Captain James Tiberius Kirk was legendary for his captaincy of the USS
Enterprise during the halcyon era of "We come in peace (Shoot to Kill)",
that was StarFleet's modus operandi in those early days.
but this wasn't the first Federation Starship he was assigned to, so let's break them down!
Welcome to Trek Central Lords, ladies and sovereigns! I’m your host, LT.Adam!
In this Star Trek Ship Breakdown we will be looking at somewhat famous USS Farragut,
The first one... because theres been a lot. yes this is the ship mentioned in the Original
Series as a ship that Kirk first served on, before his time on the Enterprise. So for a ship which
has had a very famous starfleet officer serve aboard her, she is worthy of being looked at.
Before we warp into this video,
If you want to keep up to date on all the latest Star Trek news, lore and more,
then make sure to hit that subscribe button to never miss a video from the team here at Trek
Central! You can also follow us on social media for daily updates on the Star Trek Universe!
and even join us in our community discord server... if , you , like.
We also have to remind you that there are spoilers ahead for Star Trek:
Strange New Worlds Season One. If you have not watched this series yet, be warned,
there will be mentions to that series in this video.
ANYWAY, ENGAGE!
The USS Farragut was in service to the Starfleet of the United Federation of
Planets from at least 2247, as a yet unnamed Class of Starship.
At the time of writing and recording, we can refer to the ship as a “Farragut-Type” starship.
However, It appears that the Farragut is a Surya class,
Delving WAY back into the dim and distant past
of the Dungeons and Dragons inspired StarTrek role playing game on this one.
as for what it actually is in Canon is unknown at this point. The ship had your usual Starfleet ship
layout, with a saucer section, but no secondary hull. Well, at least it had two warp nacelles,
as was standard, which came attached via pylons on the underside of the saucer's hull.
How these nacelles attached to the ship was weird in itself,
as the pylons curved inwards underneath the saucer, instead of straight,
or curving outwards like most federation ships. This gave the Farragut an interesting profile,
as from above the majority of the nacelles would be hidden by the saucer section.
These nacelles were similar in configuration to that of the Constitution Class Nacelles. With
the knowledge that constitution parts were used in other classes of the time, such as the USS
Peregrine’s Sombra Class, these Nacelles could actually be Constitution Class Nacelles too.
Continuing the theme of mass re-used components you can very clearly see
The saucer section of the USS Farragut was similar to that of the USS Archer,
with a standard circular saucer, but the deflector dish was attached to the underside of the hull.
Though what differentiates this deflector from that of the Archer, is that it actually
looks like the farragut has an external sensor dish attached to the main deflector.
The topside of the Farragut’s saucer was interesting, with your conventional bridge module
in the centre, but in front of this bridge module is a curved row of windows. Whether this section
was similar to the mess hall of the Enterprise, which had curved windows on the saucer,
or another room requiring such large windows on the saucer section is not known.
The actual only interior of the USS Farragut we have seen so far is that of its Bridge is
that of a standard Federation Starship bridge in the 2260s. The bridge is almost identical to
that of the USS Enterprise, and considering the reuse of Constitution class nacelles,
this Bridge Module could also be a Constitution Class Bridge Module employed on this class.
As with all federation class starships of the time, the Farragut would come
equipped with a offensive array of Photon Torpedos and a centrally forward located
phaser system, a defensive array of deflector shields and a propulsion system of a warp drive,
using matter-antimatter reactions to allow the vessel to achieve warp speeds.
Impulse engines were also located in a very standard place, at the rear
of the saucer section, with two impulse engines.
With only a saucer section and no secondary hull, the Farragut does not look to have a shuttle bay,
Now dont come at me im fully aware that the Miranda-Class has a shuttle bay but
lest i remind you, that ship's engineering section was smashed onto the back of the
saucer as if sculpted with poorly applied play dough. So dont start with that nosense.
presumably relying simply on its transporter system for transport on and off the vessel,
as well as docking systems whenever the ship goes into dock.
However in the structure which houses the Deflector dish, it does look like
there may be a shuttle bay located there, but due to its size, it probably couldn’t contain
too many shuttles at one time. A shuttlebay would either be located here, or between the
two impulse engines at the back would be a more logical place for a shuttlebay to be located.
and yes im fully aware that i just contradicted myself with the Miranda-class reference...
Perhaps more worthy of a less sarcastic Woop-Dee-Doo is the fact that the Farragut,
still boasts an impressive crew complement of at least over 200 people.
Not bad considering its doesnt have a secondary hull.
By the year 2254 the Farragut was under the command of Captain Stephen Garrovick,
with his crew including a young James T Kirk.
Under Garrovick’s command the Farragut would go on many missions
of contacting numerous races and visiting many planets.
You know, your standard "im famous" resume.
One of these planets included the planet Neural. Neural was a planet in its version of the Bronze
Age, so protected by General Order 1 of Starfleet, which would later be called The Prime Directive,
much to the dismay of Captain Pike. The Prime Directive of course for the benefit for anyone
new to the seris, refering to StarFleet's policy of non-interference of non-warp civilisations.
However even with General Order 1,
starfleet walked a tightrope against these regulations, going on undercover missions to
such civilisations, such as what happened on Neural, where James T Kirk would visit
the planet on an undercover cultural survey, and become friends with one of the groups of
people that lived on the planet, who he would reconnect with during his own captaincy of the
Enterprise when Neural became a proxy battleground between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.
Whoops... There goes general order 1... and not for the last time either...
The only other canon thing we know about the Farragut is that in the year 2257,
probably after the Klingon-Federation War, the USS Farragut would come into contact with a dikironium
cloud creature while exploring the planet of Tycho IV. This creature would attack the ship,
causing the deaths of 200 officers onboard, including Captain Garrovick.
But not including kirk, in what in my opinion was the most obvious case of plot armor ever devised.
Lieutenant Kirk would blame himself for these deaths, due to him being in
the Phaser Control Room at the time, and feeling too slow to fire on the creature.
However the XO of the ship, who survived the encounter, would disagree,
and stated that "Lieutenant Kirk is a fine young officer who performed with uncommon bravery."
Sorry *Cough*
Kirk would finally find out under his own captaincy, upon meeting the creature again,
that phaser fire did not affect it, therefore causing his feelings of
innate and total responsibility for the death of his crewmates.
To suddenly go
POOF
A ship of this class, which could have been the USS Farragut, was actually
seen in the first episode of Strange New Worlds, weirdly also titled “Strange New
Worlds” where it could be seen in drydock in an adjacent dock to the USS Enterprise.
The next canonical time we would see the USS Farragut would actually be in an alternate
timeline, where Pike had managed to avoid his fate of being incapacitated
after a Training Mission as Fleet Captain. Pike would make sure none of the Cadets, or himself,
were anywhere near the incident, altering time and Fate, allowing him to stay as Captain of
the Enterprise when in Prime, it would be Kirk who becomes Captain of the Enterprise.
Because of this change in the timeline, in the year 2266, a cloak-enabled Romulan vessel
would destroy multiple Federation Outposts along the Federation-Romulan Neutral Zone,
testing out their new weapon and the capabilities of their enemy.
Pike and the USS Enterprise would gain the assistance of the USS Farragut,
captained by Captain James T Kirk with First Officer Commander La’an
Noonien Singh. The Farragut and the Enterprise would try a pincer manoeuvre
to trap the cloaked Romulan vessel, after being able to identify its position.
However, this trap would be their undoing, as the Romulan Vessel would not be anywhere
near where it was predicted to be, taking the Enterprise and Farragut completely by surprise,
and launching an attack run on the Farragut, crippling and ultimately destroying the vessel.
This alternate reality would lead to a war between the Federation and Romulan people,
which would last for decades to come, until a now Admiral Pike, would make a deal with the
Klingon monks of Boreth, to go back in time and make sure the past Chris Pike,
would not make the same decisions he did, accept his fate, and step down
as Captain of the Enterprise, allowing James T Kirk to take his place on the Enterprise.
Who would then go on to captain the USS Farragut in the prime timeline,
after Kirk assumes command of the Enterprise is unknown, but we could see maybe a Captain La’an
Noonien-Singh taking captaincy of this vessel if Kirk is not there.
maybe ?
That would be cool...
At least to me...
Shut up, i can dream.
However, even after this 23rd century Farragut, the legacy of the Farragut would not go away,
with numerous other ships taking up its names. The USS Farragut NCC-60597, a Nebula-class vessel,
which would be seen in Star Trek: Generations recovering the crew of the Enterprise-D
after the battle of Veridian III between the USS Enterprise D and the Duras’ sister’s Bird of Prey.
This very same Farragut would then assist some colonists during the
Federation-Klingon War two years later in 2373,
but the ship would be attacked en route and destroyed near the Lembatta Cluster.
After this loss, a new USS Farragut would be commissioned, an Excelsior Class Starship this
time, which would be stationed at Deep Space Nine on multiple occasions during the Dominion War.
And finally, we have the mention the Kelvin timelines USS Farragut,
Yes i know its the KELVIN universe.
which would be one of the vessels assigned to the fleet sent to
investigate the disturbance on Vulcan. This would turn out to be Nero and the Narada,
which would go on to not only destroy this fleet, USS Farragut included, but also Vulcan itself.
All and all in my opinion anyway it is a terrible idea to name your
ship "Farragut" if you want it to have any kind of longevity.
We've got Dikironium Cloud Monsters, Romulan Birds of Prey,
Klingons or angry Romulan Miners with doomsday machines and a grudge against an entire planet.
It is not a good idea to serve aboard the USS Farragut apparently…
The USS Farragut would be first seen on screen in Strange New Worlds: “A Quality Of Mercy”
but has been mentioned since the Original Series episode “Obsessions” almost 55 years prior.
Who designed this ship is unknown, though we do know that Ryan Dening,
a ship designer who has been with Trek since Discovery,
has worked on Strange New Worlds, so it is likely that the Farragut was designed by him.
I am sure more info on the USS Farragut, its designer,
concept artists, and everything else will be revealed in due time,
and if you are interested in this aspect of the USS Farragut and bringing a ship to life,
make sure to follow us on our social media where we will share such information when we have it.
But what did you think of the USS Farragut, its unique-looking design, yet still Starfleet
standard. Let us know in the comments below, and if you want us to look at any other ships seen
in Strange New Worlds, Romulan Fleets, Gorn ships, or any of the other fantastic ships,
im pretty sure theres a warp-powered washing machine drifting out there somewhere...
Because as always if you are talking Trek, then we would love to hear it!
If you want to keep up to date on all the latest Star Trek news, lore and more,
then make sure to hit that subscribe button to never miss a video from the team here at
Trek Central! You can also follow us on social media, or join our Community Discord Server!
For now, I’ve been LT.Adam, thanks for watching
and we’ll see you next time! Live Long and prosper my friends!