Constitution Class Ships Seem To Be Everywhere

[There Be Whales Here]

I've always found it too coincidental that throughout the run of the show whenever the Enterprise encountered another Starfleet ship it was always of it's own class.

While it seems like over the years there has been debate by fans over how many of the original Constitution Class ships were built and I've seen so many different sources sited, but if one was to go by the best canon evidence in "Tomorrow is Yesterday" that the number is twelve, including the Enterprise, that makes them a very rare commodity. Given such a small percentage combined with the size of the space Starfleet is operating in or exploring and the distances needed to travel, one would imagine these top-of-the line Starships would be assigned in different, distant sectors and far-flung from each other. As a result its easy to image that the times one of them would be in the same sector as one of it's counterparts during the course of a multi-year mission would be an uncommon event. Any rare rendezvous would be planned in advance (like in "Obsession") and a chance encounter with each other almost unheard of.

Yet throughout TOS they seemed to be ubiquitous in the galaxy and were the only type of Federation starship we ever saw. Whether it be responding to another Starfleet ship in peril ("The Doomsday Machine", "The Omega Glory", "The Tholian Web" "The Immunity Syndrome") or taking part in a task force with other vessels ("The Ultimate Computer", "Errand of Mercy - remastered), they were always another Connie leading us to believe they were always patrolling and exploring in the same general area.

The original version of "Errand of Mercy" allowed some leeway, since the Federation fleet facing off with the Klingon one was never shown thus it was easy to imagine it consisting of some sort of hastily organized task force of different types of ships like destroyers, frigates, light cruisers, etc. with maybe one other Constitution at the most. Yet remastered TOS (which I've always been lukewarm about) retro-conned this by showing the fleets consisting of identical Federation and Klingon ships and thus destroyed this theory and making one have to accept the unbelievable premise that Starfleet was able to send at least half the amount of their best starships to Organia on short notice.

Obviously the real-life reason is that by using existing shots of the Enterprise model and superimposing them together the producers could show the Enterprise encountering another Federation vessel without having to build a new, different type of model. To say nothing of having to design interior sets for the new ship and maybe even different uniform designs.

However, since the whole point of fandom (and thus this forum) is to speculate on an in-universe explanation for discrepancies, what might that be? How can so many of Starfleet's elite ships be always within practically hailing distance of each other so often when they are supposed to be so few in number?

 

[BK613]

I'v just taken it as a collection of similar looking classes that we see (like how US carriers are similar in appearance even though there have been many classes over the years.). The twelve (or thirteen) mentioned in TIY could be five-year mission builds not reflective of the normal load-out of a heavy cruiser.

 

[Kor]

But before we can answer this, we need to establish whether they should really be called Constitution Class... or Starship Class.

Kor

 

[Noname Given]

I've always found it too coincidental that throughout the run of the show whenever the Enterprise encountered another Starfleet ship it was always of it's own class.

While it seems like over the years there has been debate by fans over how many of the original Constitution Class ships were built and I've seen so many different sources sited, but if one was to go by the best canon evidence in "Tomorrow is Yesterday" that the number is twelve, including the Enterprise, that makes them a very rare commodity. Given such a small percentage combined with the size of the space Starfleet is operating in or exploring and the distances needed to travel, one would imagine these top-of-the line Starships would be assigned in different, distant sectors and far-flung from each other. As a result its easy to image that the times one of them would be in the same sector as one of it's counterparts during the course of a multi-year mission would be an uncommon event. Any rare rendezvous would be planned in advance (like in "Obsession") and a chance encounter with each other almost unheard of.

Yet throughout TOS they seemed to be ubiquitous in the galaxy and were the only type of Federation starship we ever saw. Whether it be responding to another Starfleet ship in peril ("The Doomsday Machine", "The Omega Glory", "The Tholian Web" "The Immunity Syndrome") or taking part in a task force with other vessels ("The Ultimate Computer", "Errand of Mercy - remastered), they were always another Connie leading us to believe they were always patrolling and exploring in the same general area.

The original version of "Errand of Mercy" allowed some leeway, since the Federation fleet facing off with the Klingon one was never shown thus it was easy to imagine it consisting of some sort of hastily organized task force of different types of ships like destroyers, frigates, light cruisers, etc. with maybe one other Constitution at the most. Yet remastered TOS (which I've always been lukewarm about) retro-conned this by showing the fleets consisting of identical Federation and Klingon ships and thus destroyed this theory and making one have to accept the unbelievable premise that Starfleet was able to send at least half the amount of their best starships to Organia on short notice.

Obviously the real-life reason is that by using existing shots of the Enterprise model and superimposing them together the producers could show the Enterprise encountering another Federation vessel without having to build a new, different type of model. To say nothing of having to design interior sets for the new ship and maybe even different uniform designs.

However, since the whole point of fandom (and thus this forum) is to speculate on an in-universe explanation for discrepancies, what might that be? How can so many of Starfleet's elite ships be always within practically hailing distance of each other so often when they are supposed to be so few in number?

To be fair, out of 80 episodes, you can place the times another Starship/Constitution Class was encountered on one hand; as well as the fact it was usually because the 1701 had been ordered to "Find out what happened to..."

The only episode where we saw a high number of these vessels was in TOS - S2 - "The Ultimate Computer" where secret war games were set up, so there was a reason all these same class ships were in one area.

As to "How many...?" - Kirk provides the number on screen in TOS S1 - "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" with the line: "...there are 12 like it..."

The TNG era also retconned the actual velocity of Warp Drive to be MUCH SLOWER than depicted in TOS. I state that bbased on the fact that in TOS S3 - "That Which Survives" the 1701 travels 990.7 light years in a little over 11.37 hours at Warp 8 (again per dialogue IN the episode) http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/69.htm

(And they probably got there faster because they were at Warp 14 for 20+ minutes)

Hell if you round off and say 1000 Light Years in 12 hours - IF ST: V used that scale, they would have crossed the 70,000 light years in 35 days at the Warp 8 scale depicted in TOS S3 - "That Which Survives".

But yeah, if you want an in universe explanation that conforms to the TNG and later eras; it must be that Federation territory was MUCH SMALLER in size/scope in the 23rd century and easily traversable from one end to the other by a Constitution/Starship Class vessel rather quickly.

OED.

 

[STEPhon IT]

But before we can answer this, we need to establish whether they should really be called Constitution Class... or Starship Class.

Kor

Well, was there evidence the Enterprise or other vessels of the like were ever designated as Constitution Class in the 79 episodes of Star Trek, either by sight or dialogue? Weird how so many call Matt Jefferies design Constitution Class but the series never did, but we have major evidence Kirk's ship was Starship Class based on the bridge plaque. For 3 seasons it was Starship Class and never a correction in story or a new plaque.

 

[Kor]

Well, was there evidence the Enterprise or other vessels of the like were ever designated as Constitution Class in the 79 episodes of Star Trek, either by sight or dialogue? Weird how so many call Matt Jefferies design Constitution Class but the series never did, but we have major evidence Kirk's ship was Starship Class based on the bridge plaque. For 3 seasons it was Starship Class and never a correction in story or a new plaque.

The term "Constitution Class" was in the script for "Space Seed," but never spoken aloud. It was also used on a technical diagram that was originally meant to appear in that episode but didn't actually show up until "The Trouble With Tribbles." I think a diagram in "The Enterprise Incident" may also have had the label "Constitution Class. But in both of those cases the text is so tiny that it's impossible for us to make out what it says when watching the episode.

I think that in a TOS-only context, the evidence leans toward calling this type of ship "Starship Class."

Kor

 

[Duncan MacLeod]

I think you may be getting tripped up by the fact that 24th century warp drive vessels are all referred to as starships. In the 23rd century starships were a specific type of warp drive vessel with greatest capabilities. Starships were very few in number and being assigned to one was a plum assignment, everything else was simply a warp driven spaceship.

So the Enterprise was of the general Starship Class or Type as opposed to a Cruiser Class or Destroyer Class, but also one of the more specific Constitution Class starships. Kind of the way the USS Idaho was a Battleship Class vessel but also of the New Mexico class.

 

[ED-209]

I thought it was a missed opportunity to insert some other classes when they were remastering TOS, they could've easily thrown in a Miranda or Oberth or something.

 

[Dukhat]

I thought it was a missed opportunity to insert some other classes when they were remastering TOS, they could've easily thrown in a Miranda or Oberth or something.

I would rather they had come up with more original designs than two classes we've already seen a million times before (and were probably built post-TOS to boot.)

 

[Timo]

...Although the Reliant gets special dispensation there, apparently being listed on Commodore Stone's graphic in "Court Martial".

I don't see a massive problem with the exploration specialist Kirk mostly encountering colleagues in other exploration-optimized starships out there in the far frontier; perhaps the type we saw was the one almost uniquely suited for the task. It's just that calling Kirk's job "exploration" is a bit of a stretch, as he was tasked with pretty much everything, from border patrol to traffic control to ferrying of dignitaries or bodies to supplying colonies to making medical checks on expeditions.

Then again, might be one needs a very special ship in order to do all that, and Starfleet deployed this special jack-of-all-trades type exclusively in the far frontier, while sending combat-optimized ones to face off the Klingons (Kirk always got caught with his pants down with those) and science-optimized ones to solve mysteries in already charted space (Kirk had no truck with those - say, "Miri").

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Dukhat]

...Although the Reliant gets special dispensation there, apparently being listed on Commodore Stone's graphic in "Court Martial".

Yes, I forgot about that.

 

[ED-209]

According to Legacy (if we take games as canon) there was a TOS variant of the Miranda class.

 

[BK613]

I don't see a massive problem with the exploration specialist Kirk mostly encountering colleagues in other exploration-optimized starships out there in the far frontier; perhaps the type we saw was the one almost uniquely suited for the task. It's just that calling Kirk's job "exploration" is a bit of a stretch, as he was tasked with pretty much everything, from border patrol to traffic control to ferrying of dignitaries or bodies to supplying colonies to making medical checks on expeditions.

Maybe instead of exploration-optimized, it would be frontier-optimized, with exploration being one of many duties out on the fringes...

 

[STEPhon IT]

I thought it was a missed opportunity to insert some other classes when they were remastering TOS, they could've easily thrown in a Miranda or Oberth or something.

It would've been odd because the Enterprise and its like were state of the art and this vessel was the bar of extended space exploration; so as cool it could've been it would've been counter productive to what these vessels were. These Starship Class vessels did everything during Kirk's prime, I love that ship.

 

[BK613]

It would've been odd because the Enterprise and its like were state of the art and this vessel was the bar of extended space exploration; so as cool it could've been it would've been counter productive to what these vessels were. These Starship Class vessels did everything during Kirk's prime, I love that ship.

I do wish that they had used the AMT model as a basis to provide some differentiation though since the original FX used it.

 

[STEPhon IT]

What I loved about TOS was it didn't require too much excess to convey an expanded universe contrast with the ridiculous indulgences of redundant Starfleet designs done in TNG era.

 

[Kor]

A Reliant/Miranda type of design would have been a feasible kitbash from the Enterprise model.

Kor

 

[Ronald Held]

I thought Constitution class ships were multimission vessels, so they could explore, do diplomatic runs, etc.

 

[Admiral2]

The answer to the question is the same in universe and real life. Not all the Constitutions are deployed at the same time. Some are kept in reserve for emergencies like in "Errand of Mercy" and fleet exercises like in "The Ultimate Computer."

Someone mentioned carriers up thread. Not all the US Navy's carriers are deployed at the same time. Only a few are ever fully deployed. The rest are either training for deployment, returning from deployment or being overhauled. It's not hard to imagine Starfleet handling Constitutions the same way, just with much longer deployments.

So, in "The Tholian Web" and "The Doomsday Machine," one fully deployed Constitution was sent check up on other fully deployed Constitutions. In "Errand of Mercy," Starfleet "surged" (a Navy phrase for rapidly deploying carrier task forces) a fleet of Constitutions, probably made up of ships in deployment training and ships coming from deployments, to back up Enterprise. As for "The Ultimate Computer," a fleet of Connies in deployment training had confronting an M-5 controlled starship as a training exercise.

So why, in universe, aren't other types of ships deployed as often as Connies? In real life, an aircraft carrier is the most powerful and versatile single warship a nation can deploy, but even if it can't be easily sunk, it can be taken out of action by smaller vessels, so it's grouped with smaller vessels of its own to defend it against those threats. If we take Connies to be the "aircraft carriers" of Starfleet, then their shields do the job of the escorts, so the most powerful ships in the fleet can take care of themselves while in a combat zone.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

The Olympic and Titanic appear together in only a tiny handful of photos. But when they do, it's super cool to see the two sisters together.

And I always had that same feeling for the Enterprise. I loved the four-ship formation in "The Ultimate Computer," even knowing as a kid it was a paste-up job. (Incidentally, TOS-R dropped the ball on this one, not gorgeous at all.) The Constellation, the Exeter, the Defiant? I don't think it was too many of the same class. For me, the "two sisters together" thing just added to the coolness.

I even get that feeling when I pull up to a red light, and the same make, model, and color is sitting right next to me.