The real reason for NCC designation on Trek

[BrotherBenny]

In the 1940s Gene Roddenberry worked for Pan Am and their early planes, the Boeing-314s, the Clippers, were designated with NX xxxxx for a prototype and NC xxxxx for a working vessel.

It seems likely that he just added an extra letter for the future.

And the Anzac Clipper was destroyed, but a replacement was made and an A was added after the registration number.

 

[Nerys Myk]

In the 1940s Gene Roddenberry worked for Pan Am and their early planes, the Boeing-314s, the Clippers, were designated with NX xxxxx for a prototype and NC xxxxx for a working vessel.

It seems likely that he just added an extra letter for the future.

And the Anzac Clipper was destroyed, but a replacement was made and an A was added after the registration number.

I think all American commercial planes had the "NC" designation.

 

[bullethead]

In the 1940s Gene Roddenberry worked for Pan Am and their early planes, the Boeing-314s, the Clippers, were designated with NX xxxxx for a prototype and NC xxxxx for a working vessel.

It seems likely that he just added an extra letter for the future.

And the Anzac Clipper was destroyed, but a replacement was made and an A was added after the registration number.

I think all American commercial planes had the "NC" designation.

Yeah, that's what I remember reading in Star Trek the Magazine's article on how Matt Jefferies designed the original Enterprise.

 

[Tulin]

When I was a kid I thought it was "New Constitution Class", which of course doesn't apply to other classes.

I just know it now as(properly) "Naval Construction Class".

I thought this was generally accepted.

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

When I was a kid I thought it was "New Constitution Class", which of course doesn't apply to other classes.

I just know it now as(properly) "Naval Construction Class".

I thought this was generally accepted.

NCC is also known to stand for Naval Construction Code or Naval Construction Contract.

I remember in an interview of Walter Matt Jefferies on the net I watched about 7 years ago he said he got the NCC Registry idea by combining the NC that was on American aircraft and CCP that was on Russian aircraft. I did a Google search but I could not find the interview. I think the interview may have originally aired on the BBC. Maybe a member on this board, who is from England, can confirm this.

Also In the interview, Matt Jefferies said he chose the Registry number 1701 because he thought it could be recognized easily from far away without being confused with other numbers.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\

 

[T'Girl]

I just know it now as (properly) "Naval Construction Class"..

NCC is also known to stand for Naval Construction Code or Naval Construction Contract.

Naval Communications Code is a good one too, from a 1980's technical manual.

 

[SchwEnt]

In-universe, non-canon, I've also heard of:

Naval Construction Contract
and
Navigation Contact Code

 

[Frontier]

I'd always gone with construction contract, as StarTrek.com back in the late 90s stated that. With NX as naval experiment.

I doubt there will ever be an in-universe explanation given that reconciles so many issues with NCC and NX. But who cares?

I do wonder about numbers. 1701, for one. How it got chosen.

What about 74205 and 74656 -- how did they get chosen?

I also wonder about the Titan, 80102. Seems like a date -- Sept 1, 2002 -- and Nem came out in December. Maybe Sept 1 was when they wrapped production?

 

[Forbin]

When I was a kid I thought it was "New Constitution Class", which of course doesn't apply to other classes.

I just know it now as(properly) "Naval Construction Class".

I thought this was generally accepted.

NCC is also known to stand for Naval Construction Code or Naval Construction Contract.

I remember in an interview of Walter Matt Jefferies on the net I watched about 7 years ago he said he got the NCC Registry idea by combining the NC that was on American aircraft and CCP that was on Russian aircraft. I did a Google search but I could not find the interview. I think the interview may have originally aired on the BBC. Maybe a member on this board, who is from England, can confirm this.

Also In the interview, Matt Jefferies said he chose the Registry number 1701 because he thought it could be recognized easily from far away without being confused with other numbers.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\

This info jives with everything I've ever heard too.

 

[Nerys Myk]

No Canon or Continuity reason.

 

[T'Girl]

I do wonder about numbers. 1701 ...

The number 1701 supposedly comes from a spoken reference in the movie Forbidden Planet.

All modern commercial aircraft have a tail number that begins with a letter, in America the letter is a N. Different countries have a different letters, Japan is a J and Great Britain is a G.

 

[scotpens]

Having NCC stand for “Naval Construction Contract” is an early bit of retconning by Franz Joseph, who designed and published the first “official” blueprints of the Enterprise in the mid-1970s.

I do wonder about numbers. 1701 ...

The number 1701 supposedly comes from a spoken reference in the movie Forbidden Planet.

Pure coincidence. Here’s the lowdown straight from the horse’s mouth, as it were.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Although I loved Franz Joseph's booklet and manual, "Naval Construction Contract" never sounded right to me. I don't know where it's from originally, but I really like the sound of "Navigational Contact Code". It doesn't fit with the "NX" or "NAR" weirdo registries, but... meh. Don't care.

 

[scotpens]

Although I loved Franz Joseph's booklet and manual, "Naval Construction Contract" never sounded right to me. I don't know where it's from originally, but I really like the sound of "Navigational Contact Code".

“Navigational Contact Code” does have a nice techy ring to it -- presumably it refers to a starship’s subspace radio call sign. Except that the registry numbers of naval vessels, or civilian ships or planes for that matter, have nothing to do with their radio call signs.

 

[FormerLurker]

I've always liked "Naval Construction Certificate."

 

[137th Gebirg]

Here are all the ones I'm familiar with. Some are on-screen, others are fan-made:

NCC ------- Naval Construction Contract
NCC-FXXXX - Naval Construction Contract/Freighter-Tender
NCC-SXXXX - Naval Construction Contract/Support Vessel
NCC-GXXXX - Naval Construction Contract/General Use
NX -------- Naval Experiment
NCO ------- Naval Construction Order (For Alternate-Federation Vessels)
NSX ------- Naval SpecialOps Experiment (I think)
Q --------- Intelligence "Q-Ship"
C --------- Contract # (For pre-Federation Vessels)
DT -------- Designated Tactical Vessel
FCC ------- Fleet Command Crusier
FF -------- Frigate Flagship/Fast Frigate
FR -------- Freighter (For pre-Federation Vessels)
L --------- Luxury/Civilian
G --------- General Use
SFDD ------ Starfleet Drydock
TP -------- Travel Pod Registry
NAR ------- Naval Auxiliary Resource
NAK ------- Naval Auxiliary Resource - Merchant Marine/Logistics

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

Here’s the lowdown straight from the horse’s mouth, as it were.

Thanks scotpens, that is the interview I remembered. Here is a 7 minute video interview of Walter "Matt" Jefferies from 2001 courtesy of startrek.com. At the 5 minutes and 17 seconds mark he discusses the NCC-1701 registry.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

I just know it now as (properly) "Naval Construction Class"..

NCC is also known to stand for Naval Construction Code or Naval Construction Contract.

Naval Communications Code is a good one too, from a 1980's technical manual.

Thanks T'Girl. I was not aware of that one.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

When I was a kid I thought it was "New Constitution Class", which of course doesn't apply to other classes.

I just know it now as(properly) "Naval Construction Class".

I thought this was generally accepted.

NCC is also known to stand for Naval Construction Code or Naval Construction Contract.

I remember in an interview of Walter Matt Jefferies on the net I watched about 7 years ago he said he got the NCC Registry idea by combining the NC that was on American aircraft and CCP that was on Russian aircraft. I did a Google search but I could not find the interview. I think the interview may have originally aired on the BBC. Maybe a member on this board, who is from England, can confirm this.

Also In the interview, Matt Jefferies said he chose the Registry number 1701 because he thought it could be recognized easily from far away without being confused with other numbers.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\

This info jives with everything I've ever heard too.

Thanks Forbin for the confirmation. I appreciate it.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\

 

[BenRoethig]

I'd always gone with construction contract, as StarTrek.com back in the late 90s stated that. With NX as naval experiment.

I doubt there will ever be an in-universe explanation given that reconciles so many issues with NCC and NX. But who cares?

I do wonder about numbers. 1701, for one. How it got chosen.

What about 74205 and 74656 -- how did they get chosen?

I also wonder about the Titan, 80102. Seems like a date -- Sept 1, 2002 -- and Nem came out in December. Maybe Sept 1 was when they wrapped production?

Serial numbers.

Naval Construction Contract serial number 80102.

In the current line, Archer's enterprise was naval experiment serial number 01. Meaning that there were roughly 80,101 contracts in between. That seems high but it includes everything from support craft to the largest starships.