A Fleet Flagship Command Bridge - Post TNG

[Samurai]

^indeed. Might be an idea to amend the credits on your piece when you get a chance, to reflect that new information.

[chrisweuve]

Okay, there is no reason to think Starfleet would adopt an early 21st century USN approach, but let me offer a some context.

On a modern USN vessel, say, a destroyer or cruiser, you have the bridge (technically, the pilot house) from which the ship is conned and maneuvered, and the Combat Information Center, from which it is fought. The more senior officers are in CIC, and when General Quarters is sounded, the CO and lead Tactical Action Officer are both in CIC and the XO is on the bridge. If there is some sort of command staff aboard (a destroyer squadron commander and his staff), they will be running their own battlewatch out of CIC also. (Much easier on a cruiser, which has an extra set of screens just for that purpose.) The DESRON staff fights the battlegroup (it gets complicated in their is a carrier near by -- let's assume not), and the CO fights his ship.

Okay, on an aircraft carrier it's even more complicated. The Combat Direction Center (also called CIC until a few years ago) usually has the following:
-- a Tactical Action Officer and assistant, who are defending the carrier;
-- a DESRON staff, who are responsible for surface and subsurface warfare; and
-- a flag staff, who are fighting the battlegroup.
(We're going to ignore the air wing and the air warfare commander who is out on the cruiser.)

The flag staff have their own space, the Tactical Flag Command Center. The ship and the DESRON split CDC about 50/50, with their own sets of displays, etc.. There is no real advantage to them sharing the room. To make matters even more complicated, the DESRON commander and his staff -- just like the admiral and his staff -- are tenants onboard, not ship's company, and the DESRON at least gets all of his enlisted support from the ship's company.

So, what's this have to do with _Star Trek_?
1) In short, the thing that has always struck me about ST is how simplistic the command and control arrangements are.
2) More importantly, different command functions tend to have different rooms when possible. Given how wasteful ST starships are when it comes to space, I would expect that to hold for them, too.

Note, though, that with a little forethought, the extra command space might simply be the emergency bridge, assuming they could get away from the somewhat silly tendency to use the viewscreen as a window and start using it to display useful data. (That goes for the bridge, too.)

[Hellsgate]

What's an "Aurora-Class Dreadnaught"? The first bridge image mentions it in the bottom right hand corner.

[japme]

Thanx for the comments. now that i think about it your right about having to separate facilities, so I might add another room to the scene. I was thinking about how during World War Two, The Flagship had one bridge and the admiral commanded the battle from their, so he could see everything, but they did have a room where they could go, to lead the battle, so I will look into adding one. Maybe an upstairs room with a sweeping view of space?

About the topdown render, I've tried, but since the walls have no thickness, you basically have funiture sitting in outer space. If anyone would care to do sketch some ideas for a ready room sofa, or some floor consoles, I may have to replace the ones Im using, I am open to ideas. and I have contacted Sean about them, Im just waiting now to hear back from him.

The Aurora was a hypothetical extension of the Soveriegn. Go to trekmeshes.ch and check the gallery for it, it should be near the top, and is kind of bluish in coloring.

Please send any sketches or ideas to kickajet@gmail.com, as Scifi-meshes doesnot always work from my home computer (thanks to an old landline in the sticks of South Carolina).

[chrisweuve]

Originally Posted by japme

I was thinking about how during World War Two, The Flagship had one bridge and the admiral commanded the battle from there...

Actually, this isn't quite the case, for two reasons.

First, on major surface combattants the admiral traditionally has had a "flag bridge" reserved for the use of the admiral and his staff. Two of the Iowa-class battleships, for instance, were built with this capability. Usually the admiral's at-sea cabin is right off the flag bridge, as the CO's at-sea cabin is right off the main bridge. Aircraft carriers continue to have flag bridges, which is usually where the admiral's exercise equipment is stashed. It's also a great place to watch flight operations.

Second, by WW2 the admiral wasn't spending nearly as much time on the bridge as before. This was especially true on aircraft carriers. In the days of air operations, fleet battle management is down through plots, not eyeballs looking out windows.

WW2 was a transitional period, though, with captains still fighting their ship from the bridge vice CIC.

Originally Posted by japme

... but they did have a room where they could go, to lead the battle, so I will look into adding one. Maybe an upstairs room with a sweeping view of space?

That sounds cool, but the admiral has no need to look out over the ship's bridge. For him and his staff, the bridge is at best not relevant to his job, and at worst a distraction.

Shore facilities for major commands usually have a watch floor, often with a similar arrangement: a set of desks for watch officers in "the pit", with big screens on one wall, and a briefing balcony (enclosed) opposite those screens. VIPs (including the admiral in charge of the command, and his staff) will get the daily brief from the officers on the watch floor.

[Hellsgate]

japme: I found the Aurora. A Sovereign-Class meets the Vulcan D'Kyr-Class.

http://www.trekmeshes.ch/publicgalle...ORA_Class_.JPG

[Aresius]

Maybe you haven't read it; I was requesting a top-down shot from the model instead of a top-down sketch.

[japme]

Thanx for the input, now that mention it I was wrong about the bridge layout again, but if you go it back to the Napoleanic Wars, and the Royal navy, you would have a single command point, yes the captain walked around the ship, but he would always return to the poop deck, to direct the helmsman and the admiral of the flagship would direct the captain of the flagship and the other ships where to go and what to do, but not how to do it. Since I don't have a poop deck, I still like the single main bridge, but I think maybe a room could go above or below this level, which would be a combination of the Stellar Cartography Library on the Enterprise-E and a 3D Age of Empires Control interface, who knows.

Chris I meant outerspace, not the Bridge, but now that you mentioned it, it would be neat to have a view point from above the bridge, Probably won't happen though.

About the render Aresius, I have not had a ton of free time recently and, what I do have is spent on expanding and cleaning up the whole scene, as the floor plane is still in a state of flux to the layout of the additional rooms and the furniture, but I think I have the Main bridge And Conference Room almost done layout wise and will try to get a topsown render up before Monday.

HellGate, Thanx for taking a look. That is a compiliation and modification of a whole slew of meshes,that I downloaded off of 3D Meshes Research Database by Eric Saltel INRIA GAMMA Group, probably the largest mesh bank out there.

[seanr]

All olf the parts listed in the credits as "Unknown Author" are by me, Sean Robertson. I honestly can't say I approve of them being used in a kitbash in this way and ask that you try your hand at building your own parts instead.

[batboy853]

Originally Posted by seanr

All olf the parts listed in the credits as " I honestly can't say I approve of them being used in a kitbash in this way and ask that you try your hand at building your own parts instead.

this was my exact thought when i saw this posted as an image at trekmeshes.ch