Reorganising Starfleet

[Jim Phaserman 0]

Okay, reading The King's thread about a new Star Trek Series got me thinking. If we're doing a new series with a new spin on things, why not reorganise Starfleet? So, I am posting this from the perspective of my alter ego that I use from my sims, Admiral James Millenhiem. (He's presently the Second Officer and Strategic Operations Officer of the Eros Task Force).

 

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Let's start by messing with Starfleet. the real fleet. Let's assume it's 2385, and Starfleet has 900 ships (Not too many, but not too few, either.) Most of these ships are probably not designed for combat. So we assign those to one of two commands: Exploration Command "East" and Exploration Command "West". these two commands would take charge of the Fleet's exploratory vessels, and each would be charged with one half of the federation's territory. For the Combat vessels, we would assign them (roughly 300) to Combat Command. The Exploratory Commands would need little in the way of reorganising. Combat Command on the other hand needs some work.

 

First thing you need to do is establish guidelines for what class of ship would be classified as what. For Example, what defines a Cruiser or a Destroyer, as compared with a Frigate or a Corvette. Below is a quick example of modern (IE classes likely to still be in service) Combat Command vessels. These are simply based on size. if you are familiar with ship classes, you will definately see the progression.

 

Corvette:

Defiant Class

Sabre Class

 

Frigate:

Miranda Class

Soyuz Class

 

Destroyer:

Intrepid Class

Streamrunner Class

Nebula Class

 

Light Cruiser:

Excelsior Class

Prometheus Class

 

Cruiser:

Ambassador Class

Galaxy Class

 

Heavy Cruiser:

Soveriegn Class

Titan Class*

Shiloh Class* **

 

* Denotes a non-canon ship that was needed to fill some spaces.

** An RPG vessel serving with the Eros Task Force.

 

Now, some of these ships have a very extensive production run, and some don't. Shiloh, for example (Though Non-Cannon) has 4 ships considered Active. Defiant class starships have a larger production run.

 

Organising the Combat Command requires you to start small. Task Groups, usually 4 or 5 ships. Several Task Groups make up a Task Force. Perhaps centered around a few heavy Cruisers, and combining a few smaller ships. Example:

 

3 Soveriegn Class Starships

3 Galaxy Class Starships

3 Excelsior Class Starships

3 Intrepid Class Starships

3 Defiant Class Starships

 

From a Task Force, you can build a Strike Force. 2 or three Task Forces. and two or three Strike Groups and you have a Fleet.

 

 

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Starfighters

 

Starfleet needs Starfighters. Something small, fast, agile, and decently armed. Something akin to the smaller Maquis Raider or the Bajoran Attacker.

 

How do you organise Starfighters? Simple. you work your way from the smallest possible units. Individual fighters. Okay, simple enough. You've built a fighter,and you have a pilot. Now, where to next? A wing pair. two fighters and their pilots. two wing pairs and you have a Flight. Three or Four Flights and you have a Squadron. Three to six Squadrons and you have a Fighter Wing. Three Fighter Wings is a Fighter Group. Simple.

 

These Starfighters can also be used to perfome other missions. Make them the F/A-18s of their day, a small, agile, multirole craft that can in a span of five minutes, Bomb a bridge, shoot down an enemy starfighter, and strafe a tank column. Yes, a jack of all trades is a master of none, but in the right hands, this thing can be very effective at any role you want it to do.

 

Use runabouts as medium bombers. they have the payload capacity to serve as such. use it. Outfit them with a ventral bomb bay. and how do we produce bombs? Remove the engines out of a Photon or Quantum Torpedo. leave the RCS thrusters, and vwualla! you have a Guided, gravity driven bomb. In space, they can be inertially driven. no drag in space, so nothing to slow it's momentum.

 

Design a heavy bomber. something capable of killing hardened targets, industrial facilities, and the grand poobah of all Small craft targets, a capitol ship. 70 meters is a decent size for a heavy bomber, and it could carry capitol ship weapons (like a pair of pulse phaser cannons, perhaps?) the same spaceframe also has other applications, too. VIP transport, Marine Landings, Starfighter Support (In space rearming, perhaps? who knows) and they can be used as a 24th Century version of an AWACS.

 

So, now we have Fleets and Fighter Forces. But, Fighter pilots won't want to make 18 or 24 hour flights in their small cockpits, even if they are warp 9 capable. So, we need a carrier. Lets say we have 4 fleets. We need Fleet Carriers. something big. 1,000 meters is good. you can carry alot of fighters (around 216 Fighters and Light Bombers, or about 18 squadrons of 12). and, this could serve another purpose: Carrying Marines...

 

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MARINES

 

So, what's up with the MArines? Let's actually get 'em working.

 

a logical place to start would be with the Marines themselves. As with the fighters, we'll start small, using an Infantry division.

 

1 Marine is the smallest possible unit. 8-12 Marines comprise a squad. We'll use the 12 Marine squad as our base here. you'll see why later.

 

3 or 4 squads is a Platoon. 4 squads sounds like a reasonable base.

 

4 platoons is a Company.

 

3 Companies is a Battalion.

 

3 Battalions is a Regiment.

 

2 Regiments is a Brigade.

 

2 Brigades is a Division

 

4 Divisions is a Corps.

 

each division under this scheme has around 6,912 Infantrymen. Add into that a Headquarters Company for each of the following: Regiment, Brigade, and Division, and you have 7,776 total. a Small Division compared to the US Military's 14,000 man Division, but it will get the job done. Now, each corps has 4 Divisions. one of those 4 should be an Armor division. Heavy Armor (Tanks) and Light Armor (APCs, Bradley Fighting Vehicle type things). Each Regiment in the Divisions should have 1 Company of Artillery, so each Division has 4 Artillery companies. these companies provide indirect fire through the use of some sort of magnetic accelerator cannon.

 

Weapons for the Marines

 

Establish a standard weapons package for Marines. In a WWII Squad of 12 men, you have 4 different weapons present (M-1 Garand, M-1 Carbine, Thompson, and M-9 Grease gun SMG) that doesn't include the Base of Fire weapon found in the BAR.

 

so we have 12 men in our squad. give 10 of them a standard weapon. a Type III Rifle or some form of Assault Rifle. 1 will carry a base of fire type weapon, such as a rapid fire heavy Phaser Rifle. 1 will carry something like an Isomagnetic Disentigrator for hard armored targets.

 

in each company, 1 platoon should be a Weapons Platoon. this platoon carries the serious infantry firepower. Mortars and something like a Phaser equivelent to the Browning .50 caliber machine gun. these guys support the rifle platoons.

 

Body Armor.

 

Do these marines have any sort of personal protection? And what is it like? is it some sort of Flak Jacket and a helmet? or do they enter battle looking like Storm Troopers? It should be at least a flak jacket capable of obsorbing 85% of a Phaser blast on level 16. this is enough to save a person's life. the helmet could be a full head helmet, with a transparent face place and an air filtration system. this would also allow for noise dampening, and closed communications. omnidirectional mics on the helmet allow for Marines to listen to the outside world, and a built in combat tricorder would allow them to scan for enemies.

[HRH The KING 0]

Whoa!!!!

 

Excellent ideas. :lol:

Edited May 23, 2005 by The King

[Matt 0]

I do like like the idea of Star Fleet building up their military wing, they need a decent defence against Romulans, Breen and the unknowns. Instead of star fighters I think another few Defiants would be better, maybe both though. They really need to develop cloaking abilities for other ships. And yes, I know about the Treaty of Algernon but frankly that was ridiculous.

[HRH The KING 0]

Federation Starfighters should definately be introduced.

 

I suggested that too. :lol:

[ussacclaim 0]

Federation Starfighters should definately be introduced.

 

I suggested that too.  :lol: 

325606[/snapback]

 

I thought Starfleet already had starfighters. Weren't they in "Sacrifice of Angels"?

[Matt 0]

Hmmm, don't remember that episode? Refresh my memory if you will.

[Ace 0]

I believe he's referring to Starfleet's Peregrine class fighters. They were also commonly used by the Maquis.

[Jim Phaserman 0]

I do like like the idea of Star Fleet building up their military wing, they need a decent defence against Romulans, Breen and the unknowns. Instead of star fighters I think another few Defiants would be better, maybe both though. They really need to develop cloaking abilities for other ships. And yes, I know about the Treaty of Algernon but frankly that was ridiculous.

325605[/snapback]

 

 

Starfleet needs something smaller than the Defiant class starship. my idea for a starfighter needs to be small, fast and agile, and most importantly, well armed. 12 to 15 meters in length, with a 10-14 meter wingspan is good (having real wings allows for more menueverability in an atmosphere) the fighter should have a number of weapons systems, such as type IV Pulse Phasers, and microtorpedo launchers. it is also possible for a starfighter to carry underwing ordinance such as photon or quantum torpedoes for use against heavier vessels. besides, most ships in the Star Trek universe are designed to kill other capitol ships, so Starfighters could throw a wrench in the works for a prospective opponent.

[HRH The KING 0]

Maybe something like these:

 

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Edited May 24, 2005 by The King

[Jim Phaserman 0]

Here's my design. if the parts look somewhat familiar, I was using a picture of the NX-01 and the Excelsior to scavange image bits.

 

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But those fighters represent the basic idea for the Starfighter's role. the design, however, is more similar to a much older design.

[HRH The KING 0]

That looks great.

[Jim Phaserman 0]

If I could get my hands on my youngest brother's designs, I'd post 'em, it looks much slicker.

[HRH The KING 0]

Well this is very much what I myself was aiming for with my "Project" thread.

 

Another few things that could be considered are:

 

- Starfleet "Carrier" vessels. These would be the largest starships in the Federation fleet, essentially the "command centres" for various operations. They would be stocked with a fleet of various Federation starfighters of varied designs and types.

 

- Starliners. These would be the "ocean liners" of spaceflight. Designed for leisure cruises and carrying passengers on pleasure cruisers. Essentially think of the "Queen Mary 2 in space" and that's generally what I'm think of. These vessels would be immense and privately owned by starliner companies and corporations.

 

- Greyhounds. I don't mean motor vehicle buses, but I would think that people/civilians who need to get from one planet to another need some kind of public transport system. So why don't we see them in Star Trek? We should see "starbuses" or "startrains".

 

- Private transport. Why don't the citizens of the Federation have their own private space-vehicles? In today's world, people have cars, in the future I would think you'd have a hover-car to travel around the city you live in. Now, people may say "well, they have the transporter beam", yeah but we could explain that the transporter uses a massive amount of energy and is limited to really miltary use aboard starships. Plus the distance you can travel is limited. Federation citizens should also have their own personal spacecraft like "spacecars". Why don't they?

 

- Industrial spacecraft. We should also see "spacetrucks", freighters and large bulk carriers. I want to introduce industry and commerce into Star Trek, so we WILL need to see industrial space vehicles.

 

- Federation Hospital Ships? It seems that they should be seen somewhere in Star Trek.

Edited May 24, 2005 by The King

[Ace 0]

Nice design, Jim. More rounded than the Peregrine, but very similar in design. :P

 

Well this is very much what I myself was aiming for with my "Project" thread.

 

Another few things that could be considered are:

 

- Starfleet "Carrier" vessels. These would be the largest starships in the Federation fleet, essentially the "command centres" for various operations. They would be stocked with a fleet of various Federation starfighters of varied designs and types.

 

Like a larger/newer/more well-equipped version of the Akira class or Curry-type? Actually, the first image that popped into my head was the Excalibur class (fan design). Essentially, a gargantuan Sovereign. Very nice, though.

 

- Starliners. These would be the "ocean liners" of spaceflight. Designed for leisure cruises and carrying passengers on pleasure cruisers. Essentially think of the "Queen Mary 2 in space" and that's generally what I'm think of. These vessels would be immense and privately owned by starliner companies and corporations.

 

I'm sure they're around, but it would be nice to see some better-looking passenger ships than the generic "transports" we've become accustomed to.

 

- Greyhounds. I don't mean motor vehicle buses, but I would think that people/civilians who need to get from one planet to another need some kind of public transport system. So why don't we see them in Star Trek? We should see "starbuses" or "startrains".

 

Yes, more courier-type ships would be nice.

 

- Private transport. Why don't the citizens of the Federation have their own private space-vehicles? In today's world, people have cars, in the future I would think you'd have a hover-car to travel around the city you live in. Now, people may say "well, they have the transporter beam", yeah but we could explain that the transporter uses a massive amount of energy and is limited to really miltary use aboard starships. Plus the distance you can travel is limited. Federation citizens should also have their own personal spacecraft like "spacecars". Why don't they?

 

Again, I'd say this is common; they just aren't shown very often (other than several aliens in VOY, I think).

 

- Industrial spacecraft. We should also see "spacetrucks", freighters and large bulk carriers. I want to introduce industry and commerce into Star Trek, so we WILL need to see industrial space vehicles.

 

If there's one thing Trek doesn't lack, it's freighters. Half the galaxy is apparently full of Antares-class freighters. :lol: I do see where you're going, though.

 

- Federation Hospital Ships? It seems that they should be seen somewhere in Star Trek.

 

Would the Pasteur qualify?

[HRH The KING 0]

Like a larger/newer/more well-equipped version of the Akira class or Curry-type? Actually, the first image that popped into my head was the Excalibur class (fan design). Essentially, a gargantuan Sovereign. Very nice, though.

 

The design should actually look like an aircraft carrier to some degree. Essentially a Starfleet Carrier should be basically a long tube or oblong. Like THIS:

 

 

It would be a nice departure from the "saucer and nacelle" configuration.

 

I'm sure they're around, but it would be nice to see some better-looking passenger ships than the generic "transports" we've become accustomed to.

 

Absolutely. I'm thinking about long elegant starliners. Just like an ocean liner actually but with warp drive instead of propellers, if you know what I mean.

 

If there's one thing Trek doesn't lack, it's freighters. Half the galaxy is apparently full of Antares-class freighters.  I do see where you're going, though.

 

I get sick of seeing "freighters" which are about the size of a warp nacelle. I want to see huge vessels which dwarf all others. Think of an oil tanker as the inspiration.

 

Would the Pasteur qualify?

 

It would, but I would like to medical ships with their own livery on the hulls. Typical medical symbols to clearly identify them in war situations, so they can't be attacked.

[Jim Phaserman 0]

I do have a design for a Carrier, courtesy of Gary. I'll post the side view (with colors inverted so it's easier to see the hangar bays) and the banner for our task force. the ship is a Commandant class starship, and there are many starships around it in the banner for scale.

 

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And here is my youngest brother's fighter design...

 

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Edited May 24, 2005 by Jim Phaserman

[HRH The KING 0]

Or something like this:

 

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