The Apollo class

[Unicron]

The TNG First Year Sourcebook has a somewhat more accurate drawing of the Constellation, if still not perfect, this time having the nacelles in the right configuration and noting how elements of the studio model are more flattened and some of the saucer hangars. It also has a much more accurate depiction of the warbird, with the tail added in and some of the vent details visible on the wings.

Constellation (OM version)

Constellation (TNG Y1 version)

Warbird (OM version, Type A?). It's interesting to note that Starfleet had only limited intelligence on the Romulans and new ship classes due to their isolation, and didn't know when the warbird class first entered service. The B type is mentioned as the first major upgrade, and it's fun to imagine the Enterprise-C could have fought a group of Type As at Narenda III. Maybe the tail was part of the hull variation?

 

[publiusr]

The artist was perhaps thinking "This really needs an impulse deck--flatten the back for one."

It does seem that this version of Apollo is the one that has gained the most ground in head cannon
https://starbase400.org/avalon/ds9_era/starship-apollo.htm

I thought it was this
https://www.deviantart.com/nekosei/art/U-S-S-Gage-Apollo-Class-33556131

 

[USS Artorius]

The artist was perhaps thinking "This really needs an impulse deck--flatten the back for one."

It does seem that this version of Apollo is the one that has gained the most ground in head cannon
https://starbase400.org/avalon/ds9_era/starship-apollo.htm

I thought it was this
https://www.deviantart.com/nekosei/art/U-S-S-Gage-Apollo-Class-33556131

I don't mind the "Ambassador" version of the Apollo Class design but I always thought that the pod was somewhat anachronistic - too modern for that era IMHO

 

[Dukhat]

I don't mind the "Ambassador" version of the Apollo Class design but I always thought that the pod was somewhat anachronistic - too modern for that era IMHO

There’s another version with a round pod like the Nebula class Phoenix (the first and only time we saw that class with that kind of pod.)

 

[publiusr]

I can see those being swapped out…old ship, new pods.

 

[SuricataFX]

I can give a little further insight here as I designed the MSD.

I was approached after Season 1 of Picard to create it (hence the differance in LCARS colors that appeared later in season 2). It was based on concept art for a ship which I was supplied with, which the astute among us will instantly recognise as a slightly modified 2 nacelled version of the USS Emmett Till, designed by John Eaves.

It was created at pretty much the same time the debate on the class name was taking place on Twitter, but was told it was an Apollo class from the production team, so that's what I went with.

 

[Dukhat]

I can give a little further insight here as I designed the MSD.

I was approached after Season 1 of Picard to create it (hence the differance in LCARS colors that appeared later in season 2). It was based on concept art for a ship which I was supplied with, which the astute among us will instantly recognise as a slightly modified 2 nacelled version of the USS Emmett Till, designed by John Eaves.

It was created at pretty much the same time the debate on the class name was taking place on Twitter, but was told it was an Apollo class from the production team, so that's what I went with.

Thanks for the info, and congrats on working on the show! I'm pretty convinced at this point that if you made this LCARS after season 1, that either the production team had no idea that there was an older Apollo class in TNG, or Chabon came up with the 'Curiosity' class name independently of them. And since neither this graphic nor Chabon's class name was ever seen or mentioned on the show, we can freely decide which name we want to use. I am obviously going with the Curiosity to avoid a name conflict.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Would love to see external orthos of the canonical Apollo class one day!

 

[publiusr]

I was approached after Season 1….but was told it was an Apollo class from the production team, so that's what I went with.

You also had some of your own fan designs over the years…I’d love to see those again

 

[CaptChris42]

There’s another version with a round pod like the Nebula class Phoenix (the first and only time we saw that class with that kind of pod.)

I also kind of like Starbase23 site's idea of the Centaur-class being the Apollo, but it's one of those great unresolved loose ends, in which basically any answer is a valid one. We know that Cortin Zweller considered his posting a good one, and under a respected captain (to the USS Ajax) so we can assume it was a reasonably powerful or well known design. But beyond that, it's all very broad inference.

I just see no need for the class to be the SS T'Pau design - that's for certain.

 

[Dukhat]

I also kind of like Starbase23 site's idea of the Centaur-class being the Apollo, but it's one of those great unresolved loose ends, in which basically any answer is a valid one. We know that Cortin Zweller considered his posting a good one, and under a respected captain (to the USS Ajax) so we can assume it was a reasonably powerful or well known design. But beyond that, it's all very broad inference.

I’m hesitant to have the Centaur be the Apollo class because it has a much higher registry than the known Apollo class ships (4XXXX rather than 1XXXX), and also that I wouldn’t want the Apollo class to be just another Excelsior kitbash, but rather a design based on the Ambassador, which has zero canon variants.

I just see no need for the class to be the SS T'Pau design - that's for certain.

I’m fine with the T’Pau type ships being referred to as ‘Apollo class’ as long as that moniker is entirely separate from the Starfleet class designation, just like how there is both a civilian Antares class freighter and a Starfleet Antares class starship.

 

[CaptChris42]

I’m hesitant to have the Centaur be the Apollo class because it has a much higher registry than the known Apollo class ships (4XXXX rather than 1XXXX), and also that I wouldn’t want the Apollo class to be just another Excelsior kitbash, but rather a design based on the Ambassador, which has zero canon variants.



I’m fine with the T’Pau type ships being referred to as ‘Apollo class’ as long as that moniker is entirely separate from the Starfleet class designation, just like how there is both a civilian Antares class freighter and a Starfleet Antares class starship.

I respect both positions. Either's generally good, it's just nice to tie up a loose end without creating another ship class, sometimes.
As for the T'Pau, it only became that due to some overzealousness on the Okudas' part, frankly.

And for the Centaur, it depends if it should be a class ship, variant, update, or whatever. Either way, it's nice it's getting more limelight (including in ST: Resurgence)

 

[Dukhat]

What the Centaur definitely is not, is an in-universe kitbash of available parts, like what was implied in Sternbach’s DS9 tech manual. As we see tons of them in PRO, they are clearly meant to be their own unique class.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Yeah, I can't at all see how the Centaur could be shoe-horned into the Apollo class, especially now that there are two on-screen canonical scales.

I still like the notion that the original USS Centaur, seen in DS9, was a member of the original smaller Reliant-scale "Buckner" class (after the builder of the original miniatures - both of them) and the larger Excelsior-scale ones, seen in Prodigy, are of the "Centaur" class, named after the one we saw in DS9 that somehow distinguished itself during the DW, earning itself its own class name for the next generation of similarly-designed ships. We technically have a precedent of this, with Bill Krauss' Shangri-La, being the design inspiration for the new, and considerably larger, Titan/Connie III/Enterprise-G.

 

[Dukhat]

Yeah, I can't at all see how the Centaur could be shoe-horned into the Apollo class, especially now that there are two on-screen canonical scales.

I still like the notion that the original USS Centaur, seen in DS9, was a member of the original smaller Reliant-scale "Buckner" class (after the builder of the original miniatures - both of them) and the larger Excelsior-scale ones, seen in Prodigy, are of the "Centaur" class, named after the one we saw in DS9 that somehow distinguished itself during the DW, earning itself its own class name for the next generation of similarly-designed ships. We technically have a precedent of this, with Bill Krauss' Shangri-La, being the design inspiration for the new, and considerably larger, Titan/Connie III/Enterprise-G.

I prefer to believe that (despite the cut-and-paste names and registries) the two sizes represent two different classes, just like how there are at least two different classes of Klingon BoPs based on size. Only that the upscaled version of the Centaur is more believable than the BoP because of the components used.