# Star Trek Into Darkness Enterprise/ocean question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 8, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701 "2014-12-08T21:36:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/1 "2014-12-08T21:36:23Z")
No spoiler here, since I don’t think it’s required. Just how stupid was it to have the Enterprise sitting in an ocean at the beginning of the movie? So not only is the ship experiencing the force of gravity from the planet, but also the pressure of the ocean water on it. Was the Enterprise ever meant to enter a world’s atmosphere? At first I kinda rolled my eyes. Now I’m wondering just how dumb/not dumb it really was. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/2 "2014-12-08T21:53:27Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > So not only is the ship experiencing the force of gravity from the planet, but also the pressure of the ocean water on it. Was the Enterprise ever meant to enter a world’s atmosphere? Well, the _original series_ Enterprise survived [entering Earth’s atmosphere](http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080612133249/memoryalpha/en/images/d/d4/USS_Enterprise_pursued_by_Bluejay_4.jpg) in _Tomorrow is Yesterday_ (you can see the nearby jet fighter to the lower left). Being underwater’s a lot more problematic though. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/3 "2014-12-08T22:05:54Z")
Relevant Futurama scene: [Over 150 Atmospheres of Pressure - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4RLOo6bchU) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/4 "2014-12-08T22:08:36Z")
**thirdname** , that’s exactly what I was thinking, too. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/5 "2014-12-08T22:10:38Z")
In the new Star Treks, are the shields a sphere around the ship or are they tightly hugging the ship’s contours? If the latter, maybe the shields were up and that was enough. I think it’s still a sphere, and that’s not the answer. Probably it’s just the future super-materials it’s made from can withstand the pressure. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/6 "2014-12-08T22:11:38Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > No spoiler here, since I don’t think it’s required. > > Just how stupid was it to have the Enterprise sitting in an ocean at the beginning of the movie? > > So not only is the ship experiencing the force of gravity from the planet, but also the pressure of the ocean water on it. Was the Enterprise ever meant to enter a world’s atmosphere? > > At first I kinda rolled my eyes. Now I’m wondering just how dumb/not dumb it really was. It’s not an Apollo capsule made out of tinfoil. It is made out of “tri-titanium”, a fictional transuranic element with a name that implies it has all the benefits of titanium, but better. It is designed to travel at high g’s and take direct hits from large weapons at close range even without shields. If it can’t take water pressure, it has no business getting into a fight. And it was still a stupid scene! ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/7 "2014-12-08T23:13:14Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > Relevant Futurama scene: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4RLOo6bchU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4RLOo6bchU) :shakes fist: curse you, I wanted to post that! ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/8 "2014-12-08T23:28:31Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > In the new Star Treks, are the shields a sphere around the ship or are they tightly hugging the ship’s contours? If the latter, maybe the shields were up and that was enough. There’s also a “structural integrity field” that runs through the hull and makes it really, really hard. If it can stand up to stresses of accelerating past the speed of light in seconds, handling being submerged is probably no problem. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/9 "2014-12-09T00:03:50Z")
Didn’t _Voyager_ once land on a planet? Sure, Voyager takes place over a hundred years later, but it can indicate that the idea of big starships entering the atmosphere is not completely absurd in the ST universe. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/10 "2014-12-09T00:52:59Z")
If your starship cannae take the pressure of the ocean, how’s it gonna take the pressure of a warp field?\ ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/11 "2014-12-09T01:15:28Z")
I think I have misunderstood Warp technology all this time. I was thinking the ship was in a warp bubble, so didn’t see any stresses or high pressures. Still seems a dumb plot to have the ship sitting in an ocean, vs a nice little shuttle craft or three. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/12 "2014-12-09T01:21:39Z")
A F15 Eagle is designed to handle the stress of high-g maneuvers. But that doesn’t mean you can fly one underwater. It’s a whole different package of stresses. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/13 "2014-12-09T01:38:13Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > I think I have misunderstood Warp technology all this time. I was thinking the ship was in a warp bubble, so didn’t see any stresses or high pressures. No, you are correct. A warp drive works by doing weird things to the space around the ship, not the space occupied by the ship itself. Otherwise it wouldn’t matter how tough the ship was, if the warp field just started gibbing the crew. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/14 "2014-12-09T02:34:52Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Didn’t _Voyager_ once land on a planet? Sure, Voyager takes place over a hundred years later, but it can indicate that the idea of big starships entering the atmosphere is not completely absurd in the ST universe. We saw the Enterprise being constructed in Kansas in the first film. So it can definitely land. I’m not too clear on how it could _stay upright_ once it does so, though. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/15 "2014-12-09T02:43:10Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Didn’t _Voyager_ once land on a planet? Sure, Voyager takes place over a hundred years later, but it can indicate that the idea of big starships entering the atmosphere is not completely absurd in the ST universe. Not only that, but they flew around in liquid space to fight off species 8472. Man, it’s one thing to be able to withstand the pressure of a single ocean, but to be able to handle the pressure of an entire universe is quite impressive to say the least. ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/16 "2014-12-09T03:32:26Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > I think I have misunderstood Warp technology all this time. I was thinking the ship was in a warp bubble, so didn’t see any stresses or high pressures. > > Still seems a dumb plot to have the ship sitting in an ocean, vs a nice little shuttle craft or three. Abrams’ Trek movies make a lot more sense if you assume that the characters aren’t motivated by such mundane concerns like “rational thought” or “sensible courses of action” or “scientific plausibility” or “minimal competence,” but rather by “what would look TOTALLY RAD!!!11 when CGI-vomited all over a giant screen.” That’s the only way Spock chasing CumberKhan all over San Francisco when he had like 70 perfectly good sources of Anti-Death Blood sitting in his cargo hold makes any sense, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/17 "2014-12-09T03:36:35Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Man, it’s one thing to be able to withstand the pressure of a single ocean, but to be able to handle the pressure of an entire universe is quite impressive to say the least. Well, given that it would be an entire universe, the pressure would likely be a quasi-constant. Even if it were infinite in mass, it would be spread over infinite space, so the pressure would equalize at whatever the set cosmological constant. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/18 "2014-12-09T04:31:49Z")
Physics wanking aside, it’s not too dumb as a story point. What’s dumb is Spock getting so worked up about revealing the ship to the natives and thus breaking the Prime Directive that he’s ready to sacrifice himself. But you already broke the Prime Directive when you decided to save them from the volcano with your gee wiz magic space technology. The whole movie is jam packed with fridge logic like that. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/19 "2014-12-09T05:16:19Z")
According to “Who mourns for Adonis”, the ship can withstand at least 1000 GSC…whatever the \*\*\*\* that is. And they can compensate for external pressures. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701/20 "2014-12-09T05:26:53Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > We saw the Enterprise being constructed in **Kansas** in the first film. So it can definitely land. I’m not too clear on how it could _stay upright_ once it does so, though. Nitpick: It was Iowa. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-into-darkness-enterprise-ocean-question/706701.md?page=2)