Naval design fubars

[Cpt_Frank]

GCS
3 letters, 1 horror.

[Peregrin Toker]

the granddaddy of all Japanese animation, Star Blazers (or space battleship yamato in the Japanese version), had some real good examples of dumb ships. The Argo (yamato) itself was actually the Japanese WW II battleship Yamato yanked off the ocean floor and converted into a spaceworthy ship! How in the hell does that work. but then again this is the show that allowed flames and smoke to exist in the vacuum of space. lol

I'm not sure that StarBlazers was the first sci-fi to feature flames in the vacuum of space.

Anyway, if you want MY vote for worst starship design - the LEXX gets my vote. Most of it is soft and squishy, and it doesn't have any defensive weapons. (Abaddon's planetkiller from Battlefleet Gothic, at least had some defensive turrets!!)

There's also all the "steampunk" ships shaped like sailing ships... while it looks cool, it doesn't make sense.

Patrick Degan,

While Harlock's famous pirate cruiser Arkadia had that Spanish galleon stern gallery built onto a futuristic space battleship hull —complete with a wooden helm-wheel to steer her in battle.

That's not silly - that's just archaic decoration on futuristic spacecraft, and the wooden helm-wheel sounds like a totally cool idea!! Most of the Imperium of Mankind's ships in Battlefleet Gothic aren't much worse - they even have prow sculptures!! (except for the Cobra-class Destroyer, some older Grand Cruisers and Space Marine ships)

[Coalition]

Well they did have the Voyager pylons that swing the nacelles up and down, but that's all I can think of. I don't know what in hell it actually does for the ship though.

It's so they can go foldly where no one has gone before. Either that, or they make them flap to get the final warp factors out of them. <G>

The Victory class destroyer from the B5 movie 'A call to Arms' and the TV-show 'Crusade'.

- Firing the main cannon powers the ship down for a full minute every time (how on Earth can it even work like that?).
- Most of the forward firing weapons are plaved in a 'nob' at the end of a long pole in front of the ship, chop the pole in half and the ship is helpless or just shoot the 'nob'.
- Most of the forward firing weapons are fixed-forward firing, meaning that the HUGE spaceship has to aim them by manouvering the entire ship, rather like a fighter.
- Most of the rearward firing weapons are fixed-rearward firing, meaning that the HUGE spaceship has to aim them by manouvering the entire ship, rather like a fighter.
- The brigge is clearly exposed and has windows, mind you this is on a very heavily armoured ship. Rather like installing a wind-shield on an M1 Abrams.
- The ship has few effective weapons cabale of firing to the sides, below or above the ship.
- Not to mention the ship looks like a crossbreed between the Imperial Lambda-class shuttle and a toothbrush.
- Not even the art-grav generators work fully.

-For the main cannons, they are there in case you have something really big, and only have one shot (and the smaller guns aren't doing squat against it).

-The ship was probably designed to engage opponents at long range, and the long body allowed them to get in fairly decent internal space, while trying to present a very small profile. Note the difference in a ISD, where it is designed to reduce the forward profile, and the Excalibur was designed to present almost no profile.

-Most of the forward firing guns are probably anti-shipping, but you are right. A small ability to aim would have been nice. It really showed when they were going after the crashed Drakh ship, and three others jumped it. Those 3 Drakh ships were pounding it from all over, and they had to work to get any shots in.

-That's for tailgators, not enemy ships. <G>

-Dramatic tension, nothing more.

There are a few guns capable of firing to the sides. President Sheridan uses them when he has to leave the dock when he "borrows" them in Crusade.

"Sir, we're still attached to the spacedock".

Buttons are pressed, and beams fire to the side, blasting away the attachments.

"Not any more."

-LOL!!!

-"Makes me feel better knowing I'm losing 5 pounds every time I step on board." Garibaldi.

Still, the design was probably heavily influenced by the Minbari, who like the thin profiles. Earth still refused to put all those fins on it at least.

[SAMAS]

Actually, main gun was flawed. They were still trying to fix it when the SPK, then the Drakh Plague, came up. They never had time to fix it.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Yes these are correct POVs.

But in defence of the Nebulon-B it is quite useful to have that long "neck" keep the engine away from the main body. If the engine blows the rest of the ship won't go with it.

On the other hand the Nebulon-B was designed as an anti-fighter, escort cap. ship which is able to stand up against a one size larger opponent.
They served quite well and never been crippled -as far as I remember- by breaking it's "neck".

Once. But it was surrounded by heavier cap ships and I doubt a ship like that is designed to accept heavy concussion missile and MTL and probably HTL blasts as it is. Reduced the neck to vapor. But really, the Nebulon-B is an escort cruiser. Designed to support fighters, and stop pirate raids and guard outposts and such. It maximized the SDs affectiveness against light Rebel capship and mass fighter attacks. It appears the Lancer wasn't developped until it became clear that the newer A and B-Wings en masse with Mon Cal Cruisers were too much for the old Nebulon-B to handle.

[/quote]The worst craft design I've ever seen was in TPM.[/quote]

It was supposed to be that way. I would have been pissed to see the Trade Federation with ships that looked as combat-affective as the SD.

[Renewed_Valour1]

-Ships that have long thin fins, wings, and hull connections that curve all over the place and back around themselves. The Andromeda Ascendant is an example of this, as are many of the ships in B5..

-Ships that have long thin fins, wings, and hull connections that curve all over the place and back around themselves. The Andromeda Ascendant is an example of this, as are many of the ships in B5..

The outriggers on the Andromeda are there to allow fullerene mesh to be strung between them. That way any incoming projectiles strike them and are vaporized giving the AG fields time to deflect away the plasma jet. In addition the mesh is used to cool the surface of the vessel making her stealthier or used to radiate excess heat along with bucky cables from the main hull.

If you want an real awful looking ship design for Andromeda look at the Nietzschean or Than fighters.

[Master of Ossus]

Nebulon-B Frigate: Looks like it could snap in half too easy.

"Looks like." It's actually more impact-resistant than any ST ship, seeing as how it can withstand HTL's. That being said, the worst design might be the Terran Battlecruiser from Star Craft. It appears to be very slow, unmaneuverable, and have mediocre firepower from the cut-scenes. Dishonorable mentions go to the SW ships from the living world in Rogue Planet and the Narn heavy fighter from B5.

[Patrick Degan]

Ok, hell's freezing over, I conced and am agreeing with you. However that would make a very poor warship design.

Oh, definitely. Nobody in their right mind would dream of taking the Discovery into combat.

[ViciousMink]

No, Space Battleship Yamato was not in the same universe as Space Pirate Capt. Harlock/Galaxy Express 999 (or to go by the title song, "Galaxy Express Three-Nine") though they were created by the same artist, Leiji Matsumoto.

There's evidence of questionable canonicity that they're in the same universe. In the online manga version of Matsumoto's "Ring Des Nibelungen" which the 'Harlock Saga' DVD is based on, there's mention made of the three greatest space battleships of time and space. The Arcadia is one, I forget what the second is (it might be the ship currently in 'Cosmo Warrior Zero,') and the Yamato is the third.

Of course, what IS and IS NOT cannon in the 'Leijiverse' is up for debate. I've heard two or three or four different origin stories for Harlock, and 'Ring Des Nibelungen threw out *everything* in previous canon. Things are not being made easier with his new series, Cosmo Warrior Zero (which not only has Harlock and every other character in the Harlock sequence, but also a robot that looks suspiciously like the bot from Yamato....)

[BenRG]

I remember reading that someone high up just wanted something to move on the ship.

It's like spoilers on Civics. It makes it go faster.

The horrible thing is that you are exactly right. That is precisely what those moving nacelles are supposed to do, improve the warp field geometry, thus increasing maximum sustainable FTL cruising speed. Do Honda have the subcontract for drive design at Utopia Planitia? At least that would explain the GCS Block 1 warp core...

[Swordsman]

Worst design goes to ant Trek ship with warpnacelles attache do long thin sticks of metal. Break one off and the ship can't travel faster than impulse at best letting anyone take potshots at them on a regular basis and pull back to wait for the next optimal shot. A small runabout(stupid name for a ship or what )could take out the E-E with enough time on their hands.

[Peregrin Toker]

Worst design goes to ant Trek ship with warpnacelles attache do long thin sticks of metal. Break one off and the ship can't travel faster than impulse at best letting anyone take potshots at them on a regular basis and pull back to wait for the next optimal shot.:

Don't forget the long "neck" section on Klingon vessels. This is quite an achilles heel.

[Swordsman]

Worst design goes to ant Trek ship with warpnacelles attache do long thin sticks of metal. Break one off and the ship can't travel faster than impulse at best letting anyone take potshots at them on a regular basis and pull back to wait for the next optimal shot.:

Don't forget the long "neck" section on Klingon vessels. This is quite an achilles heel.

Yeah. That too. But klingon ships the nacelle flaw too. Makes them even worse eh Klingons Suck A**