Cardassians and torpedoes, a question.
Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 8:43 pm
Just something that, off and on, has been peculating in the back of my mind. Namely why the Torpedo boat concept never seemed to take hold in Cardassian design philosophy or, to a lesser extent, any one else's.
As can be observed ship mounted Photon Torpedoes are powerful, self-contained armaments far exceeding beam weaponry, at least in brute, total energy. Indeed examples like the "Nth Degree" {TNG-04} suggests even a Galaxy class starship is twitchy about firing such weapons too close off the bow as it were.
The Cardassians in turn are a militaristic, expansion oriented society who frequently found themselves outclassed on a per unit basis against more powerful foes whether it was in the Federation-Cardassian conflict or fighting territorial Wars with the Klingons. Foes whose's industries and ship production easily rivaled if not exceeded Cardassian's own and who were not nearly so resource hungry.
In such an environment the Cardassian workhorse, the Galor cruiser, is inadequate. Even granting the advantage of weaponry range suggested by "The Wounded" {TNG-04} the warship can't be expected to survive anything resembling a straight up exchange of fire against a Galaxy, Nebula or hell even a War-oriented Miranda-class. A Galor is just as vulnerable if not more so to a salvo of photon torpedoes exploding across its bow as anyone it would fight and getting up close and trying to make it a beam-weapon contest is equally unlikely to go to their advantage except against the weakest of starships.
And the fact remains the Federation and Klingon Empire can likely more afford the destruction of the odd Excelsior class, Bird-Of-Prey, Nebula or aging D-7 cruiser then Cardassia could the loss of one of its Galor cruisers.
My question is, why attempt to fight your enemies on such terms? Imagine instead of an expensive Galor cruiser something like a Hideki-patrol ship but equipped to launch the equivalent of six type V photon torpedoes in one do or die salvo. Such a barrage would threaten even a mighty Galaxy class and cripple or destroy lesser vessels. And all at the risk to a patrol ship which has little need for shields or advanced systems beyond targeting sensors and a decent warp drive.
Obviously you'd still need Galors and and Keldon class cruisers and the need for stand up slugging matches would never go away completely but a disposable, hard hitting unit would allow you to soften up and destroy enemy formations before you have to commit your expensive warships to the battle. Altering the dynamic and flow of the myriad conflicts Cardassia found itself in from the 2360's-2370's.
Suddenly the casualty-adverse Federation would either have to accept rising death figures and ships destroyed, which would likely precipitate a greater call for withdrawal from an unimportant conflict on the edges of the Federation borders, or focus on sending ever larger, more powerful vessels to combat gloried shuttles with rockets strapped on.
The Klingons in turn would have to evaluate their thirst for battle in a War that gives them fewer glorious battles at ever greater cost. Die surrounded by the proverbial mountain of your enemies and they write a song about you. Die nameless as part of a torpedo volley by a podunk patrol ship that immediately turned and scrammed out of the system, not so much.
And, unlike the Federation's starfleet which is devoted to peaceful exploration or the Klingon Navy which would likely turn their noses up at such cowardly tactics, the Cardassian Navy's sole purpose is to protect and promote the expansion of their Empire by any means. Making the ruthless Cardassians ideal for this type of warfare without any morality or "honor" to interfere with whatever is the most brutally efficient solution at hand.
At least that is my thoughts. The dynamics of warfare in the 24th century makes torpedoes really good anti-cap weapons so why not build a ship to exploit this? But maybe I'm missing something. So I figured I'd throw it out there and see what the professionals here made of my ramblings.
-Sonofccn
As can be observed ship mounted Photon Torpedoes are powerful, self-contained armaments far exceeding beam weaponry, at least in brute, total energy. Indeed examples like the "Nth Degree" {TNG-04} suggests even a Galaxy class starship is twitchy about firing such weapons too close off the bow as it were.
The Cardassians in turn are a militaristic, expansion oriented society who frequently found themselves outclassed on a per unit basis against more powerful foes whether it was in the Federation-Cardassian conflict or fighting territorial Wars with the Klingons. Foes whose's industries and ship production easily rivaled if not exceeded Cardassian's own and who were not nearly so resource hungry.
In such an environment the Cardassian workhorse, the Galor cruiser, is inadequate. Even granting the advantage of weaponry range suggested by "The Wounded" {TNG-04} the warship can't be expected to survive anything resembling a straight up exchange of fire against a Galaxy, Nebula or hell even a War-oriented Miranda-class. A Galor is just as vulnerable if not more so to a salvo of photon torpedoes exploding across its bow as anyone it would fight and getting up close and trying to make it a beam-weapon contest is equally unlikely to go to their advantage except against the weakest of starships.
And the fact remains the Federation and Klingon Empire can likely more afford the destruction of the odd Excelsior class, Bird-Of-Prey, Nebula or aging D-7 cruiser then Cardassia could the loss of one of its Galor cruisers.
My question is, why attempt to fight your enemies on such terms? Imagine instead of an expensive Galor cruiser something like a Hideki-patrol ship but equipped to launch the equivalent of six type V photon torpedoes in one do or die salvo. Such a barrage would threaten even a mighty Galaxy class and cripple or destroy lesser vessels. And all at the risk to a patrol ship which has little need for shields or advanced systems beyond targeting sensors and a decent warp drive.
Obviously you'd still need Galors and and Keldon class cruisers and the need for stand up slugging matches would never go away completely but a disposable, hard hitting unit would allow you to soften up and destroy enemy formations before you have to commit your expensive warships to the battle. Altering the dynamic and flow of the myriad conflicts Cardassia found itself in from the 2360's-2370's.
Suddenly the casualty-adverse Federation would either have to accept rising death figures and ships destroyed, which would likely precipitate a greater call for withdrawal from an unimportant conflict on the edges of the Federation borders, or focus on sending ever larger, more powerful vessels to combat gloried shuttles with rockets strapped on.
The Klingons in turn would have to evaluate their thirst for battle in a War that gives them fewer glorious battles at ever greater cost. Die surrounded by the proverbial mountain of your enemies and they write a song about you. Die nameless as part of a torpedo volley by a podunk patrol ship that immediately turned and scrammed out of the system, not so much.
And, unlike the Federation's starfleet which is devoted to peaceful exploration or the Klingon Navy which would likely turn their noses up at such cowardly tactics, the Cardassian Navy's sole purpose is to protect and promote the expansion of their Empire by any means. Making the ruthless Cardassians ideal for this type of warfare without any morality or "honor" to interfere with whatever is the most brutally efficient solution at hand.
At least that is my thoughts. The dynamics of warfare in the 24th century makes torpedoes really good anti-cap weapons so why not build a ship to exploit this? But maybe I'm missing something. So I figured I'd throw it out there and see what the professionals here made of my ramblings.
-Sonofccn