USS Enterprise (XCV 330)

Infobox Fictional Spacecraft
name = USS "Enterprise"

|thumb|250px|right|USS "Enterprise" (XCV 330)"
caption = The USS Enterprise XCV 330
first = "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"
last =
status =
affiliation = Earth Starfleet
launched = 2123
decommissioned =
class = Declaration
registry = XCV 330
maxspeed =
fighters =
auxcraft =
armaments =
defense =
propulsion =
power =
length = 300m
width =
height =
primeref =

The USS "Enterprise" XCV 330 is a starship (or spaceship) in the fictional Star Trek universe. Its image appears in "" among a chronological series of illustrations depicting previous ships named "Enterprise".

The "Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology", published in 1979, about the time of "TMP", gives this ship the class name "Declaration", with a launch date of 2123 (which in that original timeline, places it prior to the founding of the Federation, and only six decades before the launch of the Enterprise NCC-1701). It is described as the "first interstellar liner". Its length is given as 300m, and its capacity as 100 crew and 850 passengers. [cite book|title=Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology|year=1980|last=Goldstein|first=Stanley and Fred|id=ISBN 0-671-79089-7] The Spaceflight Chronology has been frequently contradicted by later and more authoritative sources.

The "Star Trek Maps" by New Eye Photography Editors, also published in 1979, listed this ship as a Fusion drive probe that was Earth's first attempt to explore another solar system.

A painting of a ship from the same class is on the wall of Earth's 602 Club circa 2143 in the "" episode "First Flight", suggesting that this "Enterprise" (or perhaps the "Declaration", q.v.) was Earth's first warp two-capable starship.

It is uncertain what the USS prefix in the ship’s name stands for. Although later Star Trek ships use USS for "United Space Ship", this USS "Enterprise" predates the Federation, and was not a Starfleet ship. (The NX-01 was Starfleet’s first "Enterprise".) While the United Earth Space Probe Agency did exist before 2143, they are not known to have used a prefix before their ship names. The United States of America did still exist in 2143, ["". “Affliction”. This episode—set in 2154—notes that the USA still exists as of that date.] and they are the current users of the USS prefix (United States Ship), although this does not conclusively make the XCV 330 American.

Design-wise, the XCV 330 differs greatly from all other known Earth starships: it is composed of a long, narrow central shaft surrounded by two large rings, similar to some Vulcan starships.

"Starship"

The ship was originally designed by Matt Jeffries during the early pre-production stage of "". After the show was cancelled, the design was considered for use in a planned, but never produced, sci-fi television series by Gene Roddenberry. The show would have been called "Starship".

References

External links

* [http://www.trekplace.com/article13.html TREKPLACE: Spaceship of the Rings]