Off the top of my head, "Ahhh, so that's what got you so restless? Finding retirement a little lonely, are we?" and even the reporter asks, "...and what have you been doing since you've retired?"
Why, exactly, was the Enterprise and her crew decommissioned?
- Thread starter Amasov
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Off the top of my head, "Ahhh, so that's what got you so restless? Finding retirement a little lonely, are we?" and even the reporter asks, "...and what have you been doing since you've retired?"
I've mentioned this theory of mine before, but now is as good a time as any to bring it up again 
My theory: When Morrow and the Starfleet brass decided to decommission the original NCC-1701, the intention was to eventually replace her with a new Excelsior-class ship, the NCC-1701-A. But after the Whale Probe incident, Kirk was given another Constitution class starship as a reward for saving Earth. This ship was either a brand-new Connie that was immediately given the Enterprise name and NCC-1701-A registry as a tribute to Kirk, or an older ship that was going to be decommissioned anyway and was renamed and re-registered again as a tribute to Kirk. But the idea of having a new Excelsior class ship as an Enterprise was still on the drawing boards; it was just postponed until the new ship (now named the Enterprise-B) was finished being built. Kirk and crew were essentially given a temporary assignment until the new Enterprise was ready to be commissioned. Once that happened (at the end of TUC), the A was decommissioned, and based on the two theories of its history as mentioned above, it was either given a new name and registry number (and given a new crew) or it was finally decommissioned for good.
This is also what I think happened to the Enterprise-B. Since there were so many Excelsior class starships still operating during the TNG era, there would have been no reason to decommission the Enterprise-B unless it had either been destroyed or intentionally decommissioned to make way for a new Enterprise for political reasons. Since I prefer that yet another Enterprise didn't get destroyed, I conjectured that the ship was intentionally decommissioned to make way for the Enterprise-C, and then renamed and re-registered as the Lakota NCC-42768. That would also explain why the Lakota is the only other Excelsior that has the extra parts that the Enterprise-B did: because it was the Enterprise-B in a past existence.
My theory: When Morrow and the Starfleet brass decided to decommission the original NCC-1701, the intention was to eventually replace her with a new Excelsior-class ship, the NCC-1701-A. But after the Whale Probe incident, Kirk was given another Constitution class starship as a reward for saving Earth. This ship was either a brand-new Connie that was immediately given the Enterprise name and NCC-1701-A registry as a tribute to Kirk, or an older ship that was going to be decommissioned anyway and was renamed and re-registered again as a tribute to Kirk. But the idea of having a new Excelsior class ship as an Enterprise was still on the drawing boards; it was just postponed until the new ship (now named the Enterprise-B) was finished being built. Kirk and crew were essentially given a temporary assignment until the new Enterprise was ready to be commissioned. Once that happened (at the end of TUC), the A was decommissioned, and based on the two theories of its history as mentioned above, it was either given a new name and registry number (and given a new crew) or it was finally decommissioned for good.
This is also what I think happened to the Enterprise-B. Since there were so many Excelsior class starships still operating during the TNG era, there would have been no reason to decommission the Enterprise-B unless it had either been destroyed or intentionally decommissioned to make way for a new Enterprise for political reasons. Since I prefer that yet another Enterprise didn't get destroyed, I conjectured that the ship was intentionally decommissioned to make way for the Enterprise-C, and then renamed and re-registered as the Lakota NCC-42768. That would also explain why the Lakota is the only other Excelsior that has the extra parts that the Enterprise-B did: because it was the Enterprise-B in a past existence.
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I don't think 1701-A was ever the plan until the Enterprise crew saved the world AGAIN in The Voyage Home. Obviously at first she was intended to be a brand new ship, hence the flatscreen Excelsior-like displays. Then she was made a technological disaster for The Final Frontier, explictly a "new" ship, but launched far before she was ready.
But then STVI came along and Nick Meyer wanted the ship to look as old and worn out as the crew, so now she's old and ready for decommissioning just because.
But then STVI came along and Nick Meyer wanted the ship to look as old and worn out as the crew, so now she's old and ready for decommissioning just because.
That's not really the impression I got from the film, though. Between Spock's statement that he expects Valeris to replace him on the ship, Kirk's statement about the ship getting a new crew (obviously a nod to TNG, but taken literally, that's what he meant), and the blatant surprise from the entire bridge crew about the decommissioning orders, it left both the characters and the audience wondering just why that was happening. The only thing that came to my mind was that the ship was going to be recommissioned with a different crew, and the Enterprise-B was on the horizon (based on the fact at the time that the B was a standard Excelsior from that Enterprise history wall in the first season of TNG.)
Well, uniform aside, I thought the movie itself made it clear Kirk was retired with Scotty's crack asking if the reason Kirk seemed so restless was because he was finding retirement "a wee bit lonely."
Well, current uniform regulations allow veterans to wear uniforms under specific and regulated circumstances. So, his appearing in uniform does not mean he is not retired. Captain Harriman asking him to step in to the command role would be allowable since the captain is making that decision, regardless of Kirk's retirement status.
Only under very specific, vague circumstances, that are extremely contradictory at all times.Wait, you're not suggesting Starfleet is like a military, are you?
()
I trust there will be no more discussion on this matter.
Certainly. This clears the matter up completely and there shall be no further need to discuss that topic again.
The simple reason is that Starfleet no longer required the active services of the starship Enterprise, NCC-1701-A. The crew was likely reassigned and the starship was likely placed indefinitely in reserve after decommissioning. Actually, all Constitution class refits were scheduled for eventual decommissioning. In their place would arise an impressively vast fleet of Excelsior class starships.
Things were changing. Starfleet had won its centuries-long struggle against the Klingon Empire, which was forced to recognize it had lost when its policies destroyed its homeworld’s life expectancy and severely crippled its energy production. The Klingon Empire had no choice but to either fight a losing battle with a Federation that could sweep it aside, or accept the Federation’s charity toward its enemy, which only further realized the Klingon defeat. The Klingon Empire would never again be the same. It was time for the Empire to change or die.
In response to the new circumstances, it was a prudent Starfleet that also recognized the time to accelerate its already existing plan to replace Constitution class starships with bigger and better, thus presenting its best foot forward.
Things were changing. Starfleet had won its centuries-long struggle against the Klingon Empire, which was forced to recognize it had lost when its policies destroyed its homeworld’s life expectancy and severely crippled its energy production. The Klingon Empire had no choice but to either fight a losing battle with a Federation that could sweep it aside, or accept the Federation’s charity toward its enemy, which only further realized the Klingon defeat. The Klingon Empire would never again be the same. It was time for the Empire to change or die.
In response to the new circumstances, it was a prudent Starfleet that also recognized the time to accelerate its already existing plan to replace Constitution class starships with bigger and better, thus presenting its best foot forward.
The fate of the Enterprise-B... it's the only one of the 24th century we have no idea about. I rather like the idea that it was lost somewhere in an area called the Triangle. (I think I read this in FASA, but I might be mistaken.)
Or it would be cool if the fate of them ended up being exactly what would have happened to the Enterprise-C had it actually stayed in the future. Or maybe just drifting in some anomaly, crew all dead by some disease.
I would love to have seen some of those adventures. (Looking at you, SHORT TREKS.)
Or it would be cool if the fate of them ended up being exactly what would have happened to the Enterprise-C had it actually stayed in the future. Or maybe just drifting in some anomaly, crew all dead by some disease.
I would love to have seen some of those adventures. (Looking at you, SHORT TREKS.)
Enterprise NCC-1701 - destroyed over Genesis planet
Enterprise NCC-1701-A - decommissioned, final fate unknown
Enterprise-B - final fate unknown
Enterprise-C - destroyed by Romulans at Narendra III
Enterprise-D - destroyed by Duras sisters
Enterprise-E - final fate unknown
Since at least half of the Enterprises above were destroyed, I really don't like to think that the B also suffered the same fate, but since other Excelsior class starships are still active during TNG, there should be no reason why the B also shouldn't be active by that time as well. There are only three possibilities:
1. It was destroyed.
2. It was decommissioned and scrapped to make way for the C.
3. It was recommissioned under another name and registry number, or recommissioned as the Enterprise-B after the C was destroyed (since there was a 20 year gap between the destruction of the C and the commissioning of the D in which there was no Enterprise in service, which I find quite odd.)
Obviously not canon, but wasn't there something about the Enterprise B stumbling upon some sort of alien virus which killed the entire crew, forcing Starfleet to destroy the ship to contain the biohazard threat?
4th possibility... it was lost, like the Hera.
Maybe the E-B was retired to make way for the E-C?
I see two possible reasons why Starfleet waited so long between Enterprises C and D:
1) They might have intentionally put a 'hold' on assigning a new Enterprise, out of respect for the loss of the C
2) Waiting until the Galaxy class was in full production (it could have been already on the books when the C was destroyed) so one of them could be given the name Enterprise.
Or both.
The TNG technical manual did say it took over a decade to build the Enterprise-D, so it's very possible it was just a matter of waiting for it to be built.
True; I should have said ‘lost or destroyed.’
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