Daedalus class
Model of the Daedalus class
Operator:	Starfleet
Active:	Through 2196
Crew complement:	229

The Daedalus-class was an early class of Starfleet vessel that, unlike most Federation starship designs was designed with a spherical primary hull, outwardly similar to the later Olympic-class. This class, which operated with a crew of approximately 229, was decommissioned by the year 2196. (TNG: "Power Play")

A Daedalus-class model was at one time kept in Deep Space 9's classroom, and later in Benjamin Sisko's ready room. (DS9: "The Nagus", "Progress", etc.)

Ships commissioned Edit

Named

• USS Essex (NCC-173)
• USS Horizon (NCC-176)

Uncertain

• USS Archon
• USS Carolina

Appendices Edit

Appearances Edit

Background information Edit

Note that ship design and the name "Daedalus" have never been connected in any canon production. While in "Power Play", an unseen ship type has been called "Daedalus-class", the ship model as seen on DS9, and the USS Horizon it represents, have never been stated as belonging to the "Daedalus-class". In fact, the use of this design in the Star Trek Encyclopedia is the only connection.

Studio model Edit

According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia, this conjectural design was "based on an early USS Enterprise design by Matt Jefferies and built by Greg Jein" (especially built for the Star Trek Chronology). The model, about 20 inches long, originally bore the name USS Essex with registry number NCC-176. [1]. Interestingly, at the time the nacelles were equipped with spikes akin to those seen on the original USS Enterprise model in "The Cage". A cast was made of this model being refurbished as the USS Horizon, minus the spikes and with an unchanged registry, and used as a desktop display in Benjamin Sisko's office in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Michael Okuda elaborates,

"There were at least two models of the Horizon/Essex. The first was the one that Greg built for the Chronology. I later asked Greg to make a casting of that model, so we could use it as set dressing in Sisko's office. I believe he made another casting for display at Star Trek: The Experience. I may still have the original model somewhere, although I seem to recall it was damaged in an earthquake some years ago... The 'painted over stripes' were present on the cast resin copies. The original stripes were fairly thick graphic tape, so they showed up as ridges on the cast copies. Doug [Drexler] and I did the taping after Greg delivered the finished model. We also applied tape over the ridges on the copy in Sisko's office, at least partially, but I don't think we ever got a chance to tape the copy made for The Experience.[2] (...) Greg modeled the Daedalus for us for the Star Trek Chronology. When Doug and I were photographing it, I asked Doug to add a little bit of weathering detail to Greg's model to bring out a little more of the panel detail. We were thrilled to have a real Greg Jein model for the project, and Doug was just a bit nervous to be working on a model that had been created by one of the masters of the art. "I feel like I'm defacing a Greg Jein original," he said. I disagreed. "Look at it this way, Doug: You're actually *completing* a Greg Jein original." Faced with that unassailable logic, Doug went back to work, with beautiful results." [3]

In 2003 Drexler built a CGI model of the USS Daedalus with registry NCC-129 (presumably the class vessel) for a fan film, "Almost ten years ago I had built a rough and ready CG model of this Jefferies classic for the Star Trek: New Voyages episode "In Harm's Way". The amazing Greg Jein had built a physical model of this ship for our use on Deep Space Nine, and it was seen in Captain Sisko's office through the run of the series. When it came time to bash out a CG model on my lunch break, I went down to set dressing and borrowed Greg's model from Laura. Now it sat on my desk, the best reference in the world, and I got to work. You'd love to spend a few days on something like this, but we were in the middle of making a TV show." [4] His model was later used for licensed products as the cover of the Star Trek: Vanguard novel Summon the Thunder, the Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendars and their book derivative. [5] [6]

Apocrypha Edit

A Daedalus-class starship named the USS Lovell is prominently featured in the non-canon Star Trek: SCE novel Foundations. The "Daedalus"-class starship on the book's cover is the USS Archon. The USS Lovell is also active in the Star Trek: Vanguard novels. The ship, Drexlers CGI model, is shown outside Starbase 47 (Vanguard) on the cover of the second book of the series Summon the Thunder (though Drexler had assigned the registry number NCC-129 to the USS Daedalus on his CGI model).

In Michael Jan Friedman's novel Starfleet: Year One, competition among the early Starfleet's captains for command of the first Daedalus was one of the main plot threads - though the events of this novel have been ignored by later novels, as it was contradicted by Star Trek: Enterprise.

Star Trek: Legacy was the first Star Trek video game to feature a Daedalus-class starship.

In the Pocket ENT novels The Good That Men Do, Kobayashi Maru, and Beneath the Raptor's Wing the Daedalus-class is featured heavily as an older ship class refitted with modern technology, and the main replacement of the NX-class fleet. The NX ships were deemed too expensive and taking too long to build, shipyard personnel stated they could churn out three new Daedalus hulls in the same time it would take to build one NX vessel.

External links Edit

• Daedalus class at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works