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USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)
Commissioned: Stardate: 40759.5
October 5, 2363
Launched: Stardate: 41124
February 15, 2364
First mission: Stardate: 41153.7
February 26, 2364
Status: Destroyed:
Stardate: 48650.1
August 26, 2371
Operator: United Federation of Planets: Starfleet
Specifications
Class: Galaxy
Category: Explorer
Mass: 4,500,000 t
Length: 642.51 m (2,108 ft)
Width: 463 m (1,521 ft)
Height: 173 m (451 ft)
Decks: 42
Cargo capacity: 95,000 t
Propulsion and power: Warp:
2 LF-41 warp nacelles with 1 1,500+ cochrane matter/antimatter warp reactor
Impulse:
3 subatomic unified energy impulse units with 24 independent fusion reactors
Velocity (max.): Warp: 9.6;
Impulse: 0.>75 c
Complement: 1,014 officers, crew, and civilians
15,000 emergency limit
Armament: 11 5.1 MW type-X phaser arrays;
3 Mk 95 torpedo launchers
Shields: 10 4.73 GW shield generators
Auxiliary craft: 72:
12 type 15, 15A, and 16 shuttlepods;
4 travel pods;
15 type 6 shuttles;
10 type 7 shuttles;
10 type 9A cargo shuttles;
5 special-purpose shuttles;
10 work bees;
5 Sphinx type M1 workpods;
1 Galaxy type captain's yacht
432 escape pods
For docked configuration; this information is compiled from canon ( The Next Generation: "Conundrum") and semi-canon ( The Next Generation Technical Manual, Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, Star Trek Starship Spotter) sources.
Kazvorpal/startrek-template

The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) is a starship in the Star Trek fictional universe, the principal setting of the television series The Next Generation. The Enterprise-D is a Galaxy class ship, the fifth Federation starship to bear the name Enterprise. It is in service in the late 24th century.

History

Entering service in 2363, the Enterprise (or Enterprise-D, to distinguish it from prior starships with the same name) serves eight years as the flagship of the Federation Starfleet until its untimely destruction in 2371. Throughout its mission, it is primarily under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard; however, Commander William Riker and Captain Edward Jellico briefly command the ship.

As the third Galaxy class ship, after the prototype starship USS Galaxy and USS Yamato, the Enterprise-D was commissioned on October 4, 2363 after its construction at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards orbiting Mars. It becomes one of the most important and noted ships of the late 24th century while under the command of Captain Picard. The ship's crew makes first contact with a multitude of species, including the Borg, the Q Continuum, and the Ferengi. The crew's diplomatic efforts, such as mitigating Romulan aid to the Duras faction during the Klingon Civil War and preventing a Cardassian strike near the McAllister C5 Nebula, help cool tensions among other races and prevent dramatic upheavals to Federation security. The Enterprise-D was instrumental in the defeat of the Borg during their 2366 attempt to invade the Federation.

Destruction

In 2371, as depicted in Generations, the Klingon Duras sisters render the Enterprise-D's shields useless by finding the shilds' modulation frequency and altering their weapons accordingly. Although the Enterprise-D destroys the sisters' ship, damage to the warp drive coolant system prompts an emergency saucer separation. The warp core breaches moments after the saucer begins to move away at impulse. The resulting shock-wave impacts the saucer, disabling propulsion and other primary systems, sending it into the atmosphere of Veridian III. Caught in the planet's gravity, the saucer section crash-lands on the surface, damaging it beyond repair.

In an another timeline, Tolian Soran destroys Veridian III's star in order to return to the Nexus. The star's destruction creates a shockwave that destroys the planet and kills the Enterprise crew, save for Picard, who travels with Soran into the Nexus. Picard convinces Nexus resident Captain James Kirk to return with him to Veridian III before Soran destroys the Veridian star. The two officers prevent Veridian III's destruction, and thus the alternate timeline, although it consequently leads to Kirk's demise.

Alternate Future Timeline

In the alternate future timeline featured in the TNG series finale "All Good Things...", the Enterprise-D is shown intact in 2395. In this alternate future, the ship is commanded by Admiral William Riker and has undergone major refits, including the addition of a third warp nacelle, new weapons, a faster propulsion system, and a cloaking device. This future timeline arises from a temporal anomaly that Picard, with Q's help, manages to eliminate.

Design notes

Andrew Probert, who assisted in updating the original Enterprise for The Motion Picture, designed the Enterprise-D. Originally tasked with designing the bridge, Probert had a "what if" sketch hanging on his wall that he had drawn after working on The Motion Picture. Story editor David Gerrold saw the sketch and brought it to creator Gene Roddenberry's attention, who approved the sketch as a starting point for the Enterprise-D's design.

An Industrial Light and Magic supervised by Ease Owyeung built two filming miniatures (a six-foot model and a two-foot model) for the "Encounter at Farpoint" pilot, and these models were used throughout the first two seasons. For the third season, model-maker Greg Jein built a four-foot miniature, which had an added layer of surface plating detail, that first appeared in "The Defector" and was used throughout the rest of the series. The six-foot model was used whenever a saucer separation sequence needed to be filmed, and was then updated by ILM for use in Generations.

ILM's John Knoll also built a CGI Electric Image model of the Enterprise-D for Generations. That model was transferred to LightWave and used to create various Galaxy class starships in episodes of Deep Space Nine and in the Voyager episode "Timeless". Eden FX's Gabriel Köerner built a new CGI LightWave model for the Enterprise-D's appearance in Enterprise's series finale, "These Are the Voyages...".

Trivia

  • One of the real world reasons for the Enterprise-D's destruction stems from a concept drawing of a saucer section crash, produced for the The Next Generation Technical Manual. TNG writers Ronald D. Moore, Jeri Taylor, and Brannon Braga saw the drawing and wanted to use a saucer crash as a sixth-season cliffhanger episode for the series, but were unable to do so because of a limited budget and resistance from producer Michael Piller. Moore and Braga later decided on using the scenario for Generations. The destruction of the Enterprise-D also proved a cost-saver for the upcoming Voyager television series, as the Enterprise existing sets were refurbished to become the USS Voyager, just as the TOS movie Enterprise sets became the Enterprise-D's.

References

External links

USS Enterprise (Star Trek) | Federation Starships

USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) | USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) | Enterprise NCC-1701D | USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) | 聯邦星艦企業號 (NCC-1701-D)

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)".

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