posted
I was reading the Star Trek mag the other day where it has a timeline for the Enterprises. It states that when the original Enterprise was in dock for refit that Scotty was in charge of the refit and used a bridge based on those from the Miranda and Constellation class vessels. This makes it sound as if the USS Miranda was designed and built prior to the Enterprises refit. So the refit is based on Miranda parts and not the other way round. This would put the comission date of the Miranda around the late 2260's up to 2270 with the Constellation not long after [has the constellation date been given?]
posted
This seems entirely plausible to me. It may even be that the Miranda Class was the test bed for the new Yoyodyne engines as seen on the new Const., the Miranda, the Constellation, the Sydney, the Shelley...have I missed any? I would, however, tend to put put the Constellation class a little later. Some of them are still in service after all.
------------------ "A gathering of Angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said..." -Styx
posted
We have seen the bridges of both the Miranda- and Constellation-class starships, haven�t we? As I seem to recall, from that wargames episode with Riker in command of the Hathaway, the Constellation-class bridge doesn�t look at all like the bridge of the refit enterprise.
------------------ "The Starships of the Federation are the physical, tangible manifestations of Humanity�s stubborn insistence that life does indeed mean something." Spock to Leonard McCoy in "Final Frontier"
posted
If we go strictly by canon info, yet allow ourselves the luxury of backstage peeks to get a closer look at the fine print of monitor readouts, then the Constellation is still NX-1974 in STVI, in 2293. So it's unlikely the Constellation class would precede the Constitutions or the Mirandas.
As for which came first, Miranda or Constitution... Miranda would seem like a simpler design to refit, since the pylons are sturdier and probably could take new engines without much modification. And the impulse engine is larger and clumsier-looking.
OTOH, it's nice to think that the Enterprise was the first big ship to have the new engines. That way, Scotty's and Decker's ST:TMP worry about the engines being "untested" would get additional weight. Of course it could be that just these specific engines hadn't been tested yet even though sister designs were operational on other ships.
OTTH, the Enterprise wasn't NX-1701 after her refit. Does this mean another ship had been given prototype status some time before? Or simply that even major refits and modifications to existing ships do not revert their registries back to NX status?
posted
I can understand the arguments put by both camps. But the construction dates of the Miranda et al were never determined unless we go non-canon. However unless there is more info available then I have to say that the constitution class refit came first since scotty did say they were new engines. Bridge design however cannot determine when a ship was built since we know bridge modules can be swapped. Neither can NCC numbers or they could be a guide. What do others think because i believe the success of the constit.refit lead to other ships developed, some god and some not as good. These ships were smaller, cheaper, and faster just like the NASA motto.
------------------ "We set sail on this new sea because their is new knowledge to be gained and new rights to be won" John F Kennedy
posted
I take the registries of starships as being chronological. Of the canonical designs, the Oberth Class came first, having the first ship built in the late 2100's or early 2200's. The last of these ships were built in the early 2350's. (The USS Pegasus is identified as a twenty year old ship in "The Pegasus". This episode is dated to the year 2370, so 2370 minus 20 is 2350.) Oberth Class ships probably underwent a refit in the 2270's. The Oberth Class may be like the B-52; it does the best job at what it is suppose to do and no class was found to replace them. Constitution Class ships were commissioned in the early 2200's. These ships were refitted in the 2270's and retired by the early 2300's. Miranda Class ships were commissioned in the 2260's. There is a NCC-1831 in the mid-2260's. The USS Lantree NCC-1837 came from this decade. These ships may not have been refitted (see below). Constellation Class ships were first commissioned in the late 2270's with the USS Constellation NX-1974 still being used as a testbed for another 15 or so years. USS Hathaway NCC-2593 (2285), USS Stargazer NCC-2893, and USS Valkyrie NCC-2590 were built in the 2280's. The design history of these ships may mirror that of the Defiant Class.
The Star Trek: Magazine says that the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 bridge and engineering may have come from both Constellation and Miranda Classes. I can accept that the designs came from the Miranda Classes. The Miranda Class built in the 2260's may have had incorporated into their designs the features known on the refitted Oberth and Constitution Class ships. The Miranda Class then was used as a testing ground for the designs. Once the technology proved to be satisfactory, the Constitution Class ships may have been given their refits.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
