? USS ?

[Henoch]

I support "United Space Ship". The Making of Star Trek gives USS as "United Space Ship" and that "Enterprise is a member of the Starship Class". Additionally, The Star Trek (Writer's) Guide of 4/17/67, page 29 gives, ""U.S.S." on our ship designation stands for "United Space Ship" -- indicating (without troublesome specifics) that mankind ..."

In my opinion, this is supported by its original dedication plaque, "U.S.S. Enterprise, Starship Class, San Francisco, Calif." since it is redundant to put United Star Ship and then Starship Class to designate the same ship, so, it seems better that it is United Space Ship Enterprise, Starship Class.

Only after its refit was it referred as a Constitution Class which I assume is the class for the refit design.

 

[scotpens]

They never said on the air. TOS writer's guide or perhaps The World of Star Trek said that it didn't stand for anything specific, just sounded semi-military and semi-navigational.

The "semi-military and semi-navigational" quote comes from Gene Roddenberry as quoted by Stephen E. Whitfield in The Making of Star Trek. He was referring to the use of the word "mark" in giving navigational course directions.

Franz Joseph Designs in the Enterprise blueprints came out with the "Naval Construction Contract" backronym.

A backronym is an instance where someone comes up with a name for something and then creates a phrase whose initials spell out the name, like UNCLE or SPECTRE.

How we write acronyms has changed in style over the years.
At one point, we used to put the dots in between the letters.

L.A.S.E.R.: ("Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation")

then it changed again to

LASER

Now, many people don't even bother to capitalize and it's become

Laser

Which is awfully confusing IMO (especially to those who don't know what the acronym is or that the word should be an acronym).

I prefer the first two methods over the 3rd method.

The 1st method with dots in between should be the "Formal Method" of writing an Acronym.

The 2nd method where you just only include capitals should be the lazy colloquial way of writing a Acronym.

Acronyms that have passed into common usage are considered words in their own right and are written as such, e.g., laser, radar, sonar and scuba. And don't forget snafu.

I support "United Space Ship". The Making of Star Trek gives USS as "United Space Ship" and that "Enterprise is a member of the Starship Class". Additionally, The Star Trek (Writer's) Guide of 4/17/67, page 29 gives, ""U.S.S." on our ship designation stands for "United Space Ship" -- indicating (without troublesome specifics) that mankind ..."

The problem with "United Space Ship" is that its meaning is unclear. Is space united? Is the ship united?

 

[The Wormhole]

In the new Marvel-history book MCU, Kevin Feige revealed that his steady insertion of humor in ultra-dramatic Marvel movies was actually inspired by the campfire scene in THE VOYAGE HOME.

I think you meant to say The Final Frontier, however

Ok...

Seems completely irrelevant to my point. I don't care what inspires a completely unrelated franchise.

This point stands.

 

[Citiprime]

I like "United Space Ship" for grammar reasons better than "United Star Ship," since starship is actually one word, not two in English.

How about this for headcannon?

• Starfleet actually began as an American agency after Cochran brought his discovery and the first contact with the Vulcans to what was left of the American government post-World War III.
• When United Earth was formed, Starfleet was absorbed into United Earth but kept the traditions that were imparted by the US government. So the "USS" designation, as well as nomenclature and ranks within Starfleet, are an artifact of its origin as an American agency.

 

[publiusr]

United Star Sail

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I think you meant to say The Final Frontier, however.

Quite so. Thank you. Corrected.

 

[Tuskin38]

And the JJverse is neither.

If he wanted to tell a science fiction story that was almost entirely UNlike Star Trek, he should have made up his own world and characters.

The quality of something doesn't determine if it's canon or not.

Also none of the movies were un-Trek. Beyond was very Trek.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I prefer USS. Somehow "star ship" seems a wee bit less pulp than "space ship".

And yes, I meant pulp. Like all those other names for the Enterprise's operating authority that TOS tossed around before deciding on Starfleet. Things like Space Command, Star Service, etc.

That said, I wonder why ENT didn't use any prefixes at all. Couldn't they have just used UES (United Earth Ship)?

 

[Tuskin38]

That said, I wonder why ENT didn't use any prefixes at all. Couldn't they have just used UES (United Earth Ship)?

USS Enterprise and Columbia did show up on a display in Season 4, but that was confirmed to be an FX error.

I don't think anyone from the show has ever said why they didn't use a prefix.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Having "Starfleet" and "Starship" in the term seems redundant.

 

[C.E. Evans]

...I wonder why ENT didn't use any prefixes at all. Couldn't they have just used UES (United Earth Ship)?

I like to think it was following how the US space shuttles were addressed. None of the shuttles had prefixes, although they were officially designated OV-101 Enterprise, OV-102 Columbia, and even OV-099 Challenger.

 

[Arpy]

I prefer USS. Somehow "star ship" seems a wee bit less pulp than "space ship".

And yes, I meant pulp. Like all those other names for the Enterprise's operating authority that TOS tossed around before deciding on Starfleet. Things like Space Command, Star Service, etc.

That said, I wonder why ENT didn't use any prefixes at all. Couldn't they have just used UES (United Earth Ship)?

I like that they didn’t use the USS insofar as it dismisses it being United States Ship.

I too think starship is less pulpy than spaceship but we can actually have our cake and eat it too as it could have originally been spaceship in Pike’s time and then changed to starship in Kirk’s.

Having "Starfleet" and "Starship" in the term seems redundant.

Why do they say stardrive and Romulan Star Empire? Why not just call the turbolift a lift? It’s the future and the terms have become colloquial. Everyone has their own starships and almost never after a certain point do you hear the term spaceship except when they’re being purposely retro.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Why do they say stardrive and Romulan Star Empire? Why not just call the turbolift a lift? It’s the future and the terms have become colloquial. Everyone has their own starships and almost never after a certain point do you hear the term spaceship except when they’re being purposely retro.

What does that have to do with my comment about redundancy?

 

[Qonundrum]

United Space Ship

...but not as much for:

Underwear Sharply Stiffening



(Sorry, I was rewatching Red Dward recently)

 

[Arpy]

What does that have to do with my comment about redundancy?

Starship does not refer to only Starfleet ships. Nor does Starfleet only refer to space/star-ships. There’s no redundancy in UFP Starfleet Starship.

 

[Sci]

"USS" is a detail that never really made sense in any of the show's worldbuilding contexts.

When TOS first began, the Enterprise was supposed to be a United Earth starship; in that case it should have been the UES Enterprise.

By the end of the first season, the writers had invented the United Federation of Planets and retconned the Enterprise as having always been a Federation starship. In that case, it should have been the UFS Enterprise or the FSS Enterprise or the F.S. Enterprise.

"United Star Ship" and its variants just strike me as an excuse to use the same initialism as the United States Navy.

 

[Tuskin38]

I think a novel briefly showed a universe where FSS was used.

In the 1964 pitch, the Yorktown's prefix was just 'S.S.'. The pitch didn't say what it stood for, but presumedly it was Spaceship or Starship.

Gene added the U when developing The Cage and the Writers Guide, and said it stood for United Spaceship (yes one word).

According to Memory-Alpha, in the 'The Making of Star Trek' book, Gene defended his choice against NBC execs that didn't understand why it couldn't be "a good, safe patriotic United States spaceship."

 

[Nerys Myk]

Starship does not refer to only Starfleet ships. Nor does Starfleet only refer to space/star-ships. There’s no redundancy in UFP Starfleet Starship.

Use of two terms starting with "Star" seems redundant and clumsy to me especially in the context of "USS".

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Best guess I've heard is "Naval Construction Contract"

I think that came from Matt Jefferies, IIRC.

 

[comsol]

I think that came from Matt Jefferies, IIRC.

I thought it was from Franz Joseph.