Why didn't Voyager make a cloaking device?

Question

Voyager is lost and has to pass through some pretty hostile territories. So a simple question: wouldn't a cloak have made their journey easier and safer even if it's only used sometimes?

We know the Federation can make cloaks: they did it with cloaked mines in DS9 and and the USS Pegasus in TNG. So it's not like the Federation doesn't know how to make them, they are only prevented from using them because of the treaty.

Given Voyager is far away for the Romulans anyway, and a cloak would greatly increase their chance of survival in hostile space I'm surprised nobody ever suggested it, even the Maquis.

Is there something I have missed about the Federations knowledge of cloaks, or something else that would have prevented them from replicating one and hooking it up to the ship? It seems a pretty obvious device to use if you're strolling through a hostile neighborhood.

Answer 1

Because it's against Federation law.

For the entire run of Voyager Janeway is grappling with two main concepts, that they're separated from the Federation and need to do what it takes to survive and that they're still a Federation vessel and need to stick to Federation rules. This evidently included upholding the Treaty of Algeron and not using or developing a cloaking device.

Seska points out (in VOY: State of Flux) that there are many things that Janeway could theoretically do but that she doesn't do. This includes forging alliances with baddies, sharing tech and, presumably, building all manner of illegal weapons and cloaks.

SESKA: I did it for you. I did it for this crew. We are alone here, at the mercy of any number of hostile aliens, because of the incomprehensible decision of a Federation Captain. A Federation Captain who destroyed our only chance to get home. Federation rules. Federation nobility. Federation compassion? Do you understand, if this had been a Cardassian ship, we would be home now. We must begin to forge alliances. To survive, we must have powerful friends. The Kazon-Nistrim were willing to be our protectors in return for some minor technology.

Because it would fundamentally change the tone of the show.

One of the guiding tenets of Star Trek (until recently) is that the heroes of the show should be precisely that, evolved humans who largely act in moral ways.

"The Pegasus" (TNG) establishes that the Federation relinquished the right to develop or use such devices under the Treaty of Algeron. Additionally, Gene Roddenberry once indicated that "our people are scientists and explorers— they don't go sneaking around." We therefore assume Starfleet has a policy against such things.

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That includes not sneaking, lying or generally being evasive.

Answer 2

They most likely didn't have the equipment, materials, first hand knowledge to build one. The Pegasus was a research vessel, the Defiant was a prototype, so that information would probably be classified.

The Pegasus was a treaty violation, and the Defiant's cloak was only operated when there was a Romulan on board(and was only on the Defiant, not the Sao Paulo or the other Defiant-class ship we see). Also, we don't know what it takes to build a cloak, nor did we know that Voyager had the supplies. Heck, the original mission was just a shakedown run to get some Maquis, not a full on mission, so it probably wasn't equipped to construct those sorts of things, and even then it had to really work to keep things together, since that first interaction with the Caretaker array really did a number on the ship.

Answer 3

Out of universe answer - it would make for an awfully boring series.

Episode 1 - Pilot, everything bad happens, entire trip home gets setup.

Episode 2 - bad stuff happens, inspiring the creation of a cloak.

Episode 3 - Cloak is created, so Voyager can sneak past a threat

Episode 4 - Cloak is deployed so Voyager can bypass a threat

Episode n - Cloak is engaged, Voyager cloaks around a threat.....

The cloak would have to be broken a lot, or fail to work as expected, or even attracting plot elements like a flame in the dark.

Answer 4

The federation does not have a good history with building their own cloaking devices the Pegasus exploded and the Defiant, and other cloaks in DS9, either use actual Romulan made units or units manufactured using a Romulan pattern. In order to cloak Voyager you'd need the equipment, time, and expertise to build a unit customised for her. Equipment is probably a non-starter given the initial lack of a lot of basic engineering supplies, time is probably the biggest problem since Voyager is almost continuously harassed by one group or another the whole way home tying up a lot of engineering time in repairs and makeshifts, expertise they probably can do via the holodeck though.

Answer 5

They had to boldly explore to find new people and technology that could bring them home faster.

They didn't utilize a cloaking device because they were not trying to hide (usually). They were so far away from home that most of the crew would die of old age before they arrived if they were not actively exploring alternative paths and technology. Their only chance of making it home sooner was to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before! Notice that they must go boldly, not sneakily, if they are to actually meet someone or discover something that could shorten their return trip.

The following quote is by Janeway in the first episode, which makes their mission clear.

We're alone in an uncharted part of the galaxy. We have already made some friends here, and some enemies. We have no idea of the dangers we're going to face, but one thing is clear. Both crews are going to have to work together if we're to survive. That's why Commander Chakotay and I have agreed that this should be one crew. A Starfleet crew. And as the only Starfleet vessel assigned to the Delta Quadrant, we'll continue to follow our directive to seek out new worlds and explore space. But our primary goal is clear. Even at maximum speeds, it would take seventy five years to reach the Federation, but I'm not willing to settle for that. There's another entity like the Caretaker out there somewhere who has the ability to get us there a lot faster. We'll be looking for her, and we'll be looking for wormholes, spatial rifts, or new technologies to help us. Somewhere along this journey, we'll find a way back. Mister Paris, set a course for home.

As a final observation, it seems that they may have occasionally utilized a cloaking device if they had the ability to make one. When future Janeway gives them cloaking technology to hide from the Borg, they happily utilize it.

Answer 6

There are two in-universe answers to this question, one has already been mentioned: The Treaty of Algeron is a Federation directive which binds Federation vessels the same as the Prime Directive. That treaty has nothing to do with being in Romulan or Federation space any more than the Geneva Convention on applies to nations who sign it.

Aside from that, in the closing scene of “The Enterprise Incident” Spock gave the answer to this question. After he and Captain Kirk successfully stole a Romulan cloaking device from a Klingon-designed Romulan ship - and inadvertently kidnapped their Romulan commander while transporting Spock away from the Romulan ship, Chief Engineer Scott installed the cloaking device and Enterprise successfully used it to escape the Romulans. In the turbo lift while Spock was escorting the captured commander to quarters, she reminded him that the Romulans will very soon be able to penetrate the cloaking device he stole. Spock responded:

Obviously, military secrets are the most fleeting of all.

Thus even when Federation ships were equipped with cloaking technology it was understood that the advantage is very short-lived. It would eventually just become a waste of energy and ballast against their most dangerous enemies. By the time TNG, DS9, and Voyager came along Romulan cloaking would only be useful to bully less-advanced civilizations. A real-life example of this problem can be seen in US Naval ships which used to use camouflage paint until the development of RADAR made it obsolete (see picture below)

Answer 7

There are two big reasons for this. It has already been pointed out that it is against Federation Law, but also Voyager itself did not have the expertise or resources to build a successful one.

Against Federation Law - This is specifically in relation to The Treaty of Algeron of 2311, which was a treaty signed with the Romulans. Not only did this treaty establish the boundary of the Romulan Neutral Zone, it also required that Federation Ships not equip cloaking devices on their starships. This also limited research into them significantly, so the Federation may have had secret and illegal research projects into designing them, none had been successful to date at the launch of Voyager. The Federation may have intel and tactical data on cloaking devices from the Klingons and Romulans, but there are no canon sources of actual trading of engineering data or technical specs of the devices themselves. So the Federation is limited to sensor data on how the device operates, and even then with particular ships and power sources those devices have been designed to specifically operate with.

No expertise or resources - This goes into the successful design of a federation cloaking device. With regard to the Pegasus, not just designing a federation cloaking device, but a phasing cloaking device proved deadly for the ship and her crew. Even though the Enterprise successfully used said device, it was only because of the dire circumstances they were in, and was not guaranteed to work as intended. Other than this single prototype, there was no other federation cloaking device prototypes to design off of. As for the mines from DS9, there are two variables to account for. First of all, this occurred several years into Voyager's journey and DS9 having a working cloaking device to work off of.

So when Voyager entered the Delta Quadrant, the ship was already looking at limited resources, which would have made prototyping any such device prohibitively expensive. Especially accounting for the facts that the prototype may not be effective at first, or cause some sort of "Star Trek-esque" failure due to a malfunction.

Designing from scratch, and building from scratch, a cloaking device for Voyager was just not feasible.

Answer 8

It is mostly because plot device, cloaking would just make the travel too easy and boring.

Since the technology is mostly unknown and barely used in delta quadrant, beside maybe the borg, the native space faring never built counter to detect cloaked ships. And we know that starfleet have the skills to build a proper cloaking device, if i remember, the pegasus incident didn't come from phasing cloak failure (the enterprise success to use the device proved this), but from the mutiny battle occuring inside the ship (so more human error than technology failure). And the episode 2x23 The thaws, also proved that Voyager crew has the knowledge and tools to build a cloaking device if they want.