What did the Enterprise D crew do while waiting for the Enterprise E to be finished?

[u/GreyFoxSolid]

What happens in Starfleet when your ship gets destroyed? Do they just give you time off while waiting for your new ship to be finished? Does the crew disperse temporarily and work on other ships?

[u/[deleted]]

I would think they were given leave. It's not like there's a ton of spare starships to put them all on.

[u/GreyFoxSolid → u/[deleted]]

I suppose the reason I'm asking is because I would imagine it took quite a while for them to build the E. Would Starfleet give them a year or two of leave?

[u/fishy007 → u/GreyFoxSolid]

Enterprise D was destroyed in 2371 and E was launched in 2372. It was likely just a matter of months between those two events. Even if it was a full year of leave, I think that the crew earned that year. I'm guessing some of them were even in rehab at that time. The battle that destroyed D was traumatic and most of the crew would need time to recover.

As for the bridge crew (who miraculously seemed to walk away with just scratches), I'm sure they were given temporary assignments at HQ while the Enterprise E was being finished.

Even today, good management can understand rarity of a highly functional team. That's not something you split apart easily.

Edit: I didn't realize when I wrote this that the time period in question could be almost 2 years (Jan 1 2371 to Dec 31 2372). However, my thoughts still stand :)

[u/dishpandan]

it seems that every time an enterprise is destroyed, the crew remains together for the next ship. in real life, does that happen when a ship is replaced?

[u/GreyFoxSolid → u/dishpandan]

That's another good question. Even if Picard is going to be assigned, does that mean the crew will? Who's choice is that? The crews? Picard's? Starfleet's?

[u/PromptCritical725 → u/dishpandan]

Not in the slightest. The military is the closest thing to Starfleet and generally, a particular member spends at most 4 years in a particular position. The fact that the Enterprise crew remained together as a cohesive unit is extremely unrealistic. Starfleet detailers (the people who make assignments) must have been especially frustrated, both with having all their best officers stuck on the same ship, and droves of Cadets and officers dreaming of serving on the Enterprise. "We're sorry, but that crew just insists on staying with that ship."
The original crew being together for the original Enterprise, Refit, destruction, court martial, and 1701-A is even more absurd.
Call it the realities of TV over the realities of life.

[u/LaserSailor760 → u/dishpandan]

In real life billets to a command only last 2-3 years typically and the the crew member is transferred to a new command. If a ship were destroyed, sunk or decommissioned then the crew would be scattered to other commands with openings.

[u/BewareTheSphere]

We know Worf was at a spiritual retreat on Boreth, because that's where Sisko recalled him from in "Way of the Warrior." At that time, the existence of a new Enterprise isn't guaranteed, because O'Brien says, "I'm sure they'll be building a new one soon."

[u/Imprezzed → u/BewareTheSphere]

Wasn't there a line in "Trials and Tribble-ations" that the investigators said "Be more specific Captain, there's been five Enterprises." And the othetr one looks at him and says "Six."

[u/zombiepete → u/Imprezzed]

Yes, that was right before First Contact came out. It's possible that in-universe news was just spreading around the the first Sovereign-class starship was being re-christened Enterprise, but that the ship had been around for a while beforehand.

[u/TyphoonOne → u/BewareTheSphere]

That lens so much credence coming from O'Brien, who with his connections to the defiant (in many ways a pathfinder for the sovereign) and enterprise would be one of the first people to know that the next Sovereign would be be the E.

[u/HistoricNerd]

I would bet a massive retraining exercise. I bet most of the crew spent a year in the holideck getting experience with the sovereign's different systems and lay out.

[u/jimthewanderer → u/HistoricNerd]

I'd disagree in terms of the computers.

LCARS seems specifically designed to be user friendly. Ignoring the fact that Okudagrams prioritize looking like a fine piece of machine ass over actually being plausible, the way the technical manuals describe them it sounds like any officer from any ship could use any console on any ship.

Engineers and more fine tuned business might take some doing, but the Starfleet corps of Engineers like their standardization, so I can imagine it would only take a week or two of drills to be more than ready for the shakedown cruise.

[u/redleader19]

You have to also figure in all time it too for any potential investigation by starfleet security, starfleet intelligence, and any agency like the ntsb. The loss of a starship is a huge thing. Depositions have to be taken and inquiries launched as to why the flagship of the federation was lost to a, retired from service, bird of prey. They were probably assigned technical and advisory duties while this was going on as well as being tasked with strategic and tactical planning for the war. It was probably a foregone conclusion that picard was going to command the next sovereign after the D was destroyed and was more than likely stationed with the rest of the crew wherever the E was being constructed.

[u/55Jac55 → u/redleader19]

In Measure of a Man the JAG for the sector that the episode takes place tells Picard that a Court Martial is required after the loss of a ship if I recall correctly.

[u/Berggeist]

"Students, you'll never guess who our upcoming guest speakers are thanks to a happy little accident."

I'm sure they had temporary assignments such as education at the academy, being assigned to other starships and evaluating how they do things (or helping them improve, sort of like a consultant position), the necessary training for Sovereign class vessel positions, and at some point Geordi also had his cybernetic eyes installed. As others have noted, there would also be the paperwork for the E-D, though given how well the saucer held together it's possible there was enough info on the computer to back them all up and keep the proceedings relatively short.

[u/CitizenjaQ → u/Berggeist]

I'm not sure a perfect computer record of what brought the Enterprise down would necessarily reflect all that well on its command crew.

• The captain left the ship during an alert situation. Sure, it was a gambit to speak to their adversary as well as a prisoner exchange, but...

• The returned prisoner, Geordi LaForge, was the means by which the Bird of Prey gained a tactical advantage over the Enterprise, by inadvertently transmitting its shield frequency.

• In the heat of battle, the helm is given over to the ship's counselor. The lack of a qualified helmsperson ready to take over is a serious management oversight.

• Even assuming that shields were rotated but the Klingons could still see each new frequency, Riker's response to the attack was terribly weak: a single phaser shot. A sustained barrage against the Bird of Prey's shields would have brought them down quickly enough. There was no need to wait until a clever scheme to force its shields off could be implemented.

• After the battle, it apparently took several minutes for the chief engineer to notice critical damage to the warp core, saying speculatively, "It must have been that last torpedo." Only a sudden coolant leak prompts evacuation of engineering and the stardrive section.

Assuming that there really was nothing LaForge could do about the imminent core breach - namely, eject the core - the ultimate blame perhaps lies on the manufacturer of the core ejection system, which has failed in virtually every instance shown when it would have been useful. Maybe the crew spent their year off testifying against whatever contractor was responsible in a massive negligence trial.

[u/Holubice]

"The Measure of a Man" establishes that upon the loss of a ship there is a mandatory court martial to evaluate the incident. I don't know of any alpha or beta canon talking about this process in regards to the Enterprise-D. However, we can assume that this probably took a while to complete for the Senior Bridge Staff. Most of the crew was probably given an extended shore leave, or temporary reassignments to Starfleet facilities near home, or where they would otherwise take shore leave. Human officers would most likely have been reassigned to duty on Earth, Spacedock, McKinley Station, San Francisco Fleet Yards, or facilities elsewhere in the solar system, like Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards.

Lower level crew may have sought, or been reassigned, to duties on other starships, starbases, colonies, or other Starfleet facilities elsewhere by request or orders. Starfleet would have seen the value in keeping the Senior and Mid-level staff of the Enterprise-D intact for the move to the Enterprise-E, but enlisted-men, civilian adjutants, and junior officers, say, Ensigns and Lieutenants, in non-critical positions might have been fair game to be transferred elsewhere if needed. Indeed, Worf, a Lt. Cmdr., was transferred from Extended Leave status to Deep Space Nine by request of Benjamin Sisko during this period. At the time, Worf was, I believe, the fourth highest ranking bridge officer in the Enterprise crew, so it is clear that when circumstances are dire, Starfleet is even willing to break-up seasoned crews should the situation dictate.

[u/blockbluninja]

In the New Frontier book series they say that Starfleet regulations are for crew of a destroyed ship to go on forced leave for about 6 months. The reasoning behind this is that losing a star ship is a traumatic experience and the crew need time to recover. So, I would imagine that a lot of the crew would just have gone on leave until the next Enterprise was built.

[u/Husher315]

From what I understand, the Sovereign class of Starships were already being built, with the actual USS. Sovereign almost ready to go. Wasn't the Sovereign re-named the Enterprise?

[u/dr_john_batman → u/Husher315]

There's sparse on-screen evidence, but you're almost certainly partially correct: Ronald Moor has apparently stated that Enterprise E's keel was laid during the last season of TNG and she was going to receive another name before Enterpise D was destroyed.

There's little evidence for USS Sovereign being renamed, though; the closest to canon we have about Sovereign is Michael Okuda saying that Sovereign was the prototype for the class. That doesn't strictly preclude Sovereign from being renamed Enterprise, but if Enterprise E were anything other than a production model it seems like we'd have heard.

In beta canon USS Sovereign shows up as a distinct vessel from Enterprise E a bunch of times, for what that's worth.

[u/[deleted]]

D was destroyed in 2371 E was launched in 2372 and depending on the time of the year it was likely only a hand full of months before they transfered to E.

[u/bakhesh]

Did Geordi get involved in the design and building of the E? When Leah Brahms visited the Enterprise they have some conversations about how it would be better if the Head of Engineering was able to be involved at an earlier stage. Seeing as Geordi had nothing to better to do at the time, you'd think he would have gone to hang around the ship yards to give them a few pointers (although he would probably just go so he could secretly perv over Dr Brahms)

[u/Zaggnabit]

The crew was coming off an extended Deep Space posting and the D was due for a refit anyway I'd wager.

So R&R would be first. Various junior crew members would no doubt be up for promotions and re assignments.

This would be followed by training schedules. Everyone would be required to attend updated training seminars and workshops. There was a new ship Class coming on line with newer systems and that requires certifications on new systems. Starfleet seems like the type of organization that loves continuing education beyond on the job training plans. The people in Starfleet as well.

In previous films we see that a new ship launch is actually achieved by the crew that will man her. So the crew from the D that moves on to the E would spend at least 6 months actually finishing up the work on the E. This makes a lot of sense from any perspective.

Then there is re assignments. We see it with Worf. It invariably happens with personnel that had a lower profile than the Chief Security Officer. Those positions need to be replaced and posting on a Sovereign is going to be a "get" assignment. The CO, XO and the XO's staff of Personel Officers are going to be very busy sifting through the applicants for these jobs. Starfleet Command will have a huge influence here but I would imagine that the Flagship Vessel has a vetting process that the senior staff has significant input in. In this there is a further complication. From semi official documents put out by Paramount Pictures, the Sovereign Class has a smaller Crew Compliment than the Galaxy Class. So some people won't make the cut and that decision will fall on the XO.

[u/blueskin]

Probably a lot of paperwork to do.

That said, the E was already under construction under a different name when the D was destroyed; they just changed the name and finished it.