? USS ?

[137th Gebirg]

Yeah, I suppose it could be interpreted in that way.

 

[Shawnster]

My head canon is that "Starship" = "Ship of the Line". More prominent than some ordinary ship or boat.

This distinction was either dropped by the TMP era or the definition of "Starship" broadened to include all capital ships in Starfleet

 

[Citiprime]

My head canon is that "Starship" = "Ship of the Line". More prominent than some ordinary ship or boat.

This distinction was either dropped by the TMP era or the definition of "Starship" broadened to include all capital ships in Starfleet

There’s support for that within TOS. The designation “Constitution Class” originates from a design graphic in “The Trouble with Tribbles.” So that would imply that in this time period Starfleet makes a distinction based on a ship’s purpose (“Starship Class”) and within that purpose there’s another distinction based on its design (“Constitution Class”).

The subspace radio chatter in The Motion Picture kinda implies this as well, where orders are being relayed to “Scout” class vessels. The distinction between starships and scouts and other types of ships might also explain why the Enterprise is always the only “starship” within range. There are other ships around but the distinction of “starship class” means the Enterprise is the only main ship-of-the-line vessel that’s available.

 

[137th Gebirg]

The subspace radio chatter in The Motion Picture kinda implies this as well, where orders are being relayed to “Scout” class vessels. The distinction between starships and scouts and other types of ships might also explain why the Enterprise is always the only “starship” within range. There are other ships around but the distinction of “starship class” means the Enterprise is the only main ship-of-the-line vessel that’s available.

Chekov also says this exact same thing as late as TSFS, when he refers to the scans around Genesis as a "Scout class vessel" (well, "wessel"), and Kirk thinking that it may be Grissom, when really it was Kruge's cloaking BOP they were seeing.