Narada a "simple mining vessel"?

[Joby]

Nero says where he comes from, the Narada is a simple mining vessel.

What the hell kind of mining vessel is that huge thing? Have we ever seen something so huge used by civilians in any culture from the 24th century? Yes I know the allegory that perhaps a well armed tug boat ship from 2009 can do battle with ships from 1880, and it to make it ironic that the mid 23rd century Starfleet is horribly outgunned by a regular blue collar joe Romulan and his raggedy ship from Picard's time...but that thing is ridiculous in size and weaponry.

It looks significantly larger then the Enterprise D and Enterprise E, neither of which look like they could take out the Narada. Even with quantum torpedoes.

 

[Cyke101]

Well, if we're going with the size scale, then we wouldn't be using a tug boat in your analogy, but rather an oil tanker. Those things can dwarf many of our modern military ships, let alone ships from a hundred years ago.

Anyway, we rarely saw civilian ships in all of Trek, but I do recall one vessel that the Enterprise-D had to tow into a star. It was leaking dangerous radiation, was a civilian craft, and was bigger than the Enterprise herself. I can't recall the name of the episode, but Riker was in command and made the order to tow the ship.

 

[Jimmy_C]

Here's a real mining machine that is almost as long as (but weighing much less than) the original Enterprise:

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/daniel_toh/products/298566494_7c0f2d3fd7_o.jpg

http://dtti.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/krupp-giant-trencher/

 

[SilentP]

Mining vessels probably have to be huge, so they have enough power and space to mine and store what they mine for long stretches, before having to offload or go back to base for resupply. Otherwise, their profitability or efficiency could be largely reduced.

 

[Voyagerian]

Maybe the Borg technology I've heard was involved in the ship's design prior to events had the impact on its look and size. Shrug. Still impressively menacing, even if it is just a mining ship.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

I would be surprised if a mining vessel isn't absolutely huge. Considering its apparent function is to grind up asteroids and process them for ore, I'd assume that around 90% of its volume is actually sophisticated processing machinery, smelting furnaces and factory space. The torpedo launchers appear to be bolted on to the superstructure of the ship, so I doubt it's as heavily armed as a warbird one fifth its size.

 

[Shazam!]

I didn't so much mind it's size but did they have to make it look so eeeeeeeeevil? Like we had to have spelt out to us that they were the bad guys...

 

[Deks]

There was 0 mention of the Narada being altered via Borg tech (the comic is not canon though).

Aside from that, the Romulans love building over-sized ships anyway.
The Galaxy class for example was on par with the D'Deridex Warbird for example even if it was half it's size.

As for the mid23rd century SF being at a disadvantage to the Narada ...
Quite simple:
The Narada could have been recently constructed by Romulans (around the time of Nemesis actually), or received regular upgrades over longer period of time.
Either way, the late 24th century was way too advanced for the mid 23rd century to handle it.
The Romulans might have gotten their hands on some of Voyager's database once it got back, adapted some of the tech and voila.
Or, Nero probably had all of the information he needed on ships from that era, so he made sufficient adjustments to his own armaments (which had to have been extensive in order to be able to crack asteroids and other interstellar bodies properly).

Also ... Trek races are perfectly able to construct very large ships within a reasonable time frame (huge mushroom type star-bases being an example of a very large superstructure anyone?). It's just that there's no need for it.

 

[Timo]

Well, if its job is to tear apart asteroids, it's "evil" by default. Today's mining gear doesn't look exactly cuddly, either...

I'm more bothered by them making the Enterprise so shiny and pretty. What's the deal with that? Warships aren't supposed to be shiny and pretty. Even explorers don't need to be. Was Pike's new toy intended to be a tool of diplomacy similar to the E-D?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Shazam!]

I'm more bothered by them making the Enterprise so shiny and pretty. What's the deal with that?

As if the new Enterprise was pretty.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Well, if its job is to tear apart asteroids, it's "evil" by default. Today's mining gear doesn't look exactly cuddly, either...

I'm more bothered by them making the Enterprise so shiny and pretty. What's the deal with that? Warships aren't supposed to be shiny and pretty. Even explorers don't need to be. Was Pike's new toy intended to be a tool of diplomacy similar to the E-D?

Timo Saloniemi

Parts of it were shiny and pretty... the engine room sure as hell wasn't.

OTOH, it was fresh out of its plastic wrapper. I imagine the Kelvin looked like that too on the day it was launched. In fact, I distinctly remember the TMP Enterprise being just as shiny and just as pretty after that two year refit.

 

[The Wormhole]

Even if we ignore the silly Borg technology explanation, it does make sense that after the destruction of Romulus Nero would beef Narada up. After all, he considers the ship to be the last of the Romulan Empire and is out for revenge against the Federation. He did not intend to go back in time, that was an accident. In order to take on the Federation and Starfleet of the 24th century, he'd need something more impressive than a "simple mining ship" and therefore could have made upgrades to the offensive and defensive systems, making Narada the powerful and mighty Space Octopus that it was.

 

[Cyke101]

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/daniel_toh/products/298566494_7c0f2d3fd7_o.jpg

That tiny little red car is going to fight the last boss in a video game...

I didn't so much mind it's size but did they have to make it look so eeeeeeeeevil? Like we had to have spelt out to us that they were the bad guys...

Hell, I still think the ship is flying backwards half the time.

 

[SilentP]

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/daniel_toh/products/298566494_7c0f2d3fd7_o.jpg

That tiny little red car is going to fight the last boss in a video game...

That's a van, though all that does is reinforce your point

That monster once picked up JCB by accident in one of it's buckets. If you're wondering where the buckets are, look at the 'teeth' on the 'buzzsaw'.

 

[Klingon Empire]

Narada has been modified with Borg technology. I think Abrams said somewhere that that was canon.

 

[M'Sharak]

I didn't so much mind it's size but did they have to make it look so eeeeeeeeevil? Like we had to have spelt out to us that they were the bad guys...

Some time back, someone had this paraphrase as their signature (or a reasonable approximation thereof), purportedly about the designer of the Narada:

'Make it evil,' he'd been told. 'Make it totally clear that this ship has a right end and a wrong end. Make it totally clear to anyone standing at the wrong end that things are going badly for them. If that means sticking all sort of spikes and prongs and blackened bits all over it, then so be it.'

In fact, he was directed to make it look threatening.

I think that some of the early concept art for the Narada may have suggested more functionality to the tentacles/pointy bits on the outside than what we ended up seeing in the movie, and I seem to recall reading an excerpt from the novelization in which the tentacles are spread out or extended as part of the drilling configuration. (Anyone who has the book in hand, feel free to correct me on this.)

 

[fishingforships]

The thing was ugly and scary looking, but like it was stated before it's a working ship, it's not made to be pretty. Of course it would have no problem taking out a ship from the 23rd century. In "In a Mirror Darkly" from ENT they get their hands on a Constitution class starship named the Defiant and it has no trouble running right through anything thrown at it in the 22nd century. It only makes sense that advances in technology would have advanced enough between the 23rd and the 24th century's for it to be the same case in the movie. Also I don't think Nero upgraded Narada, he didn't have time. Spock was still running from the supernova, and Nero said that he had watched Romulus destroyed. It seamed to me that the nova, the destruction of Romulus and the getting sucked into black hole all happened in rapid succession with little time in between for doing repair/retrofit job's on a ship.

 

[JarodRussell]

Here's a real mining machine that is almost as long as (but weighing much less than) the original Enterprise:

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/daniel_toh/products/298566494_7c0f2d3fd7_o.jpg

http://dtti.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/krupp-giant-trencher/

Yeah, but can it sink a ship?

 

[Lyon_Wonder]

I’m reminded of an early 1980s movie called “The Final Countdown”, where the USS Nimitz ends up in the Pacific a day or so before Pearl Harbor in Dec, 1941, and F-14 Tomcats shoot down a couple of Imperial Japanese A6M Zeros. I’m sure a relatively-modern Nimitz class carrier with it’s attack aircraft wouldn’t have much trouble in sinking a 1940s Japanese task force.

 

[Rush Limborg]

For the record, the explanation--as stated by Bob and Alex--is in the Countdown comic--which, according to the new Powers That Be, is official.

Apparently, after the events of Destiny, the Tal Shiar (or whatever) salvaged what they could from the wreckage of the Borg, retrofitting it for their needs.

As the female officer in charge of the project told Nero, "Your vessel would make a fine prototype for it...."

(BTW, that certainly raises the stakes for the "Cold War" with the Typhon Pact....)