Hello! And welcome to the Legacy series where we delve into the real world and fictional
history of Star Trek’s Starship names and the vessels that bore them. This time, we
are looking into the history of the USS Exeter. You know how this goes by now, so let’s
jump in. The HMS Exeter of 1680 was a Royal Navy ship
that took part in the Battle of Beachy Head in 1690 and was damaged and hulked, or no
longer sea-worthy in 1691. It was scrapped in 1717.
During this interim, its replacement, the HMS Exeter of 1697 was launched and fought
in the battle of Quiberon Bay. She was refit and relaunched in 1744. Interesting note,
Samuel Hood, of HMS Hood fame, on which I’ve also done a video, served on board this vessel.
The Exeter managed to serve until 1763, a staggering 66 years later.
That year, another Exeter set sail and fought in several battles, I’m going to butcher
these names, Sadras, Providien, Negapatam, Cuddalore and Trincomalee. She was retied
and burned in 1784. The Royal Navy seems to have had a bit of
a break from the name until 1928 when a new HMS Exeter, Number 68 was ordered and launched
in 1929. She was one of only two York Class heavy cruisers, her sister being the HMS York.
In the lead up to World War 2, she was primarily deployed in the Atlantic. During the War,
she patrolled South American trade routes and took part in the Battle of the River Plate.
She went in for repairs for a year and remerged in 1941 to fight in the Pacific under convoy
duty. She also fought in the Battle of the Java Sea in 1942. She was sunk by Japanese
forces later that year. Her wreak was found in 2007 but destroyed by illegal salvaging.
This is only a fraction of the vessel’s actions and it had a very eventful life.
There was to be a Type 61 Frigate called the Exeter in 1956, but that never came to pass.
Instead, in 1979, the HMS Exeter D89 was a type 42 Destroyer. It took part in both the
Falklands War and the first Gulf War. Her primary role in both these encounters seems
to be air defence, targeting enemy craft and protecting allied vessels. By 2007, it was
the last Royal Navy ship in commission to have passed through the Falklands War and
served in several ceremonial positions. In 2009, the vessel was decommissioned having
passed through several theatres of war and 7 captains.
She was scrapped in 2009. There can be no doubts, the Exeter has seen
its name applied to Warships that have served as defenders for all its iterations and each
has seen much combat. Turning to Star Trek now, and in 2245, the
famous line of Constitution class starships was designed and launched. The USS Exeter,
NCC-1706 was one of the first handfuls of vessels. Which as I do this series there seems
to be an increasing amount of. However she was launched under the registry NCC-1672.
In 2250, it underwent an overhaul as many of the constitution class of this time did.
This vessel made contact with several species and defended Federation trade lines against
the Klingons in 2260. It passed through several captains in its
lifetime from Captain Brittany Mendez to Captain Ronald Tracey in 2365, Douglas Newman in 2268,
Captain Andreoni in 2270. The vessel was abandoned in 2268 but recovered by the USS Enterprise
NCC-1701, re-staffed at sent back out until 2274.
There is also mention of a class-J USS Exeter NCC-1788 which was used as a training vessel
in the mid-2260s and no longer saw action beyond cadet cruises.
In 2274, a new constitution class, built to the refit frame was commissioned and named
the USS Exeter II, NCC-1712. This vessel continued to serve the federation until 2288 under the
command of Captain Lawrence Styles, reassigned from the USS Excelsior after the transwarp
project’s discontentment. The vessel was overhauled several times to adapt its systems
lasting into the early 2300s. Not as unfeasible as it sounds considering the vessel had only
operating for 26 years. It was decommissioned soon thereafter.
In the early 2300s an Excelsior class vessel, the USS Exeter NCC-2016 was built and launched.
This robust class of starship is one of the Federation’s longest serving classes, and
the Exeter was no exception, lasting until the mid-24th century.
By 2364, there was an Ambassador class USS Exeter NCC-26531. This vessel was actually
Lt. Jr Grade Tom Paris’ first posting as helmsman and in 2371 was assigned to nearby
the Bajor Sector. At the outbreak of the Dominion war, the USS Exeter was part of the famous
Ninth Fleet which fought many battles but was unable to take part in Operation Return
under the command of Captain Hodgkiss. Following the mission’s success, it was stationed
at Deep Space Nine until 2376 when Captain Elizabeth Shelby took command. Huh, so Shelby
made Captain before Riker, I am not surprised. It also took part in battles against the Borg
in 2381. Star Trek online has an Exeter class vessel
a ship whose design somewhat resembles the Constitution class and was in operation around
2409. Another ship of this class includes the USS Kirk NCC-91277, dunno what that’s
named in honour of. The Exeter legacy is one of war and many of
its duties consisted of patrolling against raiders and protection acts in both history
and Star Trek. We see that its tradition of being in the thick of it is continued with
Star Trek’s depiction of vessels of the name and unlike some other ships that are
built for combat but never see it, the Exeter is extensively utilised in military campaigns.
One interesting thing that I noted, is that with the USS Exeter, we saw two constitution
class vessels, one original, one refit, followed by an Excelsior class then an Ambassador class.
Although the registry was not passed on, I can only think of one other name that transcends
eras across the same models of Starship. Who knows, maybe the next Exeter will be a Galaxy
class? Thanks for watching this video on the lineage
of the Starship Exeter. I’ve seen a couple of names crop up in the comments that I’m
adding to the list, but I just had to get this one out there. Thanks again for watching
and until the next time, goodbye!