Howdy Knapp,

First my apologies for not replying below the cited text. The email browser I'm using is part of my ISPs web page and I seem to be having an issue today that does not allow me to put my reply where it should be.

Think of a spacecraft as being sort of like today's recreational vehicles in that there is a certain amount of enclosed space in which the power plant, fuel storage, food storage/preparation/cooking/dining, sleeping, sanitary needs, common and additional storage space has to fit within.

A warship, at least in my twenty years in the USN, is designed to fight which means the primary concerns are with offensive systems, defensive systems, sensors, and other considerations that aid in combat capability. Crew habitability is a factor but is usually fitting into a fraction of the space that is allocated to all the other systems.

I have an idea of how space combat works, but I'm not sure how to explain my ideas without being able to use my hands and/or drawing pictures on pieces of paper. However, just like in real combat situations there is a chance that speed can help avoid taking a hit or minimize the damage.

Tom Rux

>From: "Knapp" <magick.crow@gmail.com>
>To: "TML" <tml@simplelists.com>
>Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 6:37:51 AM
>Subject: Re: [TML] Starship Berthing Philosophies?

On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 1:33 PM, Peter Berghold <salty.cowdawg@gmail.com> wrote:

I can attest those folding sinks were a marvel of engineering. I served at the Submarine Repair Facility in New London and used to marvel at how not a cubic inch of space was wasted on a submarine. How submarines were appointed is how I envision starships being constructed. The parallels between being underwater and out in space bear looking at.

On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 2:33 AM Knapp <magick.crow@gmail.com> wrote:

The remaining officers were in staterooms that had three bunks and a folding sink.

How do you fold a sink? Did folding it up really save that much space? I can't quite picture this as a real space saver.

>I think if spaceships do really need to be small then you are correct but do you really think spaceships would >be so space limited? I don't see any reason for them to be that way once we don't have to lift out of a gravity >well at high costs. If you can get asteroids with the raw materials and you can use the sun to power and melt, it >should be quite cheap to build big rooms. The only reason I can see for them to be small would be to save >mass, perhaps a cost of jump drives would be the mass or a military ship might want minimal mass to make it >faster although I don't see much need for speed when you fight with lasers.

>Douglas E Knapp

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