Miranda Class Discussion

[Foxfyre]

Ok continuing with the series We have 4 more classes left from the TOS/TMP Era to disscuss. So this weeks will be the Miranda Class.

Generally this class of ship is obvisouly the counterpart to the Connies. Decent if albiet plain design it has however been rather successfull, since it has been in use by starfleet for quite some time. Granted they didn't far all that well in the Dominion War but given there age at the time not to surprising. The Reliant seems to take a decent about of punishment before being defeated by the Enterprise. My thoughts is that during the TMP era they were destroyers or light explorers before being religated to supply and support runs in TNG and DS9 (Lantree being an example of a supply ship, and the Seetak and Majestic in DS9 basicly being nothing more than Escorts for the Defiant).

My overall grade for the class: B+

(Excelisor's grades; A for standard, A- for refit, Connie's Grades: B for Standard A+ for refit)

EDIT: there are two other ship classes that fit the era (Centaur and Sydney) that I forgot.

[Reliant121]

That seems bout right. The reason i love thi class almost as much as the excelsiors is their functionality. They lasted so long, in active and frontline service, with numerous tasks and with little refits, that they were the epitome of efficiency.

[Toadnuke]

I really like the Miranda Class. It seems that they can be easily upgraded with extra torpedo tubes and more advanced phasers to act as effective and fast moving friggates/escorts, even in modern combat situations. They can also be used as exploration, diplomatic, and science vessels. Very efficent little ships.

I also like the design. Overall, it's actually one of my favorite ships.

[Mikey]

I like it because it's compact and functional. While the more limited size may mean that it's not suited for the deep-space on extended mission that the Connie can take on, in many ways it's a better design for its intended roles.

[Foxfyre]

Yeah I have allways liked the class for that, the workhorse of the fleet (for couple generations at that). Also found it interesting that they were used in front line combat agaist the dominion (and were pretty much destroyed in mass).

[Tsukiyumi]

In case anyone forgot, it did pretty well against the Borg. The Excelsior in the same scene goes down in all of three seconds.

[Foxfyre]

Oh yeah forgot about that, and it seemed not to take a hull breach either but Saratoga did get pretty much totalled with that one shot. But your right the Melborne was pretty much destroyed in the first volley from the cube while the Saratoga lasted a few minutes. Granted that could just be for dramatic proposes since Ben Sisko was on board and it wouldn't do to kill him before he could take command of DS9.

[Tsukiyumi]

It's possible the... (Saratoga, you say?) might have been in the fight longer.

[Foxfyre]

I think the Saratoga attacked the same time the Melborne did and was in the fight roughly the same time.

[Deepcrush]

The Saratoga was caught by a tractor beam and left alone for a while. The Melborne was fired on right off the bat.

All and all, this is a great class. Even now at the end of the 24th this ship still has time left. Supply missions, scouting and exploration would all remain a niche for this class.

[katefan]

I like the class, but only with the rollbar. Without it, it looks very, very bland.

[Foxfyre]

Teh Melborne was tractored first (like the Saratoga) then blasted by the borg

[Deepcrush]

Yes, tractor beam hit the Melbourne then a second later, big energy hit.

The Saratoga was caught by a tractor beam and then was just held there for a while. Like so much a grain of sand. Then she was shot, which wrecked the ship.

[Tsukiyumi]

I'm still impressed by the maneuverability shown by the Nebula and Ambassador in that scene.

The Saratoga was zipping about quite nimbly as well.

[Deepcrush]

Yeah, that was pretty neat. Not quit the dime turns we see from the Defiant but still damn nice!