription services. They would always start by sending you a laminated, fancy clip folder and then you would get new pages to file into it every month, which would over time make up a encyclopedia.
In the case of the Star Trek one, it was 5 or 6 pages every month, if I remember correctly. They were color coded and you had to put them into categories, like "Alien Races", "Federation Ships", "Alien Ships", "Characters", "Technology" and "History" or something along those lines. You would then get one blue sheet with a cutaway or made up blue prints for a Federation ship, a green one about a Alien ship, like a Klingon Bird of Prey for example, a white sheet with a encyclopedia article about some character, a brown one about the Cardassian home world for example and so on.
There were cooking recipe books that were sold like that, DIY car repair instruction manuals or fandom stuff like the Star Trek encyclopedia I mentioned above.
I had 2 subscriptions, the Star Trek one and one about military aircraft.
Was that a common thing in other countries too?
I wonder what's the explosive yield on that detachable warhead? It's a quarter the size of the ship.
Can you please do some on real battleships that existed like HMS HOOD or other ships like that. I really like the Star Trek ones but would love to see the interior design of the battleships.
Try to, but my channel won't get any views due to YT algo.
I think that there is a demand for something like that as there are a lot of videos on battleships and there really popular now. If you did some of the interior I think people would be really interested in them.
@@Organicfarmworker-hc8yf I have to think about it. 🤔
why are there windows on deck 4 looking at tanks and equipment bays?
Thanks for the details infor 3D animations!
The Eagle w/ a skirt ! ❤️
Man, what is Starfleet gave the Sisko the Intrepid, or the nova class? the kind of destruction would have made a klingon blush!
it's still a pretty big ship though all things considered. Ds9 Must of been HUGE!
Sisko's Pimphand!!
I remember watching the series when I was younger.
Why is the bridge on deck one the side cut away view view says it isint or is it showing everything upside down
I was wondering, just where did the crew enter and exit from? I always thought they did it through the “nose” that was on the front.
Oh and just how many shuttles did that little ship need? I wasn’t the biggest DS9 fan, did they ever use a shuttle from that ship?
Teleporters, dude...
@@Dead_KerbalWhat, you mean transporters?
If I recall correctly, the show's staff have admitted that the model design, scripts, and set building budget (producing different sizes of shuttle in different seasons) didn't always coordinate. The official size of the ship got larger, so there was suddenly room for extra docking bays with extra specialized secondary craft. (I think there's one episode in which they're pursuing a Changeling, fire a phaser down a ladderway, and there are clearly more than five decks. This kind of mistake happens on a weekly TV show.)
It was all about putting the firepower of the Galaxy class in the smallest possible frame. A big part of the allure was it's use as a test bed for experimental and illegal tech, plus the power plant and main systems were so overpowered for so small a hull that it's integrity was always collapsing from it simply shaking itself apart with it's own power. In layman's terms, it was more likely to destroy itself than the enemy was in most situations.
Why they call it a warhead? And how did have a docking port AND able to launch a probe (the probe was in the middle, seen in Season 4 Episode 7 I believe ).
Do you think u have enough info to do some ships from Stargate??🙏
would be great if they made a 1:72 model of this ship with a possibility to open and view the interior
I find it funny that the shuttle bay of the Defiant was in the center of the ship and the way the shuttles were launched reminds me of the NX Class as their shuttlecraft were launched in a similar manner through the launch doors built into the ventral hull.
Does make sense though considering her intended use. If you've gotta put a big empty space that vents directly into space do everything you can to minimise the chances of it getting hit in combat.
Would love to know how the ship docks at DS9.
As seen on the show, it docked nose-first on the outer ring, at the base of a pylon. There's no visible docking port (as with movie refit-Enterprise and Enterprise-D) but it's under a retractable panel -- that's how the show's technical staff explained any oversights in the filming model.
@phillipthorne8363 So, that would mean walking through the warhead compartment at the front.
14:21 looks like room to house a deflector array on each side of the ship in the main body
Great video. Just so you know, the word ablative is pronounced a-BLAY-tive.
Thanks. Sometime, it tricky to get the AI voice to pronounce correctly.
@@Halfscreen No worries, that's what I figured the problem was.
Wait, so all those windows on the underside/belly (decks 4 and 5 I believe) are looking in on water tanks?? Why put windows there at all then... I'd always assumed the crew quarters were down there, maybe the mess hall (rooms that actually might benefit somehow from windows)
I think they were intended to be crew windows but the writers couldn't decide of how big the ship was and cant really fit enough deck space down there for quarters.
That's a tough little ship. I hope he does a video on the Prometheus.
Nice!! Thx!!
No problem!
From a pure combat point of view, I am not sure about butting up the computer core directly next to the turbolift - a direct hit could channel the damage along all three decks and create damage to the CC - otherwise a great design and not a "little Ship"
Best ship great video
I still don't understand how it docks with DS9 through its deflector array.
That’s a lot of detail.
Pretty awesome stuff. 😀
Thanks for the visit
aren't those voyager's landing struts? :P
When will you do insides of the 32nd century ships?
32nd century ships are powered by unicorns. It would be just a large hamster wheel with one or two unicorns running on it. Granted they would probably have some sort of wiring harness hooked up to their horns to make it look technical or maybe just to prevent tachieon partials from building up?
Great video.
Thanks!
would be nice having a detailed achilles class to compare with
Hypothesis: the warhead module was originally envisioned to deliver heavy alpha strikes against Borg cubes before they could adapt. But the ship was already pushing the limits of what they could accomplish in such a small space, and once they did some early testing of the spaceframe they realized they didn't have enough room for all the ship's systems and accommodations. Solution? Move some crew quarters... and then the impulse fusion reactors... and then the main deflector into the warhead. This allowed them to size up other ship systems, allowing the prototype to just barely operate without shaking itself apart.
What are my thoughts? Well it was overhyped when debuted but didn’t live up to the hype especially when it faced the ENEMY IT WAS DESIGNED FOR in the movie first contact
I've always thought that the detachable warhead was a stupid idea and made zero sense. As you said, that's where the deflector is at. They must have brought a temp in that day to write the detachable warhead into the canon of the ship.