Following the destruction of the original USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock; a new Enterprise was built and features prominently in the Star Trek IV - VI movies.
Overview[]
The USS Enterprise, Naval Construction Contract (NCC) 1701-A is the second Federation Starship to bear the name and construction codes. Like its original namesake, the 1701-A is a Constitution-Class Starship built for service for the Federation and Starfleet in the 23rd Century.
Following the destruction of the original NCC-1701 in orbit above the Genesis Planet, Starfleet made an unprecedented decision to honor Captain James T. Kirk and his gallant crew by christening this ship as a tribute to the original.
Unlike its predecessor which was a Heavy Cruiser, the NCC-1701-A is a Tactical Command Cruiser intended to function as a command flagship in fleet engagements. To differentiate between the original and the second Enterprise, this vessel was usually referred to as the Enterprise-A or Enterprise-Alpha.
Technical Specifications[]
- CLASS: Constitution-Class Starship
- TYPE: Tactical Command Cruiser / Explorer
- OVERALL LENGTH: 304.8 meters (1,000 feet)
- OVERALL BEAM: 141.7 meters (465 feet)
- OVERALL DRAFT: 71.3 meters (234 feet)
- MASS: 620,000 metric tons
- DISPLACEMENT: 210,000 metric tons
- DECKS: 23
- CREW COMPLEMENT: 510 persons; 70 visiting personnel
- CRUISING SPEED: Warp 8
- MAXIMUM SPEED: Warp 9
History[]
Among the various scientific discoveries achieved by the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 during its historic five year mission undertaken by James T. Kirk in 2265 to 2270 led to Federation scientists to a breakthrough in interstellar propulsion. It was dubbed 'transwarp' as it was believed it would be superior in speed to even warp drive, the USS Excelsior was purpose built as its testbed and proof of concept. Early tests were so promising that Starfleet built this vessel early in 2280s and designated it the USS Ti-Ho NCC-1798.
The Ti-Ho was a newly built and constructed Constitution-Class Heavy Cruiser Starship, structurally identical to the 2273 refit of the USS Enterprise but updated to state-of-the art technology. The Ti-Ho was was intended to serve as the testbed model for a Transwarp Drive; suitably scaled down to a Constitution-Class spaceframe as part of Starfleet's plans to rapidly refit all of their Constitution-Class starships to a transwarp standard following the anticipated successful conclusion of the Excelsior Trials. However, the Transwarp Drive proved to be a failure resulting in the transwarp plans for the Ti-Ho to be scrapped.
Instead, the Ti-Ho was refitted with standard warp drive nacelles and was intended to be relaunched in 2286 when the Whale Probe nearly devastated the planet Earth. In appreciation of newly demoted Captain James T. Kirk and his crew's efforts, the Starfleet Admiralty made a special administrative dispensation that redesignated the NCC-1798 to becoming the NCC-1701-Alpha or NCC-1701-A and was renamed the USS Enterprise, the successor to the original Constituion-Class Starship. Further, as a demonstration of their acknowledgement of Captain Kirk and his ship and crew's gallantry, the Admiralty declared that all future USS Enterprise starships would always be given the original Enterprise's Naval Construction Code and registry number, NCC-1701 with the last letter designating the model.
The Enterprise-A would go on to serve as one of the premiere ships of Starfleet for the next eight years under the stewardship of Captain James T. Kirk.
In 2293 following the decommissioning of the Enterprise-A; the Excelsior-class USS Enterprise-B was launched later that year.
See Also[]
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