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Thorin wrote:

kostmayer wrote:I can appreciate the beauty of the Sovereign Class ship, but I much prefer the look of the early movie class ships. The newer ones just a bit too comfortable. And they look a bit too sleek. More spaceship then navy ship, if that makes sense

Isn't that the point? Starfleet were explorers first, military second. These ships were made to be flying homes, not just to be fly work spaces for the crew.

I agree, but I prefer the old styling. It felt more real. I think the 'family' ships are okay, but shouldn't be too dominant in the fleet. If I was an officer I couldn't see myself dragging my family around anyway.

Well not onto the borders. I think if you a core of the federation posting most people would jump at the chance to have their family come with them.

I don't think any modern sailors agree...

I know people in The Navy who would love to have their family with them so long as they were realitivly safe.

How can you guarantee that your ship will not be called to on-mission duty?

Because you are in the core of a area of space that spans 8000 light years. If you were called in you would have lots of chances to drop them off.

Teaos wrote:Because you are in the core of a area of space that spans 8000 light years. If you were called in you would have lots of chances to drop them off.

That's probably what the crew of the Saratoga thought, and the Kyushu, and the Tolstoy, and the Melbourne. They didn't think there would be a battle only 7.8 light years from Earth. They were wrong

A ship called to wartime duty is going to have time to stop by a Starbase, possibly out of the way, and offload a civilian complement? I don't think that would always be the case.

You travel more than a couple of hundred light years you will pass a Starbase or planet that is pretty close by.

You're still taking up to half a day out of the schedule of a ship en route to a hot zone. That is unacceptable.

Because you are in the core of a area of space that spans 8000 light years. If you were called in you would have lots of chances to drop them off.

What about in the event of a surprise attack? Such as when the Breen attacked Earth? There would be no time there.
And we see Starfleets ships being sent all over the place, there is no gaurantee you could get them off in the event of an attack, or even that there is a habitable planet nearby.
And if there was time to get them off then you would have to delay any counter attack untill your fleet gets rid of all the civilians.
As you can see it would cause a fair few problems doing things that way.

You travel more than a couple of hundred light years you will pass a Starbase or planet that is pretty close by.

But what if the nearest planet is in the oposite direction you need to go? You could delay the counter attack for days, or even weeks!

Again it comes down to risk management. Does the benifits of having families on a ship outway the costs of delays in responding to a threat that may never happen?

No. These people didn't sign up to the military. They did not sign up to be shot at or killed.
The actual members of Starfleet, however, signed up to defend the Federation from external threats. They did not sign up to put inocent lives at risk. They did not sign up to be comfortable.
Modern navies go without their families for long periods. With Trek communication systems it would be far easier to contact your family and talk to them.

What possible benefits could there be to having civilians on board?

Talking over the com system and helping to raise your children are totally different. The statistical chances of ships in none aggresive parts of the Federation are so small as to be well worth the risk of having civilians on board.

This again is one of those things which is just personal opinion and has no real answer.

Talking over the com system and helping to raise your children are totally different.

And raising your children on a warship is also quite different.

The statistical chances of ships in none aggresive parts of the Federation are so small as to be well worth the risk of having civilians on board.

The statistical chances of an Irish ship being in combat is almost non existant. Should we start putting children on board?

What possible benefits could there be to having civilians aboard?