Federation Starships that never had a class name

[eyeresist]

1. I doubt it, as most of the people who worked on making "Enterprise" had previously work on the previous series.

You have SEEN "Enterprise", haven't you? I mean, don't get me wrong - I liked a lot of it - but when it came to sticking to canon or even just plain what-makes-sense, it seemed like they were almost intentionally trying to stick a thumb in the eyes of the hardcore fandom. Repeatedly.

But as T_smitts said, it was the same producers as previously. Also, the show writers reveal themselves in the commentaries to be big Trek fans. Trek fans disagree on continuity, even in a TV writers' room.

 

[Ithekro]

The novels go to the point of renaming the NX-class as the Columbia-class after the first ship lost rather than Enterprise, the first ship built. By the time they do with it is after the Drexler refit and after Enterprise is retired at the founding of the Federation. So Enterprise is not in service when the name is picked. Columbia isn't either, but she was lost. (this seems to credited to being Archer's idea. Perhaps he didn't want to take credit for the class name of Enterprise-class to the old NX-class)

The name seem to be given only to the refit ships. Enterprise is still considered NX-class.

 

[drt]

I always thought that the "NX" referred to some older Earth ship alpha-numeric class naming scheme, similar to the "DY" classes.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Is NX-class is an actual designation, or just an informal term that grew out of Enterprise being the only ship with an NX-prefix registry number that was featured heavily?

In the time frame of Enterprise, NX is the actual class name.

It isn't until many decades later that "NX" becomes the designation for a prototype vessel. The first canon example of this is the Excelsior, which doesn't appear until over a century after ENT takes place.

In ENT's time, ship classes are denoted by various letter combinations - NX-class starships, DY-, J- and Y-class freighters, etc.

 

[Ithekro]

Some Andoria probably came along and told the humans that it is unreasonable to name your ship classes letter of a single alphabet that does not translate. Sort of like the character used for the singer "Prince".

Also single and two character word searches are very difficult for Tellerite search engines because it wants to argue with you.

 

[The Wormhole]

I believe it's generally accepted that if studio sources say something in an official capacity (like the classes of those First Contact ships), it's considered canon.

That's not what canon means. Canon, strictly speaking is only that which is stated in some capacity on screen. True, that since studio sources say that's the class name, that is it, and indeed if they ever had to be identified on screen those names would have been used.

I don't recall if the name "Sovereign Class" was ever mentioned, for example, but no one questions that.

Sovereign class is written on the dedication plaque and the MSD, both of which are on screen.

 

[t_smitts]

Ultimately, any speculation on the meaning of NX is just that: speculation.

True - nothing is canon. However, my source for the meaning of the designation is various licensed or otherwise authorized materials put out after Star Trek III regarding Excelsior. So, until screen canon shows up, I'm taking it as the next best thing.

I agree on the info about the Excelsior, but I was referring to the 22nd century Enterprise, where NX seems to serve as both a class and registry prefix.

1. I doubt it, as most of the people who worked on making "Enterprise" had previously work on the previous series.

You have SEEN "Enterprise", haven't you? I mean, don't get me wrong - I liked a lot of it - but when it came to sticking to canon or even just plain what-makes-sense, it seemed like they were almost intentionally trying to stick a thumb in the eyes of the hardcore fandom. Repeatedly.

I've heard people complain about that, and, to be fair, there were some things that are tough or outright impossible to reconcile (like the "disastrous" first contact with the Klingons that Picard once described, or the question of how the SS Valiant from "Where No Man..." fits into earth history), but intentionally dissing fandom certainly wasn't the vibe I got. (Frankly, I did get that with Voyager, more than once).

Every series and several movies (even the pre-Abrams ones) have take at least some liberties with canon. I didn't hear too many people complaining about all the changes to Trills from "The Host" on DS9, or that the Zefram Cochrane we meet in "First Contact" has basically nothing in common with the fellow Kirk and co. met in "Metamorphosis", apart from being a very tall guy who invented warp drive.

2. I believe the "NX class" was used in reference to Enterprise even after being in service.

I'm trying to remember if we ever saw the ship commissioned for service. Archer took her out for a shakedown-under-emergency-circumstances in "Broken Bow", and that seems to me how she stayed.

If they had time for Forrest to give a speech and play that recording of Cochrane, I'm sure they had time to fill out whatever paperwork is involved in commissioning a ship.

 

[Timo]

NX = Naval eXperiment.

Doesn't work very well - why would NX-01 be Starfleet's first naval experiment? Starfleet already operates at least three other vessels by the time NX-01 is launched...

Also, it doesn't sound likely that our heroes would insist on declaring "Our ship is experimental!" to everybody. Least of all in "Fortunate Son", where Archer's identifying of his ship as NX class is supposed to be an impressive threat.

In ENT's time, ship classes are denoted by various letter combinations - NX-class starships, DY-, J- and Y-class freighters, etc.

All those other "letter classes" appear civilian, though - whereas our Starfleet heroes refer to their colleagues operating Neptune and arguably also Triton class vessels, never any "letter classes".

After all, Earth Starfleet was not a military agency. The MACO's covered that.

We never had any mention or suggestion that UE Starfleet wouldn't have been a military agency. Archer's ship was bristling with weapons, and his crew was armed to the teeth with the most modern technology available. The heroes also often engaged in combat, and went to war when Earth had one in the third season.

When Admiral Forrest was worried that Archer might react negatively to the MACO being aboard, it probably was because Archer already had soldiers aplenty aboard his ship - why invite in some stinking outsiders when Starfleet was already handling the job well enough? A bit like a RN ship already having Royal Marines aboard, but suddenly being told to take an SAS team to supplant or even replace those. Or a USMC vessel grudgingly embarking a Rangers team on orders from on high.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

The novels go to the point of renaming the NX-class as the Columbia-class after the first ship lost rather than Enterprise, the first ship built. By the time they do with it is after the Drexler refit and after Enterprise is retired at the founding of the Federation. So Enterprise is not in service when the name is picked. Columbia isn't either, but she was lost. (this seems to credited to being Archer's idea. Perhaps he didn't want to take credit for the class name of Enterprise-class to the old NX-class)

The name seem to be given only to the refit ships. Enterprise is still considered NX-class.

Just to confuse the issue, in some of the art floating around for Drexler's NX-refit, it has the new registry NC-10.

 

[Ithekro]

Basically when Starfleet decides NX mean experimental, and I guess NC means cruiser. The only NX-class ship left would be Enterprise, all the others would be lost against the Romulans or refitted to the new standard. No longer experimental, but proven starships. Again an evolution into what would become the standard Federation Starfleet practise of using NCC for all regular hulls and NX shows up on experimental ships (Excelsior, Prometheus, and Defiant for on screen examples).


Though one has to wonder just how useful the hull numbers are on Federation Starships. Why have the NCC as part of the hull number at all?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

We never had any mention or suggestion that UE Starfleet wouldn't have been a military agency.

Remember the conversation between Forrest and Archer in the inspection pod. Forrest asks if Archer is OK with having the military (i.e. the MACOs) on board, and Archer replies "I don't have a problem with non-Starfleet personnel."

 

[Timo]

To be exact, NX in modern Starfleet doesn't quite denote experimental ship as much as it denotes prototypes for ships intended to see series production in the future. Or at least none of the NX-registered designs remained unique, single-ship ones - even some further examples of the Prometheus can be glimpsed in the fleet of VOY "Endgame". And of course when we get closer looks at series-produced versions of ships that had the NX rego, those versions have NCC registries (save for the second Defiant), and sometimes even the original prototype converts to NCC (the Excelsior).

It's a bit like the difference between modern X and Y aircraft designation prefixes in the USAF. Previously, X, Y and Z there denoted early attempts which would be refined into production models later on; nowadays, X is reserved exclusively for weird experiments that have no Air Force applications and will never be series-produced, while Y means prototype. NX in Starfleet is the equivalent of Y (although it is used in connection with the ship's registry, not with a numerical identifier of the ship design such as in YF-22 or YB-49 or whatnot).

Actual experimental designs in Trek, such as the soliton waverider or the testbeds for the Warp Five Project, have seldom been given recognizable let alone systematic registries.

Remember the conversation between Forrest and Archer in the inspection pod. Forrest asks if Archer is OK with having the military (i.e. the MACOs) on board, and Archer replies "I don't have a problem with non-Starfleet personnel."

Since that's such an outlier, and since Starfleet personnel does not really differ from MACO personnel in any respect save the uniform style (both carry heavy personal weaponry for coordinated shipboard and shorebound fighting), I'm eager to see that as mere interservices rivalry: "military" vs. "navy". It's just a bit confusing that "military" today also encompasses "navy" - it did not do so just a century or so ago, and fighting forces included both militaries and navies.

Though one has to wonder just how useful the hull numbers are on Federation Starships. Why have the NCC as part of the hull number at all?

Supposedly, NCC and NX are not the only prefix letters possible. Onscreen we get NAR a couple of times, for vessels of "semi-Starfleet" status, and then there are plenty of graphics indicating that other letter combinations are in use for various civilian ships.

That there is any paint on Starfleet hulls at all may be purely a matter of tradition, with no practical relevance whatsoever. But Federation records supposedly divide ships according to their letter prefixes, so that there can exist NCC-123, NAR-123 and NSP-123 simultaneously, these being different vessels. In that sense, if Starfleet bothers to paint anything on the hull, it better paint the letters in addition to the numbers.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ithekro]

The Navy has ships with the same number in the fleet without putting the letter designation on them. USS Ingraham (FFG-61), USS Monterey (CG-61) and USS Ramage (DDG-61) are all marked with hull numbers 61.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I'm surprised nobody has considered that the Enterprise and Columbia may have belonged to the "Ennex"-class.

Jus' sayin'...

 

[Timo]

"Annex class", perhaps? As in, not really what we intended to do, but when we had finished all those warp three warships, we bolted Archer's new engine to the remaining keel and called her an explorer?

Or related to the famous carrier SS Essess?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Richard Baker]

Basically when Starfleet decides NX mean experimental, and I guess NC means cruiser. The only NX-class ship left would be Enterprise, all the others would be lost against the Romulans or refitted to the new standard. No longer experimental, but proven starships. Again an evolution into what would become the standard Federation Starfleet practise of using NCC for all regular hulls and NX shows up on experimental ships (Excelsior, Prometheus, and Defiant for on screen examples).


Though one has to wonder just how useful the hull numbers are on Federation Starships. Why have the NCC as part of the hull number at all?

I guess the 'NCC' (for whatever it really stands for) denotes ships belonging to and operated by Starfleet as 'NAR' preceding the hull number is more for independent or privately commissioned vessels like the Raven.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Getting back to the topic...my favorite ship that never got a class name was the USS Curry from "A Time to Stand".

Some material gives it the designation 'Shelley class', as in Mary Shelley, which I think is appropriate given the ship's Frankenstein-like motif.

 

[Enterprise1701]

I seem to be blanking. Has it ever been canonically established that the Earth Starfleet of ENT was the exact same agency as the Federation Starfleet of other series?

As the novels go, the Earth Starfleet was a division of UESPA. In 2161 with the formation of the United Federation of Planets, UESPA joined together with the Vulcan Space Council, the Andorian Imperial Guard, the Tellar Space Administration, and the Alpha Centauri Space Research Council to form the Federation Starfleet. Naturally, the Federation Starfleet's naming practices and such are not identical to that of the Earth Starfleet.

 

[Dukhat]

I'm surprised nobody has considered that the Enterprise and Columbia may have belonged to the "Ennex"-class.

Jus' sayin'...

I would think that the large "NX" on the saucer would have dispelled that line of thinking...

 

[T'Girl]

Has it ever been canonically established that the Earth Starfleet of ENT was the exact same agency as the Federation Starfleet of other series?

Easy answer is no, no direct connection was ever stated on screen.

Many make the assumption that there's some kind of connect, that one starfleet lead to the next. But in the future the Federation and Earth could both have entirely separate organizations named "starfleet."

Unless someone copy-writes the name.