Borderline Cafe society… but since I think it is a straight forward question, I thought I’d put it here. If I did so incorrectly, sorry mods, please move .
In Star Trek III, the original Enterprise was destroyed. At the end of Star Trek IV, ( I am assuming what was supposed to be a few months or so in real time… almost certainly less than 1 year) Kirk was presented command of the new Enterprise, NCC-1701-A.
Questions:
How did they supposedly build the new Enterprise so fast? Was it already getting built under a different name and just renamed?
Why would they build an older Constitution class ship like that in the first place? Why not build an Excelsior class that was already in tests?
Although I don’t believe there’s anything in the films about this, the Star Trek Chronology and various other non-canon sources suggest that it was an already-extant Constitution-class starship (possibly the Yokohama) which was rechristened Enterprise in honor of the original and her crew.
I don’t think there is a canon explanation. The rechristening scenario is the most popular noncanon theory. The ST:TNG Technical Manual and the Star Trek Encyclopedia postulated that Starfleet rechristened the USS Yorktown, NCC-1717, as the Enterprise-A. The ship was supposedly already under reconstruction to replace the old Yorktown. Other sources like FASA say the USS Atlantis or the USS Ti-Ho were rechristened.
According to many fansites (Google the words Yorktown, Roddenberry, and Enterprise), Roddenberry himself supposedly suggested the rechristening of a newly built USS Yorktown as the explanation for this issue. I’ve not been able to confirm this with any official source.
I also don’t see why they wouldn’t built a new ship as an Excelsior-class rather than a Constitution refit.
I remember reading in *Scotty’s Guide to the Enterprise * a section dealing with the NCC-1701-A in the back. I wish I had kept this book! :smack: I believe there was another ship ready, but Starfleet felt indebted to Kirk and renamed the ship and gave her to him.
Wasn’t the Enterprise due to be decomissioned after it returned from the battle with Khan? I am probably imagining that, but if it was, then it would make sense that they were working up a replacement.
Yes, but the Enterprise-A was decomissioned right after STVI, which was only six years later. There may be no canon explanation, but common sense would dictate that they’d want more than six years use from such a ship. It follows that they probably rechristened an existing ship, and probably one that had been in service for some time already.
Aside: STV included multiple references to the condition of the ship, implying that it was brand new, and half-baked. Decide for yourself how seriously to take that.
FWIW in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock they made the Excelsior look like a piece of crap. Scotty was blasting it every opportunity he got and of course Scotty disabled it by pulling a handful of chips.
Of course, Scotty might just be old fashioned and like his ship regardless of any new designs. In ST:TNG Scotty praised the Enterprise-D as a fine ship but pined for his older ship where he could tell how fast it was going by the feel of the floorboards rumbling under his feet.
The most popular explanation for it is that the USS Yorktown (the Yorktown being the originally intended name for the Enterprise when the show was first being pitched) was being built at Utopia Planitia and once Kirk was cleared of his charges and “busted” to Captain, he was given the renamed Enterprise-A.
So far as it being decommisioned six years later in The Undiscovered Country, the only guess I can make is that the whole Constitution class was being retired in favor of the Excelsior class which is still in use a good hundred years later during the TNG/DS9/VOY era.
And Scotty just didn’t like anyone outshining his ship. That explains his disdain for the ship. After all, the Enterprise-B was an Excelsior class ship and the Enterprise is always cutting-edge.
Constitution, Excelsior, Ambassador, Galaxy, and Sovereign class vessels were all the pinnacle of Federation shipbuilding in their heydays.
I speculate that at the time of THE WRATH OF KHAN., Enterprise was being used as a training ship in second line service. much of the same way the US Navy used USS Lexington as its training aircraft carrier.
In ST:TMP the Enterprise had just undergone a major refit, and another one was just wrapping up at the beginning of Wrath of Khan. However during the battle with the Reliant the Enterprise took major damage-- because it was targetted from close range with shields down.
And I’m going to suggest that it is not neccessarily the case that the soon-to-be-turned-loose-on-the-universe Excelsior class ships would neccissitate the curtailment of building Constitution class ships. After all, you didn’t see Boeing stop building 727’s and 707’s just because they developed the 747, nor does the Navy neccessarily cease production and use of older model ships simply because the newest, biggest toy is available. You would simply update the design of the Constitution class ships to incorporate the technology of the Excelsior class ships, once that technology had been proven to work. Which would fit with the appearance of Enterprise A in the fifth movie.
The impression that I got from watching the movie was that it was a new ship. As for why it was still constitution class: I think that DSYoungEsq stated it pretty well - you don’t automatically scrap all older designs when a new one comes along. And you also don’t scrap ships already in the works. A good example of this can be found in the US Navy. USS Enterprise (yeah, yeah, I know), the first nuclear carrier, was launched a month before USS Constellation, a steam turbine carrier. However, the Constellation was actually commissioned a couple months earlier than the Enterprise, probably because it required less time durning its shakedown period. The USS John F. Kennedy was deployed 7 years later, still using the steam/turbine design.
The decommissioning in ST VI was for one reason and one reason only - the fans. It was an opportunity for them to say goodbye to the old ship and the old crew all at once, as it was really the crew that was being decomissioned for the movies.
The only reason I said I believed the Constitution class ships were abolished was 'cause they had been in service for such a long period of time and for it to make sense within the Trek universe. I agree that it was just for TOS fans to say goodbye but what sense does that make in the (make-believe, thanks pjd :rolleyes**) Trek universe?
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