Why does the Enterprise always get destroyed?

[Paradise City]

I'm comfortable with the meaning of flagship evolving from what it was, into meaning whatever it is meant in the show. Meaning of words do change sometimes in radical ways. But I don't like the whole trope about the Enterprise D being the "first ship of the fleet".

As for blowing up the Enterprise or demolishing the Enterprise or whatever. It's just a crude way of ramping up the drama and making whatever movie or episode it's featured in exceptional. The Enterprise-D gets blown up alot. Q-Squared, Cause and Effect and that episode where the 'prise is frozen in time are but three episodes off the top of my head.

 

[Avro Arrow]

IIRC, there's at least one novel where the A is destroyed, by whom I don't remember.

Some obscure Canadian writer by the name of William Shatner. Probably best known for those old TekWar novels? I dunno, maybe there's a few lines about him on Wikipedia or something...

Was Picard still in command of the Enterprise-E at this point?

I've never played, but IIRC, Data took over command at some point after Picard. Not sure if he was still in command when the ship went missing, though.

 

[The Wormhole]

Contrary to popular belief, the only ships named Enterprise that have ever been canonically referred to as "the flagship" are the Enterprise-D and the Mirror NX-01.

The Enterprise is also referred to as the flagship in Trek XI.

Hm... Come to think of it, maybe that was the meaning of "flagship of the Federation" for the E-D

I think it might have been the result of Roddenberry and others on TNG's production side really believing Starfleet wasn't a military organization. Civilian organizations which operate ships do have a flagship of the organization, for example there is a flagship of the Canadian Coast Guard. And before anyone suggests that's just Wikipedia allowing anyone to use any old term, I can confirm that term really is used by the Canadian Coast Guard. My dad used to serve on that ship, it really is called the Coast Guard's flagship.

Does the trailer for Beyond definitively show the Enterprise being destroyed, or does it just show it being heavily damaged, as it was in the previous two Trek films? I think this kind of hearkens back to the naval warfare tradition depicted in Master & Commander, where ships could hammer away at each other for quite some time without 'destroying' the other boat- just rendering it useless for combat to such a point where you could take it for your own.

Spoiler: Beyond's plot

Yes, the Enterprise is completely destroyed in Beyond, with surviving crew taking over the USS Franklin, a Starfleet ship abandoned on the planet in the movie with a design apparently based on the NX class.

As for blowing up the Enterprise or demolishing the Enterprise or whatever. It's just a crude way of ramping up the drama and making whatever movie or episode it's featured in exceptional. The Enterprise-D gets blown up alot. Q-Squared, Cause and Effect and that episode where the 'prise is frozen in time are but three episodes off the top of my head.

I think you meant Time Squared, Q Squared is a novel. Anyway, a big one you missed was AGT, which featured the Enterprise being destroyed three times.

 

[Paradise City]

The Enterprise is also referred to as the flagship in Trek XI.

I think it might have been the result of Roddenberry and others on TNG's production side really believing Starfleet wasn't a military organization. Civilian organizations which operate ships do have a flagship of the organization, for example there is a flagship of the Canadian Coast Guard. And before anyone suggests that's just Wikipedia allowing anyone to use any old term, I can confirm that term really is used by the Canadian Coast Guard. My dad used to serve on that ship, it really is called the Coast Guard's flagship.

Spoiler: Beyond's plot

Yes, the Enterprise is completely destroyed in Beyond, with surviving crew taking over the USS Franklin, a Starfleet ship abandoned on the planet in the movie with a design apparently based on the NX class.

I think you meant Time Squared, Q Squared is a novel. Anyway, a big one you missed was AGT, which featured the Enterprise being destroyed three times.

What's AGT?

 

[The Wormhole]

What's AGT?

All Good Things, TNG's final episode.

 

[Paradise City]

All Good Things, TNG's final episode.

Sorry, yes, good call.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I think it might have been the result of Roddenberry and others on TNG's production side really believing Starfleet wasn't a military organization. Civilian organizations which operate ships do have a flagship of the organization, for example there is a flagship of the Canadian Coast Guard.

To quote Johnny Carson... "I did not know that!"

And before anyone suggests that's just Wikipedia allowing anyone to use any old term, I can confirm that term really is used by the Canadian Coast Guard. My dad used to serve on that ship, it really is called the Coast Guard's flagship.

Yeah, I also found some references to it in the archived publications section of the CCG website.

Of course, while searching, I also found an article indicating that the Coast Guard will have a new flagship entering service in 2017, called the... CCGS John G. Diefenbaker. So, yeah, they're naming the new flagship after the PM who killed the Avro Arrow. Totally not happy now!

 

[Doom Shepherd]

Some obscure Canadian writer by the name of William Shatner. Probably best known for those old TekWar novels? I dunno, maybe there's a few lines about him on Wikipedia or something...

Hey, I've read every single Star Trek fiction book at least once. I stopped being able to give plot synopses of all of them from memory after the first 200. No wonder they're all muddled together in my head by now. I give myself irrevocable points just for knowing that it happened at all.

PS: by "by whom," I meant "the person or persons or group who destroyed it," not "who wrote the book."

 

[Avro Arrow]

Hey, I've read every single Star Trek fiction book at least once. I stopped being able to give plot synopses of all of them from memory after the first 200. No wonder they're all muddled together in my head by now. I give myself irrevocable points just for knowing that it happened at all.

Sorry, I was just answering (what I thought was) your question in a jokey manner. No offense intended.

PS: by "by whom," I meant "the person or persons or group who destroyed it," not "who wrote the book."

Ah, my bad. I don't remember the details that well, but I think it was...

Spoiler: Ashes of Eden

Klingons, but they were working with Admiral Drake, or something like that.

 

[vegaslover62]

How stupid is it to deliberately concentrate all your best people on one ship and leave your other ships with less capable crews?

From what I see, Starfleet just treats the flagship as the most prestigious, and those who want to be prestigious dream to get transferred on board, and since they think those postings are only given to the elite, therefore must train or be talented enough to be the elite.

You make it sound like Starfleet is elitist and only hands out flagship postings to the elite.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Real world answer: it makes for good Drama.

How many of NASA's space shuttles were destroyed? Two of a very small fleet of five.

Edited for clarity.

 

[DimesDan]

How many of NASA's space suittles were destroyed in the 20th century?

One.

 

[Christopher]

From what I see, Starfleet just treats the flagship as the most prestigious, and those who want to be prestigious dream to get transferred on board, and since they think those postings are only given to the elite, therefore must train or be talented enough to be the elite.

You make it sound like Starfleet is elitist and only hands out flagship postings to the elite.

Even encouraging the idea that one ship is better than every other ship seems obnoxious to me. That seems like a pretty crummy thing for the morale of more than 99% of the fleet, to be constantly told that they're less than the best. I could see such an idea arising among the personnel themselves, or in the media, but I'd think that Starfleet itself would prefer to discourage the notion, just as good parents would prefer to discourage their children from thinking that the parents favored one child over the others.

 

[Saul]

I remember in the comic 'Convergence' there was a mention that the Enterprise B was destroyed in the Tomed incident.

Maybe the new years might shed some light on her fate...

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

According to the novels the Enterprise B survives the Tomed incident but Captain Harriman steps down afterwords.

 

[JD]

Spoiler: Serpents Among the Ruins

It's been a while, so my memory isn't real clear, but didn't everyone actually survive the Tomed Incident.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I think you're right.

You make it sound like Starfleet is elitist and only hands out flagship postings to the elite.

Which falls apart when one realizes that they let Ro Laren on board...

 

[DimesDan]

Pretty much everyone did. It was a massive use of subterfuge to prevent a potential war.

 

[Therin of Andor]

One.

Ha! I left that in on purpose. Yep, one in each century.

 

[DimesDan]

Ha! I left that in on purpose. Yep, one in each century.

And yet you asked how many in the twentieth, 2003 is not.