| File:Sovereign class enterprise 1701-E nebula bckgrnd.jpg | |
| Caption: | The USS Enterprise in 2373 |
| Registry: | NCC-1701-E |
| Class: | Sovereign |
| Affiliation: | Federation Starfleet |
| Launched: | 2372 |
| Status: | Active (2379) |
| File:Enterprise-E2379.jpg | |
| Caption: | The Enterprise-E in 2379 |
The USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E was a Sovereign class Federation starship operating in the late 24th century. The sixth Federation vessel to bear the name, the Enterprise-E served as the flagship of the Federation.
History
Construction and launch
The Enterprise-E was commissioned on stardate 49827.5 and was, at the time, the most advanced starship in the fleet. It was built at the San Francisco Fleet Yards in orbit of Earth. Captain Jean-Luc Picard assumed command shortly after the vessel's launch, just over a year following the destruction of its predecessor. Most of Picard's crew from the Enterprise-D were reassigned to the Enterprise-E.
- Ronald D. Moore commented: "My working assumption was that the E-E had her keel laid sometime during TNG's last season and was probably going to be given another name. When the E-D was destroyed, that Sovereign class ship was nearing completion and was then christened Enterprise." [1]
Technical info
In its original configuration, the Enterprise-E was 685 meters long and had 24 decks. It was equipped with 16 phaser banks and 10 torpedo launchers. Sections included deflector control, stellar cartography, hydroponics, and one sickbay ward. Main Engineering was on Deck 16 (Star Trek: First Contact). The ship could be controlled by a manual steering column, located on the bridge (Star Trek: Insurrection). It was also the first Enterprise to be equipped with an Emergency Medical Hologram. (Star Trek: First Contact)
- Ronald D. Moore commented that, as of First Contact, the Enterprise-E "definitely" had no children aboard. [2]
The Enterprise's shuttlebay.
The Enterprise carried a newer design of shuttlecraft as well as numerous other forms of transportation including a warp-capable captain's yacht, the Cousteau (Star Trek: Insurrection), and a special multipurpose shuttlecraft, the Argo. (Star Trek Nemesis)
Crewmembers included those of the human, Vulcan, Bajoran, Betazoid, Bolian, and Trill species, as well as a Klingon and an android. (Star Trek: Insurrection)
By 2379, the Enterprise-E had at least 29 decks. (Star Trek Nemesis)
In service
After a year of shakedown, the Enterprise-E was ordered to the Romulan Neutral Zone during the second Borg incursion. Starfleet was officially concerned about possible Romulan military action since most of the fleet had been diverted to fight the Borg, but there was little activity from the Romulans. In reality, Starfleet was worried about Picard's presence at the battle. Disobeying orders, Captain Picard returned to Earth, his decision proving instrumental in the Battle of Sector 001.
The Enterprise at the Battle of Sector 001.
The Borg cube was destroyed, but not before it launched a second vessel towards Earth. This ship created a temporal vortex and traveled back to the year 2063, in order to stop Zefram Cochrane from launching his historic Phoenix warpship and prevent the formation of the Federation by assimilating Earth itself. The Enterprise chased the Borg into the past and destroyed their ship, then sent an away team to help Cochrane repair the Phoenix. However, the ship's sensors were damaged during the trip to the past and unbeknownst to the crew, several Borg drones transported aboard the Enterprise before their ship exploded. They began to assimilate the ship's engineering section below Deck 11, including many crewmembers. They also attempted to build an interplexing beacon on the Enterprise deflector dish to contact the Borg Collective. A team led by Captain Picard stopped the beacon from being completed by separating the deflector from the ship and then destroying it. Picard eventually realized that the fight was a lost cause, and ordered the evacuation of the ship and an auto-destruct, to prevent the Borg from interfering with the Phoenix flight. He eventually confronted the Borg Queen in Main Engineering, and with the help of Commander Data, aborted the auto-destruct and used plasma coolant to liquefy the organic components of the Borg, destroying their temporary collective.
Enterprise crew were successful in helping Cochrane make his flight, and the vessel returned to 2373 following the historic first contact with the Vulcans. (Star Trek: First Contact)
- Seven of Nine made reference to the Enterprise and Borg involvement with Cochrane's flight in VOY: "Relativity." The incident was described as an example of a Pogo Paradox.
In 2375, the Enterprise was conducting a diplomatic mission with the Evora, a new Federation protectorate species, and was scheduled to resolve a dispute in the Goren system when its crew became embroiled in a plot by the Son'a, assisted by Starfleet Admiral Matthew Dougherty, to forcibly remove the Ba'ku from their isolated homeworld in the Briar Patch. The Son'a planned to harvest metaphasic radiation from the planet's ring system, and needed Starfleet cooperation to carry out the plan. Captain Picard felt the relocation of the Ba'ku was a severe violation of the Prime Directive, resigned his commission, and led a team of Enterprise crewmembers to the Ba'ku planet to prevent their capture and removal.
The Enterprise indirectly causes an explosion in the Briar Patch.
Commander William Riker was instructed to take the Enterprise and contact the Federation Council to alert them to the realities of the situation. It was a treacherous journey, since the Briar Patch interfered with external communications as well as the ship's impulse drive. Two Son'a battle cruisers were sent by Ahdar Ru'afo to intercept the Enterprise before it left the Briar Patch, and severely damaged the ship in the process. The warp core was ejected in order to seal a dangerous tear in subspace created by the isolytic weaponry of the Son'a. Riker was able to outsmart the Son'a by collecting metreon gas native to the Briar Patch then venting it behind the ship. When the Son'a used their weapons, the gas exploded, destroying one ship and severely damaging the other. The Enterprise then convinced the Federation Council to reconsider the plan for the Ba'ku and Captain Picard was reinstated as the ship's commander. (Star Trek: Insurrection)
The Enterprise visited Earth for several days in 2376, around the time the Pathfinder Project made contact with the USS Voyager. (VOY: "Pathfinder") The Enterprise conducted a mission about seven light-years from Earth late that year. (VOY: "Life Line")
- According to Deanna Troi, it was an important mission, but then again, all of the Enterprise's missions are important.
Sometime after the end of the Dominion War, the Enterprise received a refit, increasing its offensive capabilities. Three extra aft facing photon torpedo tubes were added, along with two more forward facing tubes: a twin launcher aft of the bridge, a single launcher above the aft hangar deck, a single launcher at the base of the bridge terracing, and a single launcher near the bow. Additionally, four extra phaser arrays were added to the nacelle pylons.
In 2379, the Enterprise returned to Earth for the wedding of William Riker and Deanna Troi. It then departed for Betazed, where another ceremony, a traditional Betazoid wedding was scheduled. While en route, the ship detected unusual positronic signals from the Kolarin system, discovering another Soong-type android, the prototype B-4. Shortly following, the Enterprise was ordered to Romulus for a meeting with the new Praetor, Shinzon, who wanted to initiate peace talks. Both the discovery of B-4 and the peace overtures turned out to be a ruse to capture Captain Picard and discover tactical positions of Starfleet vessels.
Enterprise faces and collides with the Scimitar.
Enterprise in drydock over Earth.
Once it became clear Shinzon was going to use his starship, the Scimitar, to destroy all life on Earth and wage war on the Federation, the Enterprise was to join Starfleet Battle Group Omega and make a stand against Shinzon. Shinzon caught up to the Enterprise in the Bassen Rift, and in the ensuing confrontation, the vessel was severely damaged, including a major hull breach on the bridge, and unable to stop the Scimitar. As a last resort, Picard ordered the Enterprise to ram the Scimitar, causing the destruction of much of the saucer section's forward area. The collision disabled the Scimitar, but Shinzon, driven by vengeance, activated his deadly thalaron weapon and trained it on the Enterprise. The weapon was later overloaded and the Scimitar destroyed due to interference from Commander Data, who sacrificed himself to save the Enterprise.
The ship then returned to Earth, and was required to go through several weeks of extensive drydock repair. (Star Trek Nemesis)
- A cut scene from the script for Star Trek Nemesis revealed that it was the starship USS Hemingway that towed the critically-damaged Enterprise-E to Earth.
- According to the Star Trek Nemesis script and a deleted scene, the Enterprise was to explore the Denab system following its refit. In this scene you can also see Commander Martin Madden, the new executive officer, and a new captain's chair with something most Star Trek bridges have lacked: a seatbelt!
Command Crew
- commanding officer (CO)
- first officer/executive officer (XO)
- Commander William Riker (2372-2379)
- Commander Martin Madden (2379-)
- second officer/operations officer (operations manager)/science officer
- Lieutenant Commander Data (2372-2379)
- chief engineer
- Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge
- tactical officer/security chief
- Lieutenant Daniels (2373-2379)
- Lieutenant Commander Worf (2379-)
- chief medical officer (CMO)
- Commander Beverly Crusher
- counselor
- Commander Deanna Troi (2372-2379)
- conn
- Lieutenant Hawk (2373)
- Ensign Kell Perim (2375)
- Lieutenant Branson (2379)
- Scenes cut from the theatrical release of Star Trek Nemesis (but included in the DVD release) state that Commander Martin Madden would take over for Riker as First Officer and that Dr. Crusher left the ship to head Starfleet Medical. Early versions of the script made reference to an Andorian ops officer. The new counselor was female, according to dialogue.
Background Information
The Enterprise-E was principally designed by John Eaves and Herman Zimmerman. Rick Sternbach drafted the blueprints for the ship. Eaves and Zimmerman also supervised the interior design of the bridge, engineering, and corridors, although many sets from Star Trek: Voyager were also reused during Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection.
A ten-foot physical model constructed under the supervision of John Goodson at Industrial Light and Magic was used for some visual effects shots during Star Trek: First Contact, alongside a CGI version. By the time of Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek Nemesis, a CGI version of the ship completely replaced the physical model. For Nemesis, the CGI model received several modifications designed by John Eaves. In addition to the new weapons mentioned above, the warp pylons were slightly modified and the connection between the primary and secondary hulls near the main shuttlebay was sleekened.
The model of the Enterprise-E from Star Trek: First Contact (Lot #107) was sold at the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection auction on October 5, 2006 for $132,000 including the buyer's premium (the winning bid was $110,000).
There seems to be some confusion about the size of the Enterprise-E. The construction blueprints of the filming miniature as well as the master systems display on the bridge created for Star Trek: First Contact indicate the ship was designed with 24 decks. In the film, Picard confirms this when he tells Lily Sloane that the ship had 24 decks. Earlier on, however, Daniels had reported that the Borg are in control of Decks 26 through 11. In Star Trek Nemesis, the Remans beam onto Deck 29. This could mean that Picard did not tell Lily the truth and there are actually more than 24 decks, or that more decks were added to the ship prior to Star Trek Nemesis. It may also be the case that Picard was counting only finished decks; as there could have been decks left unfinished for future expansion.
Also in Nemesis, the Viceroy falls several decks down a maintenance shaft. Because the Viceroy and the other Remans boarded the ship on Deck 29, it has been assumed that the ensuing battle took place on Deck 29 and that the Viceroy fell from that deck, implying that there could be 35 or more decks. However, this is not the case as signage on the corridors where the phaser fight between the Remans and the Enterprise officers took place indicate they were actually on Deck 9. This suggests that the two parties encountered each other about halfway to their destinations (Enterprise officers to Deck 29, the Remans to the bridge on Deck 1).
Appendices
Appearances
References
- DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations"
- VOY:
- "Relativity"
- "Pathfinder"
- "Life Line"
- "Inside Man"
Apocrypha
Some missions of the Enterprise-E during the Dominion War are featured in Behind Enemy Lines, Tunnel Through the Stars and Tales of the Dominion War. A "TNG relaunch" of sorts follows the Enterprise-E's activities after Nemesis; the first book in the series, Death in Winter, was released in September 2005.
The Enterprise-E has also featured in many apocryphal productions, including the strategy games Star Trek: Armada, Star Trek: Armada II, Star Trek: Bridge Commander, Star Trek: Starfleet Command III, and Star Trek: Elite Force II. Template:StarshipEnterprise