# Hardcore Star Trek People - What is the story behind the NCC-1701-A **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 29, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316 "2003-05-29T17:33:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/21 "2003-06-02T20:45:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pjd \* > \*\*people, people. > > It’s all fictional - it’s not real. \*\* Why, thank you, Mr. Nesmith. BTW: you forgot to say “There’s no goddamned ship!” ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/22 "2003-06-02T21:42:22Z")
Just out of curiosity, **pjd** : How many lights do you see? I bet you see three lights, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Bean\_Counter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/db5fbb/32.png) [@Bean\_Counter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bean_Counter)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/23 "2003-06-02T21:54:23Z")
Ok, I’m delving into complete geekdom here but the discussion has created a nit-pick item that I vagely remember from a source I think I read once. (How is THAT for hedging?) Anyway, I recall reading that Scotty (and the rest of the crack engineering team) made so many modifications to the Constitution class starship (as seen on TV!) that the ship that debuted in the first Star Trek movie was called an “Enterprise” class ship. Does anyone else remember reading that or am I creating memories again? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/24 "2003-06-03T00:39:24Z")
Besides, the flagship has to named _Enterprise_. Because it’s the name of the first flagship. A Trektoid we all learned from the past (present) about the future (past) shows about things that are due to happen in our past (past) ((like the Eugenics War of the 1990s)) which was of course future to them (in the past). **Bean** all the Trek guides I’ve ever seen list it as a _Constitution_ class. I don’t have everything, though. So, if you run across again, let us know, K? (I love new stuff:) ) FTR, it’s all true. The reality you _think_ you’re living is the fictional life. Welcome to the House of Trek Dopers™, **pud**. Hope you have fun. What? Oh… I see… It’s **pjd**. So sorry. Had enough yet? 😉 (btw, don’t listen to **Aes**. He picks his nose and _eats_ it!) ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/25 "2003-06-03T01:11:48Z")
When I saw this title at a glance, I saw the following: _Star Trek, hardcore, NC-17_ My interest was piqued until I realized it was something entirely different! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/26 "2003-06-03T01:27:03Z")
According to my “Star Trek Chronology” in 2285 (the same year as TWOK) the U.S.S. Hathaway, a Constitution class was launched. “Peak Performance” TNG So they were still making them. Here’s a silly theory. Perhaps Kirk had made some arrangements when back in 1986 to assure that a new ship was ready and waiting for them when he got back. That would be so like him. He just doesn’t like to lose. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/27 "2003-06-03T01:30:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by aubries \* > \*\*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. \*\* Remember _ST:TMP_? In that movie, everything on the Enterprise looked brand new and still needed to get all the bugs worked out of it, just like in _STV:TFF_. But was the Enterprise brand new in _ST:TMP_? No! It was the same old NCC-1701 that had been with us since before Captain Pike. Its systems were only new and untried because the ship had just gone through a major **overhaul** and **refit**. The same thing was probably true for _STV:TFF_. The ship newly christened NCC-1701-A wasn’t a brand new ship, it was an old existing Constitution class starship that had just gone through a major overhaul and refit. So, as with the up-rated Enterprise in _ST:TMP_, the “new” NCC-1701-A only looked new and needed the bugs worked out of it because it was chock full of new systems in an old hull. ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/28 "2003-06-03T01:31:59Z")
**Aesiron** , while I don’t think the writers cared why it would be decommissioned, the only logical reason I could think of why it would be decommissioned would be the damage that it sustained from the Klingon attack. Those things are just too big and expensive to get rid of them just because there’s a nifty new design. **NCB** Just because it’s designated the “Flagship” doesn’t mean that it has to be the newest, biggest, baddest boy on the block. Note the Constellation, mentioned above. It’s been known as “America’s Flagship” since a president, Reagan I think, called it that during a visit to the carrier. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/29 "2003-06-03T01:37:16Z")
I _know_ **Linus**. I just said the flagship had to be named ENT. Nothing else. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/30 "2003-06-03T03:35:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bean Counter \* > Anyway, I recall reading that Scotty (and the rest of the crack engineering team) made so many modifications to the Constitution class starship (as seen on TV!) that the ship that debuted in the first Star Trek movie was called an “Enterprise” class ship. > > Does anyone else remember reading that or am I creating memories again? That was from _Scotty’s Guide to the Enterprise_ or something similar. During the Eighties, while Trek books were still pretty bush league, each book pretty much wrote the history of the Federation and its technology, species, etc to the author’s whims. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Fern Forest_ > > According to my “Star Trek Chronology” in 2285 (the same year as TWOK) the U.S.S. Hathaway, a Constitution class, was launched. **“Peak Performance” TNG** So they were still making them. > > (Bolding mine) 😕 > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by tracer_ > > But was the Enterprise brand new in ST:TMP? No! It was the same old NCC-1701 that had been with us since before Captain Pike. Its systems were only new and untried because the ship had just gone through a major **overhaul** and **refit**. > > The same thing was probably true for STV:TFF. The ship newly christened NCC-1701-A wasn’t a brand new ship, it was an old existing Constitution class starship that had just gone through a major overhaul and refit. So, as with the up-rated Enterprise in ST:TMP, the “new” NCC-1701-A only looked new and needed the bugs worked out of it because it was chock full of new systems in an old hull. Yes! Exactly! ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/31 "2003-06-03T04:11:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Linus Van Pelt \* > \*\* > **NCB** Just because it’s designated the “Flagship” doesn’t mean that it has to be the newest, biggest, baddest boy on the block. Note the Constellation, mentioned above. It’s been known as “America’s Flagship” since a president, Reagan I think, called it that during a visit to the carrier. \*\* The Constellation just returned from her last deployment. This bold and brave ship, which shares the name with America’s _first_ fighting vessel, now retires to serve as a museum. It will be replaced in service by the Ronald W. Reagan. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/32 "2003-06-03T06:02:05Z")
“Hardcore Star Trek People”? I thought this was some kind of slash database thread. Darn. ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/33 "2003-06-03T06:12:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by E-Sabbath \* > \*\*The Constellation just returned from her last deployment. This bold and brave ship, which shares the name with America’s _first_ fighting vessel, now retires to serve as a museum. It will be replaced in service by the Ronald W. Reagan. \*\* I was fortunate enough to get a tour of the Constellation from a friend who served aboard her. Amazing ship. And a pretty impressive history of ships with that name. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/34 "2003-06-03T07:37:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Aesiron \* > **😕** The reason I said “Peak Performance” from TNG was that this was the reference to place the Hathaway’s launch when they do. In “Peak Performance” they say the Hathaway was launched 80 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/35 "2003-06-03T15:04:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by E-Sabbath \* > \*\*It will be replaced in service by the Ronald W. Reagan. \*\* So… it’s gonna be lost at sea until Nancy comes around? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/36 "2003-06-03T16:18:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Barbarian \* > \*\*So… it’s gonna be lost at sea until Nancy comes around? \*\* I was going to make a tasteless joke about forgetting to install RAM in the onboard computer system, but it would just be redundant now… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/37 "2003-06-03T16:31:45Z")
Hey! All you guys with your real life answers! Why, I oughtta… Remember, real life is no longer canon. Canon is no longer canon. Nikon is still canon, but Minolta is now Porthos. Porthos has submissive peeing problems. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/38 "2003-06-03T16:41:11Z")
And keep him away from cheese. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/39 "2003-06-04T00:25:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by E-Sabbath \* > \*\*The Constellation just returned from her last deployment. This bold and brave ship, which shares the name with America’s _first_ fighting vessel, now retires to serve as a museum. It will be replaced in service by the Ronald W. Reagan. \*\* … which is named after the bold and brave leader who valiantly defended this great country from the evil empire of … um … Grenada. ---
**Author:** ![MMI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@MMI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MMI)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316/40 "2003-06-04T02:48:00Z")
[Hijack] > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Linus Van Pelt \* > \*\* USS Enterprise (yeah, yeah, I know), the first nuclear carrier, was launched a month _before_ USS Constellation, a steam turbine carrier. \*\* It should be noted in the interest of fighting ignorance that both the USS Enterprise CVN-65 and the USS Constellation CV-64 used steam turbines. The difference is Enterprise used nuclear power to create the steam and Constellation burned oil. [/Hijack] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardcore-star-trek-people-what-is-the-story-behind-the-ncc-1701-a/178316.md?page=3)