Hello peeps. This video is a sort of request, but more something I think I should have covered
by now as basic Trek lore. The function and layout of your standard Starfleet Bridge,
the command hub of a starship. This design style has seen little variation over time,
so I’ll focus on a couple of layouts in their basics.
Beginning with the centre, the captain’s chair. From here, the captain has a view of
the majority of the bridge, and stations, the constitution class vessels placing this
feature as a priority by having the captain’s chair on a swivel and unobstructed sightlines
to the rest of the bridge. Later ships would forgo this open plan layout in favour of a
shifting of the tactical console and accompanying chairs for other senior staff. The captain’s
chair has a readout that can provide a summary of most of the ship’s functions and access
to all systems. The only limit here is simply the size of the interface, being no bigger
than the armrest. Ships like the galaxy class have additional screens in position for the
first officer and specialist stations. At the front of the bridge is the helm. This
is because it has the best view of the view screen (or window), and seems an instinctual
place to position such a station. For the majority of the time, the vessel will be moving
forwards after all, but with viewscreens and inertial dampeners, does it really matter?
In ships such as the old NX-Enterprise as well as later vessels like the intrepid or
defiant class had only the helm at the front of the ship while many others coupled the
helm with another station, usually an Operations or navigation based one.
Generally, a vessel with only a helm at the fore had this station because it was expected
to do a lot of manoeuvring or was built for rapid flight. The NX-01 was a prototype warp
vessel, the intrepid class was a rapid deep-space vessel and the defiant was a highly agile
combat ship. Compare this to the Galaxy, Sovereign and Excelsior classes which were all larger,
slower, but more versatile cruisers with multiple mission profiles.
On these vessels, the operations station was typically located next to the helm. This was
the ship’s eyes and ears, both external in internal. Readouts for the ship’s vitals
and systems were channelled to this console, providing the ops officer with status reports
as well as the primary control for sensor readings. When not next to the helm, well,
it could really be anywhere but the functions are the same.
Bridges also included a tactical and security console that maintained control over the ship’s
defensive systems and internal security as well as targeting scanners. This is one of
those stations that the location of changed depending on the vessel. Sometimes it was
its own station, other times it was built into the operations console. It was much the
same with communications; again it was originally its own station or built into the general
ship operations with later era vessels. Most vessels retained an engineering console
for the bridge, where an engineering team officer would man the station to observe and
relay important information to the bridge crew. Most vessels however preferred to keep
their chief of engineering and engineering control down in those sections of the vessel,
where there was simply more space and access to the complex machinery to run its engines.
If desired though, most controls could be run as proxy through a bridge terminal. But
frequently, an engineer is just going to need to roll up their sleeves and get stuck into
the actual components of a vessel. So this is more of an observation post.
The science station was often behind and to the captain’s chair’s right. This was
generally only present on ships that had a designated chief science officer, which is
the majority of vessels, although the intrepid and galaxy are notable exceptions. Nevertheless,
even these vessel retained a science-based console, despite lacking the position. The
science station in these cases had control over numerus sensor arrays and ship systems,
direct library access, and depending on the mission profile for the ship, would sometimes
be the primary sensor station. This is where I’d like to mention the versatility
of the starship bridge and how it has become more adaptable with time. In the 2200s through
to the early 2300s, Starfleet vessels were rather rigid in their positioning of vessel’s
console stations. This was due to a limitation of the technology of the time. While stations
could be configured and slightly adjusted to better suit an operator’s preference,
many had fixed installations. Looking at the constitution class or any of its variations
as an example. The science station had a viewscope and numerous monitors tied into the ship’s
main library and the communications station had the paired earpiece. These stations were
for a specific purpose and could not be altered, but when LCARS was introduced, things changed.
The LCARS computer interface is basically the operating system and user interface for
Federation tech and incredibly customisable. The galaxy class was probably the first type
of vessel to truly embrace the adaptability it brought, with its array of stations at
the rear of the bridge. These stations were 100% changeable and displayed whatever system
layout had been saved. The chief engineer could request one of the 5 alcoves to become
an engineering station, or one could be converted into a specific research terminal for a particular
topic. The other consoles around the bridge, despite their tradition-inspired locations
could also have their systems swapped over. The last feature that I want to mention is
actually not on the bridge, but few vessels do without one; the situation room or briefing
room. This chamber is simply a meeting point for the senior staff to discuss matters in
private. Its proximity to the bridge means that the crew can quickly and easily return
to their stations without much delay and it is in these areas that the majority of ship
decisions are made. Even vessels that lack these rooms, such as the early NX and the
Defiant, have an area reserved for discussion where tactical information, or presentations
can be brought up. All in all, the standard Starfleet Bridge
has evolved over time and become ever more versatile. Ships are designed to fulfil differing
roles too, so the complexity and space dedicated to these also varies with vessel class. This
has also led the incorporation of several stations into one over time, most notable
the folding of communications into operations, and the sensor systems being split among all
the positions really. Telemetry is broken up I guess and sent to the most relevant station.
In general the captain can draw up details of a specific station to analyse, but overall
it the specialist stations that need to interpret the data and relay it to the person in the
command chair, leading to the smoothest possible operation of the entire vessel, from what
is effectively the ship’s brain. Look, they even put it at the very top, exposed position
of the ship, just like a real brain! Now that’s dedication to beheadication. Yes shields are
a thing, but burying it would still be smarter, not even for combat, just in case you know?
ah well it looks cool and allows for a good view.
Thanks for sticking this video with your own sensor systems and interpreting the information
with your own skull-bridge. I’ve been Ric and I’ll see you again later!