The USS Kongo (NCC-1710) was a Federation starship that was in service with Starfleet in the late 23rd century.
In 2293, the Kongo was patrolling the Neutral Zone at the time that Operation Retrieve was proposed. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
Background
- The Kongo and registry was not from dialog, it was seen only on background artwork.
- Although not considered as canon, Franz Joseph's Star Fleet Technical Manual listed the Kongo – with the NCC-1710 registry – as a Constitution-class heavy cruiser. However, as in the case with Star Trek I, the Technical Manual was used for the references in it, as was confirmed by Michael Okuda, who created the "Operation Retrieve" mission charts. [1]
- The Making of Star Trek (p.165), by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry, listed the Kongo as one of the fourteen established names for starships. Along with the Constitution, it was the only one of these ships that is neither seen nor named in the course of the series.
- The same publication (p.165) had producer Robert Justman remark on a memo of an earlier draft of the list, "I think there would be several other candidates, such as Saratoga and perhaps another English carrier, a French carrier, a Russian carrier and certainly a Japanese carrier." Though there had been plenty of historical Japanese carriers to choose from, the historical Kongo was in actuality a Japanese battleship of the World War I-II era.
- According to a ship listing included in the plans, and not seen in the extended cut of the movie, the Kongo was commanded by N. Rodis, and the ship was located in Sector 21803. The ship's captain was named after the sixth movie's art director Nilo Rodis-Jamero. [2]