History, Politics And Current Affairs

...Wanted to make sure that everyone understands that the Mikeyverse is an open sandbox - if you want to write a story or add some background information, please feel absolutely free to do so. All I ask there is that you give me a heads up so I can clear any canon conflicts.

Mike

I do need to get writing

Did have a class name idea. If Starfleet has a class of command ships, why not name them after historical admirals? E.g. USS Nimitz, USS Halsey, USS Nelson, USS Cunningham etc?

I can't write for crap and don't want to make a litterbox of anyone's 'verse. But if driving up to Columbia one weekend and buying you some beer will feed the Muses for some more TLS...

Bernard Woolley wrote: ↑Sun Oct 01, 2023 3:24 pm Did have a class name idea. If Starfleet has a class of command ships, why not name them after historical admirals? E.g. USS Nimitz, USS Halsey, USS Nelson, USS Cunningham etc?

I like this Jan.

Another question for Mike, how canon are the SFB ship names as pulled out of the various scenarios and stories? Is HOOD in one piece? Is KONGO as famous? Does Phil Kosnett exist and if so, has he reached flag rank?

Craiglxviii wrote: ↑Sun Oct 01, 2023 6:47 pm USS Cunningham etc?

A from the Amanda Garrett series, good choice.

Wrong Cunningham. That Cunningham was named after Randall ‘Duke’ Cunningham, I’m suggesting a ship be named after Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Cunningham.

Fraser and Leach would also be good choices IMVHO.

Conversely, we have seen FARRAGUT in SNW, and she is a two-nacelle slung under the saucer design - theoretically a SOYUZ or MIRANDA predecessor, but looks more like a SFB frigate.

Let's look at the incoming hails, shall we?

by Bernard Woolley » Sun Oct 01, 2023 10:24 am

Did have a class name idea. If Starfleet has a class of command ships, why not name them after historical admirals? E.g. USS Nimitz, USS Halsey, USS Nelson, USS Cunningham etc?

It's kinda complicated.

StarFleet never did get (at least in terms of the Mikeyverse 's time frame) dedicated command ships. The closest they ever got were the two Space Control Ships - the last two MacArthur class CVAs, converted during construction to carry vastly increased sensor rigs, enlarged flag facilities, VLS mounts, and a specialized CAG. The reason for the conversion was that carrier tech was advancing so fast that although the Big Macs were the most advanced CVs in known space when they were laid down, they were considerably behind the curve when they went into service. The SCSs served well, but they were kind of a neither-fish-nor-fowl kinda thing. They were George Washington NCC-2205 and Julius Caesar NCC-2206.

The ships that did get admiral names were the 'through-deck cruisers' , a name given to the CA-based CVLs in order to keep the Federation Council from figuring out that they were buying more carriers. These were officially CAs with an 'enhanced shuttle operational capability'. These ships were as follows:

Raymond Spruance NCC-2519
William Halsey NCC-2520
Ernest King NCC-2521
Willis Lee NCC-2522
George Dewey NCC-2523
Horatio Nelson NCC-2524
Andrew Cunningham NCC-2525
Francis Drake NCC-2526
Richard Howe NCC-2527
Comte De Grasse NCC-2528
Pierre-Charles Villeneuve NCC-2529
Pierre-Andre Suffren NCC-2530
Franz Von Tirpitz NCC-2531
Reinhard Scheer NCC-2532
Franz Von Hipper NCC-2533
Maximilian Von Spee NCC-2534
Heihachiro Togo NCC-2536
Isoroku Yamamoto NCC-2537
Gunichi Mikawa NCC-2538
Chuichi Nagumo NCC-2539

Each CVA and CVL, by the by, had one CLG and four DDGEs built as escorts, and the CVAs (including the Ranger class CVAX) got a CAG along with that.

Craig asks:

Another question for Mike, how canon are the SFB ship names as pulled out of the various scenarios and stories? Is HOOD in one piece? Is KONGO as famous? Does Phil Kosnett exist and if so, has he reached flag rank?

Hood is still very much in one piece, though she has been hit pretty hard on more than one occasion - I can't imagine a Mikeyverse without a Hood. Kongo is equally as famous from her time as FADM Nogura's first command and later his flagship. Phil Kosnett is in the Mikeyverse, and will make a substantial appearance in TLS, starting not too far from where the story's at right now. Other specific ships and scenarios will be handled on a case by case basis.

Johnny sends :

Conversely, we have seen FARRAGUT in SNW, and she is a two-nacelle slung under the saucer design - theoretically a SOYUZ or MIRANDA predecessor, but looks more like a SFB frigate.

Now, this one is a bit of a canon conflict, but an easily resolved one. Farragut - as per the Franz Joseph StarFleet Technical Manual - was one of the First Fourteen, , Constitution class NCC-1702, and a young Ensign James Kirk was assigned to her in 2254. We know from the events of the TOS ep 'Obsession' that her skipper Steve Garrovick - a man who had become a mentor and friend to Kirk - and 199 other personnel were killed by the dichromium cloud creature. However, it is unclear in canon what happened to Farragut afterwards. Keeping in mind that the SNW ep is possibly a decade later and in an alternate timeline to boot it is not unreasonable to assume that Farragut was lost/decommissioned following the dichromium cloud encounter and that the one we see in SNW is a new ship named in her honor. It's also not unreasonable to assume that Jim Kirk would have moved heaven and earth to become her skipper.

Now, Reliant is actually canon in TOS - her name appears on the starship status display in 'Court Martial', but there's no indication of what class she belongs to. Exactly what kind of ship she may be is foggy at best; in the Mikeyverse Reliant is a Dauntless class DL, and she's been modified into a DLE (the Gatling phasers attest to that). Soyuz, I believe, is a later Dauntless variant - but I'm always open to suggestions!

Mike

I have to ask this, do the ships named after German admirals have a history of their captains ordering them to be self-destructed 0.5 seconds before a warp-core breach destroys them?

Respectfully, FARRAGUT isn’t just in an alternate timeline - we also see her in Starbase 1 in SNW S2E1, so canonically she’s MIRANDA-style in the 2250s. Of course, that could be Starfleet doing a USN-style refit, where they jack up the registry number, haul the ship away, and then plop down a new hull, and the Federation Congress is none the wiser. CONSTELLATION, REPUBLIC, EAGLE, INTREPID and GRISSOM are all possible examples of this (given the implausibly low registry numbers), along with ENTERPRISE herself. Certainly future FARRAGUTs have gone backwards, from a NEBULA-class in 2373 destroyed by Klingons and replaced by a new-build EXCELSIOR.

MIRANDAs of the 2280s are probably more NCL (with the nacelles below the saucer rather than above) than DL, and the SOYUZes may be a much less successful variant (given that SOYUZes were retired well before 2300, but MIRANDAs soldier on into the 2380s). It’s not unreasonable to posit that MIRANDA and SOYUZ were the first to trial the nacelles that were used for the ENTERPRISE-refit and then the OBERTH and CONSTELLATION classes. Hell, RELIANT may well have been on a post-shakedown refit in 2266. That’s certainly more plausible than refitting the entire fleet.

So it’s entirely possible that MIRANDA is an up-gunned derivative of FARRAGUT, just like CONSTELLATION is a deep-space derivative of the Heavy War Destroyer (probably a CL upranged version of a DLish).

Can we also get some AKULAs?

As for command ships, we have seen a dreadnought serve as one for a light task force, and a CONSTITUTION as a CruDiv flagship, so there may be some ships specifically modified for flag facilities (like the RN destroyer leaders in WWII), or just given second-class commodores.

May I offer USS Ark Royal NCC-1791) borrowed from Memory Beta? Per Memory Beta she was commanded in 2270 by a certain Captain Lance Cartwright.

I have it in my headcanon that the Ark has a solid record, which if Enterprise didn’t exist would be considered impressive. However, she has gained a reputation of always “being the bridesmaid, but never the bride”. When Enterprise is the classic “only ship in the quadrant” Ark Royal would be on the edge of the next quadrant over and just out of range.

For example, during the V’ger Crisis, Ark, after nearly blowing her Warp Drive, arrives in Sector 001 just an hour after the situation has been resolved. In 2286 she was in refit in Space Dock and got trapped by the Probe, despite an emergency attempt to launch.

In 2293 having heard of the events at Khitomer, Ark Royal arrives just as Enterprise A and Excelsior depart.


The next Ark Royal, a sister to Enterprise B, would on one occasion have the same luck. She was a week out of Space Dock on a shakedown cruise when the events of Generations occur. My headcannon has it that this Ark would survive until the early part of the Dominion War. A Sovereign Class being the next to carry the name.

***

Got inspired to suggest this having discovered that the 25th Century Starfleet has a Sovereign Class Ark Royal NCC-75922. Which was revealed in ST:P. I’ve always believed that there would have been an Ark Royal somewhere in Starfleet, so when I discovered the Sovereign Class ship, I figured that the name would have been carried by both Constitution/Constitution Refit and Excelsior Class ships.

Just a bit of random Saturday night/Sunday morning musing and stream of consciousness.

I’m working on a little something out of Royal Navy history for Mike myself.

I look forward to reading it.

I did also have the idea that at least one slightly eccentric Captain of Ark Royal, who had ancestors in the Royal Navy, insisted on using RN terms. Such as telling Lieutenants (J.G) that they are “sub-lieutenants on my ship”.

Bernard Woolley wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 3:40 am May I offer USS Ark Royal NCC-1791) borrowed from Memory Beta? Per Memory Beta she was commanded in 2270 by a certain Captain Lance Cartwright.

I have it in my headcanon that the Ark has a solid record, which if Enterprise didn’t exist would be considered impressive. However, she has gained a reputation of always “being the bridesmaid, but never the bride”. When Enterprise is the classic “only ship in the quadrant” Ark Royal would be on the edge of the next quadrant over and just out of range.

For example, during the V’ger Crisis, Ark, after nearly blowing her Warp Drive, arrives in Sector 001 just an hour after the situation has been resolved. In 2286 she was in refit in Space Dock and got trapped by the Probe, despite an emergency attempt to launch.

In 2293 having heard of the events at Khitomer, Ark Royal arrives just as Enterprise A and Excelsior depart.


The next Ark Royal, a sister to Enterprise B, would on one occasion have the same luck. She was a week out of Space Dock on a shakedown cruise when the events of Generations occur. My headcannon has it that this Ark would survive until the early part of the Dominion War. A Sovereign Class being the next to carry the name.

***

Got inspired to suggest this having discovered that the 25th Century Starfleet has a Sovereign Class Ark Royal NCC-75922. Which was revealed in ST:P. I’ve always believed that there would have been an Ark Royal somewhere in Starfleet, so when I discovered the Sovereign Class ship, I figured that the name would have been carried by both Constitution/Constitution Refit and Excelsior Class ships.

Just a bit of random Saturday night/Sunday morning musing and stream of consciousness.

It’s possible. LANTREE (NCC-1831) was in service for roughly a century, a CONSTITUTION class ship was lost at Wolf 359, and HATHAWAY (NCC-2593) was in service eighty-three years after launch, as part of Picard’s blockading force in 2368.

Bernard Woolley wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 4:15 am I look forward to reading it.

I did also have the idea that at least one slightly eccentric Captain of Ark Royal, who had ancestors in the Royal Navy, insisted on using RN terms. Such as telling Lieutenants (J.G) that they are “sub-lieutenants on my ship”.

For extra hilarity, ARK ROYAL’s CO is French. Perhaps Jean-Luc Picard’s great uncle.

Maybe they’re Hugenouts who moved back to France after Waterloo, and Picard’s ancestor who fought at Trafalgar was in the RN, not the French Navy.

Bernard Woolley wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 4:15 am I look forward to reading it.

I did also have the idea that at least one slightly eccentric Captain of Ark Royal, who had ancestors in the Royal Navy, insisted on using RN terms. Such as telling Lieutenants (J.G) that they are “sub-lieutenants on my ship”.

First Officer: “Sir, why do you insist on calling me ‘Pilot’? The shuttle pilots are all at their battle stations.”

CO: “Action stations on this ship, Pilot”

Johnnie Lyle wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 5:08 am For extra hilarity, ARK ROYAL’s CO is French. Perhaps Jean-Luc Picard’s great uncle.

Maybe they’re Hugenouts who moved back to France after Waterloo, and Picard’s ancestor who fought at Trafalgar was in the RN, not the French Navy.

Well, he does use the generally British term “Number One”.

Craiglxviii wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 1:12 pm
First Officer: “Sir, why do you insist on calling me ‘Pilot’? The shuttle pilots are all at their battle stations.”

CO: “Action stations on this ship, Pilot”

Pilot is generally used for the Navigator. Vasco was apparently a common alternative.

Bernard Woolley wrote: ↑Mon Nov 20, 2023 2:07 am

Johnnie Lyle wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 5:08 am For extra hilarity, ARK ROYAL’s CO is French. Perhaps Jean-Luc Picard’s great uncle.

Maybe they’re Hugenouts who moved back to France after Waterloo, and Picard’s ancestor who fought at Trafalgar was in the RN, not the French Navy.

Well, he does use the generally British term “Number One”.

Plus not many Frenchmen are proud of fighting at Trafalgar.