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Timeships were vessels which had undergone temporal transit. Some timeships were designed and constructed for that purpose, while others underwent time travel through accidental or external forces.

The Federation experimented with sending vessels back in time as early as 2268, when the USS Enterprise, under Captain James T. Kirk, used the light-speed breakaway factor to travel through time to visit mid-20th century Earth. (TOS: "Assignment: Earth") Seventeen years later, the same means was used to once again visit late-20th century Earth. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

During the 24th century, use of a timeship or time travel was banned by the Temporal Prime Directive and care must be taken to avoid disrupting the timeline due to the risk of creating a temporal paradox. (VOY: "Future's End, Part II")

During the 26th century dedicated timeships were in use, including those identified as time-pods. (TNG: "A Matter Of Time")

By the 29th century the Federation maintained dedicated timeships in Starfleet, including Wells-class and Model HB-88 vessels. These timeships used both temporal rifts and a temporal displacement drive to travel through time. However, these ships required a great deal of experience to control, with inexperienced pilots running the risk of creating temporal explosions if any of their calibrations were off. (VOY: "Future's End", "Relativity")

The practice of using timeships lasted into the 31st century, when an Earth vessel from that century was discovered in the 22nd century by Enterprise NX-01. (ENT: "Future Tense") After a temporal war in that century, all time travel technology was banned and destroyed. (DIS: "That Hope Is You, Part 1")

List of timeships[]

Officially designated timeships[]

These timeships were either operated exclusively to travel through time, or were sent on time-travel missions in addition to their primary goals.

Note: the USS Enterprise is included because its mission to 1968 was officially a historical research mission, making it possibly the first ship intended for temporal travel. For details on "accidental" time ventures, see below.
Ship Name Government/Agency Type Commander(s) Dates Image Reference
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) Starfleet Constitution-class Captain James T. Kirk 2268 (1968) USS Enterprise TOS: "Assignment: Earth"
unknown unknown Time-pod Berlinghoff Rasmussen 26th century (22nd century, 2368) 26th century time-pod TNG: "A Matter Of Time"
Aeon Starfleet Model HB-88 Captain Braxton 29th century (2373, 1967) Aeon VOY: "Future's End"
Borg Queen's sphere Borg Collective Borg sphere Borg Queen 2373 (2063) The Borg Queen's sphere Star Trek: First Contact
USS Relativity (NCV-474439-G) Starfleet Wells-class Captain Braxton 29th century USS Relativity VOY: "Relativity"
Lieutenant Ducane
Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown 31st century (2152) 31st century Earth vessel ENT: "Future Tense"

"Unsanctioned timeships"[]

These starships and vessels were primarily intended for uses other than time travel, however through accidental or unofficial action they traveled to different eras.

Ship Name Government/Agency Type Commander(s) Dates Image Reference
unknown privately owned Bajoran lightship Akorem Laan 22nd century (2372) Akorem's lightship DS9: "Accession"
Enterprise NX-01 Starfleet NX-class Captain Jonathan Archer 2154 (2037) Enterprise ENT: ""
Commander T'Pol 2154 (1944) ENT: "Zero Hour"
ENT: "Storm Front, Part II"
USS Discovery (NCC-1031) Starfleet Crossfield-class Captain Saru 2258 (3189)
USS Discovery
DIS: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2"

DIS: "Far From Home"

USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) Starfleet Constitution-class Captain James T. Kirk 2266 USS Enterprise TOS: "The Naked Time"
2267 (1969) TOS: "Tomorrow is Yesterday"
USS Bozeman (NCC-1941) Starfleet Soyuz-class Captain Morgan Bateson 2278 (2368) USS Bozeman TNG: "Cause And Effect"
HMS Bounty none Klingon Bird-of-Prey Admiral James T. Kirk 2286 (1986) HMS Bounty Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C) Starfleet Ambassador-class Captain Rachel Garrett
Lieutenant Richard Castillo
2344 (2366) USS Enterprise-C TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise"
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) Starfleet Galaxy-class Captain Jean-Luc Picard 2364 USS Enterprise-D TNG: "We'll Always Have Paris"
2368 TNG: "Cause And Effect"
Commander William T. Riker 2369 TNG: "Timescape"
USS Lalo Starfleet freighter unknown 2364   TNG: "We'll Always Have Paris"
El-Baz Starfleet Type 15 shuttlepod Captain Jean-Luc Picard 2365 El-Baz TNG: "Time Squared"
unknown Starfleet Danube-class Captain Jean-Luc Picard 2369 Picard's runabout TNG: "Timescape"
unknown Romulan military D'deridex-class unknown 2369 The time-looped warbird TNG: "Timescape"
Quark's Treasure privately owned Ferengi shuttle Quark 2372 (1947) Quark's Treasure DS9: "Little Green Men"
USS Voyager (NCC-74656) Starfleet Intrepid-class Captain Kathryn Janeway 2372 (Big Bang) USS Voyager VOY: "Death Wish"
2373 (1996) VOY: "Future's End"
VOY: "Future's End, Part II"
USS Defiant (NX-74205) Starfleet Defiant-class Captain Benjamin Sisko 2373 (2268) USS Defiant (NX-74205) DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations"
2373 (22nd century) DS9: "Children of Time"
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) Starfleet Sovereign-class Captain Jean-Luc Picard 2373 (2063) USS Enterprise-E Star Trek: First Contact
Jellyfish Vulcan Science Academy prototype Ambassador Spock 2387 (2258) Jellyfish Star Trek
Narada Romulan Star Empire Mining vessel Captain Nero 2387 (2233) Narada Star Trek
SC-4 Starfleet personal shuttlecraft Admiral Kathryn Janeway 2404 (2378) SC-4 VOY: "Endgame"

See also[]

Appendices[]

Apocrypha[]

In the Department of Temporal Investigations novel Forgotten History, it is revealed that the newly-formed Department of Temporal Investigations attempted to create their own timeship in 2270 and again 2273.

The first attempt used the original engines of the USS Enterprise, then thought to be the only engines capable of performing a slingshot maneuver (due to their cold-start in "The Naked Time"), basically adapting a stripped-down version of a Constitution-class engine system without a saucer section. However, their first attempt to create a timeship resulted in the ship being badly damaged after it overshot its target date and returned to the past at a point before its original departure. Its crew were able to avert the accident by aborting the planned flight, but this simultaneously confirmed that time travel could genuinely change history rather than simply creating a new timeline, as the future ship ceased to exist once the time of the originally-scheduled test-flight passed without the younger ship launching.

The second attempt combined the Enterprise's original engines with a dimension-shifting capsule taken from the Vedala, with the goal of witnessing the future of parallel universes without the risk of changing history in their home universe, but the incompatible nature of the two technologies resulted in the ship becoming trapped between 2273 and 2383 in two different universes. As a result, the canon 2383 was nearly erased as other parties send advanced knowledge to their counterparts in 2273, until Lucsly and Kirk were able to bring the ship back into sync with its true timeline, Lucsly simultaneously teaching Kirk how to make any ship capable of performing a slingshot maneuver in future.

External link[]

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