Changes: USS Vengeance

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"That's a hell of a ship you've got there."

– James T. Kirk to Alexander Marcus, 2259 (Star Trek Into Darkness)

The USS Vengeance was a 23rd century Federation Dreadnought-class starship operated in secret by Section 31. Unlike other ships operated by the Federation or Starfleet, the vessel was completely unmarked with no registry number or nomenclature visible on the hull. The ship was launched in 2259 from the Io Facility, a spacedock in orbit of the Jovian moon Io. The ship's commanding officer was Admiral Alexander Marcus.

Service history

See also: Battle of Luna

USS Vengeance model — A model of the *Vengeance* on Marcus' desk

The USS Vengeance was designed by Khan Noonien Singh and Section 31 for the purpose of preparing the Federation for what was deemed an inevitable war against the Klingon Empire and its other rivals. The vessel was built at a secret spacedock near Jupiter.

Despite the secrecy of the starship's construction, a small model of the Vengeance was openly displayed by Admiral Alexander Marcus in his office at Starfleet Headquarters alongside other notable vessels from Starfleet history, including the NX-class Enterprise and the USS Kelvin.

File:Enterprise and Vengeance face off.jpg

The USS Vengeance confronts the USS Enterprise

Believing that Marcus had murdered his entire crew whom Marcus was holding as hostages to compel Khan's servitude, he betrayed Marcus and Section 31 by providing the coordinates of the Vengeance after surrendering to Captain Kirk on Qo'noS during which he saved the lives of Kirk, Spock and Nyota Uhura. Kirk then sent Montgomery Scott to investigate, who piloted a shuttlecraft into the spacedock facility where the Vengeance was moored. Following the arrival of Kirk and Khan aboard the USS Enterprise, the Vengeance appeared in Klingon space and intercepted the starship. Admiral Marcus, in command of the Vengeance, demanded that Kirk hand Khan over to him. Instead, Kirk ordered the Enterprise to warp to Earth so that Khan could stand trial as a war criminal and expose his secret alliance with the admiral.

Marcus commands the Vengeance — Marcus on the bridge of the *Vengeance*

Utilizing its advanced propulsion capabilities, the Vengeance caught up to the Enterprise while at warp and fired upon it, crippling it near Luna. Just as Marcus prepared to destroy the Enterprise, Scott, who had stowed away aboard the ship, was able to temporarily sabotage the Vengeance's weaponry.

Kirk and Khan then donned thruster suits and space jumped through a debris field in an attempt to commandeer the Vengeance during which Khan saved Kirk's life for the second time. Following their arrival on the bridge, Montgomery Scott attempted to stun Khan on the orders of Kirk. Khan retaliated and killed Admiral Marcus and seized command of the ship for himself, taking Kirk and his crew hostage. Acting captain Spock allowed Khan to transport seventy-two advanced long-range torpedoes apparently containing Khan's fellow Augments to the Vengeance, in a negotiated exchange for the Enterprise's safety and the return of Kirk, Scott, and Carol Marcus. Khan returned the three hostages to the Enterprise but resumed firing on the ship as soon as they were transported aboard. Having anticipated Khan's betrayal, Spock ordered Doctor Leonard McCoy to remove the cryotubes from the torpedoes and triggered the torpedoes within the Vengeance's cargo bay. The Vengeance was crippled and Khan further enraged, believing his crew had been killed in the detonation.

USS Vengeance detonating — The *Vengeance* detonating

As the heavily damaged Enterprise was pulled into Earth's gravity, a vengeful Khan piloted his ship into the atmosphere, setting course for San Francisco and Starfleet Headquarters. Narrowly missing the Enterprise, the Vengeance crashed to the surface, obliterating landmarks such as the Alcatraz Penitentiary. Crashing into San Francisco Bay, the Vengeance briefly regained altitude, then crashed into Fisherman's Wharf and Telegraph Hill. The impact of the ship into the city broke the primary hull from the secondary hull and momentum carried the wrecked primary hull to a point short of the Transamerica Pyramid.

File:Vengeance going down.jpg

Set destination: Starfleet Headquarters!

Through a hull breach in the main bridge, Khan leapt from the Vengeance where he led a pursuit through the streets of San Francisco, where he was ultimately apprehended by Spock and Nyota Uhura.

Nearly a year later, Starfleet held a memorial service for the lives lost due to Khan's violent acts, including those killed when the Vengeance crashed. At this memorial, Kirk spoke out against what the ship represented and reminded the assembled audience that Starfleet had risked becoming as warlike as its enemies. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

Crew

Commanding officers:
- Alexander Marcus
- Khan Noonien Singh

Technical data

Main article: Dreadnought-class

USS Vengeance fires on the USS Enterprise — The *Vengeance* fires phasers on the *Enterprise* at warp

The Vengeance was specifically designed to be a combat vessel and was larger, faster, and more heavily armed (with more advanced weaponry than other Federation ships of the same time period). According to Khan, Vengeance had "twice the size ... three times the speed"; and its warp drive was much more advanced in comparison to other Starfleet ships due to the Dreadnought-class having been built as a battle cruiser.

This was proven by the Vengeance easily catching up to the Enterprise within mere minutes of the Enterprise leaving Qo'nos.

A reference vessel for Khan's comparison is not given, but probably is meant to be the Enterprise.

The Vengeance had been built to allow for a minimal crew and was largely automated. It was designed to be controlled by a single person if necessary. Its advanced phasers could be fired while the ship was at warp. The ship was also equipped with additional technologically-advanced features, including: better shielding, more advanced transporters, and enhanced warp capabilities. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

Weaponry

Dreadnought class weapon — One of the *Vengeance's* advanced torpedo launchers

The weapons systems of the Vengeance included an array of advanced phasers and two massive swivel-mounted torpedo launchers that could be deployed from beneath the saucer section. Vengeance could also launch drones which were, in turn, capable of launching several photon torpedoes before reaching and deliberately ramming their respective target(s). (Star Trek Into Darkness)

The Vengeance's phaser array was extremely powerful--a focused barrage could penetrate the defensive shields of a standard starship (even at warp velocities), breach the hull and damage critical systems, and thereby force the other ship from warp back into normal space.

Appendices

Background information

The Vengeance is referred to by name only once onscreen (by an unidentified crewmember over radio transmission as its crew shuttles prepared to enter the Io drydock facility). Even the displays aboard the Enterprise refer to the Vengeance only as "Unidentified Vessel" and do not specify it as a Starfleet or Federation ship of any type.

Analysis of a current San Francisco map suggests the final resting place of the Vengeance's hull to be Jackson Square. For people unfamiliar with San Francisco geography, this implies the Vengeance came to rest several blocks short of Starfleet Headquarters--Khan's intended target.

After the design of USS Vengeance was conceptualized, the writers of Star Trek Into Darkness conceived of various ways the ship could be used by themselves imagining Admiral Marcus' devious plan (i.e., strategizing as Admiral Marcus would). (Cinefex, No. 134, p. 75)

Developing effective illumination for Vengeance was tasked to Industrial Light & Magic. "The tricky thing about the black ship was, of course, lighting it against the background of space." noted ILM Senior Visual Effects Supervisor, Roger Guyett. ILM's development team performed turntable studies of the Vengeance, experimenting with lighting effects which enabled the mostly black object to be sufficiently viewable against interstellar darkness. Vengeance was illuminated by subtle backlit effects generated from nearby luminous gas clouds, as well as, application of rim lighting (to clearly define edges) and specular values (to highlight minute surface details on the ship's ebon hull). (Cinefex, No. 134, pp. 75 & 84)

QMx USS Vengeance prop — The model prop of the USS *Vengeance* created for the movie

QMx FX Cinema Arts (the prop and model shop of Quantum Mechanix) was asked to illustrate Star Trek's "history" of space flight by creating a series of physical representations. QMx constructed fourteen disparate props, some of which were featured as "hobby" models in Admiral Marcus' office. [1] Roberto Orci opined that having a desktop model of the Vengeance in the film was a mistake (i.e., "spoiler") and would not have been permitted if he had been present on set that day. Orci suggested, "... one could argue that a pre-existing design was recommissioned and altered to be a weapon of war.", at least partially justifying how the Vengeance could have been built right under Starfleet's collective "nose" without serious outcry. [2]

According to the non-canon "Top Secret Security Review-31 Command", the Vengeance was a key outcome of the Praxxis Project. Agent John Harrison (Khan) was retasked to the Io Facility to conclude testing on the ship. Once at the facility, Harrison compromised the project by not providing the final status report to Admiral Marcus and thus abandoning Khan's original assignment. If Marcus had received the report, the Admiral would have likely dispatched the Vengeance to defend the Federation colony on Ganalda IV, which was threatened by a Klingon fleet.

Replicas and toys

Quantum Mechanix has announced plans to retail twelve and thirty-six inch long replicas of the ship in "Collector's Scale" and "Artisan" editions.

Mattel released scaled Hot Wheels six-inch replicas of the USS Vengeance to retail in May 2013. They were also included as premiums with retailer exclusive sets of the Star Trek Into Darkness Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D in September 2013. A smaller three-inch version was also released in 2014.

Hasbro released a Kre-O toy version of the ship and Hallmark released a USS Vengeance Christmas ornament in 2014. Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection also released a replica as a "special issue" in 2014.

Apocrypha

According to apocryphal sources, two 23rd century starships in the prime universe have also been named USS Vengeance. The first was a Miranda-class USS Vengeance (β), mentioned in the 1983 FASA sourcebook Federation Ship Recognition Manual (p.13). The second was a refit Constitution-class USS Vengeance (β), one of several Federation starships defending the Sol system in the 2000 video game Star Trek: Klingon Academy.

The 2013 virtual collectible card battle game Star Trek: Rivals has the USS Vengeance as card #109.

External links

USS Vengeance at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
HMS Vengeance at Wikipedia

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 [[File:Enterprise and Vengeance face off.jpg|thumb|The USS ''Vengeance'' confronts the USS ''Enterprise'']]
-Later betraying Marcus and Section 31, Khan provided the coordinates of the ''Vengeance'' after surrendering to [[Captain]] {{alt|James T. Kirk|Kirk}} on [[Qo'noS]]. Kirk then sent {{alt|Montgomery Scott}} to investigate, who piloted a [[Takayama type shuttlecraft|shuttlecraft]] into the spacedock facility where the ''Vengeance'' was moored. Following the arrival of Kirk and Khan aboard the {{USS|Enterprise|alternate reality}}, the ''Vengeance'' appeared in Klingon space and intercepted the starship. Admiral Marcus, in command of the ''Vengeance'', demanded that Kirk hand Khan over to him. Instead, Kirk ordered the ''Enterprise'' to [[warp]] to [[Earth]] so that Khan could stand [[trial]] as a [[war criminal]] and expose his secret alliance with the admiral.
+Believing that Marcus had murdered his entire crew whom Marcus was holding as hostages to compel Khan's servitude, he betrayed Marcus and Section 31 by providing the coordinates of the ''Vengeance'' after surrendering to [[Captain]] {{alt|James T. Kirk|Kirk}} on [[Qo'noS]] during which he saved the lives of Kirk, {{alt|Spock}} and {{alt|Nyota Uhura}}. Kirk then sent {{alt|Montgomery Scott}} to investigate, who piloted a [[Takayama type shuttlecraft|shuttlecraft]] into the spacedock facility where the ''Vengeance'' was moored. Following the arrival of Kirk and Khan aboard the {{USS|Enterprise|alternate reality}}, the ''Vengeance'' appeared in Klingon space and intercepted the starship. Admiral Marcus, in command of the ''Vengeance'', demanded that Kirk hand Khan over to him. Instead, Kirk ordered the ''Enterprise'' to [[warp]] to [[Earth]] so that Khan could stand [[trial]] as a [[war criminal]] and expose his secret alliance with the admiral.
 [[File:Marcus commands the Vengeance.jpg|thumb|left|Marcus on the bridge of the ''Vengeance'']]
@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 Utilizing its advanced propulsion capabilities, the ''Vengeance'' caught up to the ''Enterprise'' while at warp and fired upon it, crippling it near [[Luna]]. Just as Marcus prepared to destroy the ''Enterprise'', Scott, who had stowed away aboard the ship, was able to temporarily [[sabotage]] the ''Vengeance's'' weaponry.
-Kirk and Khan then donned [[thruster suit|thruster suits]] and [[space jump]]ed through a debris field in an attempt to commandeer the ''Vengeance''. Following their arrival on the [[bridge]], Khan killed Admiral Marcus and seized command of the ship for himself, taking Kirk and his crew hostage. [[Acting captain]] {{alt|Spock}} allowed Khan to transport seventy-two [[advanced long-range torpedo|advanced long-range torpedoes]] apparently containing Khan's fellow [[Augment]]s to the ''Vengeance'', in a negotiated exchange for the ''Enterprise's'' safety and the return of Kirk, Scott, and {{alt|Carol Marcus}}. Khan returned the three hostages to the ''Enterprise'' but resumed firing on the ship as soon as they were transported aboard. Having anticipated Khan's betrayal, Spock ordered [[Doctor]] {{alt|Leonard McCoy}} to remove the [[cryostasis chamber|cryotubes]] from the torpedoes and triggered the torpedoes within the ''Vengeance's'' cargo bay. This crippled the ship and further enraged Khan, who believed his crew had been killed in the detonation.
+Kirk and Khan then donned [[thruster suit|thruster suits]] and [[space jump]]ed through a debris field in an attempt to commandeer the ''Vengeance'' during which Khan saved Kirk's life for the second time. Following their arrival on the [[bridge]], {{alt|Montgomery Scott}} attempted to stun Khan on the orders of Kirk. Khan retaliated and killed Admiral Marcus and seized command of the ship for himself, taking Kirk and his crew hostage. [[Acting captain]] {{alt|Spock}} allowed Khan to transport seventy-two [[advanced long-range torpedo|advanced long-range torpedoes]] apparently containing Khan's fellow [[Augment]]s to the ''Vengeance'', in a negotiated exchange for the ''Enterprise's'' safety and the return of Kirk, Scott, and {{alt|Carol Marcus}}. Khan returned the three hostages to the ''Enterprise'' but resumed firing on the ship as soon as they were transported aboard. Having anticipated Khan's betrayal, Spock ordered [[Doctor]] {{alt|Leonard McCoy}} to remove the [[cryostasis chamber|cryotubes]] from the torpedoes and triggered the torpedoes within the ''Vengeance's'' cargo bay. The Vengeance was crippled and  Khan further enraged, believing his crew had been killed in the detonation.
 [[File:USS Vengeance detonating.jpg|thumb|left|The ''Vengeance'' detonating]]
@@ Line 66: / Line 66: @@
 == Appendices ==
 === Background information ===
-The ''Vengeance'' is referred to by name only once onscreen (by an unidentified crewmember over radio transmission as its crew shuttles prepared to enter the Io drydock facility). Even the displays aboard the ''Enterprise'' refer to the ''Vengeance'' only as "Unidentified Vessel" and do not specify ''Vengeance'' as a Starfleet (or Federation ship of any type).
+The ''Vengeance'' is referred to by name only once onscreen (by an unidentified crewmember over radio transmission as its crew shuttles prepared to enter the Io drydock facility). Even the displays aboard the ''Enterprise'' refer to the ''Vengeance'' only as "Unidentified Vessel" and do not specify it as a Starfleet or Federation ship of any type.
 Analysis of a current San Francisco map suggests the final resting place of the ''Vengeance''{{'}}s hull to be Jackson Square. For people unfamiliar with San Francisco geography, this implies the ''Vengeance'' came to rest several blocks short of Starfleet Headquarters--Khan's intended target.