Where did the Enterprise NCC-1701A come from?

[KhanSolo]

So at the end of The Voyage Home, Kirk is given the Enterprise A, right. My question is where did it come from? Was it just an old constitution that was laying around? Did they build it from scratch? In the beginning of the final frontier, it seems like the ship is a bucket of bolts. Nothing works, everything is getting fixed. I find this weird considering it had just been commissioned or recommissioned.

 

[BillJ]

There is no canon source for the origin of the Enterprise-A. Lots of fan theories. From it was the Yorktown to it was a new build to it was the renamed U.S.S. Ti-Ho.

Pick one or formulate your own. They all have the same weight.

 

[Galileo7]

If the 1701-A was newly built with all the problems ["...the Enterprise is a disaster."], then I guess TFF was weakly copying with lesser problems the major warp drive problem of TMP.

 

[Timo]

A relative failure of a ship could indicate one of several things:

- Newbuild on an old and trusted template, just with hasty and rushed work done on her, resulting in poor quality
- Newbuild with all-new systems to cope with modern times, and those systems don't get properly tested or integrated before "go"
- Refit along an old template, with rushed work of poor quality
- Refit along a more modern template, and the new stuff fails because it isn't properly tested
- Refit that has already seen a lot of service, and suffered for it, now receiving a half-hearted patch-up before transfer to Kirk

All of these have already been suggested by casual fans and assorted other writers including paid professionals. What we see of the ship is different enough from what we saw in ST:TMP that I'd rule out both "Tried and true refit" and "Tried and true newbuild", though, and attribute the problems to the haphazard inclusion of new bells and whistles.

We haven't really seen Starfleet build new ships on old templates decades after the original introduction, but the very broad range of registries on the Miranda class certainly suggests extended production.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[T'Girl]

If the 1701-A was newly built with all the problems ...

Sounded like the Defiant had it's share of problems too.

And with the Excelsior, did they ever get it's trans-warp drive to work?

 

[Timo]

The Defiant was known to be unfinished when pressed to perform her first operational mission. Her problems shouldn't reflect any Starfleet norm.

The Excelsior looked as if she were finished, painted and polished before her first-ever attempt at beating Enterprise speed records. Who knows, perhaps she had even performed several years' worth of missions using lesser speeds? We don't know if transwarp ever had any problems, other than Scotty's sabotage. It may have worked perfectly fine on several test flights or operational missions before ST3, and continued to do so after that movie. Or then not.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ithekro]

Mr. Scotts log suggest that the new Enterprise's engine systems are pefectly fine, just that everything else doesn't work right. "Half the doors won't open". The transporter keeps going out. The computer interface seems glitchy while Kirk is recording his log, and Red Alert has audio problems.

A lot of that seems like software issues rather than hardware issues. The new Enterprise did have the new surface glass type interfaces like the later TNG starships would have. So maybe it was a new technology that was interfering with the systems of a tried design. The Constitution-class is not a new design by any means. This ship could have been a late production vessel, one of the last to be refit from a TOS to TMP era design. It could have been the Yorktown after they managed to get her back to Spacedock, but that would only make sense if they intended to give the name of Yorktown over to a new ship and gave the old one the name Enterprise. Then spent several months rebuilding from the damage the Whale Probe caused Yorktown. We know there is still a Yorktown in service at the time Praxis exploding, because Tuvok's parents serve on it. Either this was the ship seen disabled in TVH, or it was the ship that replaced it, allowing the old ship to be renamed Enterprise.

I'm not sure which version I prefer anymore.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I would guess it was a hastily built refit on a new template since the design of the bridge systems were new and continued into service for the Excelsior refit seen in Star Trek VI and well into the Next Generation flashbacks to the late 23rd/early 24th centuries. This also keeps in line with the engine room in Star Trek VI looking more like the engine room from the Enterprise-D and not the original disco light refit engineering.

Perhaps Starfleet thought an appropriate punishment for the newly demoted Captain Kirk should be to shakedown this new refit and iron out the kinks.

 

[Ithekro]

That would also be in line with the DC Comics version of post-Star Trek III events. Admiral Kirk managed to save the Federation (again), and his "punishment" is to take out USS Excelsior and work the kinks out of her.

 

[Trimm]

I've always liked the idea that this was a new build, or at least a fresh refit. Heroes or not, I can't imagine Starfleet taking a ship away from its crew just to hand it off to Kirk and company. The teething problems in TFF also suggest that this is a newish vessel to me.

One thing to keep in mind is that while the Ent-A is the first ship we see on screen with LCARS, Cause and Effect establishes the Bozeman had it in 2278. The Excelsior also appears to have touch based controls in TSFS.

 

[C.E. Evans]

There is no canon source for the origin of the Enterprise-A. Lots of fan theories. From it was the Yorktown to it was a new build to it was the renamed U.S.S. Ti-Ho.

Pick one or formulate your own. They all have the same weight.

This in a nutshell.

 

[FormerLurker]

I always figured they took an older design, the Constitution refit, and did a newbuild where they slapped new LCARS interfaces onto it with new software that didn't know how to operate the older design equipment. Scotty was essentially writing the software that would make it so LCARS interfaces would be able to run all Starfleet ships, old and new, for decades to come.

A good RL example of this is the cockpit of the Space Shuttle. The first cockpits were full of dials and physical switches. By the final flight of each ship, they had all been replaced with touchscreens and flatpanel displays. Yet they still ran thirty-year-old ships with thirty-year-old hardware.

 

[SicOne]

I'm thinking newbuild, albeit with some teething problems (unforseen at the end of TVH but that cropped up shortly afterwards) probably related to state-of-the-art computers and power systems freshly installed but not thoroughly tested, but Starfleet trusted that Kirk and Scotty and crew could work everything out. We don't know what the crew was up to between TVH and TFF, but I'm thinking the shore leave scenes at the beginning of TFF were well-earned after a few months of shakedown, working things out on the fly, and finally delivering Enterprise back to SpaceDock and taking a short break while the SpaceDock personnel began fixing everything...for once, there were no impending galactic crises and the regular crew could relax. The guys making loud noises on the bridge while Kirk was talking to Admiral Bob were probably SpaceDock crewers making scheduled repairs, not imagining that Enterprise was going to get called to duty abruptly in the midst of the work.

Mr Scott's Guide To The Enterprise says that the ship was originally named USS Ti-Ho, but I am thinking that he meant Taiho, named after a Japanese WW2-era aircraft carrier. IIRC, the registration number was supposed to be NCC-1798, also suggesting that this was likely one of the final Constitution-refit-class ships to be built.

If this new Enterprise was indeed formerly the Yorktown, that would explain some of the power glitches; aftereffects from the Whale Probe and such. But there is no suitable in-universe explanation of why they'd yank the Yorktown name off the hull and slap down Enterprise just for Jim Kirk, no matter how grateful the Federation President was. Also, IIRC there was a Yorktown as part of the original run of Constitution-class ships, the presence of Yorktown in TVH suggests that this ship was also refit from the original ship like Enterprise was, and hence would also be of around the same age, a spot over 40 years old, but with many years of service left in her.

Additionally, since Excelsior still had her NX-2000 registration in TSFS a short time before TVH, that suggests she was still in the prototype stage and it is unlikely that they'd decommission Yorktown, yank her name to reserve it for a yet-to-be built Excelsior (see below), then slap Enterprise's name on the old Yorktown. Nope, I'm thinking newbuild.

Regarding Excelsior, I am thinking that yes, she was still a prototype, and they wouldn't be building any more of her class unless and until they got all of her bugs worked out. The Transwarp Development Project history suggests it was quite some time until they gave up and put a "regular" warp drive on her. I am also wondering if perhaps NCC-1701-B was the second Excelsior built, using improvements learned from the long trial period of the NX-2000 (like sponsons on the secondary hull to hold more sensors or equipment plus additional impulse engines); subsequent Excelsiors improved upon the NCC-1701-B and fashioned the class into the "regular"-looking Excelsior we saw serving in TNG times.

 

[Ithekro]

It does depend on just when a starship's name gets put on a new ship. When it is ordered? Layed down? Launched? Commissioned? If there is an existing ship with that name in the fleet, does it have to be decommissioned in favor of the new ship prior to the new ship being commissioned in the fleet? Would an older ship that is still perfectly viable get renamed and continue to serve in some fashion in Starfleet?

And would Starfleet be building more than one Excelsior-class starship while Excelsior herself is undergoing transwarp testing? Excelsior was said to be ready for her trail runs. If the spaceframe is already considere viable, they might build more but take a wait and see in the engines. Oddly, Starfleet ship don't seem to be built around their engines, but have them added during construction. And that's not just the nacelles, but the warp core and impulse engines seen to just slide into place.

Starfleet may have started construction on a new Excelsior-class starship to be named Yorktown (they may have also started on one to be named Enterprise), taking the older Constitutions out of commission soon after laying down the new ships. Enterprise was stole then destroyed. Maybe they changed the next Excelsior from being Enterprise to being Yorktown, and were bringing the older Yorktown home for decommissioning. However when Kirk saves Earth, it is decided he needs a ship. Yorktown is found to be more or less servicable. Some of her crew get transfered to learn how to use an Excelsior for when the new Yorktown is launched in a few years (or become the part of Excelsior's crew). Some stay on the renamed Enterprise and try to fix her up. It is possible, but not too likely.

On the other hand, Yorktown might have limped home and spent a year or so getting fixed up, then sent out on her own missioned with Tuvok's parents. Enterprise being a new built ship, or something else (she was seemingly retired from service rather quickly and the Enterprise-B was ready to go the same year the -A was decommissioned).

And USS Taiho makes much more sense than Ti-Ho (which I think was a misused medium tank designation). Perhaps when Kirk and company retired after Khitomer, this ship was repaired and renamed back to Taiho to free up the name Enterprise for the Excelsior-class ship, as seems to have been the intension since Admiral Morrow told Admiral Kirk that Enterprise was being decommissioned.

 

[Dukhat]

Visual evidence: At the end of TVH, the ship has a bridge reminiscent of the older TMP Enterprise bridge. At the beginning of TFF, it has a brand-spanking new bridge. I take this to mean that the ship was an older vessel which had been upgraded at some point between the two films.

 

[RoJoHen]

I always got the impression that it was either a new ship, or it was an older Connie that was in the final stages of a refit.

Either way, it wasn't finished.

 

[FormerLurker]

Further visual evidence: in TUC, there is yet a third bridge atop the saucer section, with a mix of LCARS and pushbutton controls, and a different paintjob/carpeting. The variation in interfaces may have something to do with the types of equipment each ship/bridge was using, and the missions they were on.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Visual evidence: At the end of TVH, the ship has a bridge reminiscent of the older TMP Enterprise bridge. At the beginning of TFF, it has a brand-spanking new bridge. I take this to mean that the ship was an older vessel which had been upgraded at some point between the two films.

Which would indicate a REALLY hasty refit since only a matter of weeks passed between The Voyage Home and The Final Frontier

So maybe they put in a crappy, untested engine and a crappy, untested transporter before shoving Kirk on his way, then decided what the hell, since it's already in spacedock, go ahead and refit the rest of it. Starfleet sounds like a bunch of dicks.

 

[Ithekro]

Scott does mentions that the engines are fine, but half the doors won't open. "'Let's see what she's got', said the Captain. We found out didn't we."

The new bridge must have shorted out or something. The new bidge was basically the TMP bridge with new interface surfaces and monitors. By TFF the bridge is different (the set having been taken over for TNG). Either Starfleet had to replace the whole module, and Scott was still working out the bugs, or the thought to be quick fix was replace the bridge and only after that did they find that something else must be wrong with the ship.

By TUC the ship is behaving correctly. Even by the end of TFF the Enterprise is more or less functional. She will need another shakedown cruise.

 

[Lance]

Where did the Enterprise NCC-1701A come from?

Well, it's like this: when a Mommy Starship and a Daddy Starship love each other very, very much.....