system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[star trek] Why is the bridge right on top of the saucer section (the most vulnerable part of the ship) ?

So if the shields go down, there's the bridge sticking up from the top of the saucer, where a single hit could take out almost every senior officer on the ship. It doesn't serve any practical function, I've only heard of one instance of a bridge officer needing to look out a window during a high alert situation.

On larger ships, there is a "battle bridge" but this gets used so infrequently that it may as well not be there. Why isn't the full time bridge where the battle bridge is? Apart from anything else, it would make it quicker to get to other parts of the ship, such as engineering.
gpt
Here's the thing: Starships deal in extremely high-power weaponry. When the shields are down, for whatever reason, the center of the ship is only vaguely more protected than the outer hull. A blast that can get through those shields will absolutely be able to pierce the hull, and so by having the bridge in an outer region, the crew gains the additional utility in case of power loss.

It's all a part of Starfleet's ethic, too. We are a force of science and exploration, not war and efficiency. It's a sort of olive branch to any potential aggressor, saying "We are peaceful" through our ship designs, and backed up by our outstanding personnel. We reach out into the stars, not to conquer, but to *see.*

There's a reason our eyes aren't kept in our chest cavity.