Were there other Enterprises between the NX-01 and the NCC-1701?

So we all know why the NX-01 was decommissioned prior to the founding of the Federation: Because TPTB needed to maintain consistency with the fact that the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 was the first Federation Starfleet vessel with that name. But there was more than 80 years between the decommissioning of the NX-01 and the commissioning of the NCC-1701. Why such a long period of time without another ship named Enterprise? The only reasons I can come up with are:

1. The NX-01 wasn't actually decommissioned in 2161 like what TATV showed, and still continued to serve the new Federation. This of course contradicts the above, unless the ship was operating in secret.

2. There were other Federation organizations such as UESPA, etc. which had their own Enterprises, and Starfleet didn't want a name conflict.

3. Despite the adventures of the NX-01, the Federation simply didn't think the name was all that noteworthy.


Can anyone think of any more?

 

Names could be noteworthy and still unused. The USN itself has seen, say, the USS Oregon, an entire state, unused since 1942 until 2022, for example. Enterprise probably was a museum ship, venerated, then comes along a new class in the 2240s and the PR guys amp up how big and powerful and useful it'll be, so why not have a Enterprise in there.

 

Perhaps some political fallout from the events of "Damage", where NX-01 engaged in piracy.

Or maybe they'll pull one out of their asses one day, like the IDW Kelvinverse comics did. NCC-701 or whatever.

 

So "Countdown to Darkness" had an Enterprise in between NX-01 and NCC-1701 and someone here came up with the name NCC-0701 and I thought that was great. It was an interesting way to incorporate Robert April into the new timeline. The dates in the comic imply that it already existed before Nero made his entrance but I think it would be interesting if it was a result of the new timeline and was commissioned and decommissioned between 2233 and 2256. At first I thought it should it look exactly like the TOS Enterprise and actually be the same ship, but another idea is that it's just some class that was active in 2230s, and Constitution was delayed to 2250s and evolved into how it looks in 09 and it's sequels.
I don't know if other ships would exist in Prime universe. Before Enterprise I would have said there were no Enterprises before 2245 but that obviously snuck in. Harve Bennet's "Starfleet Academy" film was going to have an Enterprise that was a predecessor to NCC-1701.
I think you could add something in and just go with it but I would also wonder what the point is that couldn't be done with some other ship with some other name.
I think the really wild thing would be if there had been another Enterprise and something happened to it like the cracks in space and time from Doctor Who or like some version of Annorax's temporal weapon, in that it got erased but evidence of it still existed somehow. It's kind of a bit War Doctor from Doctor Who. It could also be done with any other ship too.

 

Yeah, I remember that comic. They made it (intentionally?) ambiguous as to what the ship looked like, because they showed the bridge interior that looked different, but all exterior shots were of the Abramsprise. The ambiguity comes from the fact that people are on the Abramsprise relating April's story, but when the story cuts away to the actual past events April is describing, they don't show the exterior of his Enterprise. It makes it look like his ship is visually identical to the Abramsprise, right down to the NCC-1701 registry.

 

Hasn’t it been generally assumed that Enterprise was pressed back into service during the Romulan War? Possibly as the refit version with the secondary hull.

and what about the Ringship Enterprise from the observation lounge in TMP? Isn’t that supposed to have come after the NX-01?

 

Not to my knowledge, unless that happened in the novels.

There’s no canonical evidence for the date of the ringship. All we know is that it was a previous Enterprise between the space shuttle and the TOS Enterprise.

 

I believe the ready room in the NX had the ringship as a drawing of previous enterprises.

There wasn't an Enterprise before the 1701, until there was. There has been a break for the Enterprise , between the C in 2245 and the D in 2265, so most of 20 years. So its not unheard of to not have an Enterprise in service. But if there is a story need for an Enterprise in 2178, It'll be created.

 

There was also a picture of the ringship on the wall of the 602 Club in ENT's "First Flight".

 

Possibly they kept NX-01 in a state of decommission but still on the rolls as an honorary thing for a few decades, leaving the name unavailable.

In the USN, the USS Constitution has MOSTLY kept its name, keeping new ships from using the name, but it was briefly renamed to Old Constitution for a few years during the early 20th century so another ship could get the name.

 

Ah yes, I forgot about that. That pretty much confirms that the ringship existed before the NX-01.

 

I'll have popcorn when they decide to remaster TMP and replace that picture of the ring ship with one of the NX-01, and watch the fans explode.

 

You don’t like XCV-330?

 

Or possibly the exact reverse. That the name Enterprise had become so iconic and revered they didn't dare use it for another ship till nearly a century later.

 

Wow. Right down to the Kelvin Timeline style registry number.

 

I'd probably operate on her being a Museum ship after her retirement from service, but like the HMS Victory and USS Constitution, and many other ships of significance she's still on the books but forms the beginning of a Museum Fleet and transfers the ships there. However, as the first of her name and still officially in service it causes some concern when Starfleet wants to call one of their new, highly advanced deep range vessels the same name.

Even though its still run by Starfleet, the names can be "freed up" or even technically altered with the inclusion of her Registry into the name. Which is a thing we ourselves do. So with the transfer of the Enterprise NX-01 (as the ship becomes officially known in the roster) frees the name up for the new Constitution Class's Enterprise, who's successor The Enterprise 1701-A joins the fleet on its own retirement.

So the active ship in service is simply reffered to by her name, while the retired ships bare the registry as well. This also neatly allows the Federation (Itself in command of thousands, if not tens of thousands of star ships) to keep the registries a bit neater by simply affixing a letter of the Alphabet to the end of the registry, regardless of ship class.

 

Well, the Earth-Romulan War is generally understood to have predated the founding of the Federation, so I don't think the NX-01 would have been "pressed back into" service. It probably served during the war though.

If I were Grand High King of All Paramount, I would 100% have had them replace the ringship with the NX-01 when they remastered the TMP Director's Edition for 4k last year.

That would be my preferred explanation. I mean, the NX-01 was almost single-handedly responsible for establishing United Earth as a legitimate interstellar power, ending Vulcan/Andorian/Tellarite hostilities, and paving the way for the founding of the Federation. I could easily see the early Federation Starfleet not wanting to name a new ship Enterprise at first because of the name's legacy.

I think it was the Enterprise: Rise of the Federation novels that established Archer was actually preventing the new Starfleet from naming a new ship as Enterprise because of his affection for the NX-01.

 

I would have changed the rec room display to rotate among different Enterprises like a slide show. That way we can have both!

I mean, they don't have both aircraft carriers, do they?

 

I believe that while there could have been a hypothetical Enterprise between the NX-01 and the NCC-1701, there was no precedent at the time to give another ship the same name, aside from the tip-of-the-hat. The Enterprise A was the first time that any starship (to my knowledge) had a letter suffix at all, and this was purely to satisfy one of the finest crews of the fleet (and out of universe to satisfy the audience). The NCC-1701 was obviously a decorated and influential starship in its time, so it was decided after the A to make it a tradition to honour venerable ships and crews. The Enterprise B is clearly named as a tribute to Kirk and Co given that he was on board as a celebrity to launch the ship, and by then was seen by all of starfleet as a decorated hero. So the naming convention stuck into the 24th century and beyond, with only a couple of other ships receiving the same treatment. This is the case with the new Titan A in Star Trek Picard and the Voyager J in Discovery. The original registry of the USS Yamato in TNG season 2 had a suffix in its registry (though I can't remember it from the top of my head) but this was unreadable and changed for the remastering if I recall. Captain Archer of the NX-01 must have been seen as a pioneer and a hero given he had a hand in founding the federation in the first place, but there was no particular circumstance that required another ship be given the same name just 'because'. I know we all love the name Enteprise but we know from Enterprise and Picard that this naming tradition will continue for quite some time (J&F)! It is unclear whether it is actually the NX-01 that was refit after 2161, however the refit is most certainly canon now after its appearance as a model in Picard. My guess is that the NX-01 was decommissioned as she went through a lot and she was tired! It was also evidently an experimentsl ship and Starfleet learnt a lot from Archer's mission when it came to ship design efficency, hence why in my head-canon subsequent NX's were refit into a configuration that would become somewhat conventional by the time of TOS. To play devil's advocate, my fan boy brain would love to see a show set in between Enterprise and TOS (80 years is a long time)... and it doesn't need to be called Enterirpse! What do you guys think?

 

I know purists might hate it but I think that's a great idea.