The reason the Enterprise was never sent on the mission you describe is very simply because the ship bore the name “Enterprise.” That automatically made her the Federation’s political showpiece and trouble shooter. You don’t send that ship out into nowheres on secret missions, you keep it close to home where it can be sent on “flag waving” missions around the known hotspots.
True... but Resurrection Starships does have a point there too... Waving the Flag doesn't necessarily seem like the kind of job that a man like Picard would jump at... Makes sense to me that exploration was going to be the Enterprise's primary mission at first, and while it was on the long journey out to the frontier of Federation space, the mission profiel changed. Not just for the Enterprise, but for most of the Galaxy class line.
@@Simmons8519 That could be, but to me, I think it makes more sense that the only two Galaxy Class ships that we saw in or near Federation space during TNG were the Enterprise and the Yamato, that the other ships of the class were indeed sent out on extreme long range missions, and the Enterprise was kept around for the reasons I described. And wants to build up to the Dominion War began, the call was transmitted out to reach the other Galaxy Class vessels that were well out beyond the range of the frontier, to return to Federation space because they were going to be going to war.
This is a brilliant explanation as to why Starfleet renamed Titan as Enterprise after retiring the ENT F, a critically flawed variant of the Odyssey Class.
@@HistoryNut-1701 issue there is by all counts the first batch run of Galaxy's were only 6 hulls with three comissioned three spares. now as the DW started to ramp up they made the second rush batch
The Federation had many "Flag" ships. A flagship is any ship that leads multiple vessels in either a battle group or other lead role. Flagships are often commanded by some kind of high level political/military leader such as an Admiral. The fact that someone with the rank of "Captain" was permitted to command the Enterprise directly tells me there was a lack of understanding of the specific role a flagship takes. It also shows that Starfleet must have had the utmost confidence in Captain Picard to give him command of this ship. A Flag officer is historically someone of a high rank that can "speak" for their government. On rare occasions we did see the Enterprise under Picard take command of battle groups and situations but this was not the norm. If the Enterprise was in fact "The" Federation flagship it is highly unlikely that Picard would not have been promoted prior to taking on the role. The Galaxy class was an expression of the Federations complacency and belief that their technology was unmatched, which at the time it technically was. I do not believe the Enterprise was "The" Federation flagship but rather "A" Federation flagship.
I have been saying this for years. The Galaxy Class is, in a very literal sense, a mobile starbase. It is 640m of The Federation, sent out to wherever starfleet sees fit. Not merely the long arm of Starfleet power, but a very real, very tangible piece of the FEDERATION itself. A city that can just be sent and parked wherever it's needed.
I always liked and thought this as well. She's a mini starbase that's warp capable. But the show treated it as a nice ship instead of a massive mobile base.
Also it was so chock full of warp capable shuttles to do the most of the charting of systems and relay back to the Galaxy. It has plenty of room. I been on board with it being a genrational ship. The enterprise was mostly to show off what the frederation had accomplished as well as being its flagship. But an Average galaxy class would be mostly the former .
@@afterglow-podcast Not merely warp capable. She was, at the time of her construction, the fastest ship in Starfleet, thanks in large part due to having the largest, most powerful warp core that had ever been built up to that point. In fact, I would argue that this is why the Galaxy class never actually got sent on it's INTENDED missions. She was just so fast, and so powerful, that when starfleet needs to send something, "Send a Galaxy Class" tends to be the best available answer.
@@stargazerblue186 It could even be split in two, so the saucer could stay parked in orbit of a friendly planet or station, while the engineering hull was used for scouting or coming to the air of an embattled shuttle, while leaving the civilians and diplomats and science specialists in safety and comfort.
It was explained by the show runners decades ago (feels like yesterday but I'm old), its a multi-role long term explorer. Starfleet was retiring its aging fleet but they didn't want specialized ships, they wanted a ship that could do it all. It can explore, transport colonist, disaster relief, etc. It was meant to go on multi year missions without having to return for supplies or refit.This ship is the height of Star Fleets arrogance that gets crushed in Wolf 359 and then the Dominion War, thats why after the Federation goes back to smaller and more specialized ships Edit- In reference to the Enterprise, easy answer is she is the big stick and she was placed near Romuln and Klingon space as a show of force. Klingons made fun of her luxury but never her battle capabilities
Although we never had a good look at the inside of an Ambassador class (other than the bridge), we have seen a good deal of the interior of Excelsior class ships (Star Trek 3-6, Voyager). In the Excelsior class the Captain's room was TINY. All he had was a twin bed and about 10x10 feet to walk around in. Heck, ensigns were crammed at least 6 to a room in bunk beds. Even the Defiant class had more room per person than that. I think the Galaxy class was a flex in making the ship A LOT more livable than previous generations.
The federation never stopped building smaller and more specialized ships, even when the Galaxy Class was planned and built. To say that Galaxy Class ships were crushed in the Dominion War also feels oversimplified. The USS Odyssey was rammed by a Jem Hadar fighter after it took a massive beating because the Federation shields were useless against dominion weaponry. Every other starfleet vessel of the time would've likely fared far worse. After the galaxy class was refitted for the war it was the backbone of the fleet in a lot of engagements. After the dominion war the federation also built large ships like the Odyssey class (which the Enterprise F belonged to).
@Scitch87 if your referring to the Project Galaxy ships (New Orleans, Challenger, Freedom etc) from everything I read they were small batch ships made more for test beds except for the Nebulas which became important with their mission packs. I didn't mean to suggest the Galaxy were beat down, it's just this was a numbers game and the Dominion were able to build more small ships faster, they kept building Galaxies but they could punch out more Sabres, Akiras, Steamrunners, etc than the Galaxy. In some "canon" and beta Canon stories the Galaxy was something Cardassians avoided when possible
@@Psycodiver69 Starfleet tends to build a do everything starship every generation. And they are typically marked as a class by having an Enterprise in her number. The concept is consistently proven. Starfleet engineers are nothing if not problem solvers, so when something comes up that the do everything ship is ill suited to, they build something small to fill the gap until the next do everything ship that has that problem solved is ready. So you get a Galaxy, add variable Borg, solution=Defiant, reviews complete, build Sovereign. The Galaxy was designed as a literal generational leap forward, a foundation for everything that came after, and the designers were basically pushing to see just how far they could push on the bleeding edge. So the ship has maxed out everything, MAX engines, MAX power, MAX weapons, MAX shields, MAX space, MAX science labs, MAX sensors, MAX computer power, MAX luxuries, MAX family accommodation, MAX Captain. They probably went a bit overboard, but they were trying to do a ship that would last a century, a new Excelsior caliber ship.
@@3Rayfire I totally agree, the fact we don't see any in the Picard series really upsets me, even at that time it should STILL be the premier explorer ship, it has plenty of room for upgrades to keep it current.
If i remember right, the original writer's bible that David Gerrold, Farpoint was the absolute furthest humanity explored. The rest of the series was going on a "reverse Voyager" where they would explore and come back something like 20 years later. It's also why families were aboard the ship because the mission was going to be too long to separate families. We also weren't going to see any of the original races unless one of those races caught up to the Enterprise.
Was also hinted at when on a return to Earth that it was said to be rare and unexpected for any Galaxy class ship to return to the nest. They were intended to keep going or to seed a new base someplace far away.
@@charlesmaurer6214 The term 5 or in the case of the Galaxy class 20 means that it leaves it's planet of registry and doesn't return for 20 years UNLESS something happens to the planet, like the Borg invasion, or it's too damaged to be repaired by a Starbase facility and has to go back to the "factory", like the "E" at the end of "Nemesis".
I was thinking for a moment that that would imply that Starfleet thought the existing Ambassadors, Excelsiors, Constellations Mirandas would be enough to hold the line in the event of war with Klingons or Romulans, but then I realized, that's what the Nebulas are for: Galaxy-class tech in a package optimized for shorter trips and more intense combat, with a Miranda-like modularity of mission pods mounted above the main hull.
A great point you made, the Galaxy Class is huge and powerful, but the Nebula is dynamic and efficient, especially in combat with its more compact profile and modular Pods, which is why the Phoenix was so effective in its attacks in Cardassian space.
The Nebula isn't that much smaller than the Galaxy. In fact with the mission pod I'd be willing to bet that the Nebula actually has a larger mass and internal volume. Just like the Miranda is actually larger than the Constitution when looking at volume.
@@jpc347 I believe you are correct about that. Someone has done a volume sheet based on the best models he could find. The Nebula class without the pod is just missing the neck of the Galaxy class. You add the pod and the pylon it sits on, it becomes larger. However based on what we think on how shield tech works, you would think the shield bubble would be more powerful due to if all things being equal between the two classes, the Nebula class would have a smaller shield bubble but equal amount of energy going into it. I guess you could say 15-25% more powerful.
@@jpc347yet the Nebula is described as being slightly smaller than the Galaxy in most sources. I reconcile these facts by assuming these sources were referring to the stock model without any pod installed.
It’s awesome that you posted this video because recently I was thinking that the Galaxy class was originally designed for missions that could be generational in nature. I’m not surprised that the original Galaxy class was a potential launch point for a new series either. In my opinion, the Galaxy is best served as a command cruiser, sort of like a mobile star base. I agree that the enterprise likely was meant to serve that role as a true flagship on long term task force missions. It seems you have a lot of the same ideas. :)
@BazT47 ... If we're going off of the ... Discovery canon... than it would seem no. The Discovery makes an extragalactic jaunt out, and it's mentioned that Starfleet, until the... spore drive... lacked the ability to pierce the galactic barrier without unusual outside alien interference.
@@BazT47 I mean, the background information from the designer of the Universe-class said it had some new space-folding warp technology and did indeed explore other galaxies. Doubt it's canon but still pretty cool. No, I don't see Discovery or anything from Kurtzman Trek as canon. At least not canon to the prime universe. It's clearly some weird parallel reality.
The Mirandas are flying plot devices for the Galaxy crew to find abandoned or destroyed, and the Excelsior shuttles important people to and from the Galaxy, just like on TNG!
Capable but slightly incomplete. The task force needs 4 - 6 destroyer class vessels for picket/scouting duties and possibly a frigate with Starfleet Marines onboard (aka a Northampton), especially if you're heading out on a long-range exploration mission. J/S
For long term missions I wouldn‘t mix design eras for maintenance reasons. To minimize the amount of non-replicable spart parts that might be needed, I‘d only use ship classes born out of the Galaxy program. Not only would that reduce the variety of parts, it would also be easier for engineers to transfer between ships without having to adjust to different machinery everywhere they go.
The size of the Galaxy class is largely about showing the flag and diplomacy. It is the same reason why we might send an aircraft carrier and used to send battleships on a port visits especially to places that might not be 100% friendly. It's a way of showing how big and powerful the Federation is. This thing is stuffed to the gills with the latest tech and luxuries it is a flying city and is incredibly expensive It's about impressing but also telling people not to fuck about and find out as it also has big teeth. It's classic naval defence diplomacy in space. This thing is a very big not so subtle statement of intent if one of these rocks up at your door you listen and you listen hard. It's both an iron fist and a velvet glove
What always makes me angry about this, though, is the civilians. They put the civilians on the Enterprise in danger CONSTANTLY, and almost never even made mention of it. So much so that I think, if it were real life, they'd have canceled the civilian aspect of the ships almost immediately and crewed them solely with Starfleet personnel. It's just way too dangerous.
@@Revkor Perhaps so, but the saucer operating alone is incredibly vulnerable. With no warp capability it is limited to sub-light speeds, basically immobile with limited power, shielding and weapons. If an opponent detected it either during or after separating from the "Battle Section," it becomes a sitting duck unable to get those same families to safety, a two million ton "clay pigeon."
@@TheRogueX Thing is that the realpolitik element is background to Starfleet's primary function. The ship is supposed to go on twenty year deep space exploration missions. Nobody is going to leave their kids for twenty years, this ship removes that as an issue. Also, I'm sorry but staying planet side is not a safe thing in Star Trek. You can never tell when a giant space amoeba, indestructible omnicidal ice cream cone, Earth space probe that has achieved sentience with no corresponding ability to value organic life, telepathic fried egg with an attitude, passing black whole, or hostile alien race might just cruise by a planet. Or something banal like an asteroid, moon, or stellar core fragment might threaten to tear your planet's crust apart. The Klingon's almost wasted themselves with crappy mining safety. Frankly being on a starship in an interstellar society is like flying, despite the occasional plane crash it's still statistically the safest way to travel. That said, you're right, considering the size, I think the very first thing any refit of the Galaxy should have is a few Danube class Runabout warp cores installed in the saucer section so she can have her own warp drive. No saucer warp drive, that was dumb.
The Galaxy class being a deep space exploration ship does make sense, it has all the facilities to keep it's crew happy and healthy far from any space dock. The idea of a small fleet of ships supporting one is also a cool idea too.
The cut-out on the underside of the hull would be perfect for carrying two smaller ships, similar in size to the Saber, or Defiant. Having such an explorer be a mother ship to a pair of smaller, but very capable ships would be very useful.
Yeah, the galaxy class operating in the same capacity as a US aircraft carrier in a naval carrier group, surrounded by escorst and support ships is the impression I always had for the Galaxy class, except for long range, long duration peaceful exploration rather than defense.
One minor critique of the video is that you said the "area of interest" that the galaxy class intended for was only a year at warp away from Earth. By the 24th century according to manuals polublished during the airing of the Next Generation, Federation space had become so vast that it would take multiple years to go from one end of its widest border to the other... If you're going forward with the "where no one has gone before" concept here, the area of interest should be months or years beyond THAT instead. And in suggestion, the cruisikg speeds and maximum warp factor of the Galaxy class was notably higher than ships like the Miranda and Excelsior classes, at least until the Borg attack and Dominion war seemed to motivate Starfleet to overhaul these older vessels to add to fleet strength and numbers. So i would suggest that any fleet accompanying a Galaxy class would have to be one of the rarely ever seen "modern" ships of the era that came out of the Galaxy class development program: the Cheyenne, New Orleans, Apollo, Freedom, Challenger and of course the Nebula class, simply in order to keep up. And because most of these ships were still smaller and less advanced than the Galaxy, having the new flagships of the Federation as the fleet command ships still makes sense. With the galaxy class acting as a kind of starbase surrogate in the region from which the rest of the fleet could be deployed from and return to for rest and repairs while the Galaxy itself set up a small ground based starbase of a suitable planet from which long term operations could be hadled, and for subsequent fleets to arrive at and bouild up, should the region prove interesting enough upon analysis to warrant a greater Federtion presence.
Geeze, you've got my fanfic gears going... One thing that always bothered me about ST is the fact that starships never went out in convoy groups like you'd see in most navies (even nowadays you have multiple ships operating in a single location due to how they are designed). I'd definitely need to study up on the outfit of the Federation in the 2360s, but I'm in complete agreement with the use of the Galaxy-class as a fleet flagship with several smaller ships flying in support for extreme deep-space missions. Now, to be fair to Picard, as he is the ambassador and negotiator for the Federation, it would make sense to give him command of the largest ship in the fleet as a sort of power symbol ("Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.")
In TNG it did happen once (Redemption Pt 2, the Enterprise commanded a convoy of starship classes to the Klingon/Romulan neutral zone) and in DS9 it became common during the Dominion war.
The Galaxy-class is a command exploration battlecruiser, capable of acting as a mobile base when needed. The class was used extensively in all these roles in various combinations before, during, and after the Dominion War. Very good video.
@@D-GM-Snyper2 Now that I think about it, they could probably ferry around 4 Oberth science ships in that spot. What a true explorer that would be, ferrying the Oberths to a key sector, and sending them off to map out the area. They would be able to cover so much more space.
If you're talking about the concave arc at the bottom of the hull, that's where the most critical and sensitive systems of the ship are; the antimatter end of the warp core, the antimatter storage pods, and the emergency antimatter generator. That's not a place I'd want to have ships externally docked while at warp. A redesign might be able to accomodate that idea though... Ever heard of the Captain's Yacht?
Something mentioned in the TNG technical manual CA 1995, is that about two-thirds of the secondary hull is empty space just waiting to be configured for future mission needs.
I've always imagine the galaxy in the role of being basically a mobile star base. The thing is big enough enough that it can easily carry not just it's own crew but easily handle the extra load of crews for a couple defiant classes as given how unsuitable that ship is for long range missions so they can rotate on and off. It's hanger easily has the space a lot support craft like worker bees for maintenance of itself and other ships. And it seems like the kind of ship that'd have industrial grade replicatiors as standard or at least the space and extra power for them. Personally i think it's a ship that'll live long behind the lines frontline days are over all big replenishment ship
Give it a couple dozen runabout sized drone probes capable of high warp speed and maintaining cruising speed for at least a week or more, the ship could then survey far more at once.
Watching Voyager, I remember thinking, “Gee, they’re stuck in this tiny ship on the far side of the GALAXY. Wouldn’t it have been convenient if a GALAXY class ship had gone instead? It seems like it was literally built to circumnavigate the Galaxy.”
Ive always seen the later Odyssey class as a true second attempt at what they wanted the galaxy class to do while having it prepared to take up the roles that the galaxy class had to take up during its years of service.
At that, it is a fitting name to the class, since the USS Odyssey (NCC-71832) was possibly meant to fill that role, but was cut down by a force of ships specialized in combat and conquest. Naming an entire class of ships after a ship of exploration lost in combat, which itself was named after the poetic epic of Homer, about Odysseus who seeks to overcome the curse of the gods and return home, is its own type of poetic justice.
I've been enjoying SNW. But I don't like prequels. I have thought for ages now that instead of a TOS prequal that crew would have better suited for a post Picard Odessey based series. Same actors, different characters. The Federation desperate to show that it's dark days are behind it putting out an Odessey Class Enterprise with a idealistic Captain to show the Galaxy that Starfleet is back in the exploration game. If you throw in Disco' season 2 Anson Mount has shown he would have been the perfect great haired poster boy Captain for the Federation to roll out after Picard. Post DS9 there would still be enough tension with the Klingons to have that conflict, and it's easy to do a whole: Vulcan dealing with some issues storyline with any Vulcan so it didn't need to be Spock. I think they missed a chance to move the universe on in a fun and meaningful way.
the ambassador is huge. it's like between 60% and 2/3 as large as the galaxy by habitable volume, depending on what sources you use, so the ambassador could easily do years-long missions, too. but the writing on star trek is often dumb af.
Realistically, they would have made a lot more of the Ambassador-class because being smaller than the Galaxy-class, it would have been easier to build.
If Starfleet was more of an actual fleet, they would have sent out their ships in squadrons of some sort or another, like you propose. Imagine if you had squadrons of 1 capital ship, 2 medium cruisers, and 4 scouts. They would explore or patrol and support each other. Say you’ve got 4 Mirandas, just zipping through every star system in their designated area, looking for the anomaly of the week. 2 Excelsiors back them up, doing more thorough investigations of anything peculiar or bailing them out when said anomaly starts causing issues. The Galaxy sits back, coordinates, and acts as a mobile starbase. It is the most well-defended ship in the squadron, but that is *because* it houses the families of the crew on the other 6 ships, along with support facilities. Maybe it hangs out in orbit over some outpost or new colony, assisting the groundside needs in addition to coordinating the squadron’s mission. Almost a colony ship, but not quite. And maybe you go with 2 capital ships. Say 1 Galaxy class and 1 Ambassador class. The second capital ship would be the one sent in to address the really serious issues, where a real bruiser of a ship is required.
Oh, and also: Starfleet could use this system of organization to cycle through their new designs. With older designs moving down a tier, as appropriate. Maybe in Kirk’s time, its a squadron of 1 Connie w/ 2-3 Saladins or Hermes (later replaced with Mirandas). Then, an Excelsior could lead a squadron of a mix of Connies and Mirandas. When the Excelsiors and Mirandas are the bulk of the fleet, the Ambassador can come into its own. However, the design is not revolutionary enough to set it apart from the Excelsiors, so the Galaxy is designed specifically as a platform for coordinating Excelsiors from.
The Galaxy could be a literal mother ship. The cut out on the underside of the secondary hull would be perfect for a pair of Defiant or Saber class ships, or something of similar size. Imagine being able to transport the two smaller ships to a given region, and then dispatch them to explore/patrol the area, with the Galaxy acting as home base.
by TNG as well Starfleet became very egotistical, believeing they had no real threat at the time so it was mostly a flex and was a sign of major stagnation though the theories being shared is always great
@@CMVBrielman by the time they got their act together I felt like the sovereign became the backbone with intrepids, akiras and defiants feeling in those roles honestly.
@@SuperGamefreak18 Nothing says these squadrons have to be identical, of course. Or even have identical purposes. You could have tactical, short-range exploration, and long-range exploration, along with plenty others. And since so many starfleet ships are multi-purpose, this would make it easier to build squadrons for a given purpose. One squadron could be repurposed just by switching out one ship. You’ve got an Excelsior with 2 Mirandas, charting a nebula well within Federation space. Replace the Excelsior with a Sovereign, and now they can patrol the Neutral Zone.
I'm of the belief that Section 31 had a hand in designing the Galaxy Class. They could easily have laid the groundwork for a militarized fleet while keeping the larger Federation in the dark. Just look at how effective the class was in the Dominion War when Starfleet got off their butts and actually kitted them up correctly. More space for shields/weapons and possibly fighters/drone-craft. Heck, you could even use the ship as a mobile barracks given the sheer number of people the class can hold.
@Tuning3434 It made sense to leave the shady nature of government agencies in the universe. It also helped to show that the "perfect" humanity was just a veneer. It helped me accept the humanity of humans in Star Trek.
Eh... not a fan of that idea. Rather perfer the idea to this day that the Galaxy class was an outward sign of Starfleet's hubris... They thought at the time, according to both Picard and Q in the episode "Q who?" that they were so ahead of the game, that their technolgy, defensive systems and tactics and diplomatic abilities had progressed so far that their was no problem too big for ghem to safely solve, so why not fly a small starbase with kids, schools and all the comforts of home out into the unknown? After all, even Riker im "Peak performance" bragged about how he felt that training in ship-to-ship battle was such a "minor provence" as to be almost unworthy of taking the time to do so. The Federation of this era WOULD build something Like the Galaxy, just because they COULD.
@@chrisdufresne9359 i always took Section 31 - at least in DS9 - to not be the reality of the Federation, but rather the devil on its' shoulder, taking advantage of moments of weakness.
@@Simmons8519 Not only is it the most fitting answer but it's also the canonical one. Given the fact that Q himself introduced the Enterprise to the Borg precisely because he found humanity to be too arrogant yet conversely woefully unprepared for the true horrors that lurked in deep space.
The Borg is the main reason Starfleet basically ended the 5 years mission program because Starfleet didn't want to send ships into the uncharted space from federation space because they vessel would probably run into a Borg cube and get assimilated and the growing treat from the Romulan star empire so yeah Starfleet stoped exploring for a while.
The Enterprise D is meant to be show piece .....dealing with Diplomacy Exploration and fighting if need be. She's meant to show off the abundance and the power of the Federation
I completely agree with you on this concept, there is something that always bothered me about the Galaxy class and the Enterprise in particular in that we rarely see it being the Flagship of a task force or the like like how we typically think of flagships in modern navies. Not until DS9 with the Galaxy Wings do we see this play out so would have been amazing to see the Enterprise and its task force of recurring characters and ships
Thinking of it as a flagship in a modern navy was the first error. It's much more pioneering age of sail type stuff than Modern Navy. Hence the old trope that the Enterprise is "the only ship within range". As opposed to Star Wars which is all about the World War II aesthetic.
4:35 Like a continuing mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before? Like that kind of mission? Oh, I'm excited!
I remember reading somewhere that the Galaxy class was originally going to be a twin warp core design, but later in its development phase, it was downsized to a single warp core.
Love the vids… Love the format… Love all of it as it relates to Trek. I appreciate what you and am thankful for your efforts! No. Damned. Doubt! Keep it up! Please!
The Galaxy Class was designed for long term, extreme distance deep space exploration. It was supposed to go 20 years before its first refit and have a service life of 100 years. They've explained this on the show and other media
I actually wrote a fanfic, years ago, where the USS Galaxy was modified for the Galaxy Project, intended to send lone starships out on long range, long term exploration missions with minimal support and resupply. Part of the modification was adding a third warp nacelle for greater warp speed and duration, a big phaser cannon in case they ran into a threat like the Borg, etc, basically resulting in the refit we see in All Good Things.
From my understanding and the research I've done in the past, the Galaxy class was the final stage of Starfleet's plan of creating a ship to properly replace the Constitution class as the heart of the Federation fleet. The Excelsior class was initially supposed to do this, but after the failure of the transwarp drive it never quite recovered. Despite the Excelsior being a very reliable ship, it never quite lived up to the performance of the Constitution class. The Ambassador Class was the first step and was a test bed for a lot of new and innovative technological advancements. Once these were proven to be a resounding success the long process of designing the Galaxy Class begun. The idea, as I see it, is the Galaxy Class is supposed to be Starfleet's Golden Goose. A powerhouse that could form the heart of the Federation's defense in wartime, or perform long range exploration missions like the Constitution had. There were plenty of multipurpose vessels in Starfleet but the Galaxy was intended to be the ultimate form of this type of ship. Sure it would have to be replaced but it would serve quite a long time like the Constitution had back in its day. There were few ships that were as powerful or as efficient as the Constitution class was. Now as for the story idea you discussed, I do quite like it. I don't think it makes sense to design a ship like the Galaxy class specifically for this, but it would easily fit this kind of role. It would make sense that after the Galaxy Class was launched, a smaller vessel found a cluster of stars quite a ways from Federation space that seemed to contain the remnants of an ancient space faring civilization. Maybe it could be that what they did find from smaller ships that explored the outskirts of this region is that the civilization was very old, older than anything they've seen to date but the region is too dangerous for these smaller ships to explore too deeply on their own. There could be wild speculation that maybe this is an untouched region of space that once belonged to the Progenitors given how old some of what they found was. This would make the idea of exploring this region of space a top priority only interrupted by other concerns that threaten the Federation, something that would require the Galaxy Class to perform one of the roles it was designed for, to be the front line of Starfleet's defense of the Federation. It would make the Galaxy both the idea choice for this mission, but also make Starfleet hard pressed to spare one when it could be used to protect Starfleet should the Romulans or the Borg become a problem.
It’s a good idea however there is an issue I believe that the USS Galaxy was shown in DS9 during the dominion war battle scenes so it probably will have to be a different Galaxy class potentially one not seen on any of the trek series.
@@resurrectedstarships apologizes for barging into this discussion, but USS Galaxy was seen twice in DS9(the first time at Chin'Toka, and the second time over Cardassia). She was also part of the Battle Group that was on-route to Enterprise-E in Nemesis. Maybe Galaxy was sent out AFTER the Dominion War, maybe as part of Starfleet's attempt to pivot back to Exploration?
@@resurrectedstarships The USS Galaxy was at the 1st battle of Chin'Toka. It is seen on screen (in Tears of the Prophets) exchanging fire with a Cardassian weapons platform.
@@resurrectedstarships a lot of Galaxy class appeared during the Dominion war - in some shots so many of them that Starfleet must have restarted construction of them as after the loss of Yamato, Enterprise, and Odyssey there were only three left (plus frame stage only for a few provisional more).
I was really hoping that we would see the Galaxy class in Star Trek Discovery's final season as Burnham looks for clues on their treasure hunt. Instead we get a Romulan scout ship not seen since ST:TNG "The Defector" (1990) We got the ISS Enterprise but it's a messy canon suggesting it was an Alternate Universe of Alex "ManDark" Kurtzman. We can't have nice things anymore...
The galaxy class was meant for extreme deep space exploration. Like 30 to 40 year missions. However romulans the borg and Dominion threw that out the window but the galaxy did have a perfect role on the battlefield as a commamd, control and carrier ship since its sensor and communication systems were the best in the fleet. In star trek online the galaxy found a new purpose as a colony set up ship. It would provide new colonies the resources and protection they needed until a starbase was built or the colony grew enough to defend itself.
She was a deep space explorer for missions of a decade or longer, but the writers constantly pulled stories out their ass that returned to Earth's backyard.
Voyager wasn’t meant to be a long term ship of exploration-it just got stuck out there, with constant power and supply shortages. The Galaxy was, and for deep space exploration at that. It was meant to be away for 20 years at a time, and I like to think that many were. Many others were mobile starbases, and, when needed, battleships.
@@Revkor Admiral Hanson's communique from Wolf 359 was from a Galaxy class battle bridge. His ship was completely destroyed in the battle which is why there's no wreckage of her. But the script indicated it was a Galaxy class. There were several Nebulas though.
@@3Rayfire the part that threw me, from the first time I watched BOBW through to the mind boggling number of times I have watched since, is one of the LCARS panels behind Hanson is a TOS era display which suggested he was still on the same Excelsior he rendezvous with the Enterprise in earlier even though it also seemed he was on a Galaxy battle bridge. It was also said it was intended that Hanson commanded a Galaxy. My brain has never being able to reconcile the differences as no Galaxy would have been running such an old version of the OS and the producers didn't intentionally install it for no reason... it's like there were conflicting ideas between the production staff.
@@3Rayfire no it was not. for it it was why was he not using thew battle bridge or the main bridge? Note we see both in the episode and Hanson is clearly not using either. at this time there would be 5 galaxys remotely operational and 2 were reserved as spares. and SINCE hanson arrived to the Enterprise in an Excelsior it was likely he was still using it. a script draft may point to a galaxy but scripts can be ignored or changed.
The coolest theory I've ever heard. This is the type of idea that I love so much that I want to consider it cannon. It just gives the Galaxy class so much purpuse and it feels like that special mission would be the type of event that carries out simmilar importance to the Wolf 359 battle or the Mars attack. I love the 3D models you make. They give me a very inspiring feeling to everything you say.
Perhaps the Galaxy was dual use? I think you've pointed out how >Vast< the Galaxy class is compared with its crew complement of 1000. (Either you or EC Henry) Perhaps the Galaxy class was also used by Section 31 as a secret mobile base? Those ships are so huge, entire departments could be hidden onboard. Especially if the technology used for observing less advanced planets without violating the Prime Directive is utilized to aid this purpose.
The Galaxy-class could carry up to 6,000 people, I imagine as a military ship it could serve very well, with Section 31 having a modified version of it similar to the alternate timeline's Galaxy-X.
@@Obiwan7100 Section 31 could have had its own ships. But in particular, I was thinking that Section 31 could also have hidden onboard the Enterprise-D or other Galaxy class ships.
Just no. No Section 31 please. @@Obiwan7100 Yeah Probert designed her with a 6000 crew compliment. She has an emergency evacuation capacity of 15,000 which is, that's a lotta people.
Nobody successfully 'hides' or stows away on a space vessel for very long, esp. one with internal sensors. The risks of being discovered by a crew and a potentially righteously angry captain are enormous. Dummy mission specialties, aliases, and cover stories are probably a better strategy.
This is the most intelligent and well thought out theory that I’ve come across for the purpose of the Galaxy class starship. Your idea would make for a fascinating television series. It’s just a shame that the producers and writers of new Trek can’t come up with these sorts of ideas.
what you proposed wouldn't apply. The Galaxy was already in the Dominion War. We even get to see her at the first battle of Chin'toka. She was also mention in Insurrection as part of battle group 15 waiting for the Enterprise E to come through the Nebula to take of the Scimitar. So yeah, her being lost for several years and then being recovered after the end of the Dominion War wouldn't work.
I absolutely love RLM's Star Trek Galaxy video. It's my happy thought when the topic of the abysmal modern Trek comes up. This idea of yours about what the Galaxy class could have been designed for is brilliant and a perfect companion to that RLM video. If only the people making the actual shows were this creature with the IP.
Maybe they'll find out. That's the location where the doomsday machine from the original star. Trek actually came from. Perhaps they'll be several. They're waiting around and one just simply wandered off on its own, possibly from some other effect. Maybe a rogue planet or something similar? That caused it to fall out of its normal Position, and that would be interesting because so far we have not. Proud out anything else about the dim's day machine.
Very cool video, it makes sense that the Enterprise was always kept deep within Federation space, Since Kirks "Historic" 5-year mission, all ships named Enterprise are Flagships of Starfleet. The ship is more of a symbol of the Federation than an actual Starfleet ship. It may be that other Galaxy classes were scheduled for long term missions outside of federation space but the various threats that started to appear so soon after Enterprise was launched made Starfleet change its mission requirements for the class, and once the threats became more Immedient Starfleet accelerated the buildup of the class. If one of the roles of the class was as a command-and-control ship, there would only be a couple of the class assigned to various fleets during the Dominion war, and not the entire wings of dedicated galaxy class ships as seen on screen. The environment of the world that the various writers of Star Trek had grown had everyone see the Galaxy class change from an exploration ship to a front-line warship. and that line of thought continued with the Sovereign class. Continuing with what the writers of Star Trek have shown we will not see a Enterprise explorer till Enterprise J.
One of the underrated features of the Galaxy-class is it's main computer. It's gigantic with enormous storage and processing. Sensors and communications are useless without a computer system to cope with the information load. Whether it's exploring or clearing interference from an enemy's jammers or cloaking device, the Galaxy-class is probably the best equipped to handle it in Starfleet, even with the introduction of newer ships and technologies. The sheer size and complexity of it would be difficult to outmatch. This lends to the idea that it's a ship of the line, able to scan and dictate the field of battle with long range bombardments, both with phasers and torpedoes.
I tend to look at shows like Star Trek in comparison to actual history. Instead of classifying ships in type groups like we had in WWII, I would look back further to around 1800 and the Napoleonic era. C.S. Forrester's "Captain Hornblower" is credited with being one of Gene Roddenberry's inspirations. The original Constitution class NCC-1700 parallels the USN's Constitution class heavy frigate with smaller ships like the Miranda class or Klingon D-7 becoming lighter frigates (i.e. HMS Java or Guerriere,) themselves fast and capable ships. Larger and heavier ships (Excelsior) parallel the heavier Ships of the Line (60 to 80 gun two gundeck battleships) with the largest (Ambassador & Galaxy) equivalent to the largest and most powerful (as well as incredibly expensive) three and four deck ships like HMS Victory of 103 guns, USS Pennsylvania of 120 to 130 guns (1837 - look her up) and Santisima Trinidad of 120 guns. Even the heaviest and most powerful ships of the earlier times could and were deployed independently but were at their best as Flagships of battle fleets.
How about instead of some mystery box BS where we uncover all the adventures of a life time second hand with every episode ending on a clif hanger we instead make a show ABOUT the adventure of a life time? Guess they didn't want either...
Best mysteries in story telling are the ones that are actually tangible and solvable! I also abhore the 'mystery box' method....there shoudl be something ni the box! Even if the something is another box!
@@resurrectedstarships Absolutely. Unless the nesting doll box is purely to stall up a huge nothing burger. Either way the box is not a place to put a "once in a life time adventure". If it's really that cool make that the main story. I can't fathom (other than budgeting reasons maybe) why you would make a movie about a guy hearing a second and story about the greatest adventure ever instead of making that adva run into the movie itself.
5:30 Oh my god I had that exact same Idea. Wow fantastic. Good to see a nice idea prove itself on youtube. Nice video man! I thought the Galaxy class was suppose to be a carrier?
Your points are sound across the board, and Galaxy class ships were always the command center for any fleet engagements for which they were involved. Being designed for missions such as described in the video are very good reasons for having such a ship design.
The USS Galaxy is seen on screen during the Dominion War in DS9. And in extended canon / beta canon, it is mentioned that the Galaxy spent much of its early career in or around the Sol system as a kind of technology test bed ship. So she was never actually lost. I've read different sources on this over the years that state different numbers but essentially the Galaxy class was only ever built in small numbers (I'm talking on screen canon now). The USS Galaxy and USS Enterprise were part of the initial first four Galaxy classes built with a further 4 Galaxy class space frames built and put into storage for later construction,. But some other sources state that there were six initial Galaxy's built with a further 6 space frames put into storage. These space frames were later built for the Dominion war but with a lot of crew amenities and science facilities omitted and missing to rush production. Additional cargo bays were added to carry the single seater star fighters Starfleet used in the war. These later ships also did not carry families or civilians. Its only really in the books, comics etc where you see a lot more Galaxy class ships operating.
I've mentioned on other channels that it is incredibly weird that they didn't use the star drive to drop off the saucer for long term studies/ space station duty and then send the star drive to go pick up a new saucer, explore, or act as a defense ship. The galaxy class is by design modular; it should've had other options besides a saucer section at its disposal. The nebula has a sensor pod / weapons pod that should've been able to dock with a galaxy star drive to turn it into a giant version of the defiant.
One minor critique of the video is that you said the "area of interest" that the galaxy class intended for was only a year at warp away from Earth. By the 24th century according to manuals polublished during the airing of the Next Generation, Federation space had become so vast that it would take multiple years to go from one end of its widest border to the other... If you're going forward with the "where no one has gone before" concept here, the area of interest should be months or years beyond THAT instead. And in suggestion, the cruisikg speeds and maximum warp factor of the Galaxy class was notably higher than ships like the Miranda and Excelsior classes, at least until the Borg attack and Dominion war seemed to motivate Starfleet to overhaul these older vessels to add to fleet strength and numbers. So i would suggest that any fleet accompanying a Galaxy class would have to be one of the rarely ever seen "modern" ships of the era that came out of the Galaxy class development program: the Cheyenne, New Orleans, Apollo, Freedom, Challenger and of course the Nebula class, simply in order to keep up. And because most of these ships were still smaller and less advanced than the Galaxy, having the new flagships of the Federation as the fleet command ships still makes sense. With the galaxy class acting as a kind of starbase surrogate in the region from which the rest of the fleet could be deployed from and return to for rest and repairs while the Galaxy itself set up a small ground based starbase of a suitable planet from which long term operations could be hadled, and for subsequent fleets to arrive at and bouild up, should the region prove interesting enough upon analysis to warrant a greater Federtion presence.
Intriguing proposition. Yes, a series or mini-series based around the USS Galaxy, that would work for me. I always loved the shape of the Enterprise-D, it's my favourite starship concept. I also wouldn't mind a series based around the Enterprise-J! That ship not only could host a flotilla of starships around it, it could hold those entire ships inside it!
To be honest, the first thought I remember having when I heard that the Enterprise-D was going to be this huge "city in space" (as the media referred to it at the time) with families and a huge capacity was that it was a colony ship rather than a TOS-style spearhead hero-ship like its predecesssor. And to be honest, even as I grow older and start taking into account more logistical factors, that still feels like the most likely puropse - a smaller long-range scout-explorer vessel (like the forerunners of the USS Voyager) checks out some far-off system and finds a near-M-class world which (with maybe a little light terraforming) would make a great foothold in the new area, and once they report back a Galaxy-class ship is dispatched full of families, science labs and industrial replicators and equipped with many shuttles of various classes for a variety of roles (transport, reconnaissance, aerial cartography and surveying, etc). With seemingly-overpowered combat capabilities, the Galaxy class vessel can not only act as a staging area for the initial forays to the surface but, once the first ground bases are established, can remain in orbit as a defensive presence until a more permanent solution can be built, just in case the system turns out to be more hostile than the scout-ship had experienced... after all, maybe the smaller craft just didn't catch the attention of the local xenophobic star empire on its fleeting visit, but a whole planet being colonised by unknown aliens in their backyard would likely make more waves. And once you've sent a Galaxy-class ship halfway across the quadrant loaded up with enough resources to basically build a civilization it's a bit more difficult to turn round and come home again, so once you've committed to the colony you're going to want to protect your investment. And once you have some habitable homesteads you then have whole families on board ready to go who can populate the new world rather than starting from scratch. Depending on how long the journey was, they might have already started by the time they arrive! All in all, it seems more straightforward and sensible that this was the intended purpose for the Galaxy-class. It still doesn't make much sense why the Enterprise-D is used in a first-response or force-projection role or as a diplomatic vessel, except for the obvious fact that while it's not _designed_ for any of these roles it _can do_ them all well. After all, if you're sending a single ship to build an entire colony, you want it to have the versatility to overcome any unforseen problems - especially if you''re a year-long warp journey from reinforcements.
Yes I do recall Roddenberry explaining in an interview once that the Enterprise-D was a "city in space" including families because it would be on a very long mission (the original premise being that the Enterprise wouldn't return to Earth until the end of its first 20 year mission, be refitted, and head out on another 20 year mission... rinse and repeat until decommission at 100 years). Like so many things about TNG the show evolved a LOT during its first few seasons while it found its feet.
First, let me say your renderings look awsome. Well done. As far as the Galaxy class ships are concerned, the federations fleet was getting a bit long in the tooth. They still were using Excelsior class vessels as their main workhorse at that time, due to its versatility and ability to be refit with newer tech( the Lakota comes to mind) as well as the Miranda class vessels that were new in Kirks time. The Ambassador class ships were few in number, but a good proving ground for what would eventually be the Galaxy class ships. The Ambassadors taught Starfleet they needed something more capable/powerful. The Galaxy's were indeed huge and made for long term exploration but also were necessary as Starfleet was pushing into unexplored areas so far from the Sol system that they had to be self sufficient for long periods of time. The Galaxy's were also used as political statements, deterents to would be challengers, and indeed needed to be heavily armed as the "unknown" brought new challenges that dictated such a large, powerful vessel. They learned a lot from Kirks 5 year missions, which in many cases was they were that there were much more powerful unknowns out there and its better to have and not need, than need and not have. Picard was perfect fit for the Galaxy Enterprise D. Part explorer, part military strategists, and part diplomat. This became clear once Q sent them to their first engagement with the Borg.
I think this might be a better idea for a computer game rather than a series. Allowing the audience to investigate the mystery would be more engaging than watching the cast investigate some old ruins for several episodes.
As a life long Star trek fan, I do find your idea for the reason why the Galaxy class ship was built is quite interesting. I too have felt that this class of ship was never really used to its full potential!! That being said, It was one hell of a ship!!
This would be a truly interesting series that could be done. Even if it is just a mini-series that focused on the core elements of Trek. Thank you for the video and I would love to hear more thoughts and ideas of this nature.
Brings up a great point and a whole new direction for the show. Unless it's a particular circumstance, federation ships travel alone. Seeing more task force-type missions with several ships traveling together would be interesting.
I love your idea for the Galaxy Class. One of my thoughts, is what the Odyssey Class was designed for. As it was meant to be the replacement for the Galaxy (The Sovereign was not meant to replace the Galaxy) and be a mobile command center in the center of a large fleet. So if that's what the Odyssey was for and replaced the Galaxy, I figure that bolsters your theory on the Galaxy Class.
I've never developed a taste for RLM, but the concept for that series sounds smooth. B5 Crusade had something similar, but done not very good. I don't have any ideas right now, but I expect wonders!
An interesting fan theory. One thing I never quite understood about Star Fleet is that they rarely had ships moving about in squadrons. Roddenberry often drew on his military experience for much of Star Trek's inspiration, but it wasn't often we saw Star Fleet ships of the line operating together like navies of the world. I think this could make for a fun story seeing the different vessels, and how they are utilized to their intended function within a fleet squadron.
I recall a trivia contest that stated that at the time the Galaxy class was launched, the Ambassador Class was the most prolific vessel in the Federation Fleet. I can only imagine that Starfleet saw success in larger exploration vessels, as they would have more labs and departments to facilitate exploration. This trend started with the success of the Constitution Class and its 10 labs - prompting the next generation of explorer to be even larger.. and the next generation followed suit and so on. I also believe that the Federation encountered and befriended alien organizations that helped influence the evolution of their vessels. I like your theory about Starfleet sending Galaxies out to that very specific part of space to explore the abandoned worlds. It would certainly take a team to accomplish that sort of mission.
I have heard this theory, or at least a variation on it. That, the Galaxy Class, was designed and built for long-duration exploration into Darkest Space, going off the edge of the map to explore far off into completely uncharted space. However, they never got to do this, since Starfleet decided they didn't want to risk these very big, powerful ships and so kept them in Federation space or close to it, having them troop the flag, perform diplomatic missions to impress new potential member states and of course, to show potential enemies the scale and power of Starfleet to dissuade conflict with them.
A fascinating idea! And it makes a lot of sense. I think a ship with the same kind of design philosophy, but much later and more advanced, would be used to explore another galaxy. It would take years to reach another galaxy, and so it would need a ship that can be a home for the crew and people aboard. It would be a decades long mission to make contact and explore one of the nearby galaxies and then return.
This is such an awesome idea for a series. The USS Galaxy and it's task force could be sent to a globular cluster, which is on the edge of the galaxy and whose stars are much older than the rest of the galaxy. This is actual characteristics of real globular clusters. The ancientness of the star systems is fertile ground for mysteries and story telling. Its distant location would make it a many-year mission. The task force would include supply ships, several Defiant class ships, Runabout class ships, and even a new shipyard ship. That's right, the taskforce can repair, upgrade, and even build new ships; and do it while at warp. This would be similar to a starship towing another starship using tractor beam, which was depicted several times in TNG and DS9 episodes. The shipyard ship can even tow an asteroid for resource gathering. Ships acquiring new capabilities would be the subject matter of various episodes and character developments, the ships themselves being characters. Politics within and outside the fleet will be a major feature of the show.
Your idea is interesting, and I think early concepts of the Galaxy class did conceive of it as a very long-range explorer that wouldn't return to UFP space for a generation or more, but that idea ultimately didn't materialise in the shows. My own head canon is that the Galaxy in its Enterprise configuration was basically the luxury passenger transport version of a Galaxy Class. It still had weapons to defend itself because people are precious cargo in the UFP, and it still had science labs because Sf would put a science lab in a Type 6 Shuttle if they could, but its ideal role was transporting thousands of passengers to new colonies or evacuating people in an emergency. Other patterns of Galaxy Class could've been fitted with fewer passenger quarters and more cargo space, or science labs, or medical facilities (think hospital ship), or even combat systems like shields and phaser arrays. The saucer sections of Sf ships are generally seen as having been designed for modularity, a ship might get refitted to do it's current job better every few years but it could also be refitted to do a different job within the fleet.
🖖😎👍Very totally cool and very nicely wonderfully well informatively explained and executed in every detail way shape and format provided on "Realvealing the True Purpose of the Galaxy Class!, And did the Enterprise Miss Out?"; A job very nicely fabulously well done indeed Sir!👌.
I appreciate the work you do making your graphics. As a PC hardware nerd it would be an interesting project learning some of what goes into revving up a properly specced machine and doing these. Speaking for myself anyway.
I'd love to think that the Galaxy was outfitted as you commented on a as a mobile command station but imagine its also equipped with its huge shuttle bay and expansive multiuse labs as a portable ship repair station. Then with the Romulans, Borg and eventually dominion threat, the Galaxy is deployed with some retrofitted Refit constitution class, Miranda class and Excelsior class ships. We already saw a very retrofitted Excelsior vs the Defiant in DS9 (Defiant vs Lakota) - it wouldn't be unreasonable to imagine Starfleet valuing this uncharted section of space enough to pull some ships out of mothballs, upscale them, and deploy them with a Galaxy as the center piece to be able to maintain and dispatch them within this long-term mission. I love the Trek universe!
There are several problems with that theory in particular what happened to the U.S.S. Galaxy: Number 1:What you are describing sounds like a prelude to invasion as Starfleet doesn't do that sort of thing Number 2:The Galaxy was involved in the Dominion War Number 3:I highly doubt Starfleet Command would send civilians into dangerous areas Number 4:Captain Jean-Luc Picard may love archeology but one thing he would never do is put innocent civilians in the line of danger Number 5:The way you are describing the Galaxy Class as a warship because of all of it's weapons is all wrong with how the class was designed it was designed to be an explorer and with a majority of Starfleet officers being married the Galaxy Class was designed with families in mind so those officers can have their families on the same ship Number 6:The Galaxy Class went from being explorers to military style command ships when the Dominion war started after the destruction of the U.S.S. Odyssey a Galaxy Class Starship that was destroyed by a Dominion Kamikaze attack Number 7:If the supposed galaxy with a large number of M Class Planets did exist and Starfleet knew of it the Federation council would have been told about it
Intriguing video and well-developed. The ST: Galaxy concept of a federation starship far from home and having to be a mobile command base was before Voyager, which was able to explore a lot of those ideas, but from a castaway / rather desperate scenario. A Galaxy taskforce to try out an unproven and largest yet capital ship, with years of planning, might have a number of differences from Voyager. It might have included one or more admirals, commodores, or fleet captains who commanded Galaxy as a flagship. You list the Galaxy-class as able to hold up to 6000 (!!) crew complements including families, so the Galaxy mission could have been a colonization taskforce. We've seen the Enterprise do a few colonizing missions, but not to the extent that the colony outnumbers the crew 5 to 1, and would be incredibly vulnerable to enemy attack or natural disasters. However, taking over an abandoned area of space, perhaps one with valuable resources like dilithium, or that was previously protected by a dead Empire like the Ikonians, seems very un-Starfleet and un-Federation-like, unless their help was requested by another race. Another possibility could have been encountering a large area of unexplored space, like the Delphic Expanse or the Gamma quadrant (again, the Galaxy concept was before DS9 and the Enterprise series, which explored those ideas). A large taskforce would be needed because there is no starbase yet to refuel and resupply, and multiple starships needed to divide up the work of exploration and for safety. I like the idea of heading over to the capital ship on weekends for farmers markets and family recreation. So I believe what you might be asking for is: what would a Galaxy prequel show be about, using the idea of the original Galaxy-class ship, that could be a viable modern ST show in 2024 doing something that hasn't been done before. You hint at a "ghost ship recovery" mission, perhaps led by Picard (or even better, by some other Picard-era captain rival like Jellico, or his nemesis at the academy, etc.). Maybe it's because it's October, but I propose the Galaxy has been abandoned. ST encounters godlike races often, but almost never are the crew are ever enticed to join them and abandon their Starfleet mission; I propose that the mystery of the Galaxy is that the crew *was* successfully tempted to abandon their duty. Over three or four seasons, we learn how an alien civilization not only seemingly befriended, coerced, enslaved, or otherwise convinced them at first that it was a better life, or that, in fact, their duty to Starfleet *required* them to leave a skeleton crew behind, join another interstellar state, and not re-establish communication with the rest of humanity. What these reasons are, I leave to the capable fandom or a highly paid team of writers. Thanks for this prompt!
I think Picard’s old professor said it best when he called Picard a Centurion on the Frontier of the Empire. The Galaxy is like a mobile colony or star base, capable of meeting any need, repairing or supporting anything in a limited fashion, and project support or power at need. It is a rescue ship, a massive survey and exploration vessel at need. A generational ship for long term exploration if required, etc. I think if a Galaxy was caught in a trap was said in the video, I think the defenses would have treated the crew like a disobedient child, strand them on a planet, reducing them to primitive levels out of a sense of stewardship for the upstart lesser species that came to their doorstep. I could then see a derelict USS Galaxy left to go its way abandoned, and waiting to be found.
In addition to what @HistoryNut-1701 said. I'd like to point out that even if your hopping from one federation system to the next. The vast amount of the year is spent onboard. So even if the Enterprise is only a few hundred light years from home. The crew still needs to _LIVE_ onboard most of the year, year to year. In this case that would include children, who have their own needs apart from the adults. So you'll need accommodations necessary to stave of cabin fever for a large diverse group of people over a long period of time. Hence it's huge size.
If i was leading the starfleet design office i would have made use of this modular design by having mission specific saucer sections that could be swapped. The standard one is a good long term exploration module where families can be on board making the crew's years long tours away from home more bearable (the seperation feature being handy exactly as we see it used) But it could also be outfitted with "saucer" modules (they could ofc be totally different shapes) - a battle module, a saucer with its own power system, extra shield generators, more photon launchers and phasors, maybe fighter bays or drone launchers, electronic warfare systems etc -a colony base module, which is in essence a starter town including population, that can be detached upon arrival at the designated planet and then land with "one off" engines or some engine module that comes back up, or is capable of being remodeled into some small runabout like craft for the colonists. -a troop transport saucer that can carry 8000 troops or a smaller number plus vehicles. Maybe such a saucer can detach and split into several landing craft. Troop version could also be used for colonist transport. -speed saucer, one with extra warp engines and impulse engines for high speed missions or maybe "range saucer" with large amounts of fuel either for a tanker mission or for hyper long range missions. -scan saucer Basically a huge scanning array for investigating areas where a stationary array is impractical. -cargo/equipment saucer. for hauling large equipment, bulk cargo or even smaller vehicles and craft or space station parts -base saucer, basically the central portion of a space station or starbase that can be delivered fully operational to the desired location and then expanded upon by the crew (using the above Cargo saucered galaxy classes for modules and materials) -warhead saucer. Yup a huge photon torpedo that is brought to speed by a galaxy class stardrive section and then released. For when you need that biiig badaboom. -Whale transport saucer (cause you never know when that crazy probe turns up again, and you dont want a repeat of last time, so there be whales everywhere!) - a plethora of other types or mixed types i didnt think of. Like this you could build a bunch of standard "workhorse" stardrive sections and just plop a mission specific "saucer" on, determining the "ship" purpose
That concept is indeed an interesting one. If I ever get around to building my own personal galaxy class intergalactic FTL exploration vessel, I'll let you guys know and we'll go for a spin.
the 24th century, which saw the introduction of the Galaxy-class fleet, was a golden age of peace, so Starfleet felt confident that they could put families on ships and allow families to bask in deep space exploration
I like the idea of a Long range flagship, but I think there's a bigger missed opportunity. In addition to the scenario you mention, saucer separation makes sense for long term missions in friendlier space, like establishing relations with new planets, or extended negotiations. The saucer section detaches and orbits the planet, and the drive section can gallivant around the local area shuttling diplomats, exploring stuff etc. The Galaxy-class should really be flagships for the most important missions. But even more then that, the Drive section could be the basis of a whole fleet. With the Galaxy saucer, you have the long term flagship missions. With no saucer, you have a corvette fast reaction ship, all engine, no bulk. Bulk cargo saucers offer a range of ways to do asteroid mining or disaster relief on a planetary basis or set up an outpost in a single go. A midsized saucer with a mix of weapons and exploration amenities replaces the generalist ships like the Excelsior class. Science saucers for specialized exploratory missions. and a heavily armed saucer for a battleship role. The saucers are interchangeable, so a ship could be equipped with the right saucer (and auxiliary crew) for the job, but eventually, most ships and crews would specialize. Even so the economies of scale of building 1 drive system/engineering area for every role is way more efficient then the ships that are canon. Only ships that are truly specialized (like Voyager with it's landing capabilities) would need to be built outside this paradigm. I know the show didn't do this because they built a model, and when they need more ships, they just reshoot the model they have, and if it has to be a different ship, they kitbash one together from spares of the model they have. But it makes more sense to me then a Galaxy saucer with practically no engineering section to have a smaller saucer on a Galaxy drive section.
🤔 That's better than what I would've thought they were for. I figured something was gonna happen to earth, and they were sending out colony/seeding ships! Ha ha ha! One of those top-secret things only the captains knew about. 😅 Nice video!
Yes. The producers and developers of the Galaxy class for the show said it was to be a ship they would send out on 20 year exploration missions beyond the federation. And, they would carry two, 10,000 person ‘towns’ in the ship ( named port side and starboard side or something). These towns folks were to be in addition to the crew, and children of these towns were expected to supply replacement crew as the original crew retired. The original sketches and descriptions showed multi story water falls, a big central mall, casino (whose skylights show a little behind the main hanger door on the saucer.). Essentially furthering Roddenberry’s “wagon train to the stars” metaphore with far more non crew in the show. This also explains why they had such a insanely huge ship, for a fairly small crew. The volume of ship per crew person is nuts! Of course this is a terrible idea for exploring distant areas of the galaxy. Making smaller much faster ships to scout out distant areas and return much quicker, makes a lot more sence. A huge ship acting as a mobile starbase could make a good secondary wave ship that would just push to a area, and rotate crews back to the federation with small fast ships, while support8mg a local fleet. …. Except that’s essentially a invasion force. So locals could get very upset. … and you’ld want a lot more ship repair and servicing, and medical etc, to service the local exploration fleet. But then it would get more like the origional concept for later seasons of Babylon 5; where a bigger, mobile station takes over as the center of operations for the the shadow war.
The Galaxy class is a projection of presence, and power. It can be sent anywhere, on any mission, and make the Federation look powerful doing it. It shows the other powers that the Federation can still be a super power, even without dedicated "warships" in production. It was a massive flex, and arguably an edifice of hubris.
I do think the Galaxy class is well-designed for exploration, particularly if its for long-range exploration. It would have been much better if a galaxy class ship were trapped in the delta quadrant vs the Voyager, in terms of the resources it brings to bear, as well as the morale boost with families on board. It's essentially bringing a slice of your civilization with you. The other mission type it may be ideal for, again because it is bringing along a slice of civilization with it, is the diplomatic mission. While impressively armed and defended, the fact that families are on board would potentially serve to make the ship and the diplomats appear less threatening and confrontational. As well as providing an example of what Federation civilization is like. Interesting video, thanks for the content!
Since TNG was announced (I'm that old), I've been playing with the concept of a ST: Generation three, dealing with the adventures of the Enterprise J in the XXV century. Remember, Picard hadnd't made his debut yet, and Archer was in a distant, undreamed of, future. Two concepts I came up were exactly this. One was the Ent J being sent for the initial mapping of a new sector behind a distant nebula, so there wouldn't be even star maps. The ship would be responsible for contacting all the spacefaring civilizations, build an outpost etc., completely cut off Federation contact for a year - or a season. The other concept was that a generation before a small fleet was sent to a wormhole to a place decades away from the Federation border, and they were tasked to return home, founding colonies along the way. The Ent J would be sent to greet them, and evaluate how the returning pilgrims had evolved away from Federation, to define how to integrate those people into the current version of the Federation, while dealing with whatever baggage they accumulated - as in, allies and enemies they'd acquired, treaties they'd signed etc..
I think the long range/term exploration hypothesis is most likely in this case. It resonates the most with the spirit of the era the ship was launched in, both in the fictional lore and real life. After all, Encounter at Farpoint does start with Picard saying they are about to travel to Deneb IV "beyond which likes great unexplored mass of the galaxy", which in turn implies that Enterprise's mission is or will be to be on the frontiers, pushing exploration far when no one has gone before. And as you mentioned it's bigger and better supplied then other ships, in example the Intrepid. This would mean that self sufficiency is a major design point. And then there's also the predominant self perceived superiority of the UFP and SF at the time, combined with the abundance and long lasting peace time, that would allow for large amount of resources to be poured in such endeavors. Alas, also as mentioned in the video, the Romulan resurgence and later contact with the Bord (which i must mention happened while they were on a course to unexplored areas) kept them closer at home. IRL, this most likely has a lot to do with Gene's lesser involvement in the show as his health deteriorated, and the peaceful utopia he planned for, was replaced with more political drama and conflict.
The idea about the true purpose of a galaxy class starship is interesting. It easily fits into the idea and you could see how this would be of great value. In Star Trek: Insurrection, it would have made perfect sense for this long-term study of both, the "briar patch" and the metaphasic properties the Ba'ku benefitted from would have been an ideal mission. The admiral in that movie said (I think) that starfleet didn't know how the metaphasic properties worked and the reason for the "relocation" was due to the time sensitive aspects of his and Ru'afo's plan were. Hell, even the entire Voyager series (under your idea) would have made sense for the ship to be a galaxy class. It is a good theory/idea on your part.
Fascinating Idea. I would love a show like this. Even if it was more sedate than the typical ST (and definitely more than the CBS Star Trek), I would still love it.
Well, during DS9 pilot, we learn about the Gamma Quadrant. The wormhole is a shortcut across lightyears of space, so it's not hard to imagine that maybe the Federation wanted a ship that could go out to the Gamma Quadrant to see what's going on out there. Earth sits between both the Alpha and Beta quadrants, and they've got the Romulans and Klingons hanging out in one, I wouldn't doubt the need to explore beyond their territories. And since the UFP had an alliance/agreement with the Klingons, they probably could've ventured through Klingon space to explore behind them. Plus it's large enough for families, and seeing some stuff in your video, a couple things came to mind: 1: there's likely an instance of one Galaxy class ship being a generational ship (probably better suited for what Voyager went through, than the Intrepid), so there's likely a mission somewhere that we're unaware of that has them out and exploring well away from the Federation 2: it's possible it was used as a command ship as you mentioned, along with a fleet of smaller ships. The irl Enterprise is an Aircraft carrier and is the command ship of a fleet. It's surrounded by others and is extraordinarily well equipped to fight, yet the smaller ones often do the work first. It's also incredibly fast (faster than the nearby smaller ones), and is quite large. It's possible that the Galaxy class is meant to sit in the middle of a fleet, and then collect any people that have to leave the other ships due to being damaged in battle. It's capable of holding a couple thousand people, it's not hard to believe that you could store everyone from a decent sized fleet onto a Galaxy in emergencies.
Extreme range explorer was Galaxies mission, but the Enterprise D was flagship and used as a deplomatic vehicle Picard was chosen as his strong diplomatic acumen. The sub mission was a colony transport ship. A possible variant I would have liked to see was a Galaxy with drop bays for Defiant sized ships. I would think that the USS Galaxy while on the exploratory mission ran into a maguffin that either prevented them going to warp and scrambled subspace or damaged the warp coils and subspace communication coils and left them stranded.
I’ve hypothesized that the Galaxy was a portable colony starter. Travel to distant planet, land saucer, send drive section back for its next saucer and next delivery.
The reason the Enterprise was never sent on the mission you describe is very simply because the ship bore the name “Enterprise.” That automatically made her the Federation’s political showpiece and trouble shooter. You don’t send that ship out into nowheres on secret missions, you keep it close to home where it can be sent on “flag waving” missions around the known hotspots.
True... but Resurrection Starships does have a point there too...
Waving the Flag doesn't necessarily seem like the kind of job that a man like Picard would jump at...
Makes sense to me that exploration was going to be the Enterprise's primary mission at first, and while it was on the long journey out to the frontier of Federation space, the mission profiel changed.
Not just for the Enterprise, but for most of the Galaxy class line.
@@Simmons8519 That could be, but to me, I think it makes more sense that the only two Galaxy Class ships that we saw in or near Federation space during TNG were the Enterprise and the Yamato, that the other ships of the class were indeed sent out on extreme long range missions, and the Enterprise was kept around for the reasons I described. And wants to build up to the Dominion War began, the call was transmitted out to reach the other Galaxy Class vessels that were well out beyond the range of the frontier, to return to Federation space because they were going to be going to war.
This is a brilliant explanation as to why Starfleet renamed Titan as Enterprise after retiring the ENT F, a critically flawed variant of the Odyssey Class.
@@HistoryNut-1701 issue there is by all counts the first batch run of Galaxy's were only 6 hulls with three comissioned three spares. now as the DW started to ramp up they made the second rush batch
The Federation had many "Flag" ships. A flagship is any ship that leads multiple vessels in either a battle group or other lead role. Flagships are often commanded by some kind of high level political/military leader such as an Admiral. The fact that someone with the rank of "Captain" was permitted to command the Enterprise directly tells me there was a lack of understanding of the specific role a flagship takes. It also shows that Starfleet must have had the utmost confidence in Captain Picard to give him command of this ship. A Flag officer is historically someone of a high rank that can "speak" for their government. On rare occasions we did see the Enterprise under Picard take command of battle groups and situations but this was not the norm. If the Enterprise was in fact "The" Federation flagship it is highly unlikely that Picard would not have been promoted prior to taking on the role. The Galaxy class was an expression of the Federations complacency and belief that their technology was unmatched, which at the time it technically was. I do not believe the Enterprise was "The" Federation flagship but rather "A" Federation flagship.
I have been saying this for years. The Galaxy Class is, in a very literal sense, a mobile starbase. It is 640m of The Federation, sent out to wherever starfleet sees fit. Not merely the long arm of Starfleet power, but a very real, very tangible piece of the FEDERATION itself. A city that can just be sent and parked wherever it's needed.
@@vp21ct ah. Something akin to the way the US uses our bigger carriers?
I always liked and thought this as well. She's a mini starbase that's warp capable. But the show treated it as a nice ship instead of a massive mobile base.
Also it was so chock full of warp capable shuttles to do the most of the charting of systems and relay back to the Galaxy. It has plenty of room. I been on board with it being a genrational ship. The enterprise was mostly to show off what the frederation had accomplished as well as being its flagship. But an Average galaxy class would be mostly the former .
@@afterglow-podcast Not merely warp capable. She was, at the time of her construction, the fastest ship in Starfleet, thanks in large part due to having the largest, most powerful warp core that had ever been built up to that point.
In fact, I would argue that this is why the Galaxy class never actually got sent on it's INTENDED missions. She was just so fast, and so powerful, that when starfleet needs to send something, "Send a Galaxy Class" tends to be the best available answer.
@@stargazerblue186 It could even be split in two, so the saucer could stay parked in orbit of a friendly planet or station, while the engineering hull was used for scouting or coming to the air of an embattled shuttle, while leaving the civilians and diplomats and science specialists in safety and comfort.
It was explained by the show runners decades ago (feels like yesterday but I'm old), its a multi-role long term explorer. Starfleet was retiring its aging fleet but they didn't want specialized ships, they wanted a ship that could do it all. It can explore, transport colonist, disaster relief, etc. It was meant to go on multi year missions without having to return for supplies or refit.This ship is the height of Star Fleets arrogance that gets crushed in Wolf 359 and then the Dominion War, thats why after the Federation goes back to smaller and more specialized ships
Edit- In reference to the Enterprise, easy answer is she is the big stick and she was placed near Romuln and Klingon space as a show of force. Klingons made fun of her luxury but never her battle capabilities
Although we never had a good look at the inside of an Ambassador class (other than the bridge), we have seen a good deal of the interior of Excelsior class ships (Star Trek 3-6, Voyager). In the Excelsior class the Captain's room was TINY. All he had was a twin bed and about 10x10 feet to walk around in. Heck, ensigns were crammed at least 6 to a room in bunk beds. Even the Defiant class had more room per person than that. I think the Galaxy class was a flex in making the ship A LOT more livable than previous generations.
The federation never stopped building smaller and more specialized ships, even when the Galaxy Class was planned and built.
To say that Galaxy Class ships were crushed in the Dominion War also feels oversimplified. The USS Odyssey was rammed by a Jem Hadar fighter after it took a massive beating because the Federation shields were useless against dominion weaponry. Every other starfleet vessel of the time would've likely fared far worse. After the galaxy class was refitted for the war it was the backbone of the fleet in a lot of engagements. After the dominion war the federation also built large ships like the Odyssey class (which the Enterprise F belonged to).
@Scitch87 if your referring to the Project Galaxy ships (New Orleans, Challenger, Freedom etc) from everything I read they were small batch ships made more for test beds except for the Nebulas which became important with their mission packs.
I didn't mean to suggest the Galaxy were beat down, it's just this was a numbers game and the Dominion were able to build more small ships faster, they kept building Galaxies but they could punch out more Sabres, Akiras, Steamrunners, etc than the Galaxy. In some "canon" and beta Canon stories the Galaxy was something Cardassians avoided when possible
@@Psycodiver69 Starfleet tends to build a do everything starship every generation. And they are typically marked as a class by having an Enterprise in her number. The concept is consistently proven. Starfleet engineers are nothing if not problem solvers, so when something comes up that the do everything ship is ill suited to, they build something small to fill the gap until the next do everything ship that has that problem solved is ready. So you get a Galaxy, add variable Borg, solution=Defiant, reviews complete, build Sovereign.
The Galaxy was designed as a literal generational leap forward, a foundation for everything that came after, and the designers were basically pushing to see just how far they could push on the bleeding edge. So the ship has maxed out everything, MAX engines, MAX power, MAX weapons, MAX shields, MAX space, MAX science labs, MAX sensors, MAX computer power, MAX luxuries, MAX family accommodation, MAX Captain. They probably went a bit overboard, but they were trying to do a ship that would last a century, a new Excelsior caliber ship.
@@3Rayfire I totally agree, the fact we don't see any in the Picard series really upsets me, even at that time it should STILL be the premier explorer ship, it has plenty of room for upgrades to keep it current.
If i remember right, the original writer's bible that David Gerrold, Farpoint was the absolute furthest humanity explored. The rest of the series was going on a "reverse Voyager" where they would explore and come back something like 20 years later. It's also why families were aboard the ship because the mission was going to be too long to separate families. We also weren't going to see any of the original races unless one of those races caught up to the Enterprise.
and with the original TNG warp scale go to the another 2 cuadrants sems more logical
I want to watch that show.
Was also hinted at when on a return to Earth that it was said to be rare and unexpected for any Galaxy class ship to return to the nest. They were intended to keep going or to seed a new base someplace far away.
That actually makes a lot of sense when you look at the plot of the first episode.
@@charlesmaurer6214 The term 5 or in the case of the Galaxy class 20 means that it leaves it's planet of registry and doesn't return for 20 years UNLESS something happens to the planet, like the Borg invasion, or it's too damaged to be repaired by a Starbase facility and has to go back to the "factory", like the "E" at the end of "Nemesis".
I was thinking for a moment that that would imply that Starfleet thought the existing Ambassadors, Excelsiors, Constellations Mirandas would be enough to hold the line in the event of war with Klingons or Romulans, but then I realized, that's what the Nebulas are for: Galaxy-class tech in a package optimized for shorter trips and more intense combat, with a Miranda-like modularity of mission pods mounted above the main hull.
A great point you made, the Galaxy Class is huge and powerful, but the Nebula is dynamic and efficient, especially in combat with its more compact profile and modular Pods, which is why the Phoenix was so effective in its attacks in Cardassian space.
The Nebula isn't that much smaller than the Galaxy. In fact with the mission pod I'd be willing to bet that the Nebula actually has a larger mass and internal volume. Just like the Miranda is actually larger than the Constitution when looking at volume.
@@jpc347 I believe you are correct about that. Someone has done a volume sheet based on the best models he could find. The Nebula class without the pod is just missing the neck of the Galaxy class. You add the pod and the pylon it sits on, it becomes larger. However based on what we think on how shield tech works, you would think the shield bubble would be more powerful due to if all things being equal between the two classes, the Nebula class would have a smaller shield bubble but equal amount of energy going into it. I guess you could say 15-25% more powerful.
@@jpc347yet the Nebula is described as being slightly smaller than the Galaxy in most sources. I reconcile these facts by assuming these sources were referring to the stock model without any pod installed.
The Nebula class is what happens when a Miranda class knocks up a Galaxy class.
I see the light purple on those satellites. Iconian time, babyyyyy.
It’s awesome that you posted this video because recently I was thinking that the Galaxy class was originally designed for missions that could be generational in nature. I’m not surprised that the original Galaxy class was a potential launch point for a new series either. In my opinion, the Galaxy is best served as a command cruiser, sort of like a mobile star base. I agree that the enterprise likely was meant to serve that role as a true flagship on long term task force missions. It seems you have a lot of the same ideas. :)
The Enterprise J was universe class lol. Does that mean it visited other galaxies LOL. It was huuuuuuge.
@BazT47 ... If we're going off of the ... Discovery canon... than it would seem no.
The Discovery makes an extragalactic jaunt out, and it's mentioned that Starfleet, until the... spore drive... lacked the ability to pierce the galactic barrier without unusual outside alien interference.
@@Simmons8519 Yes that happemed in Disco. Aliens, you mean like God. Who needs a starship lol.
@@BazT47 God, the Kelvins from the Andromeda galaxy... the walking amber alert that was the Traveler...
Yeah, things like that.
@@BazT47 I mean, the background information from the designer of the Universe-class said it had some new space-folding warp technology and did indeed explore other galaxies. Doubt it's canon but still pretty cool.
No, I don't see Discovery or anything from Kurtzman Trek as canon. At least not canon to the prime universe. It's clearly some weird parallel reality.
The group of ships you have featured is pretty slick.
2 Miranda…
1 Excelsior…
1 Galaxy….
Pretty capable little unit right there.
Nicely done.
Gives me aircraft carrier and it's carrier strike group feel..
The Mirandas are flying plot devices for the Galaxy crew to find abandoned or destroyed, and the Excelsior shuttles important people to and from the Galaxy, just like on TNG!
Capable but slightly incomplete. The task force needs 4 - 6 destroyer class vessels for picket/scouting duties and possibly a frigate with Starfleet Marines onboard (aka a Northampton), especially if you're heading out on a long-range exploration mission. J/S
For long term missions I wouldn‘t mix design eras for maintenance reasons. To minimize the amount of non-replicable spart parts that might be needed, I‘d only use ship classes born out of the Galaxy program. Not only would that reduce the variety of parts, it would also be easier for engineers to transfer between ships without having to adjust to different machinery everywhere they go.
would have been better with Akira and intrepid class make the whole fleet more modern🤣🤣
The size of the Galaxy class is largely about showing the flag and diplomacy. It is the same reason why we might send an aircraft carrier and used to send battleships on a port visits especially to places that might not be 100% friendly. It's a way of showing how big and powerful the Federation is. This thing is stuffed to the gills with the latest tech and luxuries it is a flying city and is incredibly expensive It's about impressing but also telling people not to fuck about and find out as it also has big teeth. It's classic naval defence diplomacy in space. This thing is a very big not so subtle statement of intent if one of these rocks up at your door you listen and you listen hard. It's both an iron fist and a velvet glove
What always makes me angry about this, though, is the civilians. They put the civilians on the Enterprise in danger CONSTANTLY, and almost never even made mention of it. So much so that I think, if it were real life, they'd have canceled the civilian aspect of the ships almost immediately and crewed them solely with Starfleet personnel. It's just way too dangerous.
@@TheRogueX that's why she has the saucer seperation move. civies go into the saucer as the stardrive went to fight
@@Revkor Perhaps so, but the saucer operating alone is incredibly vulnerable. With no warp capability it is limited to sub-light speeds, basically immobile with limited power, shielding and weapons. If an opponent detected it either during or after separating from the "Battle Section," it becomes a sitting duck unable to get those same families to safety, a two million ton "clay pigeon."
@@robertf3479 depends where it was dropped off. not saying there is an issue but again first ship to do this and reattach without a ship yard.
@@TheRogueX Thing is that the realpolitik element is background to Starfleet's primary function. The ship is supposed to go on twenty year deep space exploration missions. Nobody is going to leave their kids for twenty years, this ship removes that as an issue.
Also, I'm sorry but staying planet side is not a safe thing in Star Trek. You can never tell when a giant space amoeba, indestructible omnicidal ice cream cone, Earth space probe that has achieved sentience with no corresponding ability to value organic life, telepathic fried egg with an attitude, passing black whole, or hostile alien race might just cruise by a planet. Or something banal like an asteroid, moon, or stellar core fragment might threaten to tear your planet's crust apart. The Klingon's almost wasted themselves with crappy mining safety. Frankly being on a starship in an interstellar society is like flying, despite the occasional plane crash it's still statistically the safest way to travel.
That said, you're right, considering the size, I think the very first thing any refit of the Galaxy should have is a few Danube class Runabout warp cores installed in the saucer section so she can have her own warp drive. No saucer warp drive, that was dumb.
Obviously, someone discovered where all the missing socks we lose when doing laundry. So, they decided to build a ship to go and get them back.
The Galaxy class being a deep space exploration ship does make sense, it has all the facilities to keep it's crew happy and healthy far from any space dock. The idea of a small fleet of ships supporting one is also a cool idea too.
The cut-out on the underside of the hull would be perfect for carrying two smaller ships, similar in size to the Saber, or Defiant. Having such an explorer be a mother ship to a pair of smaller, but very capable ships would be very useful.
Yeah, the galaxy class operating in the same capacity as a US aircraft carrier in a naval carrier group, surrounded by escorst and support ships is the impression I always had for the Galaxy class, except for long range, long duration peaceful exploration rather than defense.
One minor critique of the video is that you said the "area of interest" that the galaxy class intended for was only a year at warp away from Earth.
By the 24th century according to manuals polublished during the airing of the Next Generation, Federation space had become so vast that it would take multiple years to go from one end of its widest border to the other...
If you're going forward with the "where no one has gone before" concept here, the area of interest should be months or years beyond THAT instead.
And in suggestion, the cruisikg speeds and maximum warp factor of the Galaxy class was notably higher than ships like the Miranda and Excelsior classes, at least until the Borg attack and Dominion war seemed to motivate Starfleet to overhaul these older vessels to add to fleet strength and numbers.
So i would suggest that any fleet accompanying a Galaxy class would have to be one of the rarely ever seen "modern" ships of the era that came out of the Galaxy class development program: the Cheyenne, New Orleans, Apollo, Freedom, Challenger and of course the Nebula class, simply in order to keep up.
And because most of these ships were still smaller and less advanced than the Galaxy, having the new flagships of the Federation as the fleet command ships still makes sense. With the galaxy class acting as a kind of starbase surrogate in the region from which the rest of the fleet could be deployed from and return to for rest and repairs while the Galaxy itself set up a small ground based starbase of a suitable planet from which long term operations could be hadled, and for subsequent fleets to arrive at and bouild up, should the region prove interesting enough upon analysis to warrant a greater Federtion presence.
Geeze, you've got my fanfic gears going... One thing that always bothered me about ST is the fact that starships never went out in convoy groups like you'd see in most navies (even nowadays you have multiple ships operating in a single location due to how they are designed). I'd definitely need to study up on the outfit of the Federation in the 2360s, but I'm in complete agreement with the use of the Galaxy-class as a fleet flagship with several smaller ships flying in support for extreme deep-space missions.
Now, to be fair to Picard, as he is the ambassador and negotiator for the Federation, it would make sense to give him command of the largest ship in the fleet as a sort of power symbol ("Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.")
In TNG it did happen once (Redemption Pt 2, the Enterprise commanded a convoy of starship classes to the Klingon/Romulan neutral zone) and in DS9 it became common during the Dominion war.
The Galaxy-class is a command exploration battlecruiser, capable of acting as a mobile base when needed. The class was used extensively in all these roles in various combinations before, during, and after the Dominion War.
Very good video.
The cut-out on the underside of the secondary hull, would have been perfect for carrying two Defiant class ships.
Or an Intrepid class
@@D-GM-Snyper2 Now that I think about it, they could probably ferry around 4 Oberth science ships in that spot. What a true explorer that would be, ferrying the Oberths to a key sector, and sending them off to map out the area. They would be able to cover so much more space.
@@nunya3163 As long as nothing ever hits the Oberths.
If you're talking about the concave arc at the bottom of the hull, that's where the most critical and sensitive systems of the ship are; the antimatter end of the warp core, the antimatter storage pods, and the emergency antimatter generator. That's not a place I'd want to have ships externally docked while at warp.
A redesign might be able to accomodate that idea though...
Ever heard of the Captain's Yacht?
Something mentioned in the TNG technical manual CA 1995, is that about two-thirds of the secondary hull is empty space just waiting to be configured for future mission needs.
I've always imagine the galaxy in the role of being basically a mobile star base. The thing is big enough enough that it can easily carry not just it's own crew but easily handle the extra load of crews for a couple defiant classes as given how unsuitable that ship is for long range missions so they can rotate on and off. It's hanger easily has the space a lot support craft like worker bees for maintenance of itself and other ships. And it seems like the kind of ship that'd have industrial grade replicatiors as standard or at least the space and extra power for them.
Personally i think it's a ship that'll live long behind the lines frontline days are over all big replenishment ship
Give it a couple dozen runabout sized drone probes capable of high warp speed and maintaining cruising speed for at least a week or more, the ship could then survey far more at once.
Watching Voyager, I remember thinking, “Gee, they’re stuck in this tiny ship on the far side of the GALAXY. Wouldn’t it have been convenient if a GALAXY class ship had gone instead? It seems like it was literally built to circumnavigate the Galaxy.”
Ive always seen the later Odyssey class as a true second attempt at what they wanted the galaxy class to do while having it prepared to take up the roles that the galaxy class had to take up during its years of service.
At that, it is a fitting name to the class, since the USS Odyssey (NCC-71832) was possibly meant to fill that role, but was cut down by a force of ships specialized in combat and conquest. Naming an entire class of ships after a ship of exploration lost in combat, which itself was named after the poetic epic of Homer, about Odysseus who seeks to overcome the curse of the gods and return home, is its own type of poetic justice.
@@HuntingTarg yup sure is, now if canon treated the class with the respect it deserved....
I've been enjoying SNW. But I don't like prequels. I have thought for ages now that instead of a TOS prequal that crew would have better suited for a post Picard Odessey based series. Same actors, different characters. The Federation desperate to show that it's dark days are behind it putting out an Odessey Class Enterprise with a idealistic Captain to show the Galaxy that Starfleet is back in the exploration game. If you throw in Disco' season 2 Anson Mount has shown he would have been the perfect great haired poster boy Captain for the Federation to roll out after Picard. Post DS9 there would still be enough tension with the Klingons to have that conflict, and it's easy to do a whole: Vulcan dealing with some issues storyline with any Vulcan so it didn't need to be Spock. I think they missed a chance to move the universe on in a fun and meaningful way.
Surprised you didn’t bring up the Ambassador-class, because sizing wise it’s also quite a bit smaller than the Galaxy-class.
the ambassador is huge. it's like between 60% and 2/3 as large as the galaxy by habitable volume, depending on what sources you use, so the ambassador could easily do years-long missions, too.
but the writing on star trek is often dumb af.
Realistically, they would have made a lot more of the Ambassador-class because being smaller than the Galaxy-class, it would have been easier to build.
If Starfleet was more of an actual fleet, they would have sent out their ships in squadrons of some sort or another, like you propose.
Imagine if you had squadrons of 1 capital ship, 2 medium cruisers, and 4 scouts. They would explore or patrol and support each other. Say you’ve got 4 Mirandas, just zipping through every star system in their designated area, looking for the anomaly of the week. 2 Excelsiors back them up, doing more thorough investigations of anything peculiar or bailing them out when said anomaly starts causing issues. The Galaxy sits back, coordinates, and acts as a mobile starbase. It is the most well-defended ship in the squadron, but that is *because* it houses the families of the crew on the other 6 ships, along with support facilities. Maybe it hangs out in orbit over some outpost or new colony, assisting the groundside needs in addition to coordinating the squadron’s mission. Almost a colony ship, but not quite.
And maybe you go with 2 capital ships. Say 1 Galaxy class and 1 Ambassador class. The second capital ship would be the one sent in to address the really serious issues, where a real bruiser of a ship is required.
Oh, and also: Starfleet could use this system of organization to cycle through their new designs. With older designs moving down a tier, as appropriate. Maybe in Kirk’s time, its a squadron of 1 Connie w/ 2-3 Saladins or Hermes (later replaced with Mirandas). Then, an Excelsior could lead a squadron of a mix of Connies and Mirandas. When the Excelsiors and Mirandas are the bulk of the fleet, the Ambassador can come into its own. However, the design is not revolutionary enough to set it apart from the Excelsiors, so the Galaxy is designed specifically as a platform for coordinating Excelsiors from.
The Galaxy could be a literal mother ship. The cut out on the underside of the secondary hull would be perfect for a pair of Defiant or Saber class ships, or something of similar size. Imagine being able to transport the two smaller ships to a given region, and then dispatch them to explore/patrol the area, with the Galaxy acting as home base.
by TNG as well Starfleet became very egotistical, believeing they had no real threat at the time so it was mostly a flex and was a sign of major stagnation though the theories being shared is always great
@@CMVBrielman by the time they got their act together I felt like the sovereign became the backbone with intrepids, akiras and defiants feeling in those roles honestly.
@@SuperGamefreak18 Nothing says these squadrons have to be identical, of course. Or even have identical purposes. You could have tactical, short-range exploration, and long-range exploration, along with plenty others.
And since so many starfleet ships are multi-purpose, this would make it easier to build squadrons for a given purpose. One squadron could be repurposed just by switching out one ship. You’ve got an Excelsior with 2 Mirandas, charting a nebula well within Federation space. Replace the Excelsior with a Sovereign, and now they can patrol the Neutral Zone.
I'm of the belief that Section 31 had a hand in designing the Galaxy Class. They could easily have laid the groundwork for a militarized fleet while keeping the larger Federation in the dark.
Just look at how effective the class was in the Dominion War when Starfleet got off their butts and actually kitted them up correctly. More space for shields/weapons and possibly fighters/drone-craft.
Heck, you could even use the ship as a mobile barracks given the sheer number of people the class can hold.
I wish Section 31 was never invented. Yes, it resulted in a few enjoyable episodes in DS9, but at what cost? In hindsight, not worth it!
@Tuning3434 It made sense to leave the shady nature of government agencies in the universe. It also helped to show that the "perfect" humanity was just a veneer. It helped me accept the humanity of humans in Star Trek.
Eh... not a fan of that idea.
Rather perfer the idea to this day that the Galaxy class was an outward sign of Starfleet's hubris...
They thought at the time, according to both Picard and Q in the episode "Q who?" that they were so ahead of the game, that their technolgy, defensive systems and tactics and diplomatic abilities had progressed so far that their was no problem too big for ghem to safely solve, so why not fly a small starbase with kids, schools and all the comforts of home out into the unknown?
After all, even Riker im "Peak performance" bragged about how he felt that training in ship-to-ship battle was such a "minor provence" as to be almost unworthy of taking the time to do so.
The Federation of this era WOULD build something Like the Galaxy, just because they COULD.
@@chrisdufresne9359 i always took Section 31 - at least in DS9 - to not be the reality of the Federation, but rather the devil on its' shoulder, taking advantage of moments of weakness.
@@Simmons8519 Not only is it the most fitting answer but it's also the canonical one. Given the fact that Q himself introduced the Enterprise to the Borg precisely because he found humanity to be too arrogant yet conversely woefully unprepared for the true horrors that lurked in deep space.
The Borg is the main reason Starfleet basically ended the 5 years mission program because Starfleet didn't want to send ships into the uncharted space from federation space because they vessel would probably run into a Borg cube and get assimilated and the growing treat from the Romulan star empire so yeah Starfleet stoped exploring for a while.
The Enterprise D is meant to be show piece .....dealing with Diplomacy Exploration and fighting if need be. She's meant to show off the abundance and the power of the Federation
I completely agree with you on this concept, there is something that always bothered me about the Galaxy class and the Enterprise in particular in that we rarely see it being the Flagship of a task force or the like like how we typically think of flagships in modern navies. Not until DS9 with the Galaxy Wings do we see this play out so would have been amazing to see the Enterprise and its task force of recurring characters and ships
Thinking of it as a flagship in a modern navy was the first error. It's much more pioneering age of sail type stuff than Modern Navy. Hence the old trope that the Enterprise is "the only ship within range". As opposed to Star Wars which is all about the World War II aesthetic.
4:35 Like a continuing mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before? Like that kind of mission? Oh, I'm excited!
I remember reading somewhere that the Galaxy class was originally going to be a twin warp core design, but later in its development phase, it was downsized to a single warp core.
Love the vids…
Love the format…
Love all of it as it relates to Trek.
I appreciate what you and am thankful for your efforts!
No. Damned. Doubt!
Keep it up!
Please!
The Galaxy Class was designed for long term, extreme distance deep space exploration. It was supposed to go 20 years before its first refit and have a service life of 100 years. They've explained this on the show and other media
I actually wrote a fanfic, years ago, where the USS Galaxy was modified for the Galaxy Project, intended to send lone starships out on long range, long term exploration missions with minimal support and resupply. Part of the modification was adding a third warp nacelle for greater warp speed and duration, a big phaser cannon in case they ran into a threat like the Borg, etc, basically resulting in the refit we see in All Good Things.
From my understanding and the research I've done in the past, the Galaxy class was the final stage of Starfleet's plan of creating a ship to properly replace the Constitution class as the heart of the Federation fleet. The Excelsior class was initially supposed to do this, but after the failure of the transwarp drive it never quite recovered. Despite the Excelsior being a very reliable ship, it never quite lived up to the performance of the Constitution class. The Ambassador Class was the first step and was a test bed for a lot of new and innovative technological advancements. Once these were proven to be a resounding success the long process of designing the Galaxy Class begun.
The idea, as I see it, is the Galaxy Class is supposed to be Starfleet's Golden Goose. A powerhouse that could form the heart of the Federation's defense in wartime, or perform long range exploration missions like the Constitution had. There were plenty of multipurpose vessels in Starfleet but the Galaxy was intended to be the ultimate form of this type of ship. Sure it would have to be replaced but it would serve quite a long time like the Constitution had back in its day. There were few ships that were as powerful or as efficient as the Constitution class was.
Now as for the story idea you discussed, I do quite like it. I don't think it makes sense to design a ship like the Galaxy class specifically for this, but it would easily fit this kind of role. It would make sense that after the Galaxy Class was launched, a smaller vessel found a cluster of stars quite a ways from Federation space that seemed to contain the remnants of an ancient space faring civilization. Maybe it could be that what they did find from smaller ships that explored the outskirts of this region is that the civilization was very old, older than anything they've seen to date but the region is too dangerous for these smaller ships to explore too deeply on their own.
There could be wild speculation that maybe this is an untouched region of space that once belonged to the Progenitors given how old some of what they found was. This would make the idea of exploring this region of space a top priority only interrupted by other concerns that threaten the Federation, something that would require the Galaxy Class to perform one of the roles it was designed for, to be the front line of Starfleet's defense of the Federation. It would make the Galaxy both the idea choice for this mission, but also make Starfleet hard pressed to spare one when it could be used to protect Starfleet should the Romulans or the Borg become a problem.
It’s a good idea however there is an issue I believe that the USS Galaxy was shown in DS9 during the dominion war battle scenes so it probably will have to be a different Galaxy class potentially one not seen on any of the trek series.
You're talking baout the Odyssey is that right? You might be right, Of course this seems like a minor thign we could uncanon if it must be the Galaxy.
@@resurrectedstarships apologizes for barging into this discussion, but USS Galaxy was seen twice in DS9(the first time at Chin'Toka, and the second time over Cardassia). She was also part of the Battle Group that was on-route to Enterprise-E in Nemesis. Maybe Galaxy was sent out AFTER the Dominion War, maybe as part of Starfleet's attempt to pivot back to Exploration?
@@resurrectedstarships The USS Galaxy was at the 1st battle of Chin'Toka. It is seen on screen (in Tears of the Prophets) exchanging fire with a Cardassian weapons platform.
@@resurrectedstarships a lot of Galaxy class appeared during the Dominion war - in some shots so many of them that Starfleet must have restarted construction of them as after the loss of Yamato, Enterprise, and Odyssey there were only three left (plus frame stage only for a few provisional more).
@@resurrectedstarships the USS Galaxy was also a part of Task Force Omega in Nemisis
I was really hoping that we would see the Galaxy class in Star Trek Discovery's final season as Burnham looks for clues on their treasure hunt.
Instead we get a Romulan scout ship not seen since ST:TNG "The Defector" (1990)
We got the ISS Enterprise but it's a messy canon suggesting it was an Alternate Universe of Alex "ManDark" Kurtzman.
We can't have nice things anymore...
that show was alternate from the start, they bait and switched
Well, since Discovery isn't actually Star Trek, I'm not surprised.
The galaxy class was meant for extreme deep space exploration. Like 30 to 40 year missions. However romulans the borg and Dominion threw that out the window but the galaxy did have a perfect role on the battlefield as a commamd, control and carrier ship since its sensor and communication systems were the best in the fleet.
In star trek online the galaxy found a new purpose as a colony set up ship. It would provide new colonies the resources and protection they needed until a starbase was built or the colony grew enough to defend itself.
She was a deep space explorer for missions of a decade or longer, but the writers constantly pulled stories out their ass that returned to Earth's backyard.
Voyager wasn’t meant to be a long term ship of exploration-it just got stuck out there, with constant power and supply shortages. The Galaxy was, and for deep space exploration at that. It was meant to be away for 20 years at a time, and I like to think that many were. Many others were mobile starbases, and, when needed, battleships.
The Galaxy Class was the command ship for Wolf 359 for a reason. We know.
except there was no galxy there. those could be neublas
@@Revkor Admiral Hanson's communique from Wolf 359 was from a Galaxy class battle bridge. His ship was completely destroyed in the battle which is why there's no wreckage of her. But the script indicated it was a Galaxy class. There were several Nebulas though.
@@3Rayfire the part that threw me, from the first time I watched BOBW through to the mind boggling number of times I have watched since, is one of the LCARS panels behind Hanson is a TOS era display which suggested he was still on the same Excelsior he rendezvous with the Enterprise in earlier even though it also seemed he was on a Galaxy battle bridge. It was also said it was intended that Hanson commanded a Galaxy. My brain has never being able to reconcile the differences as no Galaxy would have been running such an old version of the OS and the producers didn't intentionally install it for no reason... it's like there were conflicting ideas between the production staff.
@@tillsy1701 The Red Alert? I mean I guess. It never fazed me as I like that old graphic.
@@3Rayfire no it was not. for it it was why was he not using thew battle bridge or the main bridge? Note we see both in the episode and Hanson is clearly not using either. at this time there would be 5 galaxys remotely operational and 2 were reserved as spares. and SINCE hanson arrived to the Enterprise in an Excelsior it was likely he was still using it. a script draft may point to a galaxy but scripts can be ignored or changed.
The coolest theory I've ever heard. This is the type of idea that I love so much that I want to consider it cannon. It just gives the Galaxy class so much purpuse and it feels like that special mission would be the type of event that carries out simmilar importance to the Wolf 359 battle or the Mars attack.
I love the 3D models you make. They give me a very inspiring feeling to everything you say.
Perhaps the Galaxy was dual use? I think you've pointed out how >Vast< the Galaxy class is compared with its crew complement of 1000. (Either you or EC Henry) Perhaps the Galaxy class was also used by Section 31 as a secret mobile base? Those ships are so huge, entire departments could be hidden onboard. Especially if the technology used for observing less advanced planets without violating the Prime Directive is utilized to aid this purpose.
The Galaxy-class could carry up to 6,000 people, I imagine as a military ship it could serve very well, with Section 31 having a modified version of it similar to the alternate timeline's Galaxy-X.
@@Obiwan7100 Section 31 could have had its own ships. But in particular, I was thinking that Section 31 could also have hidden onboard the Enterprise-D or other Galaxy class ships.
Just no. No Section 31 please.
@@Obiwan7100 Yeah Probert designed her with a 6000 crew compliment. She has an emergency evacuation capacity of 15,000 which is, that's a lotta people.
Nobody successfully 'hides' or stows away on a space vessel for very long, esp. one with internal sensors. The risks of being discovered by a crew and a potentially righteously angry captain are enormous. Dummy mission specialties, aliases, and cover stories are probably a better strategy.
This is the most intelligent and well thought out theory that I’ve come across for the purpose of the Galaxy class starship.
Your idea would make for a fascinating television series.
It’s just a shame that the producers and writers of new Trek can’t come up with these sorts of ideas.
what you proposed wouldn't apply. The Galaxy was already in the Dominion War. We even get to see her at the first battle of Chin'toka. She was also mention in Insurrection as part of battle group 15 waiting for the Enterprise E to come through the Nebula to take of the Scimitar. So yeah, her being lost for several years and then being recovered after the end of the Dominion War wouldn't work.
I absolutely love RLM's Star Trek Galaxy video. It's my happy thought when the topic of the abysmal modern Trek comes up.
This idea of yours about what the Galaxy class could have been designed for is brilliant and a perfect companion to that RLM video.
If only the people making the actual shows were this creature with the IP.
Maybe they'll find out. That's the location where the doomsday machine from the original star. Trek actually came from. Perhaps they'll be several. They're waiting around and one just simply wandered off on its own, possibly from some other effect. Maybe a rogue planet or something similar? That caused it to fall out of its normal Position, and that would be interesting because so far we have not. Proud out anything else about the dim's day machine.
Very cool video, it makes sense that the Enterprise was always kept deep within Federation space, Since Kirks "Historic" 5-year mission, all ships named Enterprise are Flagships of Starfleet. The ship is more of a symbol of the Federation than an actual Starfleet ship.
It may be that other Galaxy classes were scheduled for long term missions outside of federation space but the various threats that started to appear so soon after Enterprise was launched made Starfleet change its mission requirements for the class, and once the threats became more Immedient Starfleet accelerated the buildup of the class. If one of the roles of the class was as a command-and-control ship, there would only be a couple of the class assigned to various fleets during the Dominion war, and not the entire wings of dedicated galaxy class ships as seen on screen. The environment of the world that the various writers of Star Trek had grown had everyone see the Galaxy class change from an exploration ship to a front-line warship. and that line of thought continued with the Sovereign class.
Continuing with what the writers of Star Trek have shown we will not see a Enterprise explorer till Enterprise J.
One of the underrated features of the Galaxy-class is it's main computer. It's gigantic with enormous storage and processing. Sensors and communications are useless without a computer system to cope with the information load. Whether it's exploring or clearing interference from an enemy's jammers or cloaking device, the Galaxy-class is probably the best equipped to handle it in Starfleet, even with the introduction of newer ships and technologies. The sheer size and complexity of it would be difficult to outmatch.
This lends to the idea that it's a ship of the line, able to scan and dictate the field of battle with long range bombardments, both with phasers and torpedoes.
I like the idea that's been hypothesized here, I never thought about that possibility of the Galaxy Class' purpose, but it does make a lot of sense.
Wow, the Federation did it, they found the Forerunners
I tend to look at shows like Star Trek in comparison to actual history. Instead of classifying ships in type groups like we had in WWII, I would look back further to around 1800 and the Napoleonic era. C.S. Forrester's "Captain Hornblower" is credited with being one of Gene Roddenberry's inspirations.
The original Constitution class NCC-1700 parallels the USN's Constitution class heavy frigate with smaller ships like the Miranda class or Klingon D-7 becoming lighter frigates (i.e. HMS Java or Guerriere,) themselves fast and capable ships.
Larger and heavier ships (Excelsior) parallel the heavier Ships of the Line (60 to 80 gun two gundeck battleships) with the largest (Ambassador & Galaxy) equivalent to the largest and most powerful (as well as incredibly expensive) three and four deck ships like HMS Victory of 103 guns, USS Pennsylvania of 120 to 130 guns (1837 - look her up) and Santisima Trinidad of 120 guns.
Even the heaviest and most powerful ships of the earlier times could and were deployed independently but were at their best as Flagships of battle fleets.
How about instead of some mystery box BS where we uncover all the adventures of a life time second hand with every episode ending on a clif hanger we instead make a show ABOUT the adventure of a life time?
Guess they didn't want either...
Best mysteries in story telling are the ones that are actually tangible and solvable! I also abhore the 'mystery box' method....there shoudl be something ni the box! Even if the something is another box!
@@resurrectedstarships Absolutely. Unless the nesting doll box is purely to stall up a huge nothing burger.
Either way the box is not a place to put a "once in a life time adventure". If it's really that cool make that the main story. I can't fathom (other than budgeting reasons maybe) why you would make a movie about a guy hearing a second and story about the greatest adventure ever instead of making that adva run into the movie itself.
5:30 Oh my god I had that exact same Idea. Wow fantastic. Good to see a nice idea prove itself on youtube. Nice video man! I thought the Galaxy class was suppose to be a carrier?
You got this wrong. The entire point of Voyager was fast, short missions. So no, it wasn't designed for 5y long missions.
Your points are sound across the board, and Galaxy class ships were always the command center for any fleet engagements for which they were involved. Being designed for missions such as described in the video are very good reasons for having such a ship design.
Forget your head canon. Roddenberry wanted a ship far larger and luxurious than the constitution and there we have it.
The USS Galaxy is seen on screen during the Dominion War in DS9. And in extended canon / beta canon, it is mentioned that the Galaxy spent much of its early career in or around the Sol system as a kind of technology test bed ship. So she was never actually lost.
I've read different sources on this over the years that state different numbers but essentially the Galaxy class was only ever built in small numbers (I'm talking on screen canon now). The USS Galaxy and USS Enterprise were part of the initial first four Galaxy classes built with a further 4 Galaxy class space frames built and put into storage for later construction,. But some other sources state that there were six initial Galaxy's built with a further 6 space frames put into storage.
These space frames were later built for the Dominion war but with a lot of crew amenities and science facilities omitted and missing to rush production. Additional cargo bays were added to carry the single seater star fighters Starfleet used in the war. These later ships also did not carry families or civilians.
Its only really in the books, comics etc where you see a lot more Galaxy class ships operating.
Hello all!
I've mentioned on other channels that it is incredibly weird that they didn't use the star drive to drop off the saucer for long term studies/ space station duty and then send the star drive to go pick up a new saucer, explore, or act as a defense ship. The galaxy class is by design modular; it should've had other options besides a saucer section at its disposal. The nebula has a sensor pod / weapons pod that should've been able to dock with a galaxy star drive to turn it into a giant version of the defiant.
Great video! A superthanks for crafting this.
One minor critique of the video is that you said the "area of interest" that the galaxy class intended for was only a year at warp away from Earth.
By the 24th century according to manuals polublished during the airing of the Next Generation, Federation space had become so vast that it would take multiple years to go from one end of its widest border to the other...
If you're going forward with the "where no one has gone before" concept here, the area of interest should be months or years beyond THAT instead.
And in suggestion, the cruisikg speeds and maximum warp factor of the Galaxy class was notably higher than ships like the Miranda and Excelsior classes, at least until the Borg attack and Dominion war seemed to motivate Starfleet to overhaul these older vessels to add to fleet strength and numbers.
So i would suggest that any fleet accompanying a Galaxy class would have to be one of the rarely ever seen "modern" ships of the era that came out of the Galaxy class development program: the Cheyenne, New Orleans, Apollo, Freedom, Challenger and of course the Nebula class, simply in order to keep up.
And because most of these ships were still smaller and less advanced than the Galaxy, having the new flagships of the Federation as the fleet command ships still makes sense. With the galaxy class acting as a kind of starbase surrogate in the region from which the rest of the fleet could be deployed from and return to for rest and repairs while the Galaxy itself set up a small ground based starbase of a suitable planet from which long term operations could be hadled, and for subsequent fleets to arrive at and bouild up, should the region prove interesting enough upon analysis to warrant a greater Federtion presence.
Intriguing proposition. Yes, a series or mini-series based around the USS Galaxy, that would work for me. I always loved the shape of the Enterprise-D, it's my favourite starship concept. I also wouldn't mind a series based around the Enterprise-J! That ship not only could host a flotilla of starships around it, it could hold those entire ships inside it!
To be honest, the first thought I remember having when I heard that the Enterprise-D was going to be this huge "city in space" (as the media referred to it at the time) with families and a huge capacity was that it was a colony ship rather than a TOS-style spearhead hero-ship like its predecesssor.
And to be honest, even as I grow older and start taking into account more logistical factors, that still feels like the most likely puropse - a smaller long-range scout-explorer vessel (like the forerunners of the USS Voyager) checks out some far-off system and finds a near-M-class world which (with maybe a little light terraforming) would make a great foothold in the new area, and once they report back a Galaxy-class ship is dispatched full of families, science labs and industrial replicators and equipped with many shuttles of various classes for a variety of roles (transport, reconnaissance, aerial cartography and surveying, etc).
With seemingly-overpowered combat capabilities, the Galaxy class vessel can not only act as a staging area for the initial forays to the surface but, once the first ground bases are established, can remain in orbit as a defensive presence until a more permanent solution can be built, just in case the system turns out to be more hostile than the scout-ship had experienced... after all, maybe the smaller craft just didn't catch the attention of the local xenophobic star empire on its fleeting visit, but a whole planet being colonised by unknown aliens in their backyard would likely make more waves. And once you've sent a Galaxy-class ship halfway across the quadrant loaded up with enough resources to basically build a civilization it's a bit more difficult to turn round and come home again, so once you've committed to the colony you're going to want to protect your investment.
And once you have some habitable homesteads you then have whole families on board ready to go who can populate the new world rather than starting from scratch. Depending on how long the journey was, they might have already started by the time they arrive!
All in all, it seems more straightforward and sensible that this was the intended purpose for the Galaxy-class. It still doesn't make much sense why the Enterprise-D is used in a first-response or force-projection role or as a diplomatic vessel, except for the obvious fact that while it's not _designed_ for any of these roles it _can do_ them all well. After all, if you're sending a single ship to build an entire colony, you want it to have the versatility to overcome any unforseen problems - especially if you''re a year-long warp journey from reinforcements.
Yes I do recall Roddenberry explaining in an interview once that the Enterprise-D was a "city in space" including families because it would be on a very long mission (the original premise being that the Enterprise wouldn't return to Earth until the end of its first 20 year mission, be refitted, and head out on another 20 year mission... rinse and repeat until decommission at 100 years). Like so many things about TNG the show evolved a LOT during its first few seasons while it found its feet.
First, let me say your renderings look awsome. Well done. As far as the Galaxy class ships are concerned, the federations fleet was getting a bit long in the tooth. They still were using Excelsior class vessels as their main workhorse at that time, due to its versatility and ability to be refit with newer tech( the Lakota comes to mind) as well as the Miranda class vessels that were new in Kirks time. The Ambassador class ships were few in number, but a good proving ground for what would eventually be the Galaxy class ships. The Ambassadors taught Starfleet they needed something more capable/powerful. The Galaxy's were indeed huge and made for long term exploration but also were necessary as Starfleet was pushing into unexplored areas so far from the Sol system that they had to be self sufficient for long periods of time. The Galaxy's were also used as political statements, deterents to would be challengers, and indeed needed to be heavily armed as the "unknown" brought new challenges that dictated such a large, powerful vessel. They learned a lot from Kirks 5 year missions, which in many cases was they were that there were much more powerful unknowns out there and its better to have and not need, than need and not have. Picard was perfect fit for the Galaxy Enterprise D. Part explorer, part military strategists, and part diplomat. This became clear once Q sent them to their first engagement with the Borg.
I think this might be a better idea for a computer game rather than a series. Allowing the audience to investigate the mystery would be more engaging than watching the cast investigate some old ruins for several episodes.
galaxy was made of glass until the war refits of the dominion war. then they were not to be messed with
As a life long Star trek fan, I do find your idea for the reason why the Galaxy class ship was built is quite interesting. I too have felt that this class of ship was never really used to its full potential!! That being said, It was one hell of a ship!!
This would be a truly interesting series that could be done. Even if it is just a mini-series that focused on the core elements of Trek. Thank you for the video and I would love to hear more thoughts and ideas of this nature.
Brings up a great point and a whole new direction for the show. Unless it's a particular circumstance, federation ships travel alone. Seeing more task force-type missions with several ships traveling together would be interesting.
I love your idea for the Galaxy Class.
One of my thoughts, is what the Odyssey Class was designed for. As it was meant to be the replacement for the Galaxy (The Sovereign was not meant to replace the Galaxy) and be a mobile command center in the center of a large fleet. So if that's what the Odyssey was for and replaced the Galaxy, I figure that bolsters your theory on the Galaxy Class.
It has been stated that the Odyssey was built in response to the Scimitar
I've never developed a taste for RLM, but the concept for that series sounds smooth.
B5 Crusade had something similar, but done not very good.
I don't have any ideas right now, but I expect wonders!
Amazing video!
I would love to see a series like this. The idea is similar to a fan pitch about a series that jumped to a nearby galaxy with a small fleet of ships
An interesting fan theory. One thing I never quite understood about Star Fleet is that they rarely had ships moving about in squadrons. Roddenberry often drew on his military experience for much of Star Trek's inspiration, but it wasn't often we saw Star Fleet ships of the line operating together like navies of the world. I think this could make for a fun story seeing the different vessels, and how they are utilized to their intended function within a fleet squadron.
I recall a trivia contest that stated that at the time the Galaxy class was launched, the Ambassador Class was the most prolific vessel in the Federation Fleet. I can only imagine that Starfleet saw success in larger exploration vessels, as they would have more labs and departments to facilitate exploration. This trend started with the success of the Constitution Class and its 10 labs - prompting the next generation of explorer to be even larger.. and the next generation followed suit and so on. I also believe that the Federation encountered and befriended alien organizations that helped influence the evolution of their vessels.
I like your theory about Starfleet sending Galaxies out to that very specific part of space to explore the abandoned worlds. It would certainly take a team to accomplish that sort of mission.
I have heard this theory, or at least a variation on it. That, the Galaxy Class, was designed and built for long-duration exploration into Darkest Space, going off the edge of the map to explore far off into completely uncharted space. However, they never got to do this, since Starfleet decided they didn't want to risk these very big, powerful ships and so kept them in Federation space or close to it, having them troop the flag, perform diplomatic missions to impress new potential member states and of course, to show potential enemies the scale and power of Starfleet to dissuade conflict with them.
A fascinating idea! And it makes a lot of sense.
I think a ship with the same kind of design philosophy, but much later and more advanced, would be used to explore another galaxy. It would take years to reach another galaxy, and so it would need a ship that can be a home for the crew and people aboard. It would be a decades long mission to make contact and explore one of the nearby galaxies and then return.
This is such an awesome idea for a series. The USS Galaxy and it's task force could be sent to a globular cluster, which is on the edge of the galaxy and whose stars are much older than the rest of the galaxy. This is actual characteristics of real globular clusters. The ancientness of the star systems is fertile ground for mysteries and story telling. Its distant location would make it a many-year mission. The task force would include supply ships, several Defiant class ships, Runabout class ships, and even a new shipyard ship. That's right, the taskforce can repair, upgrade, and even build new ships; and do it while at warp. This would be similar to a starship towing another starship using tractor beam, which was depicted several times in TNG and DS9 episodes. The shipyard ship can even tow an asteroid for resource gathering. Ships acquiring new capabilities would be the subject matter of various episodes and character developments, the ships themselves being characters. Politics within and outside the fleet will be a major feature of the show.
Your idea is interesting, and I think early concepts of the Galaxy class did conceive of it as a very long-range explorer that wouldn't return to UFP space for a generation or more, but that idea ultimately didn't materialise in the shows.
My own head canon is that the Galaxy in its Enterprise configuration was basically the luxury passenger transport version of a Galaxy Class. It still had weapons to defend itself because people are precious cargo in the UFP, and it still had science labs because Sf would put a science lab in a Type 6 Shuttle if they could, but its ideal role was transporting thousands of passengers to new colonies or evacuating people in an emergency.
Other patterns of Galaxy Class could've been fitted with fewer passenger quarters and more cargo space, or science labs, or medical facilities (think hospital ship), or even combat systems like shields and phaser arrays.
The saucer sections of Sf ships are generally seen as having been designed for modularity, a ship might get refitted to do it's current job better every few years but it could also be refitted to do a different job within the fleet.
While I can't support monetarily I happily will share this channel, you have a new subscriber
🖖😎👍Very totally cool and very nicely wonderfully well informatively explained and executed in every detail way shape and format provided on "Realvealing the True Purpose of the Galaxy Class!, And did the Enterprise Miss Out?"; A job very nicely fabulously well done indeed Sir!👌.
I appreciate the work you do making your graphics. As a PC hardware nerd it would be an interesting project learning some of what goes into revving up a properly specced machine and doing these. Speaking for myself anyway.
I'd love to think that the Galaxy was outfitted as you commented on a as a mobile command station but imagine its also equipped with its huge shuttle bay and expansive multiuse labs as a portable ship repair station. Then with the Romulans, Borg and eventually dominion threat, the Galaxy is deployed with some retrofitted Refit constitution class, Miranda class and Excelsior class ships. We already saw a very retrofitted Excelsior vs the Defiant in DS9 (Defiant vs Lakota) - it wouldn't be unreasonable to imagine Starfleet valuing this uncharted section of space enough to pull some ships out of mothballs, upscale them, and deploy them with a Galaxy as the center piece to be able to maintain and dispatch them within this long-term mission. I love the Trek universe!
There are several problems with that theory in particular what happened to the U.S.S. Galaxy:
Number 1:What you are describing sounds like a prelude to invasion as Starfleet doesn't do that sort of thing
Number 2:The Galaxy was involved in the Dominion War
Number 3:I highly doubt Starfleet Command would send civilians into dangerous areas
Number 4:Captain Jean-Luc Picard may love archeology but one thing he would never do is put innocent civilians in the line of danger
Number 5:The way you are describing the Galaxy Class as a warship because of all of it's weapons is all wrong with how the class was designed it was designed to be an explorer and with a majority of Starfleet officers being married the Galaxy Class was designed with families in mind so those officers can have their families on the same ship
Number 6:The Galaxy Class went from being explorers to military style command ships when the Dominion war started after the destruction of the U.S.S. Odyssey a Galaxy Class Starship that was destroyed by a Dominion Kamikaze attack
Number 7:If the supposed galaxy with a large number of M Class Planets did exist and Starfleet knew of it the Federation council would have been told about it
Intriguing video and well-developed. The ST: Galaxy concept of a federation starship far from home and having to be a mobile command base was before Voyager, which was able to explore a lot of those ideas, but from a castaway / rather desperate scenario.
A Galaxy taskforce to try out an unproven and largest yet capital ship, with years of planning, might have a number of differences from Voyager. It might have included one or more admirals, commodores, or fleet captains who commanded Galaxy as a flagship. You list the Galaxy-class as able to hold up to 6000 (!!) crew complements including families, so the Galaxy mission could have been a colonization taskforce. We've seen the Enterprise do a few colonizing missions, but not to the extent that the colony outnumbers the crew 5 to 1, and would be incredibly vulnerable to enemy attack or natural disasters. However, taking over an abandoned area of space, perhaps one with valuable resources like dilithium, or that was previously protected by a dead Empire like the Ikonians, seems very un-Starfleet and un-Federation-like, unless their help was requested by another race.
Another possibility could have been encountering a large area of unexplored space, like the Delphic Expanse or the Gamma quadrant (again, the Galaxy concept was before DS9 and the Enterprise series, which explored those ideas). A large taskforce would be needed because there is no starbase yet to refuel and resupply, and multiple starships needed to divide up the work of exploration and for safety. I like the idea of heading over to the capital ship on weekends for farmers markets and family recreation.
So I believe what you might be asking for is: what would a Galaxy prequel show be about, using the idea of the original Galaxy-class ship, that could be a viable modern ST show in 2024 doing something that hasn't been done before. You hint at a "ghost ship recovery" mission, perhaps led by Picard (or even better, by some other Picard-era captain rival like Jellico, or his nemesis at the academy, etc.). Maybe it's because it's October, but I propose the Galaxy has been abandoned. ST encounters godlike races often, but almost never are the crew are ever enticed to join them and abandon their Starfleet mission; I propose that the mystery of the Galaxy is that the crew *was* successfully tempted to abandon their duty. Over three or four seasons, we learn how an alien civilization not only seemingly befriended, coerced, enslaved, or otherwise convinced them at first that it was a better life, or that, in fact, their duty to Starfleet *required* them to leave a skeleton crew behind, join another interstellar state, and not re-establish communication with the rest of humanity.
What these reasons are, I leave to the capable fandom or a highly paid team of writers. Thanks for this prompt!
I think Picard’s old professor said it best when he called Picard a Centurion on the Frontier of the Empire.
The Galaxy is like a mobile colony or star base, capable of meeting any need, repairing or supporting anything in a limited fashion, and project support or power at need.
It is a rescue ship, a massive survey and exploration vessel at need. A generational ship for long term exploration if required, etc.
I think if a Galaxy was caught in a trap was said in the video, I think the defenses would have treated the crew like a disobedient child, strand them on a planet, reducing them to primitive levels out of a sense of stewardship for the upstart lesser species that came to their doorstep.
I could then see a derelict USS Galaxy left to go its way abandoned, and waiting to be found.
In addition to what @HistoryNut-1701 said. I'd like to point out that even if your hopping from one federation system to the next. The vast amount of the year is spent onboard. So even if the Enterprise is only a few hundred light years from home. The crew still needs to _LIVE_ onboard most of the year, year to year. In this case that would include children, who have their own needs apart from the adults. So you'll need accommodations necessary to stave of cabin fever for a large diverse group of people over a long period of time. Hence it's huge size.
Another way is simply watching the videos from start to end, that boost a channel's rating in the "algorithm"
If i was leading the starfleet design office i would have made use of this modular design by having mission specific saucer sections that could be swapped. The standard one is a good long term exploration module where families can be on board making the crew's years long tours away from home more bearable (the seperation feature being handy exactly as we see it used) But it could also be outfitted with "saucer" modules (they could ofc be totally different shapes)
- a battle module, a saucer with its own power system, extra shield generators, more photon launchers and phasors, maybe fighter bays or drone launchers, electronic warfare systems etc
-a colony base module, which is in essence a starter town including population, that can be detached upon arrival at the designated planet and then land with "one off" engines or some engine module that comes back up, or is capable of being remodeled into some small runabout like craft for the colonists.
-a troop transport saucer that can carry 8000 troops or a smaller number plus vehicles. Maybe such a saucer can detach and split into several landing craft. Troop version could also be used for colonist transport.
-speed saucer, one with extra warp engines and impulse engines for high speed missions or maybe "range saucer" with large amounts of fuel either for a tanker mission or for hyper long range missions.
-scan saucer Basically a huge scanning array for investigating areas where a stationary array is impractical.
-cargo/equipment saucer. for hauling large equipment, bulk cargo or even smaller vehicles and craft or space station parts
-base saucer, basically the central portion of a space station or starbase that can be delivered fully operational to the desired location and then expanded upon by the crew (using the above Cargo saucered galaxy classes for modules and materials)
-warhead saucer. Yup a huge photon torpedo that is brought to speed by a galaxy class stardrive section and then released. For when you need that biiig badaboom.
-Whale transport saucer (cause you never know when that crazy probe turns up again, and you dont want a repeat of last time, so there be whales everywhere!)
- a plethora of other types or mixed types i didnt think of.
Like this you could build a bunch of standard "workhorse" stardrive sections and just plop a mission specific "saucer" on, determining the "ship" purpose
Interesting concepts. I was dubious at first, but everything you said could have checked out. Cool.
That concept is indeed an interesting one. If I ever get around to building my own personal galaxy class intergalactic FTL exploration vessel, I'll let you guys know and we'll go for a spin.
the 24th century, which saw the introduction of the Galaxy-class fleet, was a golden age of peace, so Starfleet felt confident that they could put families on ships and allow families to bask in deep space exploration
I like the idea of a Long range flagship, but I think there's a bigger missed opportunity.
In addition to the scenario you mention, saucer separation makes sense for long term missions in friendlier space, like establishing relations with new planets, or extended negotiations. The saucer section detaches and orbits the planet, and the drive section can gallivant around the local area shuttling diplomats, exploring stuff etc. The Galaxy-class should really be flagships for the most important missions.
But even more then that, the Drive section could be the basis of a whole fleet. With the Galaxy saucer, you have the long term flagship missions. With no saucer, you have a corvette fast reaction ship, all engine, no bulk. Bulk cargo saucers offer a range of ways to do asteroid mining or disaster relief on a planetary basis or set up an outpost in a single go. A midsized saucer with a mix of weapons and exploration amenities replaces the generalist ships like the Excelsior class. Science saucers for specialized exploratory missions. and a heavily armed saucer for a battleship role.
The saucers are interchangeable, so a ship could be equipped with the right saucer (and auxiliary crew) for the job, but eventually, most ships and crews would specialize. Even so the economies of scale of building 1 drive system/engineering area for every role is way more efficient then the ships that are canon. Only ships that are truly specialized (like Voyager with it's landing capabilities) would need to be built outside this paradigm.
I know the show didn't do this because they built a model, and when they need more ships, they just reshoot the model they have, and if it has to be a different ship, they kitbash one together from spares of the model they have. But it makes more sense to me then a Galaxy saucer with practically no engineering section to have a smaller saucer on a Galaxy drive section.
🤔 That's better than what I would've thought they were for. I figured something was gonna happen to earth, and they were sending out colony/seeding ships! Ha ha ha! One of those top-secret things only the captains knew about. 😅 Nice video!
Yes. The producers and developers of the Galaxy class for the show said it was to be a ship they would send out on 20 year exploration missions beyond the federation. And, they would carry two, 10,000 person ‘towns’ in the ship ( named port side and starboard side or something). These towns folks were to be in addition to the crew, and children of these towns were expected to supply replacement crew as the original crew retired.
The original sketches and descriptions showed multi story water falls, a big central mall, casino (whose skylights show a little behind the main hanger door on the saucer.). Essentially furthering Roddenberry’s “wagon train to the stars” metaphore with far more non crew in the show.
This also explains why they had such a insanely huge ship, for a fairly small crew. The volume of ship per crew person is nuts!
Of course this is a terrible idea for exploring distant areas of the galaxy. Making smaller much faster ships to scout out distant areas and return much quicker, makes a lot more sence. A huge ship acting as a mobile starbase could make a good secondary wave ship that would just push to a area, and rotate crews back to the federation with small fast ships, while support8mg a local fleet. …. Except that’s essentially a invasion force. So locals could get very upset.
… and you’ld want a lot more ship repair and servicing, and medical etc, to service the local exploration fleet. But then it would get more like the origional concept for later seasons of Babylon 5; where a bigger, mobile station takes over as the center of operations for the the shadow war.
The Galaxy class is a projection of presence, and power. It can be sent anywhere, on any mission, and make the Federation look powerful doing it. It shows the other powers that the Federation can still be a super power, even without dedicated "warships" in production. It was a massive flex, and arguably an edifice of hubris.
I do think the Galaxy class is well-designed for exploration, particularly if its for long-range exploration. It would have been much better if a galaxy class ship were trapped in the delta quadrant vs the Voyager, in terms of the resources it brings to bear, as well as the morale boost with families on board. It's essentially bringing a slice of your civilization with you. The other mission type it may be ideal for, again because it is bringing along a slice of civilization with it, is the diplomatic mission. While impressively armed and defended, the fact that families are on board would potentially serve to make the ship and the diplomats appear less threatening and confrontational. As well as providing an example of what Federation civilization is like. Interesting video, thanks for the content!
0:57 Expensive? How can something be expensive in moneyless society? 🤨
The ships are made from ore there limited supply energy and manpower
Expensive doesn't mean money - it means resources.
Since TNG was announced (I'm that old), I've been playing with the concept of a ST: Generation three, dealing with the adventures of the Enterprise J in the XXV century. Remember, Picard hadnd't made his debut yet, and Archer was in a distant, undreamed of, future.
Two concepts I came up were exactly this.
One was the Ent J being sent for the initial mapping of a new sector behind a distant nebula, so there wouldn't be even star maps. The ship would be responsible for contacting all the spacefaring civilizations, build an outpost etc., completely cut off Federation contact for a year - or a season.
The other concept was that a generation before a small fleet was sent to a wormhole to a place decades away from the Federation border, and they were tasked to return home, founding colonies along the way. The Ent J would be sent to greet them, and evaluate how the returning pilgrims had evolved away from Federation, to define how to integrate those people into the current version of the Federation, while dealing with whatever baggage they accumulated - as in, allies and enemies they'd acquired, treaties they'd signed etc..
I think the long range/term exploration hypothesis is most likely in this case. It resonates the most with the spirit of the era the ship was launched in, both in the fictional lore and real life. After all, Encounter at Farpoint does start with Picard saying they are about to travel to Deneb IV "beyond which likes great unexplored mass of the galaxy", which in turn implies that Enterprise's mission is or will be to be on the frontiers, pushing exploration far when no one has gone before. And as you mentioned it's bigger and better supplied then other ships, in example the Intrepid. This would mean that self sufficiency is a major design point. And then there's also the predominant self perceived superiority of the UFP and SF at the time, combined with the abundance and long lasting peace time, that would allow for large amount of resources to be poured in such endeavors. Alas, also as mentioned in the video, the Romulan resurgence and later contact with the Bord (which i must mention happened while they were on a course to unexplored areas) kept them closer at home. IRL, this most likely has a lot to do with Gene's lesser involvement in the show as his health deteriorated, and the peaceful utopia he planned for, was replaced with more political drama and conflict.
The idea about the true purpose of a galaxy class starship is interesting. It easily fits into the idea and you could see how this would be of great value. In Star Trek: Insurrection, it would have made perfect sense for this long-term study of both, the "briar patch" and the metaphasic properties the Ba'ku benefitted from would have been an ideal mission. The admiral in that movie said (I think) that starfleet didn't know how the metaphasic properties worked and the reason for the "relocation" was due to the time sensitive aspects of his and Ru'afo's plan were. Hell, even the entire Voyager series (under your idea) would have made sense for the ship to be a galaxy class. It is a good theory/idea on your part.
Fascinating Idea. I would love a show like this. Even if it was more sedate than the typical ST (and definitely more than the CBS Star Trek), I would still love it.
Well, during DS9 pilot, we learn about the Gamma Quadrant. The wormhole is a shortcut across lightyears of space, so it's not hard to imagine that maybe the Federation wanted a ship that could go out to the Gamma Quadrant to see what's going on out there. Earth sits between both the Alpha and Beta quadrants, and they've got the Romulans and Klingons hanging out in one, I wouldn't doubt the need to explore beyond their territories. And since the UFP had an alliance/agreement with the Klingons, they probably could've ventured through Klingon space to explore behind them.
Plus it's large enough for families, and seeing some stuff in your video, a couple things came to mind:
1: there's likely an instance of one Galaxy class ship being a generational ship (probably better suited for what Voyager went through, than the Intrepid), so there's likely a mission somewhere that we're unaware of that has them out and exploring well away from the Federation
2: it's possible it was used as a command ship as you mentioned, along with a fleet of smaller ships. The irl Enterprise is an Aircraft carrier and is the command ship of a fleet. It's surrounded by others and is extraordinarily well equipped to fight, yet the smaller ones often do the work first. It's also incredibly fast (faster than the nearby smaller ones), and is quite large. It's possible that the Galaxy class is meant to sit in the middle of a fleet, and then collect any people that have to leave the other ships due to being damaged in battle. It's capable of holding a couple thousand people, it's not hard to believe that you could store everyone from a decent sized fleet onto a Galaxy in emergencies.
Extreme range explorer was Galaxies mission, but the Enterprise D was flagship and used as a deplomatic vehicle Picard was chosen as his strong diplomatic acumen. The sub mission was a colony transport ship.
A possible variant I would have liked to see was a Galaxy with drop bays for Defiant sized ships.
I would think that the USS Galaxy while on the exploratory mission ran into a maguffin that either prevented them going to warp and scrambled subspace or damaged the warp coils and subspace communication coils and left them stranded.
I’ve hypothesized that the Galaxy was a portable colony starter. Travel to distant planet, land saucer, send drive section back for its next saucer and next delivery.