So most Trek fans will have heard of Utopia Planitia, the United Federation of Planet’s
shipyards and drydocks around orbit of Mars and the organisations largest facility. And
of course many a famous vessel has launched from this docks, such as the Enterprise NCC-1701-D
and the original Enterprise, right?! Nope. While Utopia Planitia saw the construction
of the Galaxy-Class Enterprise D, many other Starships were in fact constructed and launched
from a much older Starfleet installation, the San Francisco Shipyards including the
NX-01, the original enterprise as well as the vessel that would go on to become the
dash A, as well as the B and E. These shipyards are responsible too for many
refit and repair projects and are the numerous dry-docks that can be seen nearby to the Earth
Space Dock so Let’s take a look at their part in Starfleet’s production of interstellar
vessels. San Francisco is home to several shipyards
in real life and the Star Trek mythology takes those locations and advances them into the
future. From what I could find out, San Francisco has had a long history of ship construction
dating back to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in 1853 which was eventually decommissioned
in 1996 as well as other sites that have changed hands such as Hunter’s Point.
In Star Trek, after first contact with the Vulcans, humanity began to get its act together
and around 2130, the United Earth Starfleet was formed out of the exploratory space agencies
of the world and various militaries all folding into one entity. This fledgling Starfleet
was established in San Francisco and as a result the dry-docks and shipyards formerly
owned by the navy were turned over to Starfleet to continue ship construction, this time for
space-faring ships. We actually don’t have an exact date for the founding of Starfleet,
but since the 20th century, we’ve been aware that the best place to build and launch space-ships,
would be in space. (sighs) So, in orbit above Earth, there were numerous
lattice like structures created to act as frames for ship construction and these were
treated as an extension of the ground based factories, sharing the name, the San Francisco
Fleet Shipyards. These installations were completed even before the formation of the
United Federation of Planets in 2161 with the earliest ships recorded being the Franklin,
departing from here in 2151, as well as the warp 5 program’s own flagship, the Enterprise
NX-01. The planet side shipyards tend to construct
and build segments and components of the vessel, then shift them to orbit via delivery for
construction. In 2161, Starfleet was transferred over to the United Federation of Planets as
well as all its assets and an age of technological development of shared technology between the
four founding members accelerated ship construction. Other notable vessel to have been constructed
here included the USS Shenzou and Discovery as well as it becoming the home for the constitution
class project as well as its subsequent refits. The prototype USS Constitution was completed
in 2244 and launched alongside its sister ship in 2245. This project was overseen initially
by Admiral William Jefferies and Captain Robert April and was one of the first projects that
a newly graduated Montgomery Scott was assigned to.
At this time, Utopia Panetia did exist, but it was hardly the goliath of a facility that
it would become and construction of the Earth Space Dock was still ongoing too so the San
Francisco Fleet Yard was the primary construction point of an early Starfleet. There were too
other outposts, such as the 40 Eridani A Construction Yards being Vulcan’s contemporary and Tellar
and Andoria both having their own versions too.
By the mid-23rd century, around the era of the initial Klingon War, the Fleet Yards were
the most prestigious in the Federation being so close to Starfleet’s base of operations
and their design has not really evolved since. The structures in orbit are simply “drydocks”,
a frame that can accommodate a starship and come in various sizes. The purpose is to allow
easy access to all points of a vessel and various “worker bee” craft and extra-vehicular
activities are conducted under their shelter. The biggest benefit to this design is three
fold as far as I can tell. One, the lattice would probably allow for the recovery of debris
or junk that might be accidentally jettisoned from construction or repair work and I wouldn’t
be surprised to learn that there were tractor beams installed for just those scenarios as
well as holding a ship in place. Two, there are numerous bright lamps around
the drydock that illuminate all sides of the vessel, shadows in space get dark after all,
and three, psychologically I imagine its some placebo of comfort for the workers that have
to go EVA. In 2270, the most major Constitution-Refit
was undertaken and many of the repairs were conducted at this facility across all of its
line including the Enterprise and the USS Yorktown, which would go on to be renamed
the Enterprise A. At this time, the Earth Space Dock had been completed and joined the
Fleet Yards in orbit, although the ESD does feature impulse engines and could independently
move. Its spacious dome could also accommodate several starships, but it was not considered
a part of the San Francisco Fleet Yards. But elements of the Excelsior class were designed
at both ESD and the San Francisco Drydocks. In 2293, the USS Enterprise B was commissioned
and launched from here after the Excelsior-class was worked on in part from this location.
By the year 2330 however, the prestigious shipyard had been joined in orbit by other
stations and McKinley Station was the site of the Ambassador Class Enterprise C’s launch.
A couple of decades after that and Utopia Planitia had usurped the San Francisco Fleet
Yards as the Sol Systems largest facility and the Federation began to shift its resource
allocation to the Red Planet for ship construction. The latest contribution the SF Drydocks made
to the Fleet however would be its involvement in the Sovereign-Class line of Starships with
the construction and launch of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E, a homecoming of the flagship name
to the original construction yard. Although overshadowed by later installations
such as Utopia Planitia, the San Francisco Fleet Yards contribution to Starfleet cannot
be understated and although it has been joined over time by many other orbital facilities,
not to mention the other member world’s contributions, it stands out as the oldest
of Starfleet’s installations. Now that Utopia Planitia has been canonically destroyed, it
seems that this old yard is going to have to pick up the slack somewhat.
So thanks for watching this lore video on the San Francisco Dry Docks and Fleet yards
of Starfleet. We hear a lot about the grandly-named, Utopia Planitia, but not so much on the other
orbital facilities so I thought I’d shed some light on them. Thanks again for watching,
I’ve been Ric, so long and farewell!