This is a great way to bring a Galaxy class ship into lower decks!!

It might be big enough to work as a temporary small space station around a planet or just in some general area in need like a fleet in need of repairs and medical aid.

A lot of the focus here seems to be on the military utility, which is also how I suppose the separation feature was presented in the show.

But an obvious use case would probably have been less dramatic. Anytime two things needed to be done at the same time. Send the drive section to the more distant or dangerous location and keep the saucer where it’s safer, like running supplies or something for a planet.

Don’t know it would have been good TV though?! Perhaps if it was used as a plot device to put the ship in trouble?

It’s funny. It seems there’s an inversion with this compared to TNG era trek, where the first season is often a write off.

I agree with you and feel the same way about Picard S1. Something about how streaming era TV is run, at least with the particular mood and aspiration that Star Trek has, seems to benefit from the pre-production planning, and suffer under the loss of season to season production.