Starship Production Times in Star Trek +

Originally Posted by Hyper:
The Dominion War itself only lasted two years, so it's inconcievable that a ship as sophisticated as an Intrepid could be designed and produced quickly enough that it would actually be able to participate in that war (and some did).

Only Grand Nagus Zek is permitted to say "Inconceivable!" :)

It's unlikely, I'll grant you, but a combination of design genius and engineering/manufacturing experience -- spurred by the pressures of fighting to win a war -- can produce some pretty remarkable results.

Consider the Wikipedia entry for the P-80 Shooting Star, designed by the legendary "Kelly" Johnson of Lockheed as the U.S.'s first operational jet fighter:

The first prototype [of the P-80] flew on 8 January 1944 with Lockheed test pilot Tony LeVier at the controls, just 143 days after design work commenced, which was a full 37 days ahead of schedule.

I don't mean to imply that an Intrepid is of the same level of complexity as a P-80 (although it might be fair to say they had similar levels of complexity for their time). But the example of the P-80's design-to-flight schedule does, I think, suggest that we shouldn't be too quick to discount what creative, experienced people are capable of accomplishing when properly motivated.