Hypothetical Starfleet ship roles

[Deepcrush]

Yeah, to be effective in increasing structural resistance, they'd have to be next to each other - like the armor hull and pressure hull of a sub.

Don't at least some subs have the ballast tanks and batteries and such between the two hulls? Added protection and such?

But a starship wouldn't need ballast tanks. So no extra spacing.

[Nickswitz]

So they have super thick windows?

[Deepcrush]

Nope. No super thick super windows.

[Nickswitz]

Oh, so what's your problem with them,

[Praeothmin]

Nope. No super thick super windows.

Do we have canon data available on those windows?
They don't seem that thin when we look at them, and evaluating the thickness from inside the ship is tricky at best.

Also, concerning the dome, didn't the Duras sisters target the bridge during their attack on the E-D? (I don't remember, so anyone with the info is welcomed to share it, thanks)
Perhaps the windows were weakened by all the shots hitting the ship before the crash.

[Sionnach Glic]

I don't think the bridge was ever hit. The shots seemed more to hit the engineering hull.

Also, the simple fact that the dome ruptured while the hull around it remained intact is clear proof that the windows are nowhere near as strong as the hull.

[Nickswitz]

But all the force was transfered through the ship to the dome which would mean a lot of force on that glass.

[Sionnach Glic]

How was it all transfered to the dome? And how does that refute my point that the hull surrounding the dome was still intact, and not even buckled?

[Sonic Glitch]

Yeah, to be effective in increasing structural resistance, they'd have to be next to each other - like the armor hull and pressure hull of a sub.

Don't at least some subs have the ballast tanks and batteries and such between the two hulls? Added protection and such?

But a starship wouldn't need ballast tanks. So no extra spacing.

But they would have other things, IE (like nick said), crew quarters. If we give them the benefit of the doubt, Starfleet would organize most plans so that the battlestations and such, at least for the civilians, were sheltered in the hull (ignore the bridge for a moment, I know it's on top with little or no protection). Perhaps they figure that the quarters and the things in them can be replaced more easily than people and provide another weapons buffer.

Nope. No super thick super windows.

Do we have canon data available on those windows?
They don't seem that thin when we look at them, and evaluating the thickness from inside the ship is tricky at best.

Also, concerning the dome, didn't the Duras sisters target the bridge during their attack on the E-D? (I don't remember, so anyone with the info is welcomed to share it, thanks)
Perhaps the windows were weakened by all the shots hitting the ship before the crash.

Just before the end of the battle one of the sisters orders "target their bridge!" followed by the report "we are cloaking, our shields are down!." We never find out if the shot was carried out.

Also, it should be noted that as far as we can tell, none of the other windows in the saucer broke, and the saucer handled an impact with a planet better than the E-E with another ship.

[Praeothmin]

Also, the simple fact that the dome ruptured while the hull around it remained intact is clear proof that the windows are nowhere near as strong as the hull

Agreed, they are weaker, but by how much?
We do not know how damaged was the hull.
Did it have microfractures, was it near buckling?
Don't forget that, while the outer hull seemed to have survived nicely, the interior of the ship was a total mess, so the energies involved were great.
We know that the ship was subjected to incredible structural stress.

Also, it should be noted that as far as we can tell, none of the other windows in the saucer broke, and the saucer handled an impact with a planet better than the E-E with another ship.

Also true, a lot of windows seemed intact after the crash, including some on the saucer's edge, showing how resilient they are.

And the E-E being greatly damaged by the impact with another ship just goes to show how tough ships in the ST universe are: tougher then planets...

[Sionnach Glic]

Agreed, they are weaker, but by how much?
We do not know how damaged was the hull.
Did it have microfractures, was it near buckling?

No idea. But the fact that the dome was destroyed while the hull itself, at the very worst, stopped just short of exhibiting any major damage says a lot.

The fact is, if they're even slightly weaker, they shouldn't be there at all.

Don't forget that, while the outer hull seemed to have survived nicely, the interior of the ship was a total mess, so the energies involved were great.
We know that the ship was subjected to incredible structural stress.

Indeed. And the windows, whatever they may be made of, have shown that they're unable to stand up to those types of stresses, while the hull is (if just barely).

[Sonic Glitch]

Don't forget that, while the outer hull seemed to have survived nicely, the interior of the ship was a total mess, so the energies involved were great.
We know that the ship was subjected to incredible structural stress.

Indeed. And the windows, whatever they may be made of, have shown that they're unable to stand up to those types of stresses, while the hull is (if just barely).

AHEM:

Also, it should be noted that as far as we can tell, none of the other windows in the saucer broke, and the saucer handled an impact with a planet better than the E-E with another ship.

We saw a grand total of 1 broken window.

[Sionnach Glic]

We saw a grand total of 1 window. We've no idea of the state of the other windows. That the bridge dome (which would logicaly be the most "armoured" of them all") was broken would suggest that the rest, or most of them, were as well.

[Nickswitz]

What I stated before, about the transfer of energy, when something hits the ground, all the force from the impact gets transferred and exerted on the highest point (E.G. the bridge dome) So it would make sense that since all the impact force was exerted on the dome, that it would break.

[Sionnach Glic]

Does that take into account the angle at which it crashed? It didn't just drop straight down; it slammed more or less head-first into the ground.

And, yet again, why didn't the hull surrounding the dome so much as buckle while the whole dome was destroyed?