Kirk's First Command?

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by Albertese, Mar 12, 2014.

  1. Albertese

    Albertese Commodore Commodore

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    In The Making of Star Trek we read that Kirk's first command was a destroyer type ship of some kind. Is there any fan-consensus on what that ship may have been named?

    Now, I'm fully cognizant that no such ship is cannonical, I was mainly wondering about speculation.

    --Alex
     
  2. Mark_Nguyen

    Mark_Nguyen Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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  3. F. King Daniel

    F. King Daniel Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    In the old DC comicverse, it was the Baton Rouge-class USS Saladin. In the old novel Enterprise: The First Adventure is was the USS Lydia Sutherland, which he took command of mid-crisis. In the more recent novel Inception, it was a Miranda-class ship whose name escapes me. One of the old Best of Trek books had a piece on Kirk's career, which postulated yet another name, but that one escapes me too.


    So no, no consensus:)
     
  4. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

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    In the Starfleet Museum website Kirk first command was named the USS Interceptor.

    Absolutely love that website.

    :)
     
  5. Robert Comsol

    Robert Comsol Commodore Commodore

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    MoST explicitly mentions Kirk's first command to be a "Destroyer Class" vessel which would put a Miranda Class vessel ("Starship Class") out of the game.

    USS Lydia Sutherland, pardon me, sounds weird, especially since it is known that two Horatio Hornblower ships were mixed together here. Hotspur was Hornblower's command prior to the promotion to captain. I'd say if you really wanted to create parallels, at least take a parallel that is congruent. YMMV. ;)

    Bob
     
  6. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

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    In the show, was there ever a starship named for a person where both the first and last names are part of the ship's name?

    Usually, isn't it just the last name?


    :)
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2014
  7. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    To be sure, we have never seen a Miranda associated with the "Starship Class" moniker: there are no TOS style dedication plaques to that effect, no onscreen sightings of TOS style Mirandas, and if we venture to fanfic/speculation, we could just as well decide that the putative TOS Miranda dedication plaque would actually read "Frigate Class"...

    On the other hand, since there has never been an actual destroyer class starship in onscreen Trek, we don't know what sort of ships might fit that category. The closest we get are fuzzy images on some TOS movie screens, not really identifying Franz Joseph's single-nacellers as destroyers, and completely up-in-the-air verbal references to Starfleet-operated destroyers in the battle of "Sacrifice of Angels".

    ...And anyway, I think McIntyre specified that ship as having been a "great little cruiser". So if we want to insist on the idea that Kirk's first independent command was a destroyer, then this ship lost at Ghioghe is not it.

    As for multi-part names, we don't know exactly what the full name of a verbally introduced starship would be. Picard might mention offhand the Nobel, but the hull of that unseen starship might actually read USS Alfred Nobel; Shelby might gasp that the Chekov was lost, but the pennants might say Anton Pavlovich Chekov...

    Timo Saloniemi
     
  8. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    Last edited: Mar 12, 2014
  9. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Admiral

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    The Reliant is referred to as a "starship" multiple times in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
     
  10. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    The Archon is referred to as a starship in "Return Of The Archons" and we know it wasn't Constitution-class.
     
  11. Robert Comsol

    Robert Comsol Commodore Commodore

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    ^^ That's what I had in mind, "Miranda (Starship) Class".

    I forgot to mention earlier, that I see a contradiction assuming Kirk's first command was he USS Saladin (Baton Rouge Class).

    That would suggest a "Baton Rouge (Destroyer) Class". However, the DC Comics also suggested the USS Republic to belong to that class.

    However, the USS Republic was a "starship" (both according to "Court Martial" and the producers' intentions). :(

    Unless I'm mistaken, didn't Rick Sternbach specify his Baton Rouge Class to be a Starship Class?

    @ T'Girl

    I think it really depends. A USS Horse would rather sound strange without the "Crazy" prefix for the Native American Lakota leader that beat the "Long Knives" at Little Big Horn, wouldn't it?

    If it's obviously an Anglosaxon name, then Sutherland would suffice, I believe (Wasn't there a USS Cochrane, too?).

    Bob
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2014
  12. RandyS

    RandyS Vice Admiral Admiral

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  13. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    ^^ Yes.
     
  14. Nebusj

    Nebusj Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Do we? From canonical sources?
     
  15. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Need to correct myself, Crazy Horse isn't a first and last name combination. It's the whole name.

    Really it should be USS Tȟašúŋke Witkó.

    :)
     
  16. Masao

    Masao Commodore Commodore

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    Don't trust that website! The guy who runs it is absolutely nuts!!!

    Seriously, though, I designed that ship to be Kirk's first command so he could learn to be a "sorcerer."
     
  17. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    The more I think of it it's indirect. Kirk asks if the beams hitting the Enterprise are powerful enough to destroy a starship, to which Spock relies yes. This is after Reger says Landru pulled the Archons down from the sky.
     
  18. Shawnster

    Shawnster Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Not all starships belong to the "Starship Class." And there is no source evidence to support that the Miranda Class would be part of the "Starship Class."

    Of course, there is no consensus of what the "Starship Class" is.
     
  19. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    ...Although statistically, we can tell that about 100% of starships do not belong to it.

    After all, the only known representative of Starship Class is NCC-1701, for part of her existence at least. Even her apparent sister ships like the Defiant do not belong to that Class.

    Perhaps Kirk got a special plaque, an excellence badge saying that his vessel has attained 100% Star Ship Status - a rare honor indeed if the "Court Martial" chart is any indication!

    Timo Saloniemi
     
  20. Robert Comsol

    Robert Comsol Commodore Commodore

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    From "Bread and Circuses":

    MERIK: He commands not just a spaceship, Proconsul, but a starship. A very special vessel and crew. I tried for such a command.

    Last year we discussed the terminology of "Starship Class".

    Now, Bob Justman stated specifically in The Making of Star Trek that NCC-1701 belonged to the "Enterprise Starship Class" and as the first ship of that class (according to Matt Jefferies) the plaque (U.S.S.) Enterprise Starship Class could have merely been an elegant solution rather than to write a somewhat convoluted U.S.S. Enterprise - Enterprise Class - San Francisco, Calif.

    In simpler language: With the class leader you have the luxury to add the "starship" on the plaque. ;) (or "destroyer" wherever appropriate)

    According to the Official TMP Blueprints the refit Enterprise ("new Enterprise Class") would have been designated as "Starship Class II".

    @ T'Girl

    I wholeheartedly agree. And we would have had one name with an alien (opposite to Anglosaxon) ring to it.

    Bob