Canon facts Backstage Info  Speculation
Type
Explorer / Cruiser
Unit Run
NCC 2000 USS Excelsior
NCC 14232 USS Berlin
NCC 42285 USS Charleston
NCC 38955 USS Crockett
NCC 40512 USS Gorkon
NCC 42296 USS Hood
(NCC 14427 USS Lexington)
NCC 38997 USS Malinche
NCC 13958 USS Okinawa
NCC 2544 USS Repulse
NCC 14934 USS Tecumseh
NCC 42995 USS Al-Batani
(NCC 42136 USS Cairo)
NCC 50446 USS Crazy Horse
NCC 4598 USS Fearless
NCC 42857 USS Grissom
(NCC 38907 USS Intrepid)
NCC 34099 USS Livingston
(NCC 62043 USS Melbourne)
NCC 18253 USS Potemkin
(NCC 2573 USS Roosevelt)
(NCC 43305 USS Valley Forge)
plus 392 others built since 2287. 212 have been lost during the Dominion war, 202 remain in service.
Commissioned
2287 - 2346
Dimensions
Length : 467 m
Beam : 185 m
Height : 100 m
Decks : 28
Mass
1,525,000 tons
Crew
520
Armament
12 x Type VIII Phaser banks, total output 18,500 TeraWatts
4 x 2nd class photon torpedo tubes + 150 torpedoes
Defence Systems
Shield system, total capacity 1,201,500 TeraJoules
Standard Duranium double hull
Standard level Structural Integrity Field
Warp Speeds
(TNG Scale)
Normal Cruise : Warp Factor 6 
Maximum Cruise : Warp Factor 8.2 
Maximum Rated : Warp Factor 8.6 for twelve hours
Strength Indices
(Galaxy class = 1,000)
Beam Firepower : 370
Torpedo Firepower : 250 
Weapon Range and Accuracy : 485
Shield Strength : 445
Hull Armour : 20
Speed : 645
Combat Manoeuvrability : 3,300
Overall Strength Index
370
Grade 5
Expected Hull Life
100 years
Refit Cycle
Minor : 2 years 
Standard : 6 years 
Major : 18 years

Notes : The history of the Excelsior class tends to consist of extremes. Initially fitted with a Transwarp drive and proclaimed "the great experiment", the ship had an ignoble start when its engines failed when it was called into action to prevent the theft of the USS Enterprise. Although this was due to deliberate sabotage, it transpired that the Excelsior had been saved from a major disaster; engineers working to correct the damage discovered a series of flaws in the Transwarp drive which, had it been used, would have caused a nacelle implosion which would have destroyed the ship. The Excelsior spent nearly a full year in Spacedock while engineering specialists struggled to repair the problem. Re-launched early in 2286, the ship met with little more success. Although the fatal flaw of the Transwarp drive was repaired, the system was subject to major problems and over the next year it never completed a successful test, much to the embarrassment of Captain Styles and his crew. Finally Starfleet cancelled the Transwarp project altogether, and for a short time the Excelsior faced decommissioning. There was nothing wrong with the basic engineering of the space frame however, and in all other areas the Excelsior class was still the most advanced ship in Starfleet, and indeed the entire Quadrant, by a considerable margin.In light of this Starfleet rapidly decided to fit the Excelsior class with a more conventional propulsion system. She returned to Spacedock for the third time in 2287 to have her hull converted to run with a standard Warp drive. This process went remarkably smoothly, and by the end of the year the Excelsior was in space again. From here the history of the ship leapt from one extreme to the other; from being a costly and embarrassing failure, the Excelsior rapidly built a reputation for outstanding performance and a solid reliability few other designs have matched. Series production commenced at once, and continued unbroken for the next thirty nine years - a record for Federation shipbuilding.The Excelsior herself was assigned to Captain Sulu in 2290 and conducted extensive scientific, exploratory and diplomatic missions under his distinguished command. Today the ships of the Excelsior class continue in service, having undergone many refits and upgrades over the decades.

Type
Explorer / Counter cloak cruiser - Enterprise-B subtype
Unit Run
NCC 1701-B USS Enterprise
plus 101 vessels built since 2293. 44 have been lost, 58 remain in service.
Commissioned
2293 - 2315
Dimensions
Length : 467 m
Beam : 185 m
Height : 100 m
Decks : 28
Mass
1,870,000 tons
Crew
565
Armament
12 x Type VIII Phaser banks, total output 20,500 TeraWatts
4 x 2nd class photon torpedo tubes + 150 torpedoes
Defence Systems
Shield system, total capacity 1,296,000 TeraJoules
Standard Duranium double hull
Standard level Structural Integrity Field
Warp Speeds
(TNG Scale)
Normal Cruise : Warp Factor 6 
Maximum Cruise : Warp Factor 8.6 
Maximum Rated : Warp Factor 9 for twelve hours
Strength Indices
(Galaxy class = 1,000)
Beam Firepower : 410 
Torpedo Firepower : 250 
Weapon Range and Accuracy : 625 
Shield Strength : 480
Hull Armour : 20
Speed : 750
Combat Manoeuvrability : 3,500
Overall Strength Index
410
Grade 5
Expected Hull Life
100 years
Refit Cycle
Minor : 2 years 
Standard : 6 years 
Major : 18 years

Notes : The first major subgroup of the Excelsior class, the Enterprise-B subtype was designed for greater burst speed and manoeuvrability than the standard Excelsior and carried a much more elaborate electronics fit. The intention was to counter the new generation of cloak capable vessels being deployed by the Klingon empire; Starfleet was especially worried about developments which might permit Klingon vessels to fire whilst still cloaked, and it was these in particular that the new type was designed to counter. Wake homing torpedoes were fitted as standard, while plasma detector systems allowed the new ship to locate almost any existing vessel through its cloak. The advanced sensors of the Enterprise-B were also able to engage vessels firing from cloak by automatically locking phasers onto the origin of the weapons fire and almost instantly laying down a pattern of fire on the immediate area before the enemy vessel could change its position. Although the plasma emission weakness was rapidly eliminated from Klingon cloaking devices, the automatic lock and fire system of the Enterprise-B subclass proved so successful in service that by 2310 the Klingons had been forced to abandon the whole idea of firing from behind the cloak and reverted back to using this device purely during approach and evasion operations.

Type
Combat enhanced cruiser - Lakota subtype
Unit Run
NCC 42768 USS Lakota
No further production is planned
Commissioned
2372
Dimensions
Length : 467 m
Beam : 185 m
Height : 100 m
Decks : 28
Mass
1,925,000 tons
Crew
565
Armament
30 x Type IX Phaser banks, total output 40,000 TeraWatts
4 x Pulse fire quantum torpedo tubes +150 torpedoes
Defence Systems
Shield system, total capacity 2,362,500 TeraJoules
Standard Duranium/Tritanium double hull plus 2.10 cm high density armour
Standard level Structural Integrity Field
Warp Speeds
(TNG Scale)
Normal Cruise : Warp Factor 6 
Maximum Cruise : Warp Factor 9 
Maximum Rated : Warp Factor 9.4 for twelve hours
Strength Indices
(Galaxy class = 1,000)
Beam Firepower : 800 
Torpedo Firepower : 2,700 
Weapon Range and Accuracy : 630 
Shield Strength : 875
Hull Armour : 310
Speed : 890
Combat Manoeuvrability : 2,500
Overall Strength Index
1,295
Grade 4
Expected Hull Life
100 years
Refit Cycle
Minor : 2 years 
Standard : 6 years 
Major : 18 years

Notes : This variant of the Excelsior design was intended to extend the usefulness of the class by incorporating new technology to give a much greater weapons capability. It was hoped that the whole fleet could be similarly refitted to give Starfleet a far greater combat power during its current crises. However, the unfortunate battle between the USS Lakota and the USS Defiant clearly established the superiority of the latter; it is also actually easier to build a whole new Defiant class vessel than to upgrade an Excelsior class to Lakota standard. When full production of the Defiant class begun, the Lakota subclass was therefore dropped and only the original prototype vessel remains in service.



Last updated : 25th February 2000.
This page is Copyright Graham Kennedy 1998.

Star Trek et al is Copyright Paramount Pictures 1996/97.
No Copyright  infringement is intended and this page is for personal use only.
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