Which Starship name would you choose?

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Yorktown. It was the Enterprise before she became the Enterprise.

Anybody here actually believe that? I don't. There's no evidence for it, at any rate.

Roddenberry's original pitch in 1964 features Captain Robert M. April commanding the S.S. Yorktown. The ship's name is first mentioned on page nine.

Background material doesn't count. Is there any overt evidence, as shown onscreen, that either ship (the TOS version or the Enterprise-A) was ever any other ship? I would say no.

Indeed, the fact that in the beginning of ST IV, the Yorktown was one of the ships that was heavily damaged by the probe, I would find it highly unlikely that it was rushed back into service so quickly. If anything, there MIGHT have been a newer, replacement Yorktown under construction, but which was renamed Enterprise-A before it was finished. But in a very real sense, then, that ship was never a Yorktown, it was always Enterprise - because that name is the one it had when it entered service.

As for TOS? It was already established that the Yorktown and Enterprise were separate vessels (in episodes such as "Obsession").

 

[J.T.B.]

Background material doesn't count. Is there any overt evidence, as shown onscreen, that either ship (the TOS version or the Enterprise-A) was ever any other ship? I would say no.

I took the comment as referring to the behind-the-scenes names, not in-universe.

My favorite name from the list is "Constellation," a classic from the earliest days of the US Navy. Also a real beauty of a pre-jet airliner. I guess I would choose that.

My favorite historic ship from the names on the list is Lexington, CV-2 and -3 were the biggest, fastest and by far the best looking of the early generation of carriers.

"Hood" is an honorable name but you have to admit, if you don't know the history behind it (as I didn't, looking at the decal sheet of my AMT model kit as a boy), it's a little odd-sounding for a ship's name.



Justin

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

My favorite name from the list is "Constellation," a classic from the earliest days of the US Navy. Also a real beauty of a pre-jet airliner. I guess I would choose that.

Justin

Absolutely agree, and I had the privilege of flying on an Eastern Airlines Connie in June of 1955 and I remember it like it was yesterday.

 

[J.T.B.]

Absolutely agree, and I had the privilege of flying on an Eastern Airlines Connie in June of 1955 and I remember it like it was yesterday.

Wow, I envy you there! I saw Super-Connie start engines at an air show when I was a kid, with all the smoke and fire it was like a show of its own!

That MATS bird above is a real beauty of a shot!



Justin

 

[Skywalker]

Background material doesn't count. Is there any overt evidence, as shown onscreen, that either ship (the TOS version or the Enterprise-A) was ever any other ship? I would say no.

I took the comment as referring to the behind-the-scenes names, not in-universe.

Yeah, I thought that was pretty clear. Apparently not. Thanks, J.T.B.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Anybody here actually believe that? I don't. There's no evidence for it, at any rate.

Roddenberry's original pitch in 1964 features Captain Robert M. April commanding the S.S. Yorktown. The ship's name is first mentioned on page nine.

Background material doesn't count. Is there any overt evidence, as shown onscreen, that either ship (the TOS version or the Enterprise-A) was ever any other ship? I would say no.

Indeed, the fact that in the beginning of ST IV, the Yorktown was one of the ships that was heavily damaged by the probe, I would find it highly unlikely that it was rushed back into service so quickly. If anything, there MIGHT have been a newer, replacement Yorktown under construction, but which was renamed Enterprise-A before it was finished. But in a very real sense, then, that ship was never a Yorktown, it was always Enterprise - because that name is the one it had when it entered service.

Here's all the dialogue regarding the Yorktown in ST IV:

YORKTOWN CAPTAIN: (on viewscreen) Emergency channel zero one three zero. Code red. It has been three hours since our contact with the alien Probe. All attempts at regaining power have failed.

CARTWRIGHT: It's using forms of energy we do not understand.

FEDERATION PRESIDENT: Can you protect us?

CARTWRIGHT: We are launching everything we have.

YORKTOWN CAPTAIN: (on viewscreen) Our systems engineers are trying to deploy a makeshift solar-sail. We have high hopes that this will, if successful, generate power to keep us alive.

Not one line of dialogue saying the Yorktown was "heavily damaged," just a loss of power, like every other starship and spacedock suffered yet came through at the end with nary a scratch.

If anything, it bolsters the claim that the E-A was originally the Yorktown, because it establishes that she was near Earth at the time and provides a logical rationale for having her in spacedock at the time, for a good going-over following the crisis. Once she's certified as serviceable, she's decommissioned six months ahead of schedule, recommissioned as the Enterprise-A, and handed over to Kirk.

 

[CmndrSela318]

Defiant.
Because I'm also a DS9 fan.

 

[NathanielM]

I’d want either Challenger or Columbia.

I was going to say that! I'd choose any "historical" name from the ancient times of the original NASA shuttles. I also like Atlantis and Endeavor.

There was never a discovery either.

HEAR HEAR for Challenger. I can remember when that happened and where I was when those brave souls were lost.

I was in 6th grade. The whole school was watching, it was like a stunning shock.

I also could say Serenity would be a good name too.

Nathaniel

 

[Mad Jack Wolfe]

For my fictional ship, I'd have to go with the Flattery, because it gets me nowhere.

Otherwise, I rather fancy the name Lexington.

 

[Captain Tracy]

LOL!!!!! Good one!!!

 

[Captain Robert April]

Well, if we're gonna start dragging in outside ships, maybe I could dredge up my poor, bedraggled USS Eldridge NCC-1787, last, and certainly least, of the original Constitution class starships...?

 

[Elder Knight]

When they were naming the latest Space Shuttle, one unusual suggestion was Calypso, named for Jacques Cousteau's famous ship.

As an "exploratory" vessel, you really can't beat that.

 

[Captain Rob]

On the USS Calypso, the mandatory uniform is the tiny red Speedo. And the Captain wears the obligatory red beany cap.

Otherwise give me the USS Lexington. The real one is on display in Corpus Christi. She's the last Essex-class retired. Fun tour top to bottom.

 

[Lt. Beatings]

I'd get rid of the 'U.S.S' . . . . too American.

 

[ChildOf2Worlds]

42, Дисковери, Tetrahemihexahedron, Tarantula, Odyssey, Copernicus, Revolution, Ascension, Monolith, Fusion, Spectra, Torus, Manifold, 真実, La Raison

Of the list, Constellation.

 

[7thsealord]

Zheng He. Probably the greatest explorer and fleet commander of his time. If a con artist like Columbus gets ships named after him, this guy deserves something really special.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'd get rid of the 'U.S.S' . . . . too American.

U.S.S. either stands for United Space Ship or United Star Ship. I don't see what's so "American" about those specific phrases. Sure, perhaps only Americans USE that designation, but it's not the same thing.

 

[trekriffic]

I like Constitution myself. "Old Ironsides" was more than a match for for any enemy who dared to engage her in battle.

 

[Captain Rob]

Welcome to th USS Manifold. Our ship's motto is:
"This ship really blows."
Or the USS Monolith. The first starship to be manufactured out of one gigantic block of solid trititanium.

 

[Vonstadt]

I always liked the name USS Lexington,

FASA's Old RPG even gave her a cool nickname (Perhaps even a carry over from the US Navy ship Lexington, but I was never sure) in one such adventure they refered to her as the 'Lady Lex"

Which I thought was very cool and classy. She was commanded by one of my favorite guest captains too, Commodore Bob Wesely.

But if taken, I would go with either USS Atlantis (the shuttle!) or USS Odyssey (from Homer's poem of the epic sea journey of Odysseus (Ulysses)

Vons