Was the Enterprise-A a new ship?

[Vonstadt]

Which always seems a bit odd to me - didn't the yorktown or whatever have a proud history? a captain that was proud of it? etc etc.

Starfleet wanted to make a gesture to Kirk by giving him an Enterprise, so they had to rename the Yorktown. I would guess that the Yorktown name would soon pass to a newly constructed ship, perhaps an Excelsior.

This is my theory, I believe an Excelsior was already set to be christened Yorktown, either one already in final trials or soon to be constructed. A simple trade off in legacies.

The name Enterprise is given to the old Yorktown and the legacy of the Yorktown is the passed to the upcoming new ship to carry the name.

It makes sense that theory would give Starfleet and the Council a little wiggle room to trade names like that. To satisfy those who support the honor and history of the Yorktown and to reward Kirk and his crew...

Just my two cents.

Vons

 

[FalTorPan]

It could have been another Constitution class under construction before TWOK happened. But that doesn't make much sense, because they decommission the NCC1701 in TSFS. So why would Starfleet make more Connies if they were phasing them out in favour of the newer Excelsior class vessels?

The Enterprise was

A) Decomissioned due to age
B) Commissioned in 2245

How are we to know that all other Constiution-Class ships are

A) Commissioned in 2245-ish, and thus as old as the Enterprise
B) Built at the same time.

I find it highly likely that the Constitution was built throughout the 2240s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. I also find it highly likely that a number of Constitution-Class ships remained in service well beyond the last time we left the TMP era, particularly the newer ones. Thus, it's perhaps reasonable to speculate that the E-A is an old ship, and not a new build.

In Scotty's log at the beginning of the film, Scotty describes the Enterprise-A as a "new ship," and it seems fairly clear from that reference that the ship's many glitches are due to the ship being new and untested.

It's possible, perhaps likely, that the ship's spaceframe is older. If the NCC-1701 was the first Constitution-class ship to sport the tech seen in TMP, and if the 1701-A was intended from the start as a TMP-tech rather than a TOS-tech ship, then the 1701-A's spaceframe could have been built anytime after, say, 2272.

In my own little world, the Enterprise-A was constructed sometime in the mid 2270s as a TMP-tech (not TOS-tech) ship, but for whatever reason, construction was not completed. The ship sat in mothballs until, say, 2285, at which point the ship was rushed to completion with newer technology. Whatever the ship's original designation, during its completion the ship was christened the Enterprise.

 

[SeerSGB]

Scotty's line can support two interruptions: 1) 1701-A is a new build; 2) The ship is "new" in the sense that it's new to the crew and the audience. Much in the same way when you buy a used car is "new" in the sense that you just got it.

 

[FalTorPan]

Scotty's line can support two interruptions: 1) 1701-A is a new build; 2) The ship is "new" in the sense that it's new to the crew and the audience. Much in the same way when you buy a used car is "new" in the sense that you just got it.

Yeah, but in the same sentence, Scotty says that the new ship was put together by monkeys. If the ship were older, I'd think Scotty would comment instead on how poorly it had been maintained, that it was falling apart from age, etc.

 

[I am not Spock]

How much time passes between the end of TVH and the beginning of TFF? I always find it funny that Kirk says 'Let's see what she can do' in TVH, and then in TFF, they're back in spacedock on a 'ship put together by monkeys'.

I like to think that after the credits close on The Voyage Home, the Enterprise A coughs and splutters, and the engines die (like the Excelsior in TSFS), and they have to be towed back to Spacedock!

 

[Hartzilla2007]

How much time passes between the end of TVH and the beginning of TFF? I always find it funny that Kirk says 'Let's see what she can do' in TVH, and then in TFF, they're back in spacedock on a 'ship put together by monkeys'.

I like to think that after the credits close on The Voyage Home, the Enterprise A coughs and splutters, and the engines die (like the Excelsior in TSFS), and they have to be towed back to Spacedock!

Thats sounds like it supports Scooty's "Let's see what shes got says the captain, well we found out didn't we" line.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

"Starfleet, this is Kirk...We've got a problem..."

Back at Starfleet...
Admiral Beevis: We sent him a lemon...
Admiral Butthead: Yeah, Beevis, we did. Heh heh...

 

[SeerSGB]

Scotty's line can support two interruptions: 1) 1701-A is a new build; 2) The ship is "new" in the sense that it's new to the crew and the audience. Much in the same way when you buy a used car is "new" in the sense that you just got it.

Yeah, but in the same sentence, Scotty says that the new ship was put together by monkeys. If the ship were older, I'd think Scotty would comment instead on how poorly it had been maintained, that it was falling apart from age, etc.

Maybe, maybe not.

Think about this we go from ~20 year old TMP each with TOS sound effects at the end of STIV to new bridge in STV. Scotty could be referring to the quality of work the refit team did.

Granted he snarked about Kirk's line at the end of STIV, but that could me that any number of problem cropped up in the old ship when the cobwebs were shaken out and the upgraded just exasperated them.

 

[zephramc]

Is there any canonical reference to how much time elapsed between the probe leaving Earth and the trial of Kirk and crew. In "movie time" it seemed like a very short time. Kirk was surprised by Gillian's quick assignment, but it didn't seem as if they'd been away from each other for any length of time.

If Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) was the Yorktown, is a week enough time to tow the ship back to spacedock, repair and/or refit the ship, put a new crew (or at least a skeleton crew) aboard and paint a new registry and name onto the hull?

Perhaps the time between the probe and trial was longer, several weeks to several months.

 

[Praetor]

It is wrong of me to still like my idea that the ship was a new-build constructed from spare parts left over from the refit program (similar to the Space Shuttle Endevour) as a testbed designed to implement Excelsior-developed technology to the aging Constitution class?

Thus, the Kirk's aging crew some of whom were already planning their retirement were ideal to test it as part of a carefully plotted Starfleet PR maneuver, while construction was finished on the new Excelsior-class Enterprise, newly redubbed the Enterprise-B in their honor. Since the 'A' ship was never meant for extended duty in the first place, and the experiment was on some levels a failure, she was decommissioned relatively quickly.

 

[cardinal biggles]

^Your idea is somewhat in line with Shane Johnson's section on the Enterprise-A in Mr. Scott's Guide. In his version of events, the USS Ti-Ho was a new-built ship of the same design as the refitted Enterprise, but the big difference was that she had transwarp engines (something reflected in the Okudagrams reprinted in the book). This is before it was later decided for the TNG-era's backstory that transwarp was a failure (and long before the discovery that it turns you into a salamander).

 

[FalTorPan]

Scotty's line can support two interruptions: 1) 1701-A is a new build; 2) The ship is "new" in the sense that it's new to the crew and the audience. Much in the same way when you buy a used car is "new" in the sense that you just got it.

Yeah, but in the same sentence, Scotty says that the new ship was put together by monkeys. If the ship were older, I'd think Scotty would comment instead on how poorly it had been maintained, that it was falling apart from age, etc.

Maybe, maybe not.

Think about this we go from ~20 year old TMP each with TOS sound effects at the end of STIV to new bridge in STV. Scotty could be referring to the quality of work the refit team did.

I wouldn't begin to speculate on the age of a Trek starship based on the ambient sounds of the bridge. Kirk probably just liked to listen to GNP's TOS Sound Effects CD.

 

[Plumster]

Yeah, but in the same sentence, Scotty says that the new ship was put together by monkeys. If the ship were older, I'd think Scotty would comment instead on how poorly it had been maintained, that it was falling apart from age, etc.

Maybe, maybe not.

Think about this we go from ~20 year old TMP each with TOS sound effects at the end of STIV to new bridge in STV. Scotty could be referring to the quality of work the refit team did.

I wouldn't begin to speculate on the age of a Trek starship based on the ambient sounds of the bridge. Kirk probably just liked to listen to GNP's TOS Sound Effects CD.

None of this matters.

When the JJ universe supersedes all this nonsense, it won't have ever existed anyway.

And that's as it should be.

 

[Kryton]

I always find it funny that Kirk says 'Let's see what she can do' in TVH, and then in TFF, they're back in spacedock on a 'ship put together by monkeys'.

What is with Scotty and monkeys? In TSFS he suggests that "two chimpanzees and a trainee" could pilot the automated Enterprise (or was it two trainees and a chimp?).

 

[Praetor]

Dude liked monkeys. There are worse things.

 

[BillJ]

We use to have Holy Wars over this subject on this very site...

Whether it was a refit of another vessel or a brand new build, it clearly wasn't ready. That is the only thing that is clear.

Though I personally go with Shane Johnson on this one. Was built as the transwarp testbed U.S.S. Ti-Ho.

 

[KlingonPredator]

I go with she was new,with a whole lotta bugs that needed to be worked out...then decommed as soon as the B was ready and put into the Reserve fleet,where she was either broken up or refitted and renamed for lesser duties.

 

[Herbert1]

I like to believe that Admiral Morrow's comment about the Enterprise NCC-1701 being 20 years old as apocryphal. Aridas Sofia in his Federation Reference Series Timeline has twenty years between the refit of NCC-1701 in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and the events of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

I prefer to believe that USS Excelsior was just an experimental transwarp testbed during the events of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Now technical fanon seems to place an NX prefix in the registry of each lead ship in a new class, which I believe is wrong.

I don't much like the USS Yorktown backstory for NCC-1701-A. It makes me think that the captain portrayed by Vejay Armitraj perished during the Whale Probe incident.

Unfortunately, since they introduced the concept of replacable bridge modules and already established that the interior of a ship can look entirely different from a refit, its really hard to say whether NCC-1701-A was a refit and re-registration of an existing ship or a newly constructed ship. But I believe that Starfleet wasn't ready to mass produce Excelsior-class ships around the time of the events of Star Trek IV: The Voyage home so I tend to prefer the idea that NCC-1701-A was a brand new ship of the Enterprise-class heavy cruiser design. Yes Virginia, there is an Enterprise-class. The canon evidence is 50/50, so I prefer to call the movie era design Enterprise-class and the original series and TAS era design Constitution-class heavy cruiser.

 

[I am not Spock]

The NCC1701-A doesn't get much of a fair run, though, does it? It gets maybe seven years of service, before being decommisioned. If it was a new build, why would it be considered obsolete after only a few years of service?

The US Air Force have been using B52 bombers and F18 Hornets for many years now.

 

[SeerSGB]

The 1701-A could be any of TOS connies that we never learn the final fate of.

-- Excalibur: Trashed in the M5 tests, could have been refitted at some point only to end up the 1701-A
-- Exeter: Decontaminated, refitted, and turned into the 1701-A