Was the Constitution Class still in service in TNG?

[Captain Seafort]

What I am saying is in ST 3 it was stated that the Enterprise was due to be retired, of which over time (years) the rest of the class would have been retired to. That why we still see the Connie in ST6, now being we see a Connie wreak at Worf 359. It could have been taken off of mothball status from the reserve fleet to meet the Borg which someone pointed out which makes alot more sense.

I always took that as being a specific problem with the E-nil herself - due to a combination of her age and the damage she'd sustained she was beyond economical repair due to the hull being badly stressed. That's different from the class as a whole being phased out, since the design continued in use for at least another decade, including the construction of new ships such as the E-A.

[robjkay]

I think it'd be kinda cool if it was the Enterprise-A lying there destroyed by the Borg - that's a real way for a ship to go. I could have just imagined it being a museum, going on a few 'luxury liner' cruises across the solar system and having tours round it, then when the Borg came having it go straight to Wolf 359.

Am I the only person who always writes 'Worf' when meaning to write 'Wolf', and then has to respell it - every time?

No your not the only one, I have been doing it to!

[Sionnach Glic]

Never had that problem, myself. Though due to a faulty 'w' key, I sometimes mispell him as 'Orf'.

[robjkay]

What I am saying is in ST 3 it was stated that the Enterprise was due to be retired, of which over time (years) the rest of the class would have been retired to. That why we still see the Connie in ST6, now being we see a Connie wreak at Worf 359. It could have been taken off of mothball status from the reserve fleet to meet the Borg which someone pointed out which makes alot more sense.

I always took that as being a specific problem with the E-nil herself - due to a combination of her age and the damage she'd sustained she was beyond economical repair due to the hull being badly stressed. That's different from the class as a whole being phased out, since the design continued in use for at least another decade, including the construction of new ships such as the E-A.

But you do not know if the class served beyond ST6. Also between ST3 & 6 only amounts to 8 to 10 years which not that long of time to retire a whole class being the Excellsior was there replacement.

[Captain Seafort]

But you do not know if the class served beyond ST6. Also between ST3 & 6 only amounts to 8 to 10 years which not that long of time to retire a whole class being the Excellsior was there replacement.

We know that the E-A continued in service past ST6 due to Kirk's closing log.

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

While this is obviously a reference to the E-D, in-universe it's evidence that the E-A was continuing in service past the end of Kirk's Captaincy.

In addition we have absolute proof that the class was in service in some form as of the Borg invasion - the picture at the top of this thread.

[robjkay]

But you do not know if the class served beyond ST6. Also between ST3 & 6 only amounts to 8 to 10 years which not that long of time to retire a whole class being the Excellsior was there replacement.

We know that the E-A continued in service past ST6 due to Kirk's closing log.

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

While this is obviously a reference to the E-D, in-universe it's evidence that the E-A was continuing in service past the end of Kirk's Captaincy.

In addition we have absolute proof that the class was in service in some form as of the Borg invasion - the picture at the top of this thread.

The statement from Kirk could mean anything. Besides at the end of the Khitomer Conference which that statment Kirk stated afterwords was around 2293. (Feel free to correct me on the dates, but it would seem there really close) The new Enterprise B was launched on the same year 2293. Which means Kirks second Enterprise was again decommissioned.

Also before Kirk made his statement the Enterprise recieved a message from SF and Uhura tells Kirk that they've received orders from Starfleet Command to return to spacedock and be decommissioned.

[Captain Seafort]

Ships are rountinely decommissioned and recomissioned - during refits for example. Kirk's statement pretty plainly states that the ship will be recieving a new crew. The fact that the E-B was commissioned shortly thereafter implies that after decomissioning the ship was recomissioned under a different name.

[robjkay]

Ships are rountinely decommissioned and recomissioned - during refits for example. Kirk's statement pretty plainly states that the ship will be recieving a new crew. The fact that the E-B was commissioned shortly thereafter implies that after decomissioning the ship was recomissioned under a different name.

Yeah but SF said the ship was going to be decommissioned just like the previous Enterprise before Kirk blew it up.

[robjkay]

Anyway I think it comes down to several options to why:

1. This is indeed a Constitution Class ship that for some reason remained in active Starfleet service far past the retirement of the Class as a whole, such as a training vessel.

2. This is indeed a Constitution Class ship that was in the service of some entity outside of Starfleet, such as the civilian hospital ship suggested.

3. This is indeed a Constitution Class ship that was pulled out of mothballs to supplement the hastily assembled force.

4. This is not a component from a Constitution Class ship, but intended to represent part of a canon ship type, such as the somewhat similar Ambassador Class.

5. This is not a component from a Constitution Class ship, but from some unknown class that includes a similar-looking component.

[Teaos]

It may be next to useless but when it comes to the borg you throw everything you have against them.

[Sionnach Glic]

Indeed, it was probably sitting in a museum or reserve fleet somewhere, then got thrown into the battle.

[Enkidu]

Out of Universe, I read somewhere (I don't remember where, so the veracity of the information cannot be confirmed) that the Stargazer was originally intended to be a Connie. It was changed rather late in the day, and the name Constellation was chosen so they could redub already recorded footage of Geordi talking about Consitutions. It was dropped over some sort of copyright dispute.
The model of the Constellation class that Picard has in his ready room might throw doubt on this - but does not rule it out completely.
If it is true, it would have meant that Connies where intended to be seen in service at least twenty years before TNG, but as a (unproven) rough draft is far from canon.
I think it is possible that some Connies may still have been in service doing second line duties, as training vessels, as test beds, and in mothball yards. The near contemporary Mirandas, Oberths and Excelsiors certainly form an important part of Starfleet. We have only seen a snap shot of the Universe in the series's.

[Captain Seafort]

The Stargazer was originally intended to be a Connie, but they'd just introduced the E-A, and wanted a ship unique to the films, as they later did with the Sovereign class

[robjkay]

Out of Universe, I read somewhere (I don't remember where, so the veracity of the information cannot be confirmed) that the Stargazer was originally intended to be a Connie. It was changed rather late in the day, and the name Constellation was chosen so they could redub already recorded footage of Geordi talking about Consitutions. It was dropped over some sort of copyright dispute.
The model of the Constellation class that Picard has in his ready room might throw doubt on this - but does not rule it out completely.
If it is true, it would have meant that Connies where intended to be seen in service at least twenty years before TNG, but as a (unproven) rough draft is far from canon.
I think it is possible that some Connies may still have been in service doing second line duties, as training vessels, as test beds, and in mothball yards. The near contemporary Mirandas, Oberths and Excelsiors certainly form an important part of Starfleet. We have only seen a snap shot of the Universe in the series's.

The Stargazer was intended to be a Constitution-class vessel, the same as Captain Kirk's USS Enterprise. This was mentioned in the script by Geordi La Forge. When the Stargazer was eventually designed, it was decided that a new model (derisively referred to as the "pie dish") should be used. Since LeVar Burton had already recorded his line, the name of the new ship's class had to be similar to "Constitution" to make it easy to overdub; the production crew settled on "Constellation".

[Thorin]

It's quite possible that the excelsiors and mirandas are so overwhelming in numbers in comparison to everything else - each fleet may have a different purpose and number and type of ships. The 1st fleet, by it's very name, you would suspect of having the best ships - perhaps filled up new(er) generations of ships - Akiras, Galaxys, Nebulas, Ambassadors. The only ones we've seen are things like the 9th and 3rd, which for whatever reason may have older ships.