Starfleet keeps its vessels in service for a long time. The original Enterprise NCC-1701
was launched in 2245 and eventually destroyed in 2285 after several refits giving it a 40
year lifespan. Then we have ships like the Excelsior class, which has been referred to
as the backbone of the Federation fleet, originally state of the art in 2280 and still in service
by 2370, 90 years later. Of course, these vessels would not be running
technology from near a century ago and it’s often expanded that latter-day Excelsiors
were very different internally than their early counterparts. But eventually all ships
and classes will end, so what is the fate of most of these vessels? Hi Ric here and
this video is on the most common fates of Starfleet’s vessels.
Starting with the obvious one, fresh of the escape pods episode, we of course have destruction.
Sometimes a ship is simply destroyed, maybe it is dropped into a sun, crunched by some
anomaly or destroyed as a result of combat. In this case, there’s little that can be
salvaged except the survivors and perhaps any wreckage can be hauled away for scrap
but when a ship goes down, it’s gone although its legacy may continue.
Starfleet also has extensive dry-docks and repair facilities that not only are responsible
for constructing new vessels, but repairing damaged ones. The level of these refits can
be extreme with ships like the Constitution class having their entire frames being remodelled
in some cases and Starfleet seems to invest a lot of resources into maintaining this sort
of overhaul philosophy rather than simply scrapping a vessel and starting fresh.
However there comes a time when a ship simply cannot be revamped any further and the vessel
is officially outdated, no matter how much more tech or restructuring it undergoes. You
can gut an Excelsior and replace its inners but there comes a point where its basic form
is simply no longer practical for the advancements in Starfleet design. At this time, the vessel
has several other fates awaiting it. If it’s still serviceable, then often we
see these sorts of aging vessels pulled from the front lines of Starfleet duties, and relegated
to increasingly light work, such as transport and admin. This is where we see many of the
Excelsior Class by the time of the Next Generation, they’re often used as flagships by the admiralty
who show an appreciated lack of hubris in not using the newest ships in the fleet as
their own horse and carriage, instead leaving the advanced stuff where it’s needed most
and in the hands of Starfleet Captains. Some of these vessels are eventually designated
training ships too and assigned to work with Starfleet Academy. While these vessels still
maintain a captain, their role is to take on Starfleet cadets and give hands-on experience
with a Starship. The Commander of such as vessel retains overall authority of the ship,
but much of the crew will be rotated out as fresh trainees are assigned to learn in various
divisions. At times, even command is temporarily turned over to Cadets in the Command division,
under the watchful eye of their superiors and instructors.
Of course, Starfleet Academy didn’t only post cadets on such designated “training
vessels”, but also assigned handfuls of learners to actual operational ships as part
of their academic career. The Defiant for example had Cadet Nog assigned to it during
the Dominion War, Wesley Crusher was granted permission to serve on the Enterprise D at
the Captain’s discretion and Cadet Sylvia Tilly served her last year aboard the USS
Discovery. Even the Enterprise NCC-1701 served time as
a Cadet training vessel at the end of its life, assigned to Captain Spock, it was responsible
for shaping and providing tutelage to the new generations of Starfleet officers, before
it was stolen by some farm boy. Just because it was a training vessel did not make it free
of danger however. They were still active vessels engaged in operations with most of
the dangers that entailed. Two notable screw-ups in training vessels history include the radiation
leak on an old Class J transport in which Fleet Captain Christopher Pike and several
cadets were exposed to dangerous Delta radiation emissions from a ruptured “Baffle Plate”.
The legendary captain managed to save all the Cadets but was crippled in the act, earning
a commendation of valour to be named after him.
The other incident was when the USS Valiant NCC-74210 was crewed by Starfleet’s “Red
Squad” on an advanced training mission when the captain was K.I.A. and the command fell
to the Cadets. Although they piloted the vessel with skill, ultimately they bit off more than
they could chew and they lost the vessel with most hands to the Dominion.
Ultimately however, a ship (if it survived its service) would be decommissioned. This
was when a Starship was no longer viable to function as intended, due to damage, failure
or simply being too outdated to even be brought up-to-spec. Usually, when a ship is decommissioned,
it will report to a dry-dock (if not at one already), where many of its components will
be removed. This includes its arsenal and components deemed of worth such as deflector
arrays, transporter systems or perhaps even its warp core. These components were often
then allocated back into fleet circulation as spare parts or maybe even for new construction
projects. Some might even make their way onto civilian markets, probably excluding munitions
and such. Their names would be officially made available
once again for use in future vessels, leading to the numerous recurring ship legacies we
see in Trek, but the registries were not. Even when the registry was to be reused, it
had to have an affix indicating it as a separate identifier in most cases. Most Cases. Looking
at you Defiant. The remaining hulk was then towed to a Starfleet
Surplus Depot, also termed a “Starship Graveyard” operated by a Federation member world. In
such junkyards, such as the Qualor II Z15 Depot, the often-gutted shells of Starships
drifted, awaiting their final fate. Often the ex-starships would remain here for
a very long time but inevitably would be torn apart for their very materials or cannibalised
even further to gather all remaining useful components. Occasionally Starfleet would encounter
illegal salvage operations from other parties as they tried to take whatever Starfleet had
discarded but generally there seems to be little profit in trying to salvage a Starfleet
junkyard as the Federation’s organisation had usually already stripped everything of
value or use. There is also the state termed “Mothballed”
where a Starship is placed into a reserve state where its decommission process does
not result in the vessel being scrapped. This is usually done to ships that still function
and are merely outdated. It is possible to see a recommissioning of such a vessel but
this is fairly rare outside of war times. During the Dominion War, many Starfleet vessels
that had been decommissioned or mothballed were reactivated and had their components
reinstalled as it was a quick, short term solution to bolstering the fleet rather than
relying on ship construction still months in down the line. Sometimes, a vessel that
was recommissioned would have to receive a new name, as the original had since been reallocated
in its absence. That about wraps up the fates of most Starfleet
vessels. Their either destroyed, reassigned to increasingly minor duties, turned into
training vessels, but ultimately, they end up being scrapped for parts and then junked.
It’s kind of sad and a frim reminder that everything ages into obscurity until it’s
torn apart for its pieces then its cadaver unceremoniously dumped in the cold vacuum
of space. Oh no wait, that was supposed to sound optimistic.
It’s kind of nice to know that even after a vessel’s prime, it can contribute to the
continuation of the fleet as a whole and many a ship decommission was accompanied by a ceremony
of sorts to celebrate its achievements in service, before being dumped into the cold
vacuum of space. No wait, let me try again… Every Starship will eventually become obsolete
no matter how you try to hold onto to progress with numerous refits and then it will die,
being hauled away as garbage for the new generation to feast on its remains… No that’s not
right…. Space is cold and dark and (trials off….)