The Constellation-class starship was a type of Federation star cruiser employed by Starfleet from the late 23rd century through the mid-24th century.
History
The Constellation-class began service as early as 2285, when at least one such ship, the USS Hathaway, was constructed by Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems at the Copernicus Ship Yards on Luna. (USS Hathaway dedication plaque)
Nearly a decade after the launch of the Hathaway, the prototype for the class, the USS Constellation, was still undergoing certification trials. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Operation Retrieve chart)
During the early 24th century, the Constellation-class was noted for performing both deep-space exploration and defensive patrol duties. (TNG: "The Battle", "The Wounded")
By the mid-2360s, this class of "old-style" star cruiser was on the fringe of being phased out of the fleet. Those that had been decommissioned, including the eighty-year-old Hathaway, were stripped of their offensive systems and rendered "warp inactive," which included the removal of all antimatter. (TNG: "Peak Performance")
Those that remained in service were typically relegated to transport duties. (TNG: "Elementary, Dear Data"; DS9: "The Abandoned") Constellation-class starships were also used in second-line service, including the hastily-organized Federation blockade during the Klingon Civil War. (TNG: "Redemption II")
In 2369, commander of the Template:ShipClass USS Enterprise-D, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, regarded his former command, the Constellation-class USS Stargazer as being "an overworked, underpowered vessel that was always on the verge of flying apart at the seams," adding, "in every measurable way, my Enterprise is a superior ship." (TNG: "Relics")
Technical data
Propulsion systems
 Closeup view of nacelles |
One notable feature of the Constellation-class was that it was one of the few classes in use mounted with four warp nacelles. This unique arrangement in a starship design was later found in one of the Template:ShipClass variants, as well as the Template:ShipClass and Template:ShipClasses. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II"; VOY: "Message in a Bottle") The Constellation-class had a maximum speed of warp 9. (TNG: "The Battle")
During their original construction, Constellation-class starships employed Avidyne engines. By the latter 24th century these had been replaced with more effective engines. (TNG: "Peak Performance")
Interior design
Main bridge
Main viewscreen
Although the layout of the main bridge of the Constellation-class of starships could be described as "standard" in terms of how Federation starship bridges are designed, the Constellation-class appeared to have two prominently different bridge types. These variations can be recognized between the USS Hathaway, launched in 2285, and the USS Stargazer, last active in 2355.
Bridge of the USS Hathaway
The Hathaway-type bridge had an unusual arrangement, with front of the bridge relatively wide open and the primary stations cramped in the rear of the bridge.
The helm and navigation stations were located on the extreme port and starboard sides of the ship with the captain's chair near the center of the bridge. This gave the captain an unobstructed view of the viewscreen located at the front of the bridge. Next to the captain's chair, set less than a meter back and off to the right, was the first officer's chair with console.
Directly behind the command chairs was the tactical station, with the engineering station to the far rear (on the port side) and science station to the far rear (starboard side). In front of the engineering station was an entryway to the bridge entryway. (TNG: "Peak Performance")
Bridge of the USS Stargazer
Described as a "cramped little bridge" by Picard, the Stargazer-type was actually less cluttered than the Hathaway-type, with a design more reminiscent of the refit Template:ShipClass or Template:ShipClass bridge. (TNG: "Relics")
In the front was the viewscreen, with side-by-side helm and navigator consoles, a feature that noticeably contrasts that of the Hathaway-type. The captain's chair was directly aft the aforementioned stations; no accommodations were present for the first officer in this type.
At the rear of the bridge, a tactical station was found on the far left with monitors along the back wall behind the captain's chair, with a second primary station located on the opposite side of the bridge. The primary stations were attached to the rear wall of the bridge; support railing partially enclosed that section from the front of the bridge. On either side of the rear wall monitors and between either primary station were two turbolifts. Along the port wall, directly to the left of the captain's chair and between the tactical station and the viewscreen, was the entryway to the captain's ready room. (TNG: "The Battle")
Main engineering
Main engineering was where the ship's power systems were controlled and was the home of the ship's antimatter warp drive chamber and impulse engine controls. (TNG: "Peak Performance")
Crew cabins
Picard's quarters
Cabins aboard Constellation-class starships were of typical design associated with Federation starship of the era, providing spartan accommodations for the crew. (TNG: "The Battle")
Ships commissioned
- Named
- USS Constellation (NCC-1974)
- USS Hathaway (NCC-2593)
- USS Stargazer (NCC-2893)
- USS Victory (NCC-9754)
- Unnamed
- Uncertain
Appendices
Appearances
Background information
The first Constellation-class ship seen, the Stargazer, was originally planned to be a Template:ShipClass ship, allowing the visual effects staff of Star Trek: The Next Generation to make use of the existing movie USS Enterprise-A model.
Studio model
The Constellation-class was created before Star Trek: The Next Generation began shooting. The need arose in pre-production from the desire to have Picard's ready room dressed with some set pieces, amongst others, a desktop model of his previous command as mentioned in the The Writer's Bible for the show or as Sternbach recalled,"Andy Probert and I began fleshing out the Stargazer during the preproduction phase of Star Trek: The Next Generation, based on a mention of Captain Picard’s previous command in the TNG writer’s bible. We likely had some words with set decorator John Dwyer about a model of the ship for Picard’s ready room, along with the collaborative painting of the Galaxy class Enterprise to fill up a big empty spot over the sofa. Probert and I discussed the general configuration of the Stargazer, did a number of quick pencil and marker doodles of the major assemblies, and settled on using four nacelles to suggest that the Stargazer was a fast science vessel. Kitbashing the display model could have made use of the plastic parts from a couple of Original Series Enterprise hobby kits, but the historical era could have a bit too old. I don’t believe a kit of the Excelsior class, eventually to become the Enterprise-B, had been released by that time, so we got to work playing with pieces from two NCC-1701 Refit kits."[1]
Desktop model
The model was designed by Andrew Probert and Rick Sternbach, the latter also being the one who constructed the model. The model was mostly kit-bashed from commercially available Enterprise-refit modelkits augmented with custom made parts from styrene sheets (for the enlarged saucer section).
According to Sternbach, the desktop model was further detailed with several anime kits from The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, The Super Dimension Century Orguss, Gundam, and Crusher Joe. The largest of these model kit details were the wings and wing box assemblies of a VF-1 Valkyrie model kit from Macross. The desktop model was finished in a dark desert yellow with blue accents and could indeed been seen as a desktop model in Picard's ready room in numerous episodes of the show. A registry number NCC-7100 was applied to the model, but no name, possibly indicating a generic model of the class [2].
Interestingly, the very first commercially available model of this class, the gaming miniature sized micro machine from Galoob, was in this color scheme although given the name and registry number of the Stargazer, the producers probably being confused by early publicized photos.
Filming model
The producers did not make the decision to build a full scale filming model of the Stargazer until after the episode was filmed with both Wil Wheaton and LeVar Burton calling it a Constitution. The choice of the name "Constellation" was based largely on the fact that it could be dubbed over La Forge's line since the two words are so similar. The task of building the full scale, four-foot, model fell to Gregory Jein, using the equivalent parts from a larger-scale VF-1 Valkyrie kit.[3] [4]. The Stargazer was the first new starship design seen by audiences since the introduction of the Enterprise-D and would remain so until the introduction of the Template:ShipClass in third season's "Yesterday's Enterprise".
The model was eventually labeled the USS Valkyrie (an in-joke of the production staff, as it referred to the Valkyrie parts they used in constructing the model) for tour displays such as Star Trek World Tour, Star Trek: The Exhibition and Star Trek: The Adventure, complete with the registry NCC-2590 [5] and has probably been more on tour than any other model, since its use as a production asset was played out early on. The faded name USS Hathaway has been observed on this model underneath the Valkyrie decal, the only time the vessel was relabeled (later appearances being stock footage).
As per 2009, the studio model itself, having escaped the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection and It's A Wrap! sale and auction -auctions, is still in the possession of Paramount Pictures and has been on tour as late as 2008.[6]
CGI model
Since the Constellation-class has already been considered an obsolete vessel in the early TNG-era, no CGI model was ever constructed for live-action production purposes and has therefore not been visually present in any of the other Star Trek series.
Still, a CGI model was eventually constructed by Doug Drexler, when he was asked to do the cover for Michael Jan Friedman's (licensed) novel Enigma in 2004. Drexler remembered on his blog,"Usually covers like this don’t come with a lot of lead time, and the budget does not provide for building models, so I set to work converting the Directors Cut TMP CG Enterprise. Margaret Clark had spotted a cover of a novel that showed a WWII Hellcat dive bomber double exposed over the ocean blended with a map. She sparked to that and thought it was just the thing to hang the “Enigma” cover on. I grabbed a starmap that I had been admiring which Alan Kobayashi had made for Mike to hang in Captain Archer’s cabin. That was the cover, and a real nice one too! Someone wrote me a note asking if I could run some Stargazer orthos. I had never made any for the blog because it was such a quickie kitbash, I figured it wouldn’t hold up."[7] Missing some of the details found on the physical models, the CGI version found its way on other licensed products such as the Ships of the Line book and Star Trek: Ships of the Line (2005) calendar.
The Magazine
An Starfleet Technical Database-article appearing in Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 9 that was later written by designer-creator Rick Sternbach stated that this class of ship had fifteen decks and a crew complement of 535 and that the class consisted of eight vessels (including the USS Gettysburg and USS Magellan). In addition to the aforementioned, the article also stated that a USS Valkyrie (NCC 2590) and a USS Gihlan (NCC-9761) existed, the latter named after an admiral who oversaw the development of Constellation-class starships. The class's mission statements were: long-range sensor analysis within threat territories, communications, intelligence gathering, deployment and retrieval of cargo and stealth shuttles, general science and patrol duties.
Apocrpyha
USS Stargazer (NCC-2893-A) in Star Trek Online
In Star Trek Online, the Stargazer-class features as a playable ship in the "Heavy Cuiser" tier. The class has been redesigned to have the warp nacelles wider apart than the original, and features a slight curve on the originally straight incline on the main hull.
External links
- Template:NCwiki
- Constellation class starship at Wikipedia