Talk:SS Tsiolkovsky

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I think the dedication plaque wasn't nearly visible enough to confirm a "USS" prefix, whereas both Picard and Data called the vessel "SS Tsiolkovsky". I think this article should be moved, unless someone finds a good shot of the plaque. -- Cid Highwind 14:56, 18 Aug 2005 (UTC)

The dedication plaque (from Okuda's portfolio) featured two initials that were supposed to read "K. E. Tsiolkovsky", with no prefix (but listed the name "K.Z. Tsiopkovskiy" when translated from the Cyrillic -- an error, apparently) -- but it listed it as an NCC registry Starfleet vessel. In this case, I find no problem believing it was in fact a Starfleet registered ship with a (non-military?) different prefix, although the USS Tsiolkovsky is probably a useful redirect. -- Captain Mike K. Bartel^talk 15:41, 18 Aug 2005 (UTC)

The dedication plaque identified the vessel as a Starfleet registered vessel, whereas, Captain Picard identified it as the SS Tsiolkovsky.

SS prefix is supposed to denote civilian ships, but the dedication plaque is starfleet. Can we conclude that this ship was first build for starfleet, and later given/sold/leased/whatever to a civilian agency? or is this too much specultion for Memory Alpha's Guidelines? --Rami 22:35, 14 Nov 2005 (UTC)

A member of the crew wore a Starfleet uniform however, so i dont think that theory is completely borne out.

By the way, since the plaque reads "K.E. Tsiolkovsky", would that make the full name (and correct name of the article) "SS K.E. Tsiolkovsky"? -- Captain M.K.B. 17:00, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Its not really "K" "E". "E" is actually a backwards "E", a greek character. To have it is a forward "E" would be no more accurate (possibly less accurate?) than just plain having it in english. --OuroborosCobra 17:08, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Whoops, forgot to say, the "K" backwards "E" are, once translated into english, SS. If we made it "SS K.E. Tsiolkovsky", we would essentially be saying "SS SS Tsiolkovsky". --OuroborosCobra 17:10, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't think that is correct. It's been a while since I did russian, but I think K makes K sound and the backwards E symbol makes a Z sound? Something like that. Jaf 17:17, 15 June 2006 (UTC)Jaf

Other archivists have already given their interpretations of this: the wrong style writing was used on the plaque, but it was intended to read "K.E." because the person this ship is named after.

from the plaque article:The Russian text К. З. ЦИОЛКОВСКИЙ is misspelled: as the ship is supposedly named for the Russian rocket scientist Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, it should read К. Э. ЦИОЛКОВСКИЙ. It would appear that the artist failed to recognize the subtle difference between the letters З (Z) and Э (E).

I think its a minor typo and its pretty clear what the original writer meant -- Captain M.K.B. 17:22, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] USS/SS explanation

the speculative explanation of the USS/SS issue is really overdone. The paralells to the US military are pretty irrelevant. We could add an explanation without so much speculation, and without a particular need to make Starfleet conform to US Navy standards. -- Captain M.K.B. 21:28, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

I wondered after I wrote it if the sentences starting with "The crew members..." might have been too much, but I think the lines before that explain an issue that many have wondered about. The ship has an NCC #, and it was commissioned. But it was clearly called SS in the episode. There is clear precedent for this in the U.S. Navy (which is the source of the TNG Federations ranks, structure, ship names, etc.).

The current practice of only active commissioned ships being called USS (vs SS etc.) just fits too well. —MJBurrage • talk • 22:12, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

So, seeing as we have a Starfleet-registered ship, with Starfleet servicepeople aboard, but bearing an exceptional (and possibly "non-commissioned") name prefix, on a non-military research mission, maybe the note should hit the points about the episode and the mixed message first, listing all of the references directly taken from the episode, and the have a finishing caveat that this is parallel to (but not definitely known to be) the same as the US Navy practice of making the distinction between the types of service a ship performs with its prefix. That way, we achieve the first goal -- explaining the Star Trek episode's details -- and then follow up with a secondary goal, which is providing interesting anecdotal data about how this paralells US military. I think its a good improvement to the article to explain we're not sure why the prefix is different, but present this likely possibility. -- Captain M.K.B. 22:56, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] temp plaque?

I removed a note about the SS Tsiolkovsky dedication plaque's appearance. It seemed a bit subjective, or at least unexplained. The plaque was at the bulkhead that had been sealed cutting off the rest of the ship from the bridge. Another ship, USS Phoenix also has a plaque in an anteroom off the bridge, so i'm not sure this is reason to state it was a temporary fact, especially since it is speculation that a ship could have such a thing. -- Captain M.K.B. 23:15, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Much better than my wording. The mention of the plaque being temporary was based on:

1. The plaque does not say “U.S.S.” (in Cyrillic or Roman letters), while the other examples we have for Starfleet ships do.
2. The plaque misspells the name of the ship. (We know the real world reason, but not the Trek-reality reason)
3. While such a mistake can happen (the culinary school I teach at misspelled the name of a famous chef when we named our buildings with dedication plaques) they are usually fixed A.S.A.P. (as we did within a month)

so it occurred to me that if the ship was temporarily de-commissioned, they would change the plaque as well (removing the one that does say “U.S.S.” and putting up one that does not. And it is quite possible that this non-military assignment was too short to have the mistake noticed and/or fixed. —MJBurrage • talk • 02:19, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "the Baikonur Cosmodrome, USSR"

surely this article can't be that old--172.165.229.230 22:20, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Its not. The plaque on the spacecraft from the episode says USSR, therefore USSR is canon. Originally this was probably done because the episode was made in the late 1980s, when there was a Soviet Union, but that does not matter. It was made the way it was, and that is all that matters. --OuroborosCobra 22:31, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

ah, small picture, i figured it wasn't readable, my mistake--172.165.229.230 22:32, 23 June 2006 (UTC)