So Star Trek Picard season 2 had its first episode released and it was a great introduction
into a more familiar Starfleet, some years on from when we were last immersed in it.
Spoilers ahead, but I won’t be delving into the plot too greatly. Instead, I’m here today to
talk about the fleet that we saw amassed. The year is 2401, the beginning of the 25th
century and a new era for Starfleet. Until now, we have not had a series set in this century
with only the occasional glimpse into alternate futures that never unfolded,
but this decade was the setting time for the multiplayer game, Star Trek Online,
viewers of my channel are no doubt familiar with this game either through my story series or as
the background footage for many a Trek video. As a video game, its events are to be considered
apocryphal, so imagine my surprise and joy when we actually get to see
several ships from that timeline turn up in canon alongside some old favourites and newer additions
to the lore. This video aims to break down the new ships of the fleet as we go forwards.
To begin with, we have the newest ship of the line, the USS Stargazer NCC-82893. This is the
first command of Captain Chris Rios and named for the first command of then-Captain Jean-Luc Picard,
a fact not lost on the crew and alluded to several times. This ship was the first of its class, the
type being designated Sagan-Class, so originally this would have been the USS-Sagan with an NX
registry, clearly receiving a name change upon its progressing from prototype to active duty.
The registry now reads 82893 as a nod to the Constellation-class Stargazer of old,
whose registry was 2893. Like its older counterpart,
it has four nacelles and is the first Starfleet ship to officially include advancements derived
from Borg technology, not including the modifications made to the USS Voyager.
Quite what its capabilities are remain to be seen. Moving on, we have several classic designs in the
fleet that I noted, including several Sovereign Class starships. This class was top of the line
when it was first commissioned 28 years ago and the replacer to the Galaxy class. It was designed
as a multi-mission explorer and the pinnacle of Starfleet versatility, from defence to diplomacy.
We also saw several Akira-class vessels, these low-profile escorts were designed to patrol and
protect federation space and to combat the Borg in particular. They sacrificed a little more on
the versatility that the Sovereign had in favour for this role, but both these vessels were new
additions to the fleet’s line up decades ago. Now they serve more of the backbone roll of the fleet,
while newer vessels are stepping in to innovate, but just look at how long the
Excelsior was kept up to date, and the Sovereign in particular is basically the new Excelsior.
Saying that, we have an actual new Excelsior. I think it’s safe to say that this vessel is
the USS Excelsior, and it very well could be a variation on the 2381 Obenda-Class as captained
by Sonya Gomez. Although this vessel does look far more like the original Excelsior Class,
with its nacelle pylons, saucer thickness and deflector colour,
it would make more sense that it was just a variation of the newer class. Otherwise, it’s
yet another overhaul of the actual USS Excelsior NCC-2000, which would make it a 108 year old ship.
We have a couple of Inquiry class starships too, which were a mass-produced federation vessel that
was fresh out of spacedock in 2399, making them one of the newer vessels of the fleet. According
to Captain Riker, they were the toughest ships the Federation had put into service, and apparently
a Tal Shiar agent who had complete access to Starfleet security records knew the capabilities
well enough to not consider that an idle threat. We never got to see them in action, but the
ships were so new, most apparently hadn’t even been registered yet, but presumably form their
description, they were supposed to be fast and durable rapid responders. Though they were named
after famous Earth explorers and cartographers. Now moving on to those ships which existed in the
orbital canon that have now graduated into being actual big boy Trek ships! We have several
Sutherland class vessels, which was a newer ship built to replace the Nebula class. Many of
the ships in Star Trek online were adaptations of previous designs, brought up to speck for the era,
so you can quite clearly see the heritage of the several ships in its resemblance to older classes.
After all, if you’re seeking to create a newer vessel to do the same job as an old but better,
then well, the older one is a great starting point to build off.
The Sutherland class possessed the same mission pod that the Nebula had although it was most often
deployed with the sensor variation for scientific missions, or missions where Starfleet needed
sensitive ears. Interestingly, these vessels had great research and development features as well as
a specialisation in tachyon based technology. Considering the rift that was created in the
episode was flush with tachyons, it would be a well-equipped option to send to investigate.
Next up is the Ross Class. This ship was built off of the Galaxy class schematics and featured
a distinctive diamond shaped secondary hull and angled pylons. The Ross class was built on the
developments and innovations of active Galaxy class vessels while they were in operation.
Although a magnificent class, the Galaxy did have it faults that engineers uncovered through
use. The main bulk of research was provided by Geordie LaForge and Data from their experiences
in tinkering with the Enterprise D, so the Ross class was basically the Galaxy two-point-oh.
This vessel therefore acted as a testbed for several technologies that would go on
to be implemented in the Sovereign class, making this one of the oldest ships of the fleet as it
technically has been in commission since the early 2370s and on the drawing board since before that.
There is also a Reliant class starship here, which as the name suggests was a successor to
the Miranda class. Much as the Miranda was to be a powerful backbone workhorse of the Federation back
in the 23rd century, the 25th century Reliant was to replicate this role. These ships were noted to
be rather more utilitarian than the Miranda by upping their defensive properties at the cost
of diminishing its other rolls fitness. By no means the most formidable ship in this line-up,
it is still a tuned up and powerful vessel. The most outstanding vessel to me is the
Gagarin class we see on screen. The Gagarin, in the canon of Star Trek Online was the result of
Starfleet being able to access the long abandoned Yard 39 which had suffered contamination by
baryonic particles for about 150 years. Yard 39 was abandoned, with all its facilities and
several ships in half-completed states, dating back to the ships of Discovery-era Starfleet,
the Klingon War. After the Yard was rendered habitable again, Starfleet salvaged the frames
of these vessels, scrapped the obsolete tech, and built on the frames with newer innovations.
This led to the former Shepard style vessels to get a rebirth as the Gagarin class.
Although in the lore, this happened in 2410, there’s no reason that you couldn’t dial back
the clock on Yard 39 a decade or so. Technically it is one of Starfleets few dedicated battleships
and full of top of the line systems. The trade-off was that it was a very hungry vessel in terms of
power requirements so its EPS power regulation system had to be top of the line too, to keep up
with the demands and speedy transfer of energy. So there we go, that was a breakdown of all the
ships witnessed in the first episode of Star Trek Picard and I have to say, it was frankly awesome
to see the marrying of the previous generation of vessels, like the Akira and Sovereign,
from the pinicle of 2370s design, alongside the newer vessels like the Gagarin, replete with
missing-link classes like the Excelsior/Obenda and Ross class. It’s also strange to think of
ship’s like the Sovereign as the older generation now, but hey, we have a Starfleet that is moving
on an innovating, drawing on the canon of apocrypha to flesh out it direction.
I did also spot what I think is a luna class vessel in the background, but not sure. I had
no problem with the Zheng He and the inquiry classes that turned up in Picard season 01,
I just didn’t like seeing an entire fleet of the same ship. This is far more accurate in
terms of a familiar Starfleet armada, all that is missing is the Odyssey class, which still
sort of sits in the maybe-maybe not grey zone of continuity that the Titan occupied for some time.
Thanks for watching this breakdown on the new 25th century fleet.
I’ll probably look into some of these vessels in specifics at a later date,
but for now I’ve Been Ric and I’ll see you next time for another lore video! Goodbye!