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Right - that's why I believe that ships with obsolete armament/shielding/top speed/etc. can still be useful in a second-tier role.

The Excelsiors and Miranda's would be good as wartime hospital evac ship. They have better armament than the Olympics, and are probably far more cost effective.

Aye, that'd be a major factor.

They could still be decent hospital vessels, okay maybe not wartime vessels, but they are still knocking around at TNG era. The Olympic's could be posted for wartime hospitals and the older ships used as ferries so to speak of the injured.

Upgrading the combat cababilities of an outdated starship can improve its ability to perform in battle, but not in a front-line firefight. Great for heavy escort duties, and maybe as a more robust sort of scouting role, also good for inner-system defense supplements.

Or for ramming dock gates with a hold full of high explosive. 8)

Reliant121 wrote:They could still be decent hospital vessels, okay maybe not wartime vessels, but they are still knocking around at TNG era. The Olympic's could be posted for wartime hospitals and the older ships used as ferries so to speak of the injured.

I agree, the excelsior in particular would make a good hospital ship I imagine, it has a large amount of space and if you kept it shielding and maybe added a bit while keeping some Phaser Arrays it could work. They could also be useful as Troop Transports if you upgraded their Shuttle Facilities, at the very least until Starfleet wakes up and develops a dedicated ship for the role of Planetary Warfare.

Even if a dedicated assault ship were deployed (or Intrepids were used in that role), there'd still be a need for troop transports, which the Excelsiors would fill nicely - they're fairly large, are approaching obsolecence as fleet units, and there are plenty of them.

Aye, tear out all the unnecessary parts and fill it with troop quarters.

Would it be possible to rip out the scientific and engine equipment of an Oberth and fit it with weapons, and use it as a cheap weapons platform?

Probably not. Those extra weapons and shields will require more powerful generators, more ammo and significant modifications to both the ship's interior and exterior.

True, it'd be just as easy to reprocess the materials from the Oberth's construction and make new weapons platforms

Probably.

What of the Ambassadors? Troop Transports again?