Enterprise NX-01-How long in Service

[Brannigan]

So it occurred to me that in Starfleet history if we accept that the NX-01 was retired shorrly after the Earth-Romulan War than nearly a century passes without Starfleet having a ship named "Enterprise". This seems extremely unlikely.
But what if the NX-01 remained in service longer than originally thought?
NX-01 launched in 2151 and remained an expiremental ship until her refit with the engineering hull (it seems that we can all but accept this point as canon by now). This probably took place shortly before the War. At this time she was renumbered NCC-01.
By 2161 she was only 10 years old. (In real life I do realize that the aircraft carrier Enterprise was also only 9 years old when decomissioned).
But what if after the war the Enterprise was given another refit this time bringing her appearence to something closer to the later Constitution? (a smoother hull, fully enclosed nacelles, etc). She then goes on to serve under other captains for another 20-30 years. This brings the Enterprise's decomissioning closer to 2280-90 and only a gap of 50 years instead of a century between ships named Enterprise.
Thoughts?

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

It doesn't really fit, as we've seen the original NX in a museum and I think Kirk's Enterprise was stated to be the first ship to have the name in the Federation Starfleet.

Maybe they waited so long to avoid calling another ship Enterprise because the NX-01 was so historically important they didn't think it was right to give its name to another ship. But a century later that didn't seem so important any more.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

They needed the inspiration of the name because of the social/emotional climate, I guess.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I tend to think NX-01 became the equivalent of "Old Ironsides" and was relegated to being mainly a museum piece that was rolled out only for special celebratory events. Starfleet didn't christen another Enterprise until that practice ended and the name was immediately awarded to one of the new Constitution-class ships being developed at the time.

 

[HotRod]

than nearly a century passes without Starfleet having a ship named "Enterprise". This seems extremely unlikely.

Why? Maybe they wanted to hold onto the name for awhile to honor the NX-01 and its crew. Later, the Constitution class comes along and they feel they finally have a grand ship designed worthy of the name.

and remained an expiremental ship until her refit with the engineering hull (it seems that we can all but accept this point as canon by now).

While we see a refit NX-Class in Picard season 3 at the museum, there's nothing highlighting it as being the Enterprise. I prefer to think the actual 250 year old NX-01 is a little more safe and secure, deep inside Spacedock.

At this time she was renumbered NCC-01.

Voyager seems to imply that the first Federation starship was the Dauntless. Otherwise the appearance of the USS Dauntless NX-01-A would have surely raised suspicion.

But what if after the war the Enterprise was given another refit this time bringing her appearence to something closer to the later Constitution? (a smoother hull, fully enclosed nacelles, etc). She then goes on to serve under other captains for another 20-30 years. This brings the Enterprise's decomissioning closer to 2280-90 and only a gap of 50 years instead of a century between ships named Enterprise.
Thoughts?

Pretty much every bit of canon has the 1701 as the first Federation Starship Enterprise

 

[Detached Nacelle]

They made Voyager a travelling museum after only 7 years of service. The NX-01 achieved illustrious things. It made untold amounts of first contacts, saved Earth from the Xindi, was probably the deciding factor of the Romulan War and without it there would be no Federation. Why not after the founding preserve this ship as a monument to everything this unprecedented alliance stands for?

As for why no use of the name between 2161 and 2245, perhaps because it had such a legacy it was an off limits name. Maybe Archer knowing he didnt have long left to live made the decision himself to have the name reused again so that he could die having seen a new Enterprise take flight. Why this particular Constitution got the name and got made to be the flagship since there had probably been several around for a while? That will take some thought in the daylight hours.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Why not after the founding preserve this ship as a monument to everything this unprecedented alliance stands for?

The NX-01 refit was part of the Fleet Museum in Orbit of Athan Prime

 

[Detached Nacelle]

The NX-01 refit was part of the Fleet Museum in Orbit of Athan Prime

I'm sorry it coud be because it's 3am but I don't understand what your comment has to do with mine

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I'm sorry it coud be because it's 3am but I don't understand what your comment has to do with mine

The point is that they did preserve the NX-01 like you wanted, when did they initially preserve it, that is TBD.
But most likely it was preserved soon after it was decommissioned and eventually ended up in a ship museum.

 

[Detached Nacelle]

The point is that they did preserve the NX-01 like you wanted.

Oh I know, my point wasn't about getting it preserved as a general statement more about it being decomissioned and preserved after only 10 years of service.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Oh I know, my point wasn't about getting it preserved as a general statement more about it being decomissioned and preserved after only 10 years of service.

It's the future, Starfleet economics seem to not care about money or resource allocation, so they just keep building the newest, latest, & greatest ship tech.
Even if the ship can last longer, newer tech seems to easily make older designs outdated at a pretty fast rate.

 

[HotRod]

The Enterprise also got the ever loving hell beat out of it during the Xindi crisis, nevermind what it might have went through during the Romulan war. It could be that she simply reached a point where she was done.

 

[Dukhat]

I used to think that there were other Enterprises in the intervening time, but that they were UESPA ships and not historically referred to as Federation Starfleet starships (i.e. they didn't have an NCC registry number.) But honestly, it's probably more likely that they just didn't use the name for 100 years for whatever reason. This kind of thing is why I don't like prequels and retcons.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Names come in and out of usage in all manner of things.

 

[Brannigan]

I used to think that there were other Enterprises in the intervening time, but that they were UESPA ships and not historically referred to as Federation Starfleet starships (i.e. they didn't have an NCC registry number.) But honestly, it's probably more likely that they just didn't use the name for 100 years for whatever reason. This kind of thing is why I don't like prequels and retcons.

I agree with your last point about prequels.

Everything in Star Trek up to Enterprise could confirm that NCC-1701 was the first ship in the Federation named Enterprise.
For all we know, at the time of TOS the Federation could have been a fairly new organization .
Please correct me if Im wrong: but there was no Federation or Starfleet until either late 1st season or 2nd Season TOS. Prior to that dialogue indicated that the Enterprise might have been part of a Earth space agency.
Second, where was it indicated prior to Enterprise that the Earth-Romulan War lead directly to the founding of the Federation? In Balance of Terror to listen to Spock to tell it the Earth Romulan conflict, while a century prior, was almost like ancient history.
And finally my thinking of the name Enterprise comes from the US Navy itself. While CV-6 was mothballed and never returned to service, she and her name were officially stricken in 1956. By that time the US Navy had already decided that their next fleet carrier would be named in her honor. Likewise by the time the CVN-65 was decomissioned the Navy already had her replacement.
So I find it hard to believe that if NX-01 was such a historic ship and a ship instrumental in forming the Federation that Starfleet and the Federation would wait a century before naming another ship Enterprise in her honor.

 

[Ithekro]

The other possibility is that NX-01 Enterprise remained in service in some capacity until around the time the NCC-1701 Enterprise was ordered. USS Constitution remained in service for decades before being pulled from front line duty in 1855. In the day when a hull was expected to have a useful career of maybe 15 years, Constitution was working in one way or another for 57 years (with periods in reserve and refit.)

She was re-rated and placed as a training ship by the time of the Civil War. By the 1870s she was in poor condition and her refit for the centennial was not done well. She remained as a training ship and school ship, or barracks but was not in condition to do much, and funding wasn't happening. After some interesting international press, she was refit into a museum ship in the early part for the 20th century, and briefly lost her name when the Navy was going to built a new class of battlecruisers with her name as the class ship. That class was cancelled under the Washington Treaty (two of her sister ships, Lexington and Saratoga, were finished as aircraft carriers). At which point the sailing ship got her name back, followed by a massive reconstruction to get her seaworthy again by the 1930s. She was recommended into the US Navy during World War II and given a hull number (IX-21), which was removed in 1975. She has remained a commissioned vessel since 1940.

During her time, she has been out of commission several times, usually short periods and major refits until 1881. She was out of commission until 1905, but was out of commission again until 1931, when she went on a tour for a few years. then she was out between 1934 and 1940 when she was only a museum.

So with that out of the way, what could they have been doing with the NX-01 between 2161 and 2245? She might have been in reserve following the Romulan War. Or she was still capable enough that they put her back into service after another refit. Maybe not on the front lines, but she would be more than capable enough to deal with patrols within Federation Space. Even if she remained an Earth ship all that time. By the 2190s she would be getting slow, even with the refit's warp core. Reduced service running anti-piracy patrols like some of the Warp Two and Warp Three ships were doing when Enterprise was commissioned. By the 2210s? Training ship? By the 2230s, Museum ship, around the time the Constitution-class project starts up. NX-01 retires to the Starfleet Museum to free up the name for a new Federation starship Enterprise.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I wouldn't be surprised if they fart out a U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-701 one day in that pre-TOS era. Or maybe a Vulcan or Andorian ship with the same (or equivalent) was in buisness.

Ship service lengths make zero sense. NX-01 was still flying 100 years later in the "E2" timeline! These ships are built to last. And then there's the "new ship" Enterprise-A, retired after 7 years because plot*


*after the original plan, literally handing the keys (and the Enterprise-A had a key ignition on the helm console!) to the TNG crew, was cancelled when the timeline was explained to the writers

 

[somebuddyX]

I like to pretend there was a USS Enterprise NCC-171 that got hit with something like that Krenim temporal destructo beam and that's why no one remembers it.
Then you have NCC-0701 which is April's Enterprise in the Kelvin timeline and only exists there.

 

[Ithekro]

If the in-between Enterprise was still and Earth ship it would not contradict the Federation starships Enterprise.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

I wouldn't be surprised if they fart out a U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-701 one day in that pre-TOS era. Or maybe a Vulcan or Andorian ship with the same (or equivalent) was in buisness.

While non-canonical, the USS Vol'Rala (AGC-7-10) translates roughly as "Enterprise" per the Rise of the Federation mini-series.

Then you have NCC-0701 which is April's Enterprise in the Kelvin timeline and only exists there.

Only confirmed to exist there, it's certainly possible that a version of it exists in the main continuity as well.