The largest container ships in the world can carry about 24000 twenty foot shipping containers. People actually rent container apartments that take up about two of those (and those have their own showers), giving you about 30m² or 322ft². That’s 12000 people who can live individually on a container ship. Add a duplicate of their home space for office workspace, and you’ve got 6000 people living there.
Of course you need corridors between those containers, so take off 10ft for every two containers, reducing the capacity to about 4500 people + offices. Subtract a holodeck here and there, and you can easily house 3000 people on that ship.
These things are like floating cities. Their scale is nearly impossible to comprehend if you haven’t seen one up close. Fitting a few hundred people in really isn’t going to be your biggest issue, especially if you have hallway sleeping like Lower Decks shows or bunk beds/shared bedrooms and showers like other shows have.
The Gerald R. Ford is smaller than the container ship depicted here, but houses 4300 people. I wouldn’t be surprised if oxygen supply were a bigger issue than floor space when it comes to cramming in a thousand people into the Enterprise.
Actually the thing they often get wrong in depictions of life support failure is that the ship would get too hot. The vacuum of space insulates the ship.
That’s a different class sof ship, though. It’s also pretty weird knowing how huge these ships are, but I’m pretty sure the writers just wanted to get the “shitty dorm” atmosphere down.
I don’t know what the hell they’re doing with all that space, but 300 people on a ship the size of a California class is definitely not “sleeping in bunk bed in the hallways” crowded.
AS much as I enjoy some aspects of Lower Decks, that was one of the most phenomenally stupid decisions that they could possibly have made.
The crew sizes for Federation starships are TINY compared to the actual size of the ships. SNW giving every crew member their own studio apartment is something that reflects the ludicrous amount of empty space that a Federation starship has availalbe to it.
If you ever look at the deck plans, there’s just a crazy amount of space that’s unused.
You’d be stacking people on one another for sure. However the tight quarters then gives creedence to stuff like Cerritos and Voyager not having thick enough walls/doors to dampen sound. Then Enterprise-D is a whole different beast and it makes no sense for the opposite reason. It’s too damn big with not enough crew. You’d have people working in their own section never meeting another soul during their whole day.
But that brings me to something else (because I have severely unmedicated ADHD and I apologize). Picard Season 3 got rapped for having the Titans bridge be really dark all the time. The lighting of the whole ship was way darker. Surprisingly I actually liked that. It felt like they were on a submarine or some small contained vessel, just then against the harshness of what was outside. That submarine quality really should be used in more shows. I know TOS had random people walking around the corridors (like the famous example of a dude who was turning an invisible valve on a wall) but I like those tight spaces.
Oh and to prove the ADHD? The Crossfield class is 900m long. Roughly. I mean she’s 2/3rds nacelle but still.
That’s not even a big carrier either. American supercarriers between the flight crews, the ship crews, the marine contingent and everything else can fit up to SIX THOUSAND people.
There’s no need for anyone on the Cerritos to sleep in the fucking hallways. That’s like “we live on a literal submarine” level of privacy. It’s beyond idiotic. The Cali class are MASSIVE. There’s no need for anyone to be living in the hallways like that.
The problem is that they want to eat their cake and have it to when it comes to being a comedic show that parodies Trek, but also a serious part of the Trek canon.
Sometimes it works, like with the SNW crossover episode, or the ludicrous gambit to clear the captain’s name when she’s being framed for blowing up Planet Packled. Other times, like with the stupid koala or the people sleeping in the corridors it goes beyond what makes sense in-universe and becomes stupid for an out-of-universe joke.
Picard Season 3 got rapped for having the Titans bridge be really dark all the time.
Have these people not seen The Motion Picture? The bridge was so dark in that movie, it doesn’t even seem like they’re on the Enterprise. At least the Titan is a different ship, AND you still get to see the Enterprise with its bright lighting in the same show.
If we check this image, use the 947’ total size, we can estimate the rest of the dimensions. That would put the deck heigh at about 8’. The saucer widest deck lengths at around 450’. Definitely cramped but doable. There’s only about 100-150 crew on this version as well. It’s essentially a weirdly shaped cruise ship and nearly the size of our world’s largest.
Yeah I’m not seeing how there’s several dozen people moving, working, and living in that.
A container ship’s crew is 20-30 people, and that whole thing is mostly containers. I bet they’d fit.
Oh you.
The largest container ships in the world can carry about 24000 twenty foot shipping containers. People actually rent container apartments that take up about two of those (and those have their own showers), giving you about 30m² or 322ft². That’s 12000 people who can live individually on a container ship. Add a duplicate of their home space for office workspace, and you’ve got 6000 people living there.
Of course you need corridors between those containers, so take off 10ft for every two containers, reducing the capacity to about 4500 people + offices. Subtract a holodeck here and there, and you can easily house 3000 people on that ship.
These things are like floating cities. Their scale is nearly impossible to comprehend if you haven’t seen one up close. Fitting a few hundred people in really isn’t going to be your biggest issue, especially if you have hallway sleeping like Lower Decks shows or bunk beds/shared bedrooms and showers like other shows have.
The Gerald R. Ford is smaller than the container ship depicted here, but houses 4300 people. I wouldn’t be surprised if oxygen supply were a bigger issue than floor space when it comes to cramming in a thousand people into the Enterprise.
Oxygen is an issue, but heat generation is also an issue.
Actually the thing they often get wrong in depictions of life support failure is that the ship would get too hot. The vacuum of space insulates the ship.
But people mainly occupy the saucer portion right? Like they don’t live in the engines.
Looking at OPs pic, that saucer is very small compared to the container ship.
They sleep in hallways…
That’s a different class sof ship, though. It’s also pretty weird knowing how huge these ships are, but I’m pretty sure the writers just wanted to get the “shitty dorm” atmosphere down.
I don’t know what the hell they’re doing with all that space, but 300 people on a ship the size of a California class is definitely not “sleeping in bunk bed in the hallways” crowded.
After watching discovery I assume it’s all turbolift shafts.
Don’t forget the Jeffreys tubes
The amount of empty space in Discovery was just weird.
AS much as I enjoy some aspects of Lower Decks, that was one of the most phenomenally stupid decisions that they could possibly have made.
The crew sizes for Federation starships are TINY compared to the actual size of the ships. SNW giving every crew member their own studio apartment is something that reflects the ludicrous amount of empty space that a Federation starship has availalbe to it.
If you ever look at the deck plans, there’s just a crazy amount of space that’s unused.
Maybe if they narrowed that hallway a little, they could all have their own quarters.
In Strange New Worlds everyone above Ensign apparently has their own studio apartment.
In TNG and Voyager they all did.
You’d be stacking people on one another for sure. However the tight quarters then gives creedence to stuff like Cerritos and Voyager not having thick enough walls/doors to dampen sound. Then Enterprise-D is a whole different beast and it makes no sense for the opposite reason. It’s too damn big with not enough crew. You’d have people working in their own section never meeting another soul during their whole day.
But that brings me to something else (because I have severely unmedicated ADHD and I apologize). Picard Season 3 got rapped for having the Titans bridge be really dark all the time. The lighting of the whole ship was way darker. Surprisingly I actually liked that. It felt like they were on a submarine or some small contained vessel, just then against the harshness of what was outside. That submarine quality really should be used in more shows. I know TOS had random people walking around the corridors (like the famous example of a dude who was turning an invisible valve on a wall) but I like those tight spaces.
Oh and to prove the ADHD? The Crossfield class is 900m long. Roughly. I mean she’s 2/3rds nacelle but still.
Here’s some more perspective. The aircraft carrier pictured apparently carries almost 2000 people.
That’s not even a big carrier either. American supercarriers between the flight crews, the ship crews, the marine contingent and everything else can fit up to SIX THOUSAND people.
There’s no need for anyone on the Cerritos to sleep in the fucking hallways. That’s like “we live on a literal submarine” level of privacy. It’s beyond idiotic. The Cali class are MASSIVE. There’s no need for anyone to be living in the hallways like that.
Yup, I always assumed it was for comedic effect.
The problem is that they want to eat their cake and have it to when it comes to being a comedic show that parodies Trek, but also a serious part of the Trek canon.
Sometimes it works, like with the SNW crossover episode, or the ludicrous gambit to clear the captain’s name when she’s being framed for blowing up Planet Packled. Other times, like with the stupid koala or the people sleeping in the corridors it goes beyond what makes sense in-universe and becomes stupid for an out-of-universe joke.
It might seem like that at first glance, but every Star Trek show has had episodes more absurd than even the silliest Lower Decks one.
Yep, the Enterprise has about the volume of an aircraft carrier, but only a fraction of the crew. By modern standards it is downright roomy.
And it also isn’t carrying 100 fighter planes.
Voyager was carrying infinite shuttles, so it’s not that out there
Prodigy also showed us that they can replicate a new shuttle in like 30 seconds.
The only canon animated shows are Lower Decks and the original Animated Series.
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About that…
https://youtu.be/6Oy3Z2muHz0?si=MtJptmWRc03sl5Qi
Yeah, we were talking about the Connie. Galaxy class is like 20x the volume of a CVN.
This video has a rendering of the Enterprise D’s crew standing in a group on top of the saucer section, to give an intuitive understanding of how ridiculously huge the ship is in comparison.
That was a fascinating video!
Have these people not seen The Motion Picture? The bridge was so dark in that movie, it doesn’t even seem like they’re on the Enterprise. At least the Titan is a different ship, AND you still get to see the Enterprise with its bright lighting in the same show.
Speaking of submarines, SNW s1e4 Memento Mori does a great job with the “flying blind” trope. They even use the “depth charge” trick.
You even get to hear sonar pings. It was amazing as a submarine movie fan.
If we check this image, use the 947’ total size, we can estimate the rest of the dimensions. That would put the deck heigh at about 8’. The saucer widest deck lengths at around 450’. Definitely cramped but doable. There’s only about 100-150 crew on this version as well. It’s essentially a weirdly shaped cruise ship and nearly the size of our world’s largest.
https://youtu.be/3QF-8n1-3qI
This one goes in detail. They’re are a few floors that are just sleeping quarters.
I thought in NG 1000 people lived on it?