Oh I see! You're quite right, in DS9 the only ones we definitely know about were the Defiant (obviously) and the Galaxy.
I will put myself down for an Eaglemoss XL Stargazer (NCC-82893). Looking forward to season 3. I hope Archer’s word do not come true for the returning TNG cast. “Did everyone get their own command while I was gone?”
It actually kind of annoys me when they name ships or characters after production personnel. It takes me out of the fictional Trek universe when they do that. I remember a 3-volume Pocket Books Star Trek novel series where the author literally went overboard naming all his characters after production staff like Okuda, Sternbach, Drexler, et. al. If I were his editor I would have told him to stop trying to be cute and rename all his characters with more random names.
I see your point of view. And I agree with your example. Naming important characters in a novel after real people is over the top. But in this case, they are just naming a background ship, so I don't have an issue with that. It's just a nice way to honor someone important to the franchise. I don't think the ship was even named on screen, was it? So this is purely symbolic. It is very different than naming actual main characters in a novel.
If the artists/producers only used the name of real-world people, then we could not pretend that there's ships named after important people born after the 20th century.
So both the Akira and Ross prototypes have registry numbers higher than other Akira and Ross class ships. Using a name like 'Okuda' or 'Drexler', even if they were named after fictional people in a fictional universe, still has the problematic issue that we know who those real-world people are and know quite frankly that they were named after those real-world people. I still can't help but find it annoying.
I hadn't noticed that. How odd... As if the whole registry thing hasn't been munged up enough already over the years due to folks in charge not paying attention. Now this.
There's no perfect solution. Starfleet ships are named after both real-life people (USS Franklin: in-universe perhaps US president and out-universe Frank Lin) and fictional people (Miranda class). Perhaps "our" Denise Okuda is widely revered in the future. Star Trek is meant to be a version of our universe, yes? I choose to let a little easter egg make me chuckle instead of frown. I accept that registry numbers are not handed out in chronological order. Instead, numbers may be reused and different ships may have the same reg at the same time (TNG). Or ships can have more than one registry number at the same time (VOY: "Hope and Fear", "Message in a Bottle", TNG USS Yamato). Ships may have other unique identifiers besides name and registry number, the way a phone has both serial number and multiple IMEI numbers.
It's fine if people make up their own reasons behind ship names. But there's a difference (to me, anyway) between a 'common' last name such as 'Franklin' and a much less common name such as 'Okuda' or 'Drexler.' To me it's just jarring. But to each their own. That's all fine as well. To me however, I'm not sure why it would be such a big deal to have the lead ship's number be lower than the ships of that class that come after it. It's one thing if, say, they didn't do their homework and accidentally made a class ship's registry higher than, say, the same class of ship seen in a previous Berman-era show. But they are actively making comprehensive ship lists (to my delight, I must note) of each ship they've used this season. One would think that it wouldn't be so hard to see that the Ross NCC-76710 has a registry higher than the Ross-class Vanguard NCC-75148!
So further modifications to Inquiry have been spotted (and confirmed by someone from the show in the comments) The grill has been removed from in front of the deflector dish https://twitter.com/Ginger_Trekkie/status/1529156300176867329 The bottom of the secondary hull is also not flat anymore
Well, y'know, I wouldn't say that the Inquiry class, fundamentally, is a particularly bad design per se. I mean, at least it looked like it belonged in a late 24th/early 25th century Starfleet. It was just a horrible rush-job. It has "good bones", as they say in realty parlance. It just needs to have some externals cleaned up to make it cleaner and more aesthetically appealing.
The Inquiry is one of the best 24th/25th century ships produced. Tweak it for sure. As long as it keeps showing up.
That's all fine as well. To me however, I'm not sure why it would be such a big deal to have the lead ship's number be lower than the ships of that class that come after it. It's one thing if, say, they didn't do their homework and accidentally made a class ship's registry higher than, say, the same class of ship seen in a previous Berman-era show. But they are actively making comprehensive ship lists (to my delight, I must note) of each ship they've used this season. One would think that it wouldn't be so hard to see that the Ross NCC-76710 has a registry higher than the Ross-class Vanguard NCC-75148![/QUOTE] There is precedence. There was a class of USN destroyers built in the late 50s sometimes called the Farragut Class but sometimes the Coontz Class. The first ship ordered was Farragut (DLG-6), however the design was modified from the fourth ship USS Coontz (DLG-9) to incorporate a guided missile armament and so this ship was often referred to as the class leader as she was first to be ordered to this design, even though the first three were modified whist under construction to the same design. Ironically USS Dewey (DLG-14) was actually the fist ship completed but no-one ever called them the Dewey class. You're right though. NCC numbers are a mess, and have been ever since the Constellation appeared in TOS.
The Akira appears to be just a typo, the USS Akira art has the 'correct' registry. No mistake for the Ross though.