Carriers in Star Trek

[Crazedwraith]

To pare it back to basics. There's no evidence the E-A was ever used after TUC. And there's only a contradiction between Uhura and Kirk if you assume Kirk was speaking 100% literally and accurately. He was basically meant the name and legacy of the Enterprise would go on with the E-B,C,D etc, not that the literal same hull was going to be re-staffed.

While this is quite possible, it is possible as well that Uhura wasn't speaking 100% literally and accurately.

What other interpretation of 'starfleet is ordering us home to be decommissioned' is there ? People aren't decommissioned. Ships are.

Especially with the E-B reporter making it clear it's remarkable there's an Enterprise not commanded by Kirk.

We argued already about the reporter:

Yes, and concluded she didn't mean there was 30 year jump between TUC and the E-B being commissioned.

Ir's canonically demonstrated when the E-B was commissioned so the only nail in the coffin left needed is a precise confirmation of when TUC took place.

It is not. If you watch "Star Trek Generations", you will see that not even a stardate is mentioned regarding the commission of the Enterprise B - while there is a stardate mentioned in the last log entry Kirk made in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country".[/quote]

I just watched enough Generations to verify the 78 years later caption leading into the TNG segment. As Eternal Freedom mentioned we know when TNG was. Thus we know when the E-B was commissioned by subtracting 78 years from that date.

[Themightytom]

I don't see the giant Xindi Aquatics ship mentioned here, it carried the NX 1 pretty easily, is it reasonable conjecture that it might have had a carrier role for smaller xindi ships over long distance? Also the giant sphere ship from the First Federation in "The Corbomite Maneuver" launched a smaller sphere ship before flying off, it was only a one off, but I always assumed it was a bunch of such ships stuck to a larger hull?

on the Xindi Aquatic Warship (Narcine-class in STO) it was never explicitly depicted as a carrier in canon Trek though the hangar/cargo hold was certainly big enough for it (seeing as it could fit the NX-class with room to spare), in ENT it was more of big ass warship that transport the NX-class but don't remember it ever using parasite craft as main or intentional secondary source of damage to the enemy, granted the only time we saw one in battle the sphere builders quickly took care of it.

I guess cargo is logical, I figured it was big enough to carry the enterprise because it was big enough to carry the smaller xindi ships, the mammals, reptillians and isnectoids all have Enterprise sized or smaller, reptilians particularly.

The Scimitar in Nemesis had a bay of fighters, and was hugely oversized, how many does it have to have to count as a carrier?

As an aside, here's an AU fic I read a few months ago, that somehow makes a plausible fighter carrying constitution class Enterprise under Captain Pike without really changing the technology in the series, all he did was make changes to the history and application, it has a really retro feel and rewrites elements from all of the series. They only have 3 fighters if i remember right so it's not exactly a "carrier"

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2767934/1/The-God-Machine

[WATCH-MAN]

To pare it back to basics. There's no evidence the E-A was ever used after TUC. And there's only a contradiction between Uhura and Kirk if you assume Kirk was speaking 100% literally and accurately. He was basically meant the name and legacy of the Enterprise would go on with the E-B,C,D etc, not that the literal same hull was going to be re-staffed.

While this is quite possible, it is possible as well that Uhura wasn't speaking 100% literally and accurately.

What other interpretation of 'starfleet is ordering us home to be decommissioned' is there ? People aren't decommissioned. Ships are.

Kirk, making a log entry, may not speaking 100% literally and accurately - but Uhura - upset about being ordered to retire - can't use a term not 100% literally and accurately?

Especially with the E-B reporter making it clear it's remarkable there's an Enterprise not commanded by Kirk.

We argued already about the reporter:

Yes, and concluded she didn't mean there was 30 year jump between TUC and the E-B being commissioned.

No - Simon_Jester concluded that "the reporter was just plain incorrect, which happens quite easily and quite often."

Ir's canonically demonstrated when the E-B was commissioned so the only nail in the coffin left needed is a precise confirmation of when TUC took place.

It is not. If you watch "Star Trek Generations", you will see that not even a stardate is mentioned regarding the commission of the Enterprise B - while there is a stardate mentioned in the last log entry Kirk made in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country".

I just watched enough Generations to verify the 78 years later caption leading into the TNG segment. As Eternal Freedom mentioned we know when TNG was. Thus we know when the E-B was commissioned by subtracting 78 years from that date.

Eternal_Freedom did not provided only one single evidence that TNG's last season was in the year 2371 of the Gregorian calendar.

Feel free to do what he hasn't done: Provide evidence that TNG's last season was in the year 2371 of the Gregorian calendar.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Creative licence stretching two seconds into ten? When you have such a small window you fire phasers since they're practically insta-hit.

The torpedo was shown tree times each time for less than a second (3:38, 3:43, 3:46). Between each time, they showed the Duras sisters for several seconds.

Exactly- torpedo. Not "torpedoes"

... and even right up until the moment of impact there clearly was only a single glow.

As there is only one single glow until simultaneously fired torpedoes disperse.

If there truly was a spread, it stands to reason that as right before impact when the torp was closest, at some point the glow has to split into several. Otherwise you'd have more than one torpedo occupying the same time and space. We see no sign of there being more than one torpedo.

And this was from the aft launcher- has there been any instance of a spread being fired aft? I certainly can't think of any...

Riker ordered Worf to fire a spread of photon torpedoes and we have nothing that indicates let alone proves - that this isn't impossible or hadn't happened.

That's yet another sign of the dialogue aboard the ship not agreeing with the visuals. Riker orders a spread, but we do not see one. It doesn't matter that Riker ordered a spread, if the launcher facing the target cannot fire a spread, nothing Worf can do will change that,

And in any case, the torpedo cannot maintain a lock on the reactor when the ship is cloaked. An actual spread set to proximity detonation would have done the job- instead we see the Duras Sisters standing there like deer in the headlights instead of moving the ship, which would have saved them. And we have no evidence that a torpedo can track a cloaked ship without being modified beforehand.

For the BoP to continually get the shield modulation, Geordi would have to have been looking at the console the entire time.

No. Only when changing the the shield modulation. And that's enough.

And we don't see him doing that. If anyone is going to remodulate the shields in battle it's the tactical officer, not the chief engineer.

Not only that, but they'd have to be monitoring the feed in the middle of a battle.

And why is that supposed to be a problem?

Are you serious? You mean besides that there's no sign of them actually watching the feed once the shooting started? And when you have a hostile ship firing at you, if you're having to spend precious time watching for Geordi to glance at the right console, time you don't have given the vastly superior weaponry of a Galaxy-class ship.

Given Geordi was running around engineering at the time, this is doubtful at best.

What has Geordi's running around engineering to do with the ability of the Klingons to monitor the feed?

Seriously? Given that he's running around engineering conducting damage control instead of messing with the shields, you think there's any chance that he's going to be looking at the right control panel at the right time in the middle of a battle?

Insofar I always interpreted this as that not the ship was to be decommissioned but the crew.

It was the ship that got shot up, not the crew. The idea that the entire crew was going to be retired at once is completely nonsensical.

[Crazedwraith]

While this is quite possible, it is possible as well that Uhura wasn't speaking 100% literally and accurately.

What other interpretation of 'starfleet is ordering us home to be decommissioned' is there ? People aren't decommissioned. Ships are.

Kirk, making a log entry, may not speaking 100% literally and accurately - but Uhura - upset about being ordered to retire - can't use a term not 100% literally and accurately?

Uhura when relaying orders in her official capacity as communication officers, yes she was relating what Starfleet Command actually said.

Kirk waxing lyrical in his log about legacy is not the same thing at all.

We argued already about the reporter:

Yes, and concluded she didn't mean there was 30 year jump between TUC and the E-B being commissioned.

No - Simon_Jester concluded that "the reporter was just plain incorrect, which happens quite easily and quite often."

Incorrect in that she overlooked the E-Nil had other commanders for brief periods of time. (generally while in refit or as a training ship, so she may have intention overlooked it. Kirk's been its only commander on active duty)

In any case it does not prove the E-A was active off screen for 30 years. Which was your claim I believe?

It is not. If you watch "Star Trek Generations", you will see that not even a stardate is mentioned regarding the commission of the Enterprise B - while there is a stardate mentioned in the last log entry Kirk made in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country".

I just watched enough Generations to verify the 78 years later caption leading into the TNG segment. As Eternal Freedom mentioned we know when TNG was. Thus we know when the E-B was commissioned by subtracting 78 years from that date.

Eternal_Freedom did not provided only one single evidence that TNG's last season was in the year 2371 of the Gregorian calendar.

Feel free to do what he hasn't done: Provide evidence that TNG's last season was in the year 2371 of the Gregorian calendar.

Data Explicitly states it it is 2364 at the end of season 1 in the Neutral Zone. EF has proven and background information generally agrees that 1 season =1 year. Another six seasons puts them in 2370 with some margin of error. This also complies with the dialogue quoted that it's been 7 years since Farpoint in Generations If Season 1 is 2364 that again sets Generations in approximately 2371 and the E-B commissioning in 2293.

[Prometheus Unbound]

If you had read and contemplated this, you wouldn't have to be reminded.

That's the reason why we are going round in circles.

Your posts are overly complicated and eyes glaze over.

1000 stardates is 1 year and 1 season. Give or take a small amount, possibly. I don't know what you're on about Yesterday's Enterprise for.

Season 3 TNg is 2366. Enterprise C is pulled back roughly 22 years. It was destroyed in 2344. Enterprise B launched in 2393/4 ish.


We don't know when it was destroyed or decommissioned. We don't know when Enteprise C launched.



Those are the facts. Make anything of it that you will but there we are.

[WATCH-MAN]

Creative licence stretching two seconds into ten? When you have such a small window you fire phasers since they're practically insta-hit.

The torpedo was shown tree times each time for less than a second (3:38, 3:43, 3:46). Between each time, they showed the Duras sisters for several seconds.

Exactly- torpedo. Not "torpedoes"

You are right. I should have said: The glow that could be only one torpedo or several torpedoes that haven't dispersed already.

... and even right up until the moment of impact there clearly was only a single glow.

As there is only one single glow until simultaneously fired torpedoes disperse.

If there truly was a spread, it stands to reason that as right before impact when the torp was closest,

Why if all torpedoes are supposed to hit the main reactor?

at some point the glow has to split into several.

Why if all torpedoes are supposed to hit the main reactor?

Otherwise you'd have more than one torpedo occupying the same time and space.

Do you really think that the torpedoes in this dispersal pattern occupied the same time an space at 00:05 - when there was only one glowing point to be seen?

We see no sign of there being more than one torpedo.

Are you seeing a sign of there being more than one torpedo at 00:05 - when there was only one glowing point to be seen?

And this was from the aft launcher- has there been any instance of a spread being fired aft? I certainly can't think of any...

Riker ordered Worf to fire a spread of photon torpedoes and we have nothing that indicates let alone proves - that this isn't impossible or hadn't happened.

That's yet another sign of the dialogue aboard the ship not agreeing with the visuals. Riker orders a spread, but we do not see one.

We know that several torpedoes fired simultaneously can look like only one torpedo - as long as they do not disperse. Insofar, the fact that we have seen only one glowing point does not proves that there was only one torpedo.

It doesn't matter that Riker ordered a spread, if the launcher facing the target cannot fire a spread, nothing Worf can do will change that,

Riker knew that the Bird of Prey was behind the Enterprise and that only the aft-launcher was facing the target. If the aft-launcher was not capable to fire a spread, why would he order Worf to prepare one?

Your whole argumentation is based on your observation of only one glowing point and your conclusion that there was only one torpedo - although we know that one glowing point can be several torpedoes which have not dispersed yet.

And in any case, the torpedo cannot maintain a lock on the reactor when the ship is cloaked.

The ship was in the process of cloaking. They had two seconds between the dropping of the shields and achieving full cloaking. They used these two seconds. Their plan worked.

If you were correct and the ship was already cloaked and the torpedoes couldn't have maintain a lock on the reactor, how is it that they had hit and destroyed the Bird of Prey?

If you were correct and they had fired only one torpedo - so what? - it was obviously enough to destroy the Bird of Prey.

An actual spread set to proximity detonation would have done the job-

Maybe.

But what they did has done the job.

instead we see the Duras Sisters standing there like deer in the headlights instead of moving the ship, which would have saved them.

Two seconds may not have been enough to move a ship that was in the process of dropping the shields and cloaking to prevent the torpedoes from hitting it.

And we have no evidence that a torpedo can track a cloaked ship without being modified beforehand.

We do not need such evidence as the torpedoes were not supposed to track a cloaked ship. They were supposed to hit the target between the moment it dropped its shield and achieved full cloaking.

For the BoP to continually get the shield modulation, Geordi would have to have been looking at the console the entire time.

No. Only when changing the the shield modulation. And that's enough.

And we don't see him doing that.

Correct. We do not know what he has done in Engineering all the time. Thus we do not know that he has not changed the modulation of the shields. But - as Mr. Plinkett explained in the video you provided the link to - one would expect that this is the first thing he would do after learning that the Klingons were able to fire through the shields.

If anyone is going to remodulate the shields in battle it's the tactical officer, not the chief engineer.

Please provide evidence for this claim.

There are several instances in which it was Geordi who adjusted the shields.

Not only that, but they'd have to be monitoring the feed in the middle of a battle.

And why is that supposed to be a problem?

Are you serious? You mean besides that there's no sign of them actually watching the feed once the shooting started? And when you have a hostile ship firing at you, if you're having to spend precious time watching for Geordi to glance at the right console, time you don't have given the vastly superior weaponry of a Galaxy-class ship.

There were several Klingons on the bridge of the Bird of Prey. They watched their monitors. We do not know what these monitors showed. But as they had to expect that the Enterprise would change the modulation of the shields, it is only to be expected that one of the Klingons on the bridge was tasked with watching the feed and to inform them if the modulation was changed. And having one Klingon on the bridge watching the feed while the others are doing their job does not waste time that is needed in a battle.

Given Geordi was running around engineering at the time, this is doubtful at best.

What has Geordi's running around engineering to do with the ability of the Klingons to monitor the feed?

Seriously? Given that he's running around engineering conducting damage control instead of messing with the shields, you think there's any chance that he's going to be looking at the right control panel at the right time in the middle of a battle?

It is enough if he looks at the control panel when changing the shield modulation.

Insofar I always interpreted this as that not the ship was to be decommissioned but the crew.

It was the ship that got shot up, not the crew. The idea that the entire crew was going to be retired at once is completely nonsensical.

And yet Kirk says to Spock: "Has it occurred to you that this crew is due to stand down in three months? We've done our bit for King and Country."

[WATCH-MAN]

Uhura when relaying orders in her official capacity as communication officers, yes she was relating what Starfleet Command actually said.

Kirk waxing lyrical in his log about legacy is not the same thing at all.

I do not agree. Kirk was making his log entry in his official capacity as Captain of the ship, not knowing who will read this entry. Uhura was speaking to her comrade.

Incorrect in that she overlooked the E-Nil had other commanders for brief periods of time. (generally while in refit or as a training ship, so she may have intention overlooked it. Kirk's been its only commander on active duty)

In any case it does not prove the E-A was active off screen for 30 years. Which was your claim I believe?

No - this was not my claim.

Data Explicitly states it it is 2364 at the end of season 1 in the Neutral Zone.

This is correct.

EF has proven ...

No, he has not

... and background information

are no canonical evidence

generally agrees that 1 season =1 year.

Provide evidence for this claim.

Another six seasons puts them in 2370 with some margin of error. This also complies with the dialogue quoted that it's been 7 years since Farpoint in Generations If Season 1 is 2364 that again sets Generations in approximately 2371 and the E-B commissioning in 2293.

We do not know that all the events shown in the episodes of season 1 have happened within a year.

Season 1 consists of 26 episodes. During these episodes, Enterprise visited at least

1. Deneb IV,
2. Ligon II,
3. the Delphi Ardu system,
4. the Beta Renner system,
5. the Edo system,
6. the Xendi Sabu star system,
7. the Sigma III system,
8. the planet Beta Cassius, known as Haven,
9. the planet Omicron Theta,
10. the planet Angel I,
11. the planet Tarsas III,
12. the planet Bynaus,
13. the planet Persephone V,
14. the planet Mordan IV,
15. the planet Aldea,
16. the planet Velara III,
17. the Pleiades Cluster,
18. the planet Relva VII,
19. the planet Minos in the Lorenze Cluster,
20. the Delos system,
21. the planet Ornara,
22. the planet Vagra II,
23. the planet Pegos Minor,
24. the planet Dytallix B,
25. Earth and
26. the Neutral zone.

That all this is supposed to have happened within one year does not seem plausible to me.

[Crazedwraith]

I don't care if it seems plausible to you. The entire timeline of Star Trek is plotted on one season = 1 year. I provided evidence that Farpoint to Generations is 7 years and it is 7 seasons. Provide evidence to contrary or shut up.

And even if season 1 took longer than one year. That would make Farpoint and Generations earlier and thus the E-B commissioning earlier. Which leave even less time for your supposed non-Kirk commander of the EA (which you have provided no evidence for,). So even if you were right, which you're not, you're hurting your own argument.

Prove your claims. Prove Kirk or anyone else spend an additional thirty years in command of an Enterprise. Provide evidence of when you think TNG, Generations, and the E-B commissioning happened.

For all the evidence you've demands you've provided very little on this yourself.

[Simon_Jester]

Watch-Man, I'm going to be blunt.

The last time we ran through this kind of horseshit, it was a multi-page exercise in people banging their heads pointlessly against the brick wall of your ignorance, your cherry-picking, your refusal to respond to other people's arguments, and your inability to comprehend written English when it contradicted your preconceptions.

You took literally the exact same tone, did exactly the same things exactly the same way.

The whole thing was ridiculous. You abused the time and patience of everyone who even bothered to engage with your posts, and it culminated in mods locking the thread because of your disingenuous, time-wasting approach to debate.

I am not going to do exhaustive research into Star Trek timelines for you after an experience like that. You gave away your right to a claim on that much of my leisure time.

As far as I'm concerned, you can accept the evidence of widely regarded sources, you can do your own research into why the published timelines are what they are, or you can shut the hell up and stop nit-picking.

If you're so amazingly knowledgeable and detailed about exactly who said what in a Star Trek movie, why don't you find out where those timelines came from and what sources they're based on?

[Simon_Jester]

Creative licence stretching two seconds into ten? When you have such a small window you fire phasers since they're practically insta-hit.

The torpedo was shown tree times each time for less than a second (3:38, 3:43, 3:46). Between each time, they showed the Duras sisters for several seconds.

Exactly- torpedo. Not "torpedoes"

... and even right up until the moment of impact there clearly was only a single glow.

As there is only one single glow until simultaneously fired torpedoes disperse.

If there truly was a spread, it stands to reason that as right before impact when the torp was closest, at some point the glow has to split into several. Otherwise you'd have more than one torpedo occupying the same time and space. We see no sign of there being more than one torpedo...

That's yet another sign of the dialogue aboard the ship not agreeing with the visuals. Riker orders a spread, but we do not see one. It doesn't matter that Riker ordered a spread, if the launcher facing the target cannot fire a spread, nothing Worf can do will change that...

Since we know the Enterprise-D can fire spreads of torpedoes (and does so from the very first episode), perhaps the torpedo launchers, or other systems associated with the ship's torpedo tubes, were partially disabled by battle damage?

For the BoP to continually get the shield modulation, Geordi would have to have been looking at the console the entire time.

No. Only when changing the the shield modulation. And that's enough.

And we don't see him doing that. If anyone is going to remodulate the shields in battle it's the tactical officer, not the chief engineer.

Geordi's visor has a variety of non-optical sensors such as neutrinos, and it is possible (though uncertain) that Geordi might intentionally route HUD-style data to it to assist him in his duties. Two hypothetical explanations are therefore:

1) Being in proximity to the shield generators, inside the shields themselves, means that Geordi's visor sensors can provide the Duras sisters with information that lets them deduce the shield modulation frequency on the fly in real time, or...
2) The data on the shield frequency is itself being sent to Geordi's visor, say in his peripheral vision, even when Geordi isn't looking at the relevant display.

[Elheru Aran]

The fact of the matter is that, given Paramount's extremely narrow stance upon what constitutes Star Trek canon (shows, films, and ST:TAS), there is not that much material on what happens outside the scope of what we see on the screen. While it may account for everything happening within the canon, anything set down outside of that canon is by definition non-canon (with the possible exception of certain reference books). Therefore, a healthy amount of extrapolation is necessary. As such, sites like Memory Alpha do perform a necessary function, even if technically they are not canon.

But if he's willing to waste his life combing Trek Blu-Rays to dig up molecules of precious canon information that he can post in screwy BBCode format, more power to him. I'll go cuddle my wife, kiss my kid, and have a life. Because even my nerdiness has limits.

[Lord Revan]

The fact of the matter is that, given Paramount's extremely narrow stance upon what constitutes Star Trek canon (shows, films, and ST:TAS), there is not that much material on what happens outside the scope of what we see on the screen. While it may account for everything happening within the canon, anything set down outside of that canon is by definition non-canon (with the possible exception of certain reference books). Therefore, a healthy amount of extrapolation is necessary. As such, sites like Memory Alpha do perform a necessary function, even if technically they are not canon.

But if he's willing to waste his life combing Trek Blu-Rays to dig up molecules of precious canon information that he can post in screwy BBCode format, more power to him. I'll go cuddle my wife, kiss my kid, and have a life. Because even my nerdiness has limits.

ST:TAS is canon? I fought only a handful of episode (might have been even only one) of it were canon basically the ones conserning Spock's background but the rest of it was not.

[Crazedwraith]

To be painfully fair to watch_man I watched the last minute of TUC and his quoting of Kirk's last log is accurate. It really does sound like the E-A itself is geting a new crew.

But given the timeline and the lack of any other evidence for it at all I am disenclined to accept it. Kirk was just wrong. Perhaps the E-A was supposed to go to another crew after that mission but spacedock took one look at the hole right through the saucer and said 'fuck it. We'll paint 1701 on that new excelsior variant and call it a day'

I remember some background info (maybe sfdebris' TUC review) saying Meyers had planned to end with the TNG walking on the bridge and taking over until someone explain the time jump between series to him. So pegbaps the log is a remnant of that.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Riker knew that the Bird of Prey was behind the Enterprise and that only the aft-launcher was facing the target. If the aft-launcher was not capable to fire a spread, why would he order Worf to prepare one?

Your whole argumentation is based on your observation of only one glowing point and your conclusion that there was only one torpedo - although we know that one glowing point can be several torpedoes which have not dispersed yet.

Two words: Occam's Razor.

The ship was in the process of cloaking. They had two seconds between the dropping of the shields and achieving full cloaking. They used these two seconds. Their plan worked. If you were correct and the ship was already cloaked and the torpedoes couldn't have maintain a lock on the reactor, how is it that they had hit and destroyed the Bird of Prey?

They claim two seconds, when in fact it was closer to twenty between the shields dropping and the torpedo hitting. That cannot be handwaved as creative licence and is yet another part where the dialogue and visuals contradict each other. They hit the BoP because it hadn't moved.

We do not know what he has done in Engineering all the time.

You mean, apart from carrying out damage control?

Thus we do not know that he has not changed the modulation of the shields. But - as Mr. Plinkett explained in the video you provided the link to - one would expect that this is the first thing he would do after learning that the Klingons were able to fire through the shields.

And yet we have no evidence that this was done, which proves the original point about the incompetence of the crew involved.

There are several instances in which it was Geordi who adjusted the shields.

And was this one of them? We clearly see that he was preoccupied with damage control than messing with the shields.

There were several Klingons on the bridge of the Bird of Prey. They watched their monitors. We do not know what these monitors showed. But as they had to expect that the Enterprise would change the modulation of the shields, it is only to be expected that one of the Klingons on the bridge was tasked with watching the feed and to inform them if the modulation was changed. And having one Klingon on the bridge watching the feed while the others are doing their job does not waste time that is needed in a battle.

Feel free to prove that any of the Klingons were watching the visor feed after the fighting started.

It is enough if he looks at the control panel when changing the shield modulation.

And do you have any evidence to support that?

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Creative licence stretching two seconds into ten? When you have such a small window you fire phasers since they're practically insta-hit.Exactly- torpedo. Not "torpedoes"If there truly was a spread, it stands to reason that as right before impact when the torp was closest, at some point the glow has to split into several. Otherwise you'd have more than one torpedo occupying the same time and space. We see no sign of there being more than one torpedo...

That's yet another sign of the dialogue aboard the ship not agreeing with the visuals. Riker orders a spread, but we do not see one. It doesn't matter that Riker ordered a spread, if the launcher facing the target cannot fire a spread, nothing Worf can do will change that...

Since we know the Enterprise-D can fire spreads of torpedoes (and does so from the very first episode), perhaps the torpedo launchers, or other systems associated with the ship's torpedo tubes, were partially disabled by battle damage?

No-one is arguing that the Enterprise can't fire torpedo spreads, it's just that every spread we've seen has been from the forward launcher.
Battle damage would make sense, it's just a shame that no-one thought to announce it, since Trek has a history of actually reporting when weapons were disabled, and would also excuse why they only fire a total of one phaser blast. As it stands though, we're still left wondering why the E-D simply didn't open up with everything they had, instead of trying to run away.

And we don't see him doing that. If anyone is going to remodulate the shields in battle it's the tactical officer, not the chief engineer.

Geordi's visor has a variety of non-optical sensors such as neutrinos, and it is possible (though uncertain) that Geordi might intentionally route HUD-style data to it to assist him in his duties. Two hypothetical explanations are therefore:

1) Being in proximity to the shield generators, inside the shields themselves, means that Geordi's visor sensors can provide the Duras sisters with information that lets them deduce the shield modulation frequency on the fly in real time, or...
2) The data on the shield frequency is itself being sent to Geordi's visor, say in his peripheral vision, even when Geordi isn't looking at the relevant display.

It’s just a shame the writers didn’t think of showing this, since it would make the Enterprise’s crew look far less incompetent!

[EnterpriseSovereign]

To circle back to the original topic, from what I've seen in series like ST, SW, SG1 and BSG is that there are no carriers analogous to the sea-going ships we have today. Instead what we have are capital warships that are capable of launching fighters, the only canon examples of fighter launching we have in Trek is the Scimitar with its large scorpion bay, and one cannot mistake that ship for a carrier!

[Batman]

Offhand,the only SciFi franchise to have offensive carriers as we know them would be 'Wing Commander'.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Well, the nBSG Cylon Basestars are pretty close to offensive carriers, they certainly aren't built for ship to ship combat against other capital ships, despite their strong missile armament.

Other than that, I suppose "Space Above and Beyond" would count with the Saratoga.

[Batman]

Hate nBSG with a passion so wouldn't know but the oBSG ones seemed to have some credible antiship firepower besides the fighters.

[Borgholio]

Hate nBSG with a passion so wouldn't know but the oBSG ones seemed to have some credible antiship firepower besides the fighters.

nBSG Battlestars are kinda like Stardestroyers in that they are fully capable of engaging in ship-to-ship combat, but they carry a large wing of fighters and other small spacecraft such as Raptors.

[Eternal_Freedom]

I was talking about Basestars, but yes. oBSG Basetars were powerful warships in their own right, capable of destroying the Galactica ship to ship according to Adama and Tigh. Even when a BAsestar is infiltrated and damaged so that Galactica gets the first salvo, and her fighter wing is drawn away, it is still a fairly close fight.

nBSG Basestars on the other hand are much closer to pure carriers, albeit possibly Soviet-style carriers with strong missile armaments as well. Again, without their Raiders squadrons, two Basestars lose quite quickly to two Battlestars in ship to ship combat. They are not built to fight on even terms, as seen when Pegasus manages to destroy a Basestar with a single salvo.

[NeoGoomba]

Other than that, I suppose "Space Above and Beyond" would count with the Saratoga.

Did the Saratoga mix it up with the Chiggs at all? I thought it just had a crap load of point defense lasers?

[Borgholio]

Other than that, I suppose "Space Above and Beyond" would count with the Saratoga.

Did the Saratoga mix it up with the Chiggs at all? I thought it just had a crap load of point defense lasers?

It's been a long time since I've watched it, but IIRC it had mainly point defense and a few medium weapons. They tended to function like wet-navy carriers where the escorts had most of the direct firewpower.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

There's been a couple of episodes where the 'Toga and other carriers have utilized armored-box missile launchers and big guns and mixed it up with Chig capships. In particular, there's the two space battles from the episode "Sugar Dirt."