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USS Enterprise (alternate reality)

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference

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USS Enterprise
USS Enterprise
Class: Constitution
Registry: NCC-1701
Affiliation: Federation Starfleet
Status: Active (2258)
You may be looking for the prime universe USS Enterprise.

The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) was introduced in 2258 as the new Federation flagship. (Star Trek)

Contents

[edit] Service history

The Enterprise under construction in Iowa

The Enterprise was still under construction around 2255 at the Riverside Shipyard in Riverside, Iowa, when James T. Kirk drove his motorcycle to her construction site while considering Christopher Pike's advice to enlist in Starfleet.

The Enterprise departs spacedock

The Enterprise was designated the Federation flagship upon her launch. Her planned maiden voyage in 2258, under the command of Christopher Pike, was brought forward after Earth received a distress call from Vulcan.

With the bulk of the fleet engaged in the Laurentian system, the Enterprise departed from Earth Spacedock along with seven other starships to respond to the call, including the USS Farragut and USS Hood.

Her departure was delayed because Hikaru Sulu, who had replaced the main navigation officer after he had fallen ill, failed to disengage the external inertial damper, and she arrived shortly after the rescue fleet had been destroyed by the Romulan mining ship Narada.

The Enterprise warps into Nero's chaos

The Enterprise proved to be no match for the technologically advanced weapons of the Narada; a single barrage of missiles reduced the ship's deflector shields to 32%. Nero did not destroy the Enterprise, however, since he recognized her as the ship which Spock served on when he was younger.

The Enterprise was unable to contact Starfleet or to begin evacuating the inhabitants of Vulcan, as the Narada's drill platform prevented communications and transporter use.

Following the destruction of Vulcan and the capture of Captain Pike, acting captain Spock intended to take the Enterprise to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet at the Laurentian system. However, after being forced to resign his command to James T. Kirk, the Enterprise reversed course in an attempt to catch the Narada before she could strike Earth.

Emerging from warp in the atmosphere of Titan, the Enterprise hid from the Narada's sensors using the magnetic distortion of Saturn's rings, while beaming Spock and Kirk aboard the Romulan ship before she could ignite her drill.

The Enterprise then pursued the Narada and prevented her from destroying the Jellyfish, which was being piloted by Spock. Before the Enterprise beamed him off, Spock set the Jellyfish on a collision course with the Narada; the impact detonated the red matter aboard the Jellyfish, creating a black hole which destroyed the Narada.

The Enterprise was nearly pulled into the black hole, but the ship was saved when chief engineer Montgomery Scott ejected the ship's warp core and detonated it, the shockwave from the blast propelling the Enterprise to safety.

Following the successful mission of the Enterprise, Pike was promoted to admiral, and James Kirk was assigned to command the Enterprise as his relief. Kirk accepted Spock as his first officer, and took the Enterprise out on her first mission of exploration.

[edit] Command crew

In 2258

This information establishes that Captain Pike and Spock were the only members of the prime Enterprise command crew from before Kirk that served on board the ship in the alternate universe. Officers such as Number One, Petty Officer Garrison, Phillip Boyce, and Jose Tyler do not appear.

See also: Unnamed USS Enterprise (alternate reality) personnel

[edit] Technical data

The Enterprise's secondary hull, nacelle pylons and connecting neck to the primary hull all sloped into the shuttlebay, which was able to hold at least 20 shuttlecraft (standard length: 9 meters) despite being shorter than the ship's bow. The hull had iridiscent plates and a subtle Aztec pattern. The Enterprise's propulsion system included typical sub-light impulse engines, thrusters, and faster-than-light warp nacelles. The nacelles were highly curved and had the tips at their end were shaped like fins. The Bussard collectors glowed blue, and the fins would open to reveal a glowing interior when the ship engaged to warp. The deflector dish could also open and close.

The Enterprise weapon systems consisted of six ball-turret phaser banks and photon torpedo launchers. Like the prime reality's refit of the ship, the torpedo bay was located in the neck, and the phaser banks, were placed on the bow, starboard and port sides of the bridge and its ventral counterpart. The phaser bolts were red. In the attack against the Narada, simultaneous rapid fire from all weapon ports was used to barrage the enemy.

Operation of the ship's transporters typically require that the target not move relative to its own surroundings before it could be dematerialized. Pavel Chekov was skilled enough in transporter operation such that he could acquire a target that was in relative motion. Scotty later enabled the transporters to use his transwarp beaming formula, to enable Kirk and Spock to go from the Enterprise, which was hidden within Saturn's rings, to the Narada as it orbited Earth. (Star Trek)


[edit] Background

The USS Enterprise was designed by Ryan Church.

The USS Enterprise under construction

Co-writer Robert Orci explained the logic of having the Enterprise being built on Earth rather than in space, noting that components of the ship can be built on Earth and assembled anywhere and that the Enterprise is not "some flimsy yacht that has to be delicately treated and assembled." He also feels that it makes more sense to construct the ship within a natural gravity well rather than an area that will require an artificial gravity field. [1] Orci made these comments after a teaser trailer that was released prior to the film included footage, unseen in the movie itself, that showed the Enterprise under construction and being welded upon.

[edit] Size

The finalized length of the Enterprise is portrayed as 2379.75 feet (725.35 meters) in the Starships Blu-ray feature and Star Trek - The Art of the Film (see Note 4 in the book). Gizmodo blog writer Jesus Diaz was the first to reveal this number, citing as his source a "David B." of Bad Robot Productions. [2] Bob Plant of Round 2 Models provided the exact same figure, saying it was specified by the licensor of their planned model kit, who in turn had obtained it from ILM. [3] [4] In a separate interview, Plant also asked Enterprise designer Ryan Church, who said that he was unable to address the changed size (compared to that of the original series Enterprise) and that ILM or J.J. Abrams could probably better answer the question. [5]

The article on the movie in Cinefex #118 notes that "the reconfigured ship was a larger vessel than previous manifestations — approximately 1,200-feet-long [370 meters] compared to the 947-foot ship [288.6 meters] of the original series". The statement is immediately followed by a quote from Visual Effects Art Director Alex Jaeger:

Once we got the ship built and started putting it in environments, it felt too small. The shuttle bay gave us a clear relative scale — shuttlecraft initially appeared much bigger than we had imagined — so we bumped up the Enterprise scale, which gave her a grander feel and allowed us to include more detail.

Star Trek illustrator John Eaves recalls that before he finished working on the movie in October 2007, the size of the Enterprise had been very much undefined, anywhere between 3000 and 5000 feet (900 and 1500 meters). [6] [7] A metric size chart dated September 10, 2007 shows the ship at 1200 meters in length (3900 feet), while some of the other vessels are also larger than in the later charts. (Star Trek - The Art of the Film) In the Starships Blu-ray feature, Alex Jaeger is showing an ILM size chart dated January 14, 2008, with the Enterprise length at 2500 feet (760 meters). Earlier on his blog, Jaeger had quoted the same figure from an unspecified early chart, adding that the size may have been somewhat reduced later on. [8] Other published size figures are summarized below:

  • The length is stated as 2357 feet (718.4 meters) in a CG Society article on ILM's visual effects work for the film. [9]
  • ILM model supervisor Bruce Holcomb said that the Enterprise is 2000 feet (600 meters) long in an interview for Studio Daily. [10]
  • The Post Magazine article 'Star Trek' Returns gives a length of 3000 feet (900 meters). [11]
  • Experience the Enterprise includes the following dimensions:
    • Length: 2500 feet (760 meters)
    • Saucer diameter: 1100 feet (340 meters)
    • Height: 625 feet (190.5 meters) [12]

[edit] Apocrypha

The ship's dossier on the official movie website identifies the Enterprise as a Constitution-class heavy cruiser, the same as her prime universe counterpart, although this detail is not stated in the film. [13]. The website also notes that she is being "held in Beta Testing Ward 956 - approved for combat". The maximum speed of the Enterprise is given as warp 8.

As well as giving her class, length, saucer diameter and height, the Experience also lists the Enterprise's designer as "W. Matt Jefferies". It also states the D and E decks - located in the saucer - are used as offices and quarters for a crew of 1100, while F and G decks host the transporter room and sickbay. Decks N and O in the secondary hull contain engineering, while the cargo bay and shuttlebay (which is called a hangar) are on Deck R, and are able to house sixteen shuttlecraft.

[edit] External link

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