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Ok simply put this thread is to discuss the merits of the ship class in question (wasn't sure which forum to pop this in so general looked good)

So to kick things off lets discuss the Constitution Class

Overall I feel she is a simple and elegant design but she is not without her flaws. The biggest being the long "neck" section that connects the primary and secondary hulls. I have always thought that this area was needlessly vulernerable, one good hit and you could blast the ship in two pieces. Another which is typical of most ships in trek is the exposed bridge which could take out command and control and a good chunk of the senior staff. Now even with these flaws I do feel that she is by far one of the more graceful designs that trek put out there (thinking along the lines of the refit version).

Best all around ship in Trek. You have valid points about the neck and the bridge, however we usually don't see the enemy hitting the bridge (TWOK is one pof the notable exceptions) and I can't recall a ship being severed in two in such a manner. So while we look at the design OOU and think "hmm...retards", IU it does not seem to be a serious concern.

Based on the damage seen in TUC, I'd guess it would take a lot of torpedoes to sever the neck section.

Yeah same here, which I pretty much lable as "its in the script". If I was gunning for a connie I would seriously try for the neck area since it is the most obvious target. But I agree she is one of the best in trek, along with the Akira, Excelsior and Sov.

As for the damage in TUC she did have her shield up and one torpedo blew a hole through the saucer section. I don't think it would take that much to take the nexk out unshielded

We've seen the Connie take horrible damage twice now. TWoK and TUC. In both cases the neck held. I would take a fair bet that the connie has some pretty tough armor and SIFs for help even if her shields fail.

The Connie, Excelsior, Nebula, Akira and Defiant are my favs of ST.

Not a Photon blast, but the Enterprises neck did get sliced good and proper by Phasers during the Mutara Nebula battle :-



I'd say she held up very well.

Right; unshielded, there.

I'd say it would take a lot of damage before it split in two, during which time, the E could target something more vital on the enemy ship.

I think the movie-era Enterprise is the most awesome ship in the whole franchise. It combined the elegant genius of the TOS design with a timeless, mature style. One thing that I appreciated was that they really seemed to make a great effort in the early movies to fit the interiors neatly into the ship's hull - as you can see with the expansive matte painting at the beginning of TMP. On purely esthetic grounds, I prefer the more TNG-style interiors that they used in STV and STVI, but I think they went about it without much forethought: the TNG engineering set from STVI looked cool, for example, but there is absolutely no way to fit the damn thing into the Constitution class as it was seen on screen.

Lazar wrote:I think the movie-era Enterprise is the most awesome ship in the whole franchise. It combined the elegant genius of the TOS design with a timeless, mature style. One thing that I appreciated was that they really seemed to make a great effort in the early movies to fit the interiors neatly into the ship's hull - as you can see with the expansive matte painting at the beginning of TMP. On purely esthetic grounds, I prefer the more TNG-style interiors that they used in STV and STVI, but I think they went about it without much forethought: the TNG engineering set from STVI looked cool, for example, but there is absolutely no way to fit the damn thing into the Constitution class as it was seen on screen.

What was really cool was the scene in TMP with the massive shuttle/cargo bay area and the shots of the engine room with the warp core and assorted kit running a good length of the secondary hull. It really gave the feeling that the ship was complex, powerful and well...interesting. I never got that "hey that's cool!" from TNG or any other series.

True, but those are phasers and they are nailing the Torpedo bay not really the neck part. That part of the connie refit "neck" is thicker than the rest of the it. I'm talking a no joke direct hit right in the middle of it. I would think that yes some starfleet engerineer would have thought to reenforce that to take a good hit but can't help but think what would happen if a torpedo (or two) hit that area full on.

USS Aeon wrote:True, but those are phasers and they are nailing the Torpedo bay not really the neck part. That part of the connie refit "neck" is thicker than the rest of the it. I'm talking a no joke direct hit right in the middle of it. I would think that yes some starfleet engerineer would have thought to reenforce that to take a good hit but can't help but think what would happen if a torpedo (or two) hit that area full on.

You'd think that would be the strongest part of the ship considering it's size and what it's being used for. But given what we saw in STVI it would probably just blow a hole in it and she'd keep on trucking.

LOL good point these are Connies after all and we have seen them take one hell of a beating

Absolutely - II and VI being the best examples. In the former Khan hit the ship in exactly the right place to do maximum damage, repeatedly, and a couple of hours of repairs later she was back in fighting form. True not it perfect condition, but the fact that she'd gone from running on batteries to running on main power is still quite an achievement.

Also, unlike the GCS. The connie has shown that in battle it is able to return fire and not be destroyed because the freezer on the Warp Core broke down. Nothing like melted ice cream to ruin your day.

Captain Seafort wrote:Absolutely - II and VI being the best examples. In the former Khan hit the ship in exactly the right place to do maximum damage, repeatedly, and a couple of hours of repairs later she was back in fighting form. True not it perfect condition, but the fact that she'd gone from running on batteries to running on main power is still quite an achievement.

Deepcrush wrote:Also, unlike the GCS. The connie has shown that in battle it is able to return fire and not be destroyed because the freezer on the Warp Core broke down. Nothing like melted ice cream to ruin your day.

Well we have to remember that the E-Nil, E-A had something that no other Starfleet Ship has had since: Scotty.