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A mess hall was a location on Federation and Klingon starships or starbases where crewmembers could relax and enjoy a meal or a quick snack in a social setting. It was an old Earth nautical terms for the mass dining room for ships' crew.

It was also the place where officials, such as ambassadors of other worlds, were entertained. Gatherings were also held there, as it was often a relatively large space that had already been purposed for crew comfort.

The person in charge of activities within the mess hall held the title of mess officer. (TAS: "The Terratin Incident")

J-class[]

Aboard J-class freighters, the mess hall was in room A3. The J-class mess hall had at least two circular windows and four tables. On the opposite wall from the windows was a counter, featuring a metallic, manual drinks dispenser. There was a pair of double-doors on each of the other sides of the room. Food available included strawberry shortcake nutri-paks. Drinks could be consumed in metallic mugs found at the counter. (ENT: "Horizon")

In the final draft script of "Horizon", the J-class mess hall was described as "A small, lived-in room, with only a few tables and chairs."

Freedom-class[]

USS Franklin mess hall

The mess hall of the Franklin

The Freedom-class had a combination of a mess/recreational hall, which was located on the forward end of the saucer section. It featured one table with at least six chairs and a leather couch across the room. (Star Trek Beyond)

NX-class[]

NX class mess hall

The mess of an NX-class vessel

Earth Starfleet NX-class starships of the 22nd century were outfitted with large mess halls. Boasting several large windows, the NX-class mess hall was a buffet-style environment; food prepared in the ship's galley was brought to the mess hall and stored in a serving case located on a bulkhead adjacent to a drink dispenser. (ENT: "Fortunate Son", "Acquisition", "Regeneration", et al.)

Aboard the starship Enterprise NX-01, the mess hall was converted into a theater on some Tuesday nights for "movie night". A large screen was erected in the mess hall, controllable from bridge stations on A Deck. (ENT: "Dear Doctor", et al.)

Located just aft of and connected to the mess hall was the captain's mess. (ENT: "Broken Bow", "Dear Doctor", "Vox Sola", "The Catwalk", "Horizon", "Impulse", "Twilight")

The mess hall set seen in Enterprise was built on Paramount Stage 8.
According to background material, the mess hall aboard Enterprise NX-01 was located on the starboard side of E Deck. [1]

Crossfield-class[]

USS Discovery mess hall

The mess hall aboard the USS Discovery

The mess hall of a Crossfield-class starship featured a food synthesizer and several small windows along the hull. The room also featured multiple tables and seats, which were colored white. Aboard the Crossfield-class USS Discovery in 2256, the mess hall's innermost wall featured drawings that comprised a memorial of starships lost in battle. (DIS: "Context Is for Kings")

Defiant-class[]

USS Defiant mess hall

The mess hall aboard the USS Defiant

Like much of the internal spaces aboard Defiant-class starships, the mess hall was compact, functional and had no windows. It was equipped with one food replicator. The mess hall could also be used for meetings with the ship's crew. (DS9: "The Adversary", "Trials and Tribble-ations", "Valiant")

Worf often ordered prune juice in the mess hall of the Defiant. Once, he received a cup advertising Quark's. (DS9: "To the Death", "The Quickening", "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places")

In 2372, Dukat and members of the Detapa Council underwent blood screenings in the mess hall after being rescued by the Defiant. (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior")

Several weeks later, the mess hall was the site of a meeting between Captain Sisko, Quark, and Hanok. Later, a Jem'Hadar torpedo impacted into the mess hall, but did not explode immediately. Quark and Hanok were able to defuse it. (DS9: "Starship Down")

Later that year, the mess hall was the site of a briefing session between the crew of the Defiant and Weyoun's Jem'Hadar soldiers. (DS9: "To the Death")

During the early months of the Dominion War, the crew placed depleted phaser relay power cells in the mess hall as a sign that they would never stop fighting. (DS9: "Behind the Lines")

Ixtana'Rax had the senior staff of the Defiant held in the mess hall after the Jem'Hadar briefly captured the starship in 2374. (DS9: "One Little Ship")

Quark was ordered to stay in the mess hall as the Defiant fought its way to AR-558 in 2375. (DS9: "The Siege of AR-558")

The USS Defiant mess hall set doubled as many areas aboard the ship, including sickbay and the transporter room.

Intrepid-class[]

Voyager messhall

An Intrepid-class mess hall

On Intrepid-class vessels, the mess hall was on Deck 2, Section 13, with turbolift access in the corridor outside the starboard entrance. Some ships were equipped with four food replicators, with a private captain's dining room just behind the mess hall. The dining room could be reconfigured, and two of the replicators removed, to serve as a kitchen, as was done by Neelix aboard the USS Voyager. (VOY: "Caretaker", "Distant Origin", "Phage", "The Cloud") The USS Bellerophon's mess hall was also fitted in this manner. (DS9: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges")

Food service replicators

The two food service replicators on Voyager before their removal

Since replicator rations were in short supply aboard Voyager, Neelix supplemented food stocks with vegetables from the airponics bay along with food obtained from trading and scouting missions.

The mess hall aboard Voyager was host to many social gatherings, including diplomatic affairs, (VOY: "Someone to Watch Over Me") birthday parties, (VOY: "Latent Image") ping pong games, (VOY: "Relativity") and holiday celebrations. (VOY: "Homestead")

In mid-2378, after Neelix had departed Voyager, Chell wanted to take over duties in the mess hall. The ship returned to the Alpha Quadrant shortly following, and it is not known if Chell was given the position. (VOY: "Endgame")

The mess hall also served as a makeshift sickbay whenever that facility was disabled or otherwise overwhelmed. (VOY: "Macrocosm", "Before and After", "Year of Hell", "Course: Oblivion", "Memorial")

The mess hall of Voyager (and the Bellerophon) was built on the remnants of the Ten Forward set of the USS Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Based off of information from the It's A Wrap! sale and auction, the tables used in Voyager's mess hall have wooden tops painted to look metallic. Only the pedestal and an aluminum divider on the edge of the table consist of metallic parts. [2]

Klingon Bird-of-Prey[]

Several Klingon Birds-of-Prey – such as the IKS Rotarran, the IKS Ch'Tang, and the IKS Pagh – were known to include mess halls. (TNG: "A Matter Of Honor"; DS9: "Soldiers of the Empire", "Sons and Daughters", "Once More Unto the Breach")

In 2373, a fight involving Kornan, Leskit, and Ortikan broke out in the mess hall of the Rotarran. (DS9: "Soldiers of the Empire")

When Alexander Rozhenko joined the crew of the Rotarran, he was mocked by Ch'Targh and others in the mess hall. (DS9: "Sons and Daughters")

In early 2375, Miles O'Brien, Julian Bashir, and Quark ate gagh in the mess hall of the Rotarran. Quark complained about the lack of a variety of foods. (DS9: "Shadows and Symbols")

See also[]

External links[]

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