Here’s my bit on class ships in STVI: TUC. Hope I don’t aggravate anyone too much. (Especially you, TSN. I’ve thought it over and decided I don’t want to go messing with the moderator anymore. )In TUC, on various charts and displays, including the Operation: Retrieve plans and a mission assignment readout on the Enterprise bridge, there are several starships represented. Here is a basic list:
U.S.S. Ahwahnee NCC-2048
U.S.S. Challenger NCC-2032
U.S.S. Constellation NX-1974
U.S.S. Eagle NCC-956
U.S.S. Endeavour NCC-1895
U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-A
U.S.S. Excelsior NCC-2000
U.S.S. Helin NCC-1692
U.S.S. John Muir NCC-1732
U.S.S. Kongo NCC-1710
U.S.S. Korolev NCC-2014
U.S.S. Oberth NCC-602
U.S.S. Scovil NCC-1598
U.S.S. Springfield NCC-1963
U.S.S. Whorfin NCC-1024
Now, here’s the info that we already know definitely:
1. The Constellation is the class ship of the Constellation-class.
2. The Eagle, the Endeavour, the Enterprise, and the Kongo are Constitution-class.
3. The Excelsior is the class ship of the Excelsior-class.
4. The Oberth is the class ship of the Oberth-class.
The following are completely unknown to us:
1. The Ahwahnee
2. The Helin
3. The John Muir
4. The Scovil
Now, take a look at the remaining ships:
1. Challenger
2. Korolev
3. Springfield
4. Whorfin
Notice anything? They’re all the names of ship classes seen or mentioned in The Next Generation. (With the exception of the Whorfin-class, which was seen in Generations.) Is this a coincidence? I personally don’t think so. I think that these ships from TUC are in fact the class ships of the Challenger, Korolev, Springfield, and Whorfin-classes, respectively.
My evidence:
1. The numerous other hintings and references in TUC to TNG. (Such as the character of Colonel Worf, the use of Khitomer as a location, Scotty’s comment about “buying a boat,” [a possible reference to the Jenolen] and numerous others.)
2. (Goes along with 1.) The featuring of class ships of other classes seen in TNG and elsewhere, including the Oberth and Constellation.
3. Just the fact that it’s a bit of a stretch to think that all four vessels just happened to have names of future classes.
In my opinion, it’s fairly clear that the producers of the film were very keen on loading it with connections to the later time period, (after all, the movie was supposed to be a passing-of-the-torch thing) and that these ships are probably intended to be the class ships for the ship classes of the same name.
P.S.
Yes, I know I wasn't the first to think of this.