Why, exactly, was the Enterprise and her crew decommissioned?

[Amasov]

I never really gave this much thought until a recent viewing of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. It wasn't clear to me why the crew and the Enterprise were decommissioned. The real world explanation is obvious: it was the final TOS film, but, within the movie itself, it seems completely out of the blue.

Early in the film Kirk mentions to Spock the crew is due to "stand down in three months." Spock even mentions that it will be his final voyage aboard the Enterprise. Everything clearly suggests the crew is going to be retiring soon (if that's what "standing down" is supposed imply), but, it seemed to have been expedited at the very end. At one point, I even thought it was Starfleet, essentially, punishing the crew for failing to obey their orders by returning to report back to spacedock.

Anyone have thoughts on this?

 

[Nightowl1701]

"I'm sure the Admiral will recognize the necessity of keeping discipline in the chain of command."

The Federation Council may have forgiven Kirk in TVH - but the Starfleet upper brass, not so much. They had to let Kirk command a starship again, but the Council never said he could have it for as long as he wanted. By 60 he was quite long in the tooth for one holding the rank of Captain (at least in that era), with no opportunity or interest in moving up the ranks again. And too many up-and-coming cadets/officers were likely seeing themselves as the next Kirk, with all the bravado and recklessness that implied. Sulu had already moved on, there was no way the others were sticking around without Kirk, and the Enterprise-A (whether a brand-new rush job or a clunker at the end of its service lifetime) was just a placeholder while the real replacement (the Excelsior-class Enterprise-B) was being built. So the Admiralty let Kirk have one last tour of duty - one last FYM - with the understanding that after that, he was done.

Of course, as we saw in TUC, some Admirals wanted to take that retirement one permanent step further...

 

[The Wormhole]

The Constitution class was aging, the class itself was close to fifty years old as of TUC and even the refit was about twenty years old. If the fanon theory that the Enterprise A was a renamed USS Yorktown is correct, than that means that particular ship was close to fifty years old itself. Given the Enterprise B segment of Generations is set only a few months after TUC, then that would indicate that ship was already nearly finished construction during the events of TUC. So, yeah, Starfleet probably wanted the aging starship out of the way so they could get their new Enterprise in service and usher in a new era, so to speak.

Though I question the notion that the crew is retiring. The movie certainly indicates Kirk, Spock and McCoy are retiring, though because of Farpoint we know McCoy eventually returns to Starfleet and becomes an admiral. Thanks to Relics we know Scotty also retired after TUC, but Chekov and Uhura could have continued to serve well after the movie.

 

[Oddish]

There seems to be considerable variance in how long a starship is allowed to serve. The original NX Enterprise was decommissioned after only 10 years, while the ship Scotty was found on, Geordi said it could easily still be in service, despite being at least 75 years old.

 

[Timo]

"The crew retiring" would from their POV be a question of whether they could go on serving together. Their very presence aboard in basically all the movies was the result of exceptional measures: summons in emergencies, Starfleet decrees to celebrate heroism, a diplomatic crisis calling for a specific type of response. "Normally", they wouldn't even be allowed to serve together.

So yeah, only the old codgers would actually move on to live on their pensions, while the merely advanced-middle-aged officers would get other jobs, and the crew that was to stand down would get another starship assignment or three.

But Starfleet does seem to love to do the NASA thing and to marry specific crews to specific ships and/or their long duration missions. It makes a great deal of sense to have the crew of a particular ship called to sit down so that synchronized retirement could be discussed with those for whom that would be appropriate. And the scheduled retirement of the E-A could well be a thing, her immediate retirement at the conclusion of the battle then a good idea in so many respects, and the associated retiring of the top officers a reasonable thing, too.

That the E-B would have anything to do with the E-A is something I disagree with, though. The giant NCC-1701-B is not the functional successor of the smaller NCC-1701-A, but her own thing. She just happens to get the same name since the -A conveniently relinquishes hers at the appropriate time; many navies wouldn't have picked up any particular name for Harriman's ship at that point yet, even if they might well have picked Harriman to command!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[The Wormhole]

There seems to be considerable variance in how long a starship is allowed to serve. The original NX Enterprise was decommissioned after only 10 years, while the ship Scotty was found on, Geordi said it could easily still be in service, despite being at least 75 years old.

The NX-01 being decommissioned after ten years was unusual anyway, given modern day space shuttles have a longer life expectancy. I suspect it was a by-product of the fact that TATV was originally written at the end of Enterprise's third season, to be used as a series finale in case the show were cancelled. There the should would be decommissioned as a result of the extensive damage it took during the Xindi mission.

 

[Amasov]

I always looked at the decommissioning of the NX-01 as a product of the changing times. The Federation charter was about to be signed and a new era of space exploration was about to begin, which meant larger and more advanced starships surely were being built or were about to be launched. The NX class would’ve become outdated very quickly in that respect.

We aren’t given any glimpses or even suggestions, as I recall, as to how far along Starfleet is by TATV, but I’m sure there are a lot more ships out there other than just the Enterprise and Columbia.

 

[Lord Garth]

"I'm sure the Admiral will recognize the necessity of keeping discipline in the chain of command."

The Federation Council may have forgiven Kirk in TVH - but the Starfleet upper brass, not so much. They had to let Kirk command a starship again, but the Council never said he could have it for as long as he wanted. By 60 he was quite long in the tooth for one holding the rank of Captain (at least in that era), with no opportunity or interest in moving up the ranks again. And too many up-and-coming cadets/officers were likely seeing themselves as the next Kirk, with all the bravado and recklessness that implied. Sulu had already moved on, there was no way the others were sticking around without Kirk, and the Enterprise-A (whether a brand-new rush job or a clunker at the end of its service lifetime) was just a placeholder while the real replacement (the Excelsior-class Enterprise-B) was being built. So the Admiralty let Kirk have one last tour of duty - one last FYM - with the understanding that after that, he was done.

Of course, as we saw in TUC, some Admirals wanted to take that retirement one permanent step further...

This.

If the events of TWOK-TVH hadn't happened, then they probably would've let the original Enterprise stay a training ship until the early-2290s, and then the Enterprise-B that we know would've been called the Enterprise-A.

The giant NCC-1701-B is not the functional successor of the smaller NCC-1701-A, but her own thing.

I've always been under the impression that the Excelsior Class was intended to replace the Constitution Class.

 

[Timo]

The NX-01 being decommissioned after ten years was unusual anyway, given modern day space shuttles have a longer life expectancy.

I don't see much reason to wonder there. She was the first of her kind; surely she was built all wrong. And if ENT segues into the Romulan War, then Earth must soon be building ships like crazy to be able to challenge an established star power; the early, faulty experiment would probably see service as long as Earth had little else available, but would be quickly forgotten once the industry got to full swing.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[valkyrie013]

The cliche, its not the years, its the mileage..
Some ships that don't encounter to much, sure, last awhile, if you do things that twist the spaceframe numerous times, then yes, the ship would be retired early.
For the Enterprise A, if we go by the likely reasoning of it was a recommission Yorktown, that means it was near 50 years old. and 20 years after the major refit for "Enterprise Variant"
The Yorktown may have been going to mothballs back in 2285 after the probe indecent, but refit her for Kirk to take around for a reward. They weren't going to give him the Excelsior.
Kirk, Checkov, and Scotty were still in the service during the Enterprise B rollout.

 

[Ronald Held]

Was Kirk really eased out, or did he have enough of politics and the senior SF brass?

 

[F. King Daniel]

The NX-01 being decommissioned after ten years was unusual anyway, given modern day space shuttles have a longer life expectancy. I suspect it was a by-product of the fact that TATV was originally written at the end of Enterprise's third season, to be used as a series finale in case the show were cancelled. There the should would be decommissioned as a result of the extensive damage it took during the Xindi mission.

Given the NX-01 itself survived 120 years in the "E2" timeline!

 

[Tim Thomason]

I always looked at the decommissioning of the NX-01 as a product of the changing times. The Federation charter was about to be signed and a new era of space exploration was about to begin, which meant larger and more advanced starships surely were being built or were about to be launched. The NX class would’ve become outdated very quickly in that respect.

We aren’t given any glimpses or even suggestions, as I recall, as to how far along Starfleet is by TATV, but I’m sure there are a lot more ships out there other than just the Enterprise and Columbia.

REED: "I'll bet you a month's pay he'll be on the bridge of a new ship. He won't be able to resist one of those warp seven beauties."

The NX-01 was obsolete. The Warp 7 Beauties were the way of the future.

 

[The Wormhole]

Kirk, Checkov, and Scotty were still in the service during the Enterprise B rollout.

Kirk definitely was not still in Starfleet for the Enterprise B's launch. There are several references during that segment to him being retired and comments and questions made about how he's enjoying retired life.

 

[Amasov]

REED: "I'll bet you a month's pay he'll be on the bridge of a new ship. He won't be able to resist one of those warp seven beauties."

The NX-01 was obsolete. The Warp 7 Beauties were the way of the future.

I totally forgot about that line.

 

[Paul755]

I never thought the entire crew was being “retired” or removed from active field duty just Kirk, Spock, Bones and Scotty. I expected Checkov and Uhura probably ended up just at another post.

as for the ship, I don’t think it was intended to be mothballed. Spock tells Valaris “this is my final voyage on this ship as a member of her crew and I intend for you to replace me”. That shows that he expects the ship to continue with a new crew.

Maybe after it got it’s butt kicked, Starfleet decided to send it to the fleet museum. Then just re-name the first of the new Exclesior Mk2’s since there should always be an Enterprise.

 

[dupersuper]

Though I question the notion that the crew is retiring. The movie certainly indicates Kirk, Spock and McCoy are retiring, though because of Farpoint we know McCoy eventually returns to Starfleet and becomes an admiral. Thanks to Relics we know Scotty also retired after TUC, but Chekov and Uhura could have continued to serve well after the movie.

Yeah, we know Spock went into diplomacy more and more (see Unification), and beta canon shows Uhura, Sulu and Chekov all going on with their careers. I take the "stand down" as just leaving the Enterprise, as only Kirk seems to be really retiring.

There seems to be considerable variance in how long a starship is allowed to serve. The original NX Enterprise was decommissioned after only 10 years, while the ship Scotty was found on, Geordi said it could easily still be in service, despite being at least 75 years old.

Well, ships made about a century after the NX would likely be better built...

Kirk, Checkov, and Scotty were still in the service during the Enterprise B rollout.

But Scotty asks Kirk about his retirement...

 

[Imaus]

I always looked at the decommissioning of the NX-01 as a product of the changing times. The Federation charter was about to be signed and a new era of space exploration was about to begin, which meant larger and more advanced starships surely were being built or were about to be launched. The NX class would’ve become outdated very quickly in that respect.

We aren’t given any glimpses or even suggestions, as I recall, as to how far along Starfleet is by TATV, but I’m sure there are a lot more ships out there other than just the Enterprise and Columbia.

The NX class was also a first-of-the-line pre-Romulan-War project. The War itself was 5, 4 years of struggle. A lot of beta canon supposes that the war brought about a lot of technological change, be it antimatter reactors, retrofitting tech, the warp 7 engine, what have you. The NX was as good as, maybe, a pre-war battleship. Like the King George V battleships.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Kirk definitely was not still in Starfleet for the Enterprise B's launch. There are several references during that segment to him being retired and comments and questions made about how he's enjoying retired life.

Yeah, in the original cut opening scene it's clear he's retired. However, the movie muddles it by having Kirk still appear in uniform in the opening.

 

[Tim Thomason]

as for the ship, I don’t think it was intended to be mothballed. Spock tells Valaris “this is my final voyage on this ship as a member of her crew and I intend for you to replace me”. That shows that he expects the ship to continue with a new crew.

Per the final log entry (and dialogue) of the film:

This is the final cruise of the Starship Enterprise under my command. This ship and her history will shortly become the care of another crew.

...which, I get, was a subtle reference to TNG and all that, but the "this ship" specifically makes it seem that Kirk thinks the E-A will continue having adventures with other people. It seems that the ship was suddenly retired sometime after the movie and before the next('s flashback sequence).

I think it was a mistake to have Generations open in 2293 and not 2298 or 2305 or something to signify that (per the previous movie) there were some unseen adventures with an unseen crew.