Excelsior Class

Standard

Universe :	Prime Timeline
Affiliation :	Federation
Class Name :	Excelsior Class [1]
Type :	Explorer / Cruiser
Unit Run :	USS Farragut [2] - Active NCC 13958 [3] USS Okinawa [4] - Active NCC 14232 [3] USS Berlin [5] - Active NCC 14427 USS Lexington [6] - Active NCC 14598 [3] USS Fearless [7] - Active NCC 14934 [3] USS Tecumseh [8] - Active NCC 18253 [3] USS Potemkin [9] - Active NCC 2000 [10] USS Excelsior [1] - Active NCC 2544 [3] USS Repulse [11] - Active NCC 2573 [3] USS Roosevelt - Destroyed [12] NCC 34099 [3] USS Livingston [13] - Active NCC 38907 [3] USS Intrepid [14] - Destroyed NCC 38955 [3] USS Crockett [15] - Active NCC 38997 [3] USS Malinche [16] - Active NCC 40521 [3] USS Gorkon [17] - Active NCC 42111 [3] USS Fredrickson [18] - Active NCC 42136 [3] USS Cairo [19] - Missing [20] NCC 42285 [3] USS Charleston [21] - Active NCC 42768 [22] USS Hood [23] - Active NCC 42857 [3] USS Grissom [24] - Active NCC 42995 [3] USS Al-Batani [25] - Active NCC 43305 [3] USS Valley Forge - Destroyed [26] NCC 50446 [3] USS Crazy Horse [17] - Active NCC 62043 [27] USS Melbourne [28] - Destroyed [29] plus 390 others built in total. 212 have been lost in all. 10 have been retired from service.
Commissioned :	2287 - 2346, class remains in service
Dimensions :	Length : 467 m [30] Beam : 185 m [31] Height : 100 m [31] Decks : 28
Mass :	2,150,000 metric tons
Crew :	705, 8,500 evacuation limit
Armament :	12 x Type VIII phaser bank, total output 18,500 TeraWatts 4 x 2nd class photon torpedo tube [10] with 150 rounds
Defence Systems :	Standard shield system, total capacity 1,201,500 TeraJoules Standard Duranium Double hull. Standard level Structural Integrity Field
Warp Speeds (TNG scale) :	Normal Cruise : 6 Maximum Cruise : 8.2 Maximum Rated : 8.6 for 12 hours.
Strength Indices : (Galaxy class = 1,000)	Beam Firepower : 370 Torpedo Firepower : 250 Weapon Range and Accuracy : 515 Shield Strength : 445 Hull Armour : 20 Speed : 680 Combat Manoeuvrability : 2,180
Overall Strength Index :	374
Diplomatic Capability :	5
Expected Hull Life :	100
Refit Cycle :	Minor : 2 year Standard : 2 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 [1], 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, [32] 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, [33] 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. [32] 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, [10] exploratory and diplomatic missions under his distinguished command. [10] Today the ships of the Excelsior class continue in service [34], having undergone many refits and upgrades over the decades.

Colour key

References

#	Series	Season	Source	Comment
1			Star Trek III : The Search for Spock
2	DS9	7	Chrysalis
3			Star Trek Encyclopedia
4	DS9	4	Paradise Lost
5	TNG	1	Angel One
6	TNG	7	Thine Own Self
7	TNG	1	Where No One Has Gone Before
8	DS9	5	...Nor the Battle to the Strong
9	TNG	4	Legacy
10			Star Trek VI : The Undiscovered Country
11	TNG	2	The Child
12	VOY	3	Unity
13	DS9	2	Invasive Procedures
14	TNG	4	Family
15	DS9	2	Paradise
16	DS9	5	For the Uniform
17	TNG	6	Descent, Part 1
18	DS9	6	A Time to Stand
19	TNG	6	Chain of Command, Part 1
20	DS9	6	In the Pale Moonlight
21	TNG	1	The Neutral Zone
22			Star Trek : Nemesis
23	TNG	1	Encounter at Farpoint
24	TNG	3	The Most Toys
25	VOY	1	Caretaker
26	DS9	6	Tears of the Prophets
27	DS9	1	Emissary
28	TNG	1	11001001
29	TNG	3	The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1
30			Star Trek Chronology	Stated on page 138. Scale diagrams usually give a size consistent with this figure. However, the DS9 TM claims that the Enterprise-B type, which is based on an identical basic hull, has a length of 511.25 metres.
31			Star Trek Chronology
32			Star Trek Chronology	second edition
33			Generic official information
34			Various Next Generation episodes

Comments

First seen in "Star Trek III : The Search For Spock", the Excelsior was claimed by Sulu to have the new 'transwarp' drive. The lack of such a technology within the federation has led to the obvious conclusion that transwarp was a failure, and I devoted much of the text to this. I like the idea that Scotty's sabotage actually saved the Excelsior from destruction - even when our heroes are doing wrong they're doing right!

The rest of the entry for the basic Excelsior is pretty much what we know, or can directly infer. For the modifications seen on the Enterprise-B in "Generations", I suggested that she was a response to the 'cloak-fire' Bird of Prey because it seemed reasonable that the Klingons would have persued this technology after Star Trek VI. Having the E-B subtype as a more specialist ship than the normal Excelsior is a reasonable way to explain why we have seen relatively fewer of these ships during TNG.

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Last updated : 20 Dec 2024

Series :	DS9 Season 7
Episode :	Chrysalis

Series :	DS9 Season 4
Episode :	Paradise Lost

Series :	TNG Season 1
Episode :	Angel One

Series :	TNG Season 7
Episode :	Thine Own Self

Series :	TNG Season 1
Episode :	Where No One Has Gone Before

Series :	DS9 Season 5
Episode :	...Nor the Battle to the Strong

Series :	TNG Season 3
Episode :	The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1

Book :	Star Trek Chronology
Comment :	Stated on page 138. Scale diagrams usually give a size consistent with this figure. However, the DS9 TM claims that the Enterprise-B type, which is based on an identical basic hull, has a length of 511.25 metres.