A Kepler is a science vessel, not a frigate, though if we are going off their function, said classification is more akin to destroyers. You are suggesting using the equivalent of a minesweeper, or minelayer to fulfill the purpose of DD class vessels, especially when it is operating off a CA size hull! Big fat target that can't evade worth s*** is a better way to call them. Huh, I just realized that our Ambassador class vessels chart closely to that of BB type vessels.
...!?
I can't make heads or tails of what you're saying here.
The point I'm making is simple. If you look at the frigates people are
actually physically designing in the SDB thread, they tend to be large, and they tend to have six or more units of crew. All these analogies you're making to World War Two naval combatants are kind of beside the point. Which is that the future trend is
not moving in the direction of ships that are as small or smaller than the
Miranda-class. It's moving towards significantly larger frigates, heavier than either the
Miranda or the
Centaur, and converging on the
Renaissance-class in size if not in crew complement.
Hmm.
Still want to hang on Impulse and Fuel for Lor'Vela and Intazzi, if only for the Aphelion.
The
Aphelion is your "super-duper-fleet-scout that you want to pass off to the Council as a slightly superior science vessel" concept, right?
Given the culture that is implied in the Star Trek tv series how much being a captain is the desired state for Starfleet's officer corps, I don't see much of a problem with accepting that captains have much greater TIR leeway than you'd expect.
Agreed.
I mean, Kirk served as a captain for 3 decades. Starfleet, if anything, should have a massive glut of captain/commodore ranked personnel that can be recalled at any time to take command of a ship, task force or facility. It just has more trouble filling flag billets because so few captains have the wish to take flag rank.
I think that would be stereotyping. There was certainly no shortage of commodores and admirals in Kirk's day or Picard's, it's just that Kirk and Picard personally weren't interested in becoming one of them.
Kirk in particular was a special case. He can't have achieved captain rank much before 2265. Kirk was promoted to flag rank by some time in the mid-2270s (while I've seen indications that TMP takes place in 2273, I've also heard it said it happens earlier, and I see no reason to claim certainty). He contrived opportunities to command
Enterprise on two more occasions, the last in 2285, but not with the rank of captain.
His "demotion" to captain after the events of
The Search for Spock and
The Voyage Home was a very strange and unusual combination of circumstances, a way of simultaneously 'rewarding' Kirk for saving Earth that would appeal to his unique tendencies, and 'punishing' him in the eyes of the angry Klingons who were upset about the Genesis Device and the destruction of their ship. Since Kirk
specifically desired nothing in the galaxy more than "a tall ship and a star to steer her by," this was a reward specially tailored to him.
That said, your core insight is correct. The Federation does
not seem to be the kind of society that embraces the "rat race" ethos of hypercompetitiveness, or that goes out of its way to pressure people into retirement for loving and being good at their jobs for 'too long.'
