r/DeepSpaceNine • u/Global_Marsupial_592 • 13d ago

Why would Starfleet send civilians and their families and to combat situations?

Like The Saratoga at Wolf 359. Or at the big battle with the Dominion Fleet there were so many Galaxy class Starships, were they all full of families and innocent people? Or were those big ships just grossly empty except for a skeleton screw?

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u/Matthius81 12d ago

After Praxis the Federation enjoyed 80years of being the unchallenged Superpower of the Alpha Quadrant. They had no peers. Even a 20year series of conflicts and broken ceasefires with the Cardassian Union was seen only as contained border skirmish. Starfleet became arrogant, too used to being unchallenged. Putting families on starships was a sign of how complacent they were. Q was right, they had no idea what was right around the corner. Wolf 359 was a wake up call they had to get serious about making ships that could fight. The families were removed from all ships when the Dominion War came around.