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SS Enterprise Class

SpecsImagesInternals
Size Comp
Universe : Prime Timeline
Affiliation : Humans
Class Name : SS Enterprise Class
Type : Starship
Unit Run :
SS Enterprise - Destroyed
plus 5 others built in total. 6 have been retired from service.
Commissioned : In service with Humanity 2098
Dimensions : Length : 150 m [1]
Diameter : 116 m
Decks : 2 exclus
Mass : 77,000 metric tons
Crew : 21
Defence Systems : Light Monotanium Single hull.
Low level Structural Integrity Field
Warp Speeds
(TOS scale) :
Normal Cruise : 1.2
Maximum Cruise : 1.21
Maximum Rated : 1.22 for 1 hours.
Strength Indices :
(Galaxy class = 1,000)
Beam Firepower : -
Torpedo Firepower : -
Weapon Range and Accuracy : -
Shield Strength : -
Hull Armour : 0.31
Speed : 1
Combat Manoeuvrability : 1,140
Overall Strength Index : 10
Diplomatic Capability : 1
Expected Hull Life : 36
Refit Cycle : Minor : 2 year
Standard : 2 years
Major : 18 years

Notes

The SS Enterprise began life as a Vulcan starship, and has the ring nacelle and axial hull configuration characteristic of many Vulcan designs. Seven of these vessels were donated to Humanity by the Vulcans in 2098 in order to allow passengers and cargo to be flown between Earth and the Alpha Centauri colony.

In Vulcan service the ship was capable of speeds of warp factor 4, but the nacelles were modified to reduce the speed to warp 1.2 as part of a "capability realignment" refit prior to the transfer of ownership. This was intended, in the words of the Vulcan ambassador, to "bring the vessel's specification to a level compatible with the capabilities of its operators".

Although no more capable than Human designs of the period in terms of speed, range, snesor capability, etc, the Enterprise class was considerably more reliable than Human craft and the ships proved popular with their crews. As newer cargo vessels such as the J and Y class came into service with top speeds reaching warp 1.8, the Enterprise class were gradually phased out and the last was retired in 2130.

Colour key

Canon source Backstage source Novel source DITL speculation

References

# Series Season Source Comment
1 Speculative Rough guess. Since this ship pre-dates the 'Enterprise' era, I have assumed this ship to be somewhat smaller than a typical Enterprise ship.
Source : Speculative
Comment : Rough guess. Since this ship pre-dates the 'Enterprise' era, I have assumed this ship to be somewhat smaller than a typical Enterprise ship.

Comments

This is one of those entries that is virtually all speculation. All we know of this class, canonically speaking, is that it exists and looks approximately like the image on the size comparison link. The ship was seen on the wall of the Recreation Deck of the USS Enterprise in "Star Trek : The Motion Picture"; when Decker is showing the Ilea probe around the ship, he comes to a display showing several pictures and announces that all of the ships were named Enterprise. One image shows a sailing ship, one a World War II aircraft carrier, another the space shuttle, another shows this ship and the last shows the Enterprise as it appeared in the Original Series. The first three are indeed accurate (or reasonably so) representations of past vessels named Enterprise from the real world. Archer's NX-01 Enteprise is notable by its absence - presumably the wall does not show a comprehensive list. In reality, of course, the makers of TMP didn't know about Archer's ship since it lay several decades in the future, whilst the makers of Enterprise care far more about having a 'cool' ship than they do about having one which fits into the time it is placed in. The SS Enterprise design was actually created for a science fiction series Roddenberry intended to make after TOS; the show never made it to the screen, but the design was stuck into TMP anyhow. The idea that this Enterprise was a Vulcan ship is an assumption made because of the design of the ship. The Vulcan Surak and Apollo classes both have ring nacelles surrounding an axial hull, while the Surak has the same single connecting strut between the two. Certainly the SS Enterprise design owes more to this type of ship than it does to Archer's Enterprise or any other known Human vessel. That the Vulcans would downgrade the ship before handing it over would be in line with the nastier, more evil Vulcans of the Enterprise era. The size is totally speculative, as is everything else about the ship.
© Graham & Ian Kennedy Page views : 54,160 Last updated : 1 Jan 2004