Galaxy class starship

The Galaxy class is a fictional class of starship in the science fiction franchise Star Trek. At the time of their inauguration they were largest and most powerful Starfleet vessels of the Federation.

The most notable Galaxy-class starship is the USS Enterprise-D, the primary setting of the TV series Star Trek:The Next Generation and the feature film Star Trek: Generations. Galaxy vessels have also been present in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, including the pilot (featuring Enterprise-D) and during the Dominion War. There were also several appearances of this class in Star Trek: Voyager, including the finale.

Design
The Galaxy-class model was designed by Andrew Probert for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Interiors were designed by Probert and Herman Zimmerman during the first season. Richard D. James designed and rebuilt the sets for the remaining six years, while Zimmerman returned for Star Trek Generations.

The ship's design features the classic Star Trek configuration: a saucer section connected via a vertical "neck" to the stardrive section, with warp nacelles attached to the rear of the stardrive section via pylons. The Galaxy-class contrasts with previous starships, however, in that the saucer section is considerably wider than it is long; the nacelles pylons are roughly half the height of the ship's neck; and the entire ship is designed with an emphasis on forward-leaning arcs. The smaller Nebula-class starship features a similar saucer and nacelles to the Galaxy.

History
Within the series it is stated that design and construction of the Galaxy-class began in the 2340s, with the first ships being commissioned in the 2360s. According to dialog in the Next Generation episodes "11001001" and "Booby Trap", designers of the USS Enterprise-D included Orfil Quinteros and Leah Brahms.

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry stated that only six Galaxy-class starships had been constructed; in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes "Sacrifice of Angels" and "Favor the Bold" no fewer than nine are seen as part of a single "Fleet" and by this point in the series the Galaxy-class USS Enterprise-D, USS Yamato, and USS Odyssey had all been destroyed. The Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual provides a possible canonical workaround by claiming that, while only six ships were ordered initially, Starfleet reserved the right to procure six more at a later date. Indeed it was likely a necessity given the increase in hostilities with the Dominion, the Klingons and the Borg as seen in Deep Space 9 and Star Trek: First Contact.

Bridge
Three distinct Galaxy class bridge variants have been seen: the Enterprise bridge in The Next Generation (which undergoes a redesign in the first two seasons), the Enterprise bridge in Star Trek Generations, and the USS Odyssey bridge in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Jem'Hadar".

The main bridge of the Galaxy class Enterprise is located on deck 1, and she also has a secondary battle bridge on deck eight of the secondary hull for use when the ship has undergone a saucer separation. It is first seen in the TNG episode "Encounter at Farpoint" and again in "The Arsenal of Freedom", with an updated version appearing in "The Best of Both Worlds".

Other Galaxy-class starships
In addition to these vessels, several unnamed or unidentifiable Galaxy-class ships appear in DS9 ' s "A Time to Stand", "Sacrifice of Angels", "Tears of the Prophets" and "What You Leave Behind" and in Voyager ' s "Endgame".


 * USS Andromeda : Galaxy-class explorer starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. This ship was in active service around the 2370s decade. (TNG video games: Armada, Armada II)


 * USS Asgard : In the TNG novel A Time To Be Born, the USS Asgard was mentioned as having been destroyed during the Battle of Rashanar during the Dominion War.


 * USS Bolivar : Galaxy-class Federation starship in service in the 24th century. In 2370, the Bolivar was under construction at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, and was to be equipped with a new, experimental saucer section for use on Galaxy-class vessels. However, when the USS Enterprise-D's saucer was damaged during a Maquis attack, the saucer was attached to the Enterprise. A subsequent attempt by the Maquis to steal the saucer resulted in its destruction. (TNG novel: Rogue Saucer). The Bolivar was named for Simón Bolívar, who led several South American nations to independence from the nation of Spain during the early 19th century.


 * USS Challenger (NCC-71099) : In the Voyager episode "Timeless", in an alternate future, Harry Kim encounters and is pursued by the USS Challenger captained by Next Generation character Geordi La Forge. The Challenger also appears in the novel, Star Trek: The Return by William Shatner.


 * USS Constellation : Federation Galaxy-class explorer starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. This ship was in active service around the year 2378. (ST video game: Starfleet Command III)


 * USS Constitution : Galaxy-class Federation starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. The Constitution, under command of Jules van Osterlich, was one of two Federation starships in 2364 to respond to reports of a deadly prion-based infection (which was, years later found to be engineered by Thallonian General Gerrid Thul). (TNG novel: "Infection", "Red Sector") In 2370, the Constitution was under the command of Captain Tiyo Soya. The Constitution and the USS Odyssey met with the USS Enterprise-D, after a Vulcan science vessel reported that the Enterprise was taken over by alien entities. (TNG novel: "Possession")


 * USS Dauntless (NCC-71879) : In the game Star Trek Bridge Commander, the Dauntless is a Galaxy-class starship controlled by the player for the first part of the game. It is destroyed later in the game.


 * USS Excalibur (NCC-26517-A) : A Galaxy-class Starfleet vessel under the command of Captain Mackenzie Calhoun beginning in the year 2376.


 * USS Galaxy (NX-70637) : A number of Galaxy-class starships appear in the Deep Space Nine episode "Tears of the Prophets". Although it isn't clear on-screen, the series' visual effects supervisor David Stipes confirmed that one of the Galaxy-class starships seen in the episode was intended to be the USS Galaxy. The ship also appears in a list of starships en route to intercept the Enterprise in the film Nemesis.


 * USS Hedderjin : The USS Hedderjin was a Galaxy-class starship under the command of Captain Gilaad Ben Zoma with Commander Sariel Rager as XO. In 2379, the Hedderjin was assigned to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone.


 * USS Hood : Federation Galaxy-class explorer starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. This ship was in active service around the year 2378. (ST video game: Starfleet Command III). (No specific history or definitive final fate was established for this vessel as its name was selected for a ship by the Starfleet Command III game developers, and is placed randomly each time the ship appears.) In an alternate timeline where Deanna Troi was killed in 2368, the Hood was under the command of Captain Wesley Crusher by the late 2400s. In 2408, the Hood was dispatched to Starbase 86 in order to transport Admiral William T. Riker to Betazed so that he could visit a dying Lwaxana Troi. The Hood remained on station at Betazed following Troi's death and the following funeral. (TNG novel: Imzadi)


 * USS Independence (NCC-90346) : The USS Independence was a Galaxy-class explorer starship under the command of Captain George Garfield with Commander Joe Morris as XO. In late 2375, the Independence appeared in the non-canon book Double Helix: Part 5 Double or Nothing by Peter David.  The Independence was destroyed near Sector 221-G by Romulan Subcommander Sela, the daughter of Lieutenant Tasha Yar conceived after a spacetime disruption sent Yar back in time on-board the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C in the ST:TNG episode 63 Yesterday's Enterprise.  After receiving a distress signal from the Daystrom Station, home of the AI computer experiment Omega 9, the Independence diverted to the station in acknowledgment of the signal.  With Cmdr. William T. Riker on-board as a passenger en route to Earth to attend the bicentennial celebrations for the signing of the Resolution of Non-Interference, the Independence encountered an alien vessel in orbit of the station.  Pursuing the vessel into Thallonian space, the Independence is surrounded by Romulan Warbirds under the command of Sela, who orders the destruction of the starship forcing the entire crew to abandon the Independence only minutes from a warp core breach.  Sela ordered the escape pods destroyed and many were before the USS Excalibur intervened.


 * USS Intrepid : Galaxy-class starship captained by Terrance Riley, son of Kevin Thomas Riley, in the Michael Jan Friedman novel "Crossover." The Intrepid intercepted Scotty's "liberated" USS Yorktown en route to the Romulan neutral zone.


 * USS Jefferies : Galaxy-class starship in service to Starfleet in the 24th century. In 2379, the Jefferies became a part of Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge's supply circle. (TNG novel: A Time to Hate). The Jefferies was named for Matt Jefferies, designer of the original USS Enterprise for the original Star Trek television series.


 * USS Kinugasa : Federation Galaxy-class command cruiser starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. (TNG video game: Birth of the Federation)


 * USS Lazarev : Federation Galaxy-class command cruiser starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. (TNG video game: Birth of the Federation)


 * USS Madison : The USS Madison was a Galaxy-class starship commanded by Captain Paul Higginbotham in 2367. It later took part in the battle of Sector 001.


 * USS Magellan (NCC-71820) : Federation Galaxy-class explorer starship in service to Starfleet in the late 24th century. (RPG reference: Starships). In 2374, the Magellan participated in Operation Return to retake Deep Space 9 from the Dominion. The Magellan, along with the USS Venture was assigned to protect the USS Defiant, but both took heavy damage. (DS9 episode: "Sacrifice of Angels"). In 2376, the Magellan participated in the resolution to the Iconian gateway crisis. In the effort to reach her destination in time, one of the Magellan's dilithium crystal relays blew out, and even afterwards, Chief Engineer Conklin pushed the ship's engines past the redline. Repairs were estimated to take a week at the nearest starbase. (Star Trek: Gateways - What Lay Beyond short story: "The Other Side")


 * USS Makarov : Federation Galaxy-class command cruiser starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. (TNG video game: Birth of the Federation)


 * USS Malevolent : Galaxy-class Federation explorer starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. This ship was in active service around the year 2376. (TNG video game: Armada)


 * USS Molotov : Federation Galaxy-class command cruiser starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. (TNG video game: Birth of the Federation)


 * USS Monitor : Galaxy-class Federation starship in service in the late 24th century. In 2377, the Monitor fell victim to the Warden nanite virus. Almost the entire crew was infected and were ready to take the vessel into battle as part of the civil war that had engulfed the entire galaxy with much of the galactic population under Warden control. A handful of survivors managed to put out a distress call but it was first detected by the Borg. In their desire to purge the galaxy of the Warden threat the Borg began to assimilate the Monitor. The distress signal was also detected by the USS Incursion who located the Monitor and sent an away team to investigate. Only five of the ships entire crew managed to survive both the Warden nanites and Borg assimilation and the Incursion's away team located them and beamed them to safety. Whilst on board the away team inadvertently triggered a Borg self destruct program and only just managed to escape the Monitor before the Borg destroyed her by flying the vessel into a nearby star. (ST video game: Away Team)


 * USS Mukaikubo : Federation Galaxy-class starship in service to Starfleet in the 24th century. In 2371, the Mukaikubo was stationed at Starbase One in reaction to the discovery of a five thousand year-old version of the USS Defiant in the nearby Oort Cloud. She was later sent to Deep Space 9 to support the station after the contemporary Defiant left on a potential one-way trip through the Bajoran wormhole. The Mukaikubo was under the command of Captain Regitz, and was to give interim DS9 commander, Major Kira Nerys, her full cooperation. Unfortunately, the Mukaikubo fell victim to the Unclean en route to Deep Space 9. Prior to her arrival at the station the Galaxy-class ship had lost her bridge assembly, swaths of secondary hull, and all of her crew to the Unclean. Drifting powerless on a course toward the Bajoran wormhole, the Mukaikubo was saddled with four unshielded reaction masses set to detonate inside the wormhole to further the temporal invasion plans of the Unclean. The Unclean were drawn away from the Mukaikubo however, and defeated without fulfilling their explosive plan. (ST - Invasion! novel: Time's Enemy)


 * USS Murmansk : Federation Galaxy-class command cruiser starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. (TNG video game: Birth of the Federation)


 * USS Navarra : Federation Galaxy-class command cruiser starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. (TNG video game: Birth of the Federation)


 * USS Ning Hai : Federation Galaxy-class command cruiser starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. (TNG video game: Birth of the Federation)


 * USS Odyssey (NCC-71832) : In the Deep Space Nine episode "The Jem'Hadar", the USS Odyssey is destroyed while on a mission to rescue Commander Sisko, Jake Sisko, Nog and Quark. The Odyssey is also featured in Star Trek: Armada.


 * USS Ontario : Federation Galaxy-class command cruiser starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. (TNG video game: Birth of the Federation)


 * USS Oraidhe : Galaxy-class starship commanded by Captain Gohod Clif. It was named for the mountain Oraidhe on Trill. The Oraidhe was assigned to take care of a civil war on 11 Lacerti in 2369, followed by half a year of patrol duty on the edge of Federation space. Then it spent six months getting home, only to be sent to join the USS Enterprise-D and the USS Marignano at the Great Rift. There the entire crew's neural energies were "eaten" by the intellivore. The Enterprise-D towed the vessel to Starbase 44, where it was recommissioned with a new name and given a new crew. (TNG novel: Intellivore)


 * USS Oregon (NCC-75698) : Galaxy-class Federation starship in service during the 24th century. During the brief Klingon-Romulan war in 2376, the Oregon was assigned to transport Ambassador Spock to a neutral location so that a peace could be negotiated between the two powers, so that they could lend assistance to the Federation as it faced a further Borg invasion. En route to the conference the Oregon was attacked by the Borg and was nearly destroyed. Thankfully, the USS Enterprise-E had traveled from an alternate future and managed to save the Oregon. After destroying the Borg attackers, the Enterprise escorted the Oregon to the conference site to meet with Chancellor Martok and Admiral Sela. As a result the conference was a success and with Klingon and Romulan support Starfleet managed to defeat the Borg invasion of Sector 001. (TNG video game: Armada)


 * USS Pequod : Galaxy-class explorer battleship starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. Pequod was in active service around the 2370s decade. (TNG video games: Armada, Armada II)


 * USS Perseus : Galaxy-class Federation starship in service in the late 24th century. (TNG video game: Armada II)


 * USS Persia : Galaxy-class Federation starship in service in the late 24th century. (TNG video game: Armada II)


 * USS Renown : Galaxy-class command cruiser starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century, around the year 2377. (TNG video game: Birth of the Federation; ST video game: Armada II)


 * USS Reverent : Galaxy-class Federation starship in service in the late 24th century (2377). (TNG video game: Armada II)


 * USS Rylander : Galaxy-class Federation starship in service in the late 24th century. (TNG video game: Armada II)


 * USS Salem : Galaxy-class command cruiser starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. (TNG video game: Birth of the Federation)


 * USS San Francisco (NCC-74780) : Galaxy-class Federation starship in service during the 24th century.

In 2378, the San Francisco was attached to Starbase 12 under the direction of Admiral Alice Liu. (TNG video game: Bridge Commander)


 * USS Taylor : Federation Galaxy-class explorer starship in Starfleet service in the 24th century. This ship was in active service around the year 2377. (TNG video game: Armada II).


 * USS Trident (NCC-31347) : Galaxy-class starship commissioned in 2376, under the command of Captain Elizabeth Shelby. Shelby served as the Trident's captain throughout the Gateways Crisis, the incident with the Beings and throughout the events involving the Selelvians and the Tholian Assembly in in 2376 and 2377.  When Shelby was promoted to Admiral and given command of Space Station Bravo, command of the Trident fell to Shelby's first officer, Katerina Mueller.  Mueller captained the Trident through several incidents with Selelvian renegades and Orion pirates.  The Trident was in the center of events when the extra-dimensional beings known as the Teuthis attempted to incite a civil war in the New Thallonian Protectorate in 2379. (ST - Gateways novel: Cold Wars; NF novels: Stone and Anvil, After the Fall, Missing in Action).
 * USS Trinculo (NCC-71867) : Federation Galaxy-class explorer starship in service to Starfleet in the late 24th century. The ship was named after Trinculo, one of the moons in orbit around Uranus. In 2374, the Trinculo was one of several Galaxy-class vessels involved in Operation Return to regain Deep Space 9 from Dominion control. (DS9 episode: "Sacrifice of Angels"; ST module: Starships)


 * USS Ulysses : Federation Galaxy-class starship in Starfleet service in the late 24th century. (TNG video game: Armada II) During the invasion of the Borg Collective in 2381, Ulysses was part of a task force to defend Starbase 24 along with the USS Merrimack and USS Sparta. A previously undetected Borg cube slipped through perimeter defenses and attacked the task force, destroying all three vessels and the starbase. (ST - Destiny novel: Gods of Night)


 * USS Valhalla : Galaxy-class Federation starship in service beginning in 2377. (TNG video game: Armada II).
 * USS Venture (NCC-71854) : The Venture appears briefly in a number of episodes of Deep Space Nine starting with "The Way of the Warrior, Part II", docked to the station or in battle scenes. Like the Galaxy, the appearance of the Venture in the episode Tears of the Prophets was confirmed by David Stipes. The Venture is unique among the Galaxy-class as she is seen with two extra phasers on the warp nacelles. This is because the four foot model of the Enterprise-D was used for the Venture, after it had been mostly restored from the modifications done to it for the TNG series finale "All Good Things." The extra phasers were rotated 180 degrees for their appearance on the Venture. Later CGI models do not feature this modification.


 * USS Yamato (NCC-71807) : The Yamato appears as an illusion in the Next Generation second season episode "Where Silence Has Lease". In the second season episode "Contagion", the crew of the Enterprise-D rendezvous with the Yamato just in time to witness its explosive destruction. Due to errors by the production staff, the registry number of the Yamato was read by Commander Riker as NCC-1305-E in the episode "Where Silence Has Lease", while in the episode "Contagion" the registry number on the shooting model, and various diagrams is NCC-71807.