Saucer Seperation

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

Saucer seperation or other forms of starship seperation. Do you think any ships, besides the Galaxy-class, can do so?

 

Constitution-class - Kirk orderred Scotty to prepare to do so in TOS "The Apple".

Galaxy-class - TNG & ST-7

Prometheus-class - VOY "Message in a Bottle"

 

Do you know of any other ship designs we've seen or you think can seperate?

I think the Miranda, Excelsior, and Sovereign-class can saucer seperate.

 

I'd like to add that I think there's three reasons for saucer seperation: using saucer as one massive escape pod instead of letting the entire ship be destroyed, sending the civilians and morajority of crew to safety durring extreme combat, or a method of strategic maneuverring with multiple targets making it easier to attack the enemy.

Edited December 1, 2003 by Captain Jean-Luc Picard

[Indy 8]

I am not aware of any other ship designs that can separate the saucer section. I do think it's a great feature that comes in handy sometimes. I especially like the Prometheus' multi-vector assault mode.

[Tattoo 0]

Nope no ships, only the one you have meantioned. The Consitution cn but cannot reconnect. Before anyone says it Voyager cannot nor E-E, they are called lines for the bulkheads on the ship, all the ships have them.

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

Well, in theory, the Constitution-class can seperate, using the saucer as an emergency escape vehicle versus escape pods. However, the stardrive section can be reconnected to the saucer in spacedock.

 

As for Voyager, I agree, it's a small, solid ship. As for the Enterprise-E, why couldn't it seperate, eh? John Eaves had designed the ship to be capable of saucer seperation in case a future movie had called for such an act. You can clearly see a v-shape seperation line where the engineering hull meets the saucer, making the quantum torpedoe launcher and captain's yacht the front of the battle section.

 

I tried to find a pic online, but had no luck. The designer, John Eaves, designed the ship to be "capable" of saucer seperation, but we may never find out. I allways assumed that if the Enterprise-E could saucer seperate, it would be more of a tactical strength since the battle section has no impulse engine, or possibly in the way of the Constitution-class, jettisonning the stardrive section and flying off to safety.

[Abakai2003 0]

I read somewhere that The old Klingon K-7's where supposed to be able to seperate from the boom

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

I'm sure many ships in the STAR TREK franchise are capable of one-time seperations, in a last ditch effort to save a bulk of the ship, with a space dock neccessary for reconnection. I wonder how many can seperate and reconnect on their own though?

[trekzone 0]

galaxy class and

prometheus or the only current ships that can saucer-sep, officials from Utopia Planitia say that more are on the drawing board. With experimental trials set to resume on 40 different classes of ships.

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

galaxy class and

prometheus or the only current ships that can saucer-sep, officials from Utopia Planitia say that more are on the drawing board.  With experimental trials set to resume on 40 different classes of ships.

How do you know only the Galaxy & Prometheus-class can seperate? Also, what source says 40 more class designs are on the drawing boards? I thought Starfleet only came out with one class at a time, not to mention we don't have any new adventures in the late 24th century.

[trekzone 0]

my source is the Utopia Planitia - and the 40 new designs are due to the mounting pressure between the Romulans, the Cardassians, the Klingons and the Ferengi. Starfleet needs to expand their fleet, and as such new classes need to be tested.

 

There have been 40 failed prototypes, now they are back in the design stage, with fatal flaws being wheened out at the Warp testing complex on Mars.

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

What is this Utopia Planitia?

[trekzone 0]

Utopia Planitia is the shipyards orbiting Mars. There is also the Luna shipyards, however these are for SOL system defense craft (the Peregine fighter) and minor upgrades to ship systems. In the Beta Antares system is the Beta Antares shipyards, a little more well defened than Utopia Planitia due to its lack of Peregine fighters. The U.S.S. Prometheus was built at Beta Antares fleet yards, while the U.S.S. Voyager was built at Utopia Planitia.

 

McKinley station, which serviced the ENT-D, after the devastating Wolf 359 attack - "Best of Both Worlds and Family TNG season 3/4" orbits Earth also.

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

That's not what I ment. I mean, what episode or book did you get this "40 new prototypes" info from?

[trekzone 0]

um :o um :) non-canon extension of the post-Nemesis era.

 

So you could call it canon, until another series comes out and stuffs it all up..

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

Ah. I only consider it canon if it's on screen. :o

[trekzone 0]

well, thats not very nice - its not just me thats said all this

 

www.startrekaustralia.com

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

No, I'm not saying you're wrong, fan fiction is cool and all, it's just that I don't consider anything off-screen to be canon, both books and fan-fiction.

 

However, I am interrested in your site. It's very cool. :)

 

Oh, and the reason why I don't consider books and fan-fiction to be canon, is becuase there's too much to keep up with. :o

[trekzone 0]

but theres nothing after Nemesis .... so for all you know - it could become canon...

 

"Always keep an open mind, there are always possibilities"

[Tattoo 0]

Well, in theory, the Constitution-class can seperate, using the saucer as an emergency escape vehicle versus escape pods.  However, the stardrive section can be reconnected to the saucer in spacedock.

 

As for Voyager, I agree, it's a small, solid ship.  As for the Enterprise-E, why couldn't it seperate, eh?  John Eaves had designed the ship to be capable of saucer seperation in case a future movie had called for such an act.  You can clearly see a v-shape seperation line where the engineering hull meets the saucer, making the quantum torpedoe launcher and captain's yacht the front of the battle section.

 

I tried to find a pic online, but had no luck.  The designer, John Eaves, designed the ship to be "capable" of saucer seperation, but we may never find out.  I allways assumed that if the Enterprise-E could saucer seperate, it would be more of a tactical strength since the battle section has no impulse engine, or possibly in the way of the Constitution-class, jettisonning the stardrive section and flying off to safety.

I'll have look at the ship again but I dought it. Heck I will even post a picture for you.

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

I've got a picture, in a magazine, of what the Enterprise-E would look like with the saucer seperated. I'm not sure if I still have it though... If I do, I'll scan the pic, e-mail it to VBG, and ask him to host it.

[Tattoo 0]

It may of only been showing you what it would look like seperated. If you look at the underside of the ship, it comes too far up the middle. The stardrive is and saucer is linked.

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

Well, in the picture, the front of the battle section would be the quantum torpedoe launch and captain's yacht, leaving a large "V" shaped indention on the seperated saucer section.

[trekzone 0]

the Soveriegn - you would think - would have saucer-sep capa.

[Admiral Kirk 1]

This is interesting but I thought the main purpose of saucer separation on the Enterprise D was too evacuate the noncombatants to a safer location while the battle section goes off to to take care of business. I always thought that the Enterprise E was built mostly as a combat vessel so that having a saucer separation function such as D's would be unecessary. I think E's separation mode must be for using the saucer as a big life boat. This is all my conjecture so I'm probably wrong.

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

Actually, if the Enterprise-E can seperate, I believe it'd have two purpuses. Tactical combat, like the Prometheus, or being a method to save half the ship in the event of an emergency, like in Generations.

[deagletime 1]

Well, in theory, the Constitution-class can seperate, using the saucer as an emergency escape vehicle versus escape pods.  However, the stardrive section can be reconnected to the saucer in spacedock.

 

As for Voyager, I agree, it's a small, solid ship.  As for the Enterprise-E, why couldn't it seperate, eh?  John Eaves had designed the ship to be capable of saucer seperation in case a future movie had called for such an act.  You can clearly see a v-shape seperation line where the engineering hull meets the saucer, making the quantum torpedoe launcher and captain's yacht the front of the battle section.

 

I tried to find a pic online, but had no luck.  The designer, John Eaves, designed the ship to be "capable" of saucer seperation, but we may never find out.  I allways assumed that if the Enterprise-E could saucer seperate, it would be more of a tactical strength since the battle section has no impulse engine, or possibly in the way of the Constitution-class, jettisonning the stardrive section and flying off to safety.

if memory serves, on the constiution class ships, the impulse exhaust was on the secondary hull...such that in the even of emergency separations, they would be left without propulsion and primary and secondary power...

[Tattoo 0]

Captain if you look at the Enterprise-D you will note that it is no V nore of a C. Note the top of the V its the small Captains Yahat? The E-D could because its a large vessel carring families. The E-E has no families aboard. Not all ships would have the same capablity.

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

Well, in theory, the Constitution-class can seperate, using the saucer as an emergency escape vehicle versus escape pods.  However, the stardrive section can be reconnected to the saucer in spacedock.

 

As for Voyager, I agree, it's a small, solid ship.  As for the Enterprise-E, why couldn't it seperate, eh?  John Eaves had designed the ship to be capable of saucer seperation in case a future movie had called for such an act.  You can clearly see a v-shape seperation line where the engineering hull meets the saucer, making the quantum torpedoe launcher and captain's yacht the front of the battle section.

 

I tried to find a pic online, but had no luck.  The designer, John Eaves, designed the ship to be "capable" of saucer seperation, but we may never find out.  I allways assumed that if the Enterprise-E could saucer seperate, it would be more of a tactical strength since the battle section has no impulse engine, or possibly in the way of the Constitution-class, jettisonning the stardrive section and flying off to safety.

if memory serves, on the constiution class ships, the impulse exhaust was on the secondary hull...such that in the even of emergency separations, they would be left without propulsion and primary and secondary power...

You are correct. See, the crew would evacuate to the saucer section, abandoning the engineering section, so they can fly off to safety in the event of a warp core breach for example.

 

Woops, I thought you said primary hull, not secondary hull.

Edited December 3, 2003 by Captain Jean-Luc Picard

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

Captain if you look at the Enterprise-D you will note that it is no V nore of a C.  Note the top of the V its the small Captains Yahat? The E-D could because its a large vessel carring families. The E-E has no families aboard. Not all ships would have the same capablity.

When I said the "V" shape, I was referring to the Enterprise-E, not the D. Yes, the "V" point, includes the forward quantum torpedoe launch and captain's yacht, making that module the front of the battle section. Keep in mind that the Prometheus doesn't have families either, yet it has multi-vector assault mode. So, we've seen ships that can seperate for reasons "other" than taking civilians and majority of crew to safety.

[Mofo Jones 0]

Well, in theory, the Constitution-class can seperate, using the saucer as an emergency escape vehicle versus escape pods.  However, the stardrive section can be reconnected to the saucer in spacedock.

 

As for Voyager, I agree, it's a small, solid ship.  As for the Enterprise-E, why couldn't it seperate, eh?  John Eaves had designed the ship to be capable of saucer seperation in case a future movie had called for such an act.  You can clearly see a v-shape seperation line where the engineering hull meets the saucer, making the quantum torpedoe launcher and captain's yacht the front of the battle section.

 

I tried to find a pic online, but had no luck.  The designer, John Eaves, designed the ship to be "capable" of saucer seperation, but we may never find out.  I allways assumed that if the Enterprise-E could saucer seperate, it would be more of a tactical strength since the battle section has no impulse engine, or possibly in the way of the Constitution-class, jettisonning the stardrive section and flying off to safety.

if memory serves, on the constiution class ships, the impulse exhaust was on the secondary hull...such that in the even of emergency separations, they would be left without propulsion and primary and secondary power...

Actually on Constitution class ships the impulse exhaust is at the aft portion of the primary hull, that way they still had some propulsion in case of separation. Of course, I don't have a handy pic to post as proof, but just look at that part of the ship next time you get a chance...it's kind of like the two impulse exhausts on the Galaxy class saucer section, but together in the middle of the aft section.

[Tattoo 0]

Captain here is a picture of the underside, note that the V doesn't do to the end? well here it is just click on the link die to my image being unable to shown here. LINK I have it circled.