I find it a little funny how a ship that was supposed to be the inverse of the iconic Enterprise essentially became standard for many of Starfleet’s ship design because of how well known the Miranda is due to Wrath of Khan
It was irl more because of Constitution fatigue in TNG, and availability of the models. In canon, I think it was because of utility? In the stargazer episode it was supposed to be originally a constitution, but last minute changed to the newer class constellation. You can even find old footage of Geordi saying Connie instead of constitution in a scene. But was overdubbed later.
@@sullythemic My personal view is that the ship has two navigational deflectors, mounted in the upper slope of the saucer, one either side of the bridge. These may have been intended to be more phaser cannons, or sensors of some kind, initially, though.
@@sullythemic ....my question about this class of ship as well..."Where's the Deflector Dish?" IF It Were My Call...in retrospect...I would put in an NX class kind of Deflector on this ship... but...that's just me, Sully. Several Federation starship designs that I've drawn...we all do that, design our own ship....I have used this kind of Deflector Dish...I think it covers more area in front of the ship than that silly blue stripe going half way around the primary hull like on the Proto Star...but I could be wrrr...wrao....I could be not correct, Sully. Until later, LLAP
@@sullythemic instead of a standardized deflector dish like some ships it had a defuse deflector array made of up smaller deflector shield projectors. you can see one on the top of each engine just behind the bussard collectors. all a deflector shield needs to do is deflect debris and particles away from the ship when it is outside of warp. the warp bubble protects it during warp. at impulse speeds even a fleck of paint could be dessasterous if hit at speed
One of the greatest ship designs. In the (very old) Starfleet Command 1/2 games, the Miranda is such a beast of a light cruiser. Torpedo tubes you do not want to be on the receiving end of.
I beg to differ, the Galaxy Class Starships is by far the best design, elegant with smooth lines and the saucer separation mode makes it a very formidable combat vessel, everyone has their favorites!
Overall I love the Miranda class. It has that original starfleet design flair that helps suggest a shared history with the Enterprise while giving off a more stocky and utilitarian feel.
I really like the Miranda class ships from the Star Trek universe. There's just something about its compact and modular design that strikes my fancy, even if it's an old design... lol.
TOS and TMP Miranda classes are my favorite class of ships. Surprisingly the Miranda class survived all the way into the 24th century as seen in the Dominion War on DS9.
Thank you for the videos as always, my good sir! The one thing I always sorta laugh about, though: "With a Miranda-class Starship, your helmsman and tactical officer *have* to be working in sync with one another. After all, you never want to fire forward photon torpedoes while pulling a hard positive climb in one of those, unless you *want* to get rid of the entire command staff... Along with, y'know, the bridge." :P
I always loved the miranda class. Its a great design and in reality would be so much more maneuverable than the Constitution class. The weapons roll bar gives it so much more punch.
One of my favorite starship designs ever. Always gets flack from the fandom but I don't care. I always thought of Miranda class ships as flinty little workhorses who could punch above their weight.
i'm playing STO with Miranda only. Gives me the Khan feels, to overcome the shortage with tactics and strategy... and it increases the difficulty of the game, wich makes more fun to me.
This has always been my favorite of all star trek ships. its design comes off as more practical, with space and the ability to be modified into multiply roles makes it real.
If i had a starship it would be a Miranda type. I clearly remember seeing it it for the first time in Wrath of Khan , being stunned that I was seeing a brand new type of ship in Star Trek !
@dragonsword7370 I keep thinking of getting into that. I'd like a Miranda with a Constellation style saucer section and a small secondary hull please .
@@vasp99 So an ersatz constellation? Referencing STO, the Miranda has the MOST kit bashing capacity for parts in the game right now. The only secondary hull part you can find is the Centaur's bottom piece, but that adds interesting angles to the nacelle pylons. The hull itself doesn't have many variations except for TOS version, Soyuz and some of the newer post 23rd century remodels. Unfortunately a stargazer thicc saucer module isn't available with that... but that ship is available to start from too. Now I'm tempted to try it in kitbashing again now. Oh cool thing with the miranda is now you can make a chunky looking "Starfleet made a Bird of Prey after watching Balance of Terror one too many times." 🤣
@@vasp99 I have come back. The ShiKahr was a somewhat recently added TNG era build of the Miranda. It's not thick but it has both Shuttle bay doors in the back, AND two more recessed in the edge of the saucer section that are open to space. The Stargazer has 4 variants that are hit and miss. The Constellation TMP era nacelles have a Beta variant that adds orange to the bussard collectors near the top.
I'm of the opinion that the poor performance in the Dominion war was due to the inability to upgrade the hull playing leaving only the shields as defense. So, if Mirandas were needed on the frontline, they SHOULD have upgraded shields as much as possible, and replaced all the cargo bays with torpedo storage and launchers. That would give you a Destroyer/gunboat type vessel, get in fast, launch massive amounts of firepower and retreat before shields are depleted, meanwhile the heavier ships that can tank damage but are slower can then move in and take advantage of the enemy ships that have lost or reduced shield protection. Instead they just hang around and get outmatched on the show.
If the Constitution-class is a heavy cfuiser, ss established in ToS, i guess that makes the Mirandas a light cruiser. And that mission pod gives it back some versatility.
I always saw the Miranda as the "Ship of Theseus" design. It stayed in service for so long that the ships being built near the end of the 24th century had nothing in common with the original ships other than hull form.
The Miranda class was a key part of the Federation's successes in the Dominion War. The Miranda class could fulfil the role of a Destroyer typically operating in threes escorting other vessels like Excelsior cruisers or Galaxy explorers The Starfleet fleet reserve also allowed many Miranda class to be returned to service quickly. This alongside the Excelsior allowed the Federation to boost ship numbers considerably. Had a very under rated role in the Federation staying in the fight until the Romulans eventually entered the war
Love ur videos matey! This is my fav Starship variant also. This and the Nebula Class. Two absolute favs! U prefer the roll bar variant rather than the other variants such as with the sensor pods etc. Your videos are amazing. Full of detail, well produced and always 5 star! Well done on another great video! Sending love and support from Belfast, Northern Ireland
According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia, the Miranda-class was named for a character in William Shakespeare's last play, The Tempest. But in the first draft script of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, it was called the Reliant-class which was later named for the 25th century variation of the Miranda-Class in Star Trek Online and Star Trek: Picard.
I love Star Trek as much as so many others, but really, it is just a television show, turned into movies for entertainment. I am truly amazed at the way this show has become such a thought-provoking icon with ALL with the fabricated background history of ships, planets, aliens and made-up characters. Books and magazines abound, (even I have some) of technical manuals, character histories, etc. as if you needed to repair a ship feature, or "study to enlist in Star Fleet", (LOL). Like I said, I love Star Trek too, but really, I am 70 years old, watched from the beginning and can honestly say, NO other television show or movies has attempted to explain so much about themselves and the things they use or themselves, as in depth as in Star Trek. Truly an icon and a fan base that wants to know so much about stuff that doesn't exist.
Miranda (and Exclesior) were made at the height of the Klingon Cold War, so Starfleet invested heavily in shipyards across the Federation. They intended to pump out hulls even over low-tech planets. When the Cold War ended those shipyards were left in place. Later designs like Centaur, Ambassador, Galaxy didn’t receive such widespread investment. New designs came and went but the old shipyards just kept pumping out parts and hulls.
I keep saying it and I keep meaning it. I love your videos, especially the shiplore. You are an excellent writer and presenter and are highly appreciated!
First off: EXCELLENT video on a ship that, as you stated, has been a popular and oft-seen Federation ship ever since Warth of Khan. There's one thing I just HAVE to comment on: When Wrath of Khan was being promoted, it was noted that the Miranda (though not named) was a newer, faster, and more heavily armed ship than the Enterprise. But you say it wasn't heavily armed during this phase of its life. What gives? Oh! And anyone remember the toy Enterprise that, after popping off the nacelles, could be converted to look like a Reliant? I miss that toy!
You definitely did a good job with this presentation. I always felt the Miranda was over used in Starfleet same with the Excelsior. I'm not sure why they decided to stop building the Connie Refit but kept up with the Miranda and Excelsior ships. I remember when the Reliant was first designed its nacelles were flipped to be at the top of the hull. They flipped them to the underneath so as stated fans wouldn't get confused on which was the Enterprise and which one was the Reliant.
I thought it was due to the person who was green lighting the Miranda design was looking at it upside down and approved it and te design team then went along with the underslung naceles instead.
🖖😎👍Very cool and very nicely well done and very well informatively explained and executed in every way shape and form and detail possibly provided indeed, And the Miranda class starship has always been one of my all time favorite vessels for sure. And I myself own all of the different Eaglemoss variations of this wonderful ship as well as having various model kits and still have a few of the Micro machines of it as well👌.
Back in the 1980s this was called an Avenger class starship, until Star Trek retconned their entire continuity in the 1990s following the events of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Afterwards, it was called Miranda class.
Yes you are correct for I have volume one of Ships of the Star Fleet 2290-91 which refers to the Miranda class as the Avenger class heavy frigates and showing it with various different types of pods on the roll bar👍
@@stevenewman1393 Yep, I remember those Star Trek books from the 1980s. I collected them all - Ships of the Starfleet, Worlds of the Federation, and Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise. They're all useless now because Paramount retconned everything after 1994. The Avenger class became the Miranda class. Remember the Enterprise A was originally designated an Enterprise class? Now it's a Constitution II class. Remember when there were five founding member planets of the Federation? Now there's only four - Earth, Vulcan, Tellar, and Andor. Alpha Centauri, which was Earth's original first contact until the 1996 TNG movie came out, was retconned out of canon.
@@44excalibur Yes well you know how the major studios of movies and TV just love to destroy and do away with true Canon and turn it in to something that it's not!.
@@44excalibur Also, the old Early Voyages comic, set in Captain Pike's era, in 2254, featured two ships pretty clearly intended to be either TOS era Miranda-class ships, or a direct predecessor. The USS Cortez NCC-1834, and the USS Achilles - both lost. As for other founding members, novel author Christopher L. Bennett has Alpha Centauri join the founders very soon after, with other worlds, including Sauria, joining within a few years. And some of the Rigel worlds, too.
I never bought the Miranda Class as anything other than a Light(er) Cruiser. Given it's heavy armament (phaser cannons or mega phasers and forward and aft torpedoes) it's role as a combat/exploration vessel is similar to the Constitution Class. I know that there is at least one unofficial source (blueprint set) that classified it as an Avenger Class heavy frigate which gave it a more combat profile.
@@thegreenmanofnorwich Yeah, I saw a video that showed it had a slightly larger volume. It was pretty cool. The Miranda has always been a favorite of mine.
Love the Miranda class. Something about them feels more 'realistic'. Also, 150,000Tons... thats only 50,000 more then a Nimitz/Ford class carrier lol, putting it in that terms really makes it feel like something we COULD actually build. You forgot to mention the best feature of the class... the ability to do some wicked backflips when they get hit by a torpedo lol
I thought the Excelsior was their favorite. I know it's mine lol. Even the admiralty loved using it throughout TNG. If you're gonna reference the TOS-era Miranda, any plans on the Repulse (the Discovery-era Excelsior class)? It'd probably be a short video given the limited info lol
If I was to be offered my own ship in real life I would want something like the Miranda Class myself. Give it the most updated parts possible and make sure to have a few holodecks and I'm good to go!! I would like to know how long it was able to stay on missions without resupply though.
I assume the Reliant was so unusually fitted weapon wise was directly related to its participation in the highly classified highly sensitive Genesis Program. Starfleet definitely did not want what was potentially on the ship falling in to the wrong hands.
@@AlternicityBlogspot lots of secret ship operations didn't have escorts. why do you think the USS Indianapolis had so many shark attack deaths after dropping the uranium and components for Little Boy at Tinian Naval Base?
I'm currently leveling an alt in STO that is driving around the Legendary Miranda...one interesting thing about that particular ship in the game is that because the Miranda has such a long and varied history across all the canon, the L-Miranda is a kitbasher's wet dream. You can make it a Miranda (w/three different nacelle versions), a Centaur, a Shi'kahr, a Saratoga, a Soyuz, a TOS Miranda (two versions), a Picard Reliant, a Malachowski from DSC, or a Clarke...or you can mix and match the hull, pylons, and nacelles from ANY of them. So I'm driving around a Saratoga hull, no rollbar, retrofitted with Clarke pylons and nacelles. Even made up a backstory for it that it's a Block I Miranda, retrofitted into a Saratoga, salvaged after the Dominion War, mothballed, then recalled and equipped with the more modern Clarke nacelles and system updates after the losses from the Iconian War. And the USS James Madison, NCC-1987, rides again. You can make some very interesting, or very cursed, combinations.
It should be noted that the Miranda class has been properly succeeded by the Reliant class, seen in Picard S3, ensuring that its design continues for another few decades.
The venerable Miranda and it’s variants are one of the few tmp era ships still in use well into the early 25 century later making multiple refit versions or brand new versions when you see it you think aww cute then it kills you
Love the Miranda class. Non-canon but I like it's FASA TOS version the Anton-Class that were refit into Mirandas (or Reliant-classes as they were originally called in FASA). If you somehow merge in Discovery's Malachowski, an Anton-Like design makes a nearly perfect stepping stone between the two designs.
As a fan of all the Miranda variants, I've been fortunate enough to secure all of the modification kits which have allowed me to build all of the known variants all the way back to the TOS Miranda. They look really sweet hanging in my hobby room & all of them lit up.
Oddly, I have a miniature of the USS Reliant that has rear-facing torpedo launchers in the "armpit" section of the nacelle pilons, or at least some greebling that looks like it has them.
I'd imagine many Miranda's being stripped of their weapons and extra sensors to be converted into small fast passenger/cargo vessels. A fitting retirement for such an iconic and much loved ship.
I know it was for budget reasons, but I really like how often we see the Excelsiors and Miranda variants in TNG/DS9. The Excelsior seems like the cheap do-everything workhorse, with the Miranda as the even cheaper variable specialist ship. I imagine that in the Dominion War they'd serve as scouts or fleet pickets but with how often they exploded I sure hope Starfleet got the crew count down through automation by then.
Just about a month ago I had a dream (literal dream, not just wishful thinking) about a TV show in the Star Trek universe that involved a Miranda class ship that takes place around the time of the STPicard series. The thing is the show wasn't about Starfleet per se. It was about a group of people in the Federation that kind of find themselves coalescing into a group. So it started out with a main character, her name is Farran (Something). She's a mechanical genius that took over for her parents in their repair facility. She loves anything fast. Her brother (Name Uknown) is also a type of mechanical genius, but he's like an artist with transporter/replicator technology. One of his hobbies is creating perfect dishes for replicator recipes that are used throughout the Federation, he's won many competitions. See there's this whole culinary culture forming around food replication. But he's also part of the family business because he's also adept with industrial transporters and replicators. They have several friends, but I won't get into that because this is going to be long enough. So over the course of time they are living with "big events' happening in the background. Like Borg attacks and whatnot. But not being Starfleet they don't deal with those issues much. The main thing they're dealing with is a Ferengi that's trying to hostile takeover of the family business. Eventually the Ferengi is successful, but our intrepid cast doesn't lose out completely because through a series of events they're able to come across a small fortune and the never ending gratitude of someone who owns a junk shipyard where decomissioned ships are parked. That's when Farran decides it's time for a change. There's an old shipyard that we've seen recently and a ship that caught her attention. It's a century old Miranda that's been extensively refitted over the decades. But she knows that it has "strong bones". It's has no warp core, no weapons, no shields, it's basically a wreck. Bit it does have 4 nacelles. It was once used as a logistics work horse. It retrieved damaged or wrecked ships, it did long range supply runs. It was capable of mounting a large cargo container on the underbelly. Now remember this was a dream. So apparently the lower nacelles on the bottom could separate with the large cargo container. The nacelles were connected, it looked like a type of sled, like the transport Spock used to catch up to the Enterprise in ST the motion picture, but it's larger. Now Farran wants to refit it to make it their own. After working on it for like a year they end up calling it the Venture. They go on some wild adventures, some of the them outside of Federation space, like the Orion Syndicate. The point being it's takes place in Star Trek but it's not a Federation focused show. I still think about it.
I'd even go further and say that a lot of Command level officers had a Miranda as the first vessel under their direct command. Ships like the Mirandas would be doing light patrol/routine missions in less hazardous conditions compared to the Excelciors, Ambassadors, Nebulas, Galaxies, etc. and so would be ideal ships to hand over to a Commander getting prepared for promotion to Captain in a couple years.
I saw the Miranda as a leaner, meaner more tactical ship than the refit Connie, as it has a more trim frame, and sports more weapons, the two aft torpedo launchers and those beefy phaser cannons. even those the Enterprise is a "bigger" ship in TWOK i feel like the Reliant is the tactically superior ship. I say "bigger" as EC Henry did a video a few years ago where he did an analysis of the interior volume of the Miranda and refit Connie and found surprisingly that the Miranda had more potentially habitable space in it's one hull than the Connie with her two hulls.
I actually don't agree there was a 'TOS' version of the Miranda, and believe it was in fact a brand new design, in part from the innovations learned from the Constitution-Class Refit program.
@@vasp99 I could imagine a Miranda-type being used as a testbed. New warp nacelles can be attached as you come up with different prototype designs. Even a new warp core should be able to just drop in.
At first I was not a fan of the Miranda Class. But it's design has grown on me. But if I could change some things I could make a Miranda Class and Centaur Class ships into an almost unstoppable juggernauts. I would add an extra torpedo roll bar and phaser strip along with its already phaser pods (or whatever you call them) and use them for escort/border patrols.
I like the class a lot, though I've come to really love the "modern" Reliant-class from STO more...it's been my main ship for STO, only the fleet version being better there and it's one of the cheapest T-6's there
There is a replacement. It's called the Reliant class. They can be seen in fleet formation scenes in Season 2 of Star Trek Picard. The ship originated in the game Star Trek Online, as did a lot of the newer ships.
I really like the more compact profile of the miranda. It reminds me of the more combat oriented ships of the later generation like the Saber and the Defiant.
Originally the Defiant had its nacelles in the upright position - the rollbar being slung underside. But when they sent it to the modeling agengy they didnt know which way was up. So they decided to put the rollbar on top.
It looks like a design ancestor of the Defiant. They kept the "saucer with boxy tail" shape, tucked the nacelles in closer and shortened them, and trimmed the extra decks off the top and bottom. It's even a similar size -- if the Miranda is 142 meters diameter, add some length for the boxy tail and say maybe 160 long, without the long nacelles? Most people seem to think Defiant is in the 120 to 180 range. So pretty close. Defiant isn't revolutionary design -- it's just a hot-rod Miranda "concept car".
Yes no canon TOS Miranda yet.Just different non-canon concepts.I like to think the Miranda-Class started production in 2270/71 around the time of Star Trek:The Motion Picture using Constitution-Class refit parts.I love the Excelsior and Miranda-Classes and their battle/time-tested designs.
