Hello, Ric here again with another of the Starship name legacies and this time we’re
on the namesakes and origin of the Bellerophon which has several canon depictions, historical
vessels and Star Trek extra canonical mentions, so let’s take a look.
The name originates from the Greek tales of the hero Bellerophontes. He was gifted a Pegasus
to ride and killed the mythical Chimera. Some tales have his origin as a demi-god similar
to Hercules, however Bellerophon grew arrogant and tried to climb Mount Olympus on his steed
when Zeus humiliated him by throwing him from his horse. The disgruntled hero spent the
rest of his life as a hermit in shame. A bit of a fifty-fifty origin there.
Back in 1786, during the Napoleonic Wars, there was the HMS Bellerophon, probably the
most famous real vessel of the name it was nicknamed the “Billy Ruffian”, which I
kinda like. It was on board this vessel that Napoleon surrendered. She had a long history
of combat and was involved in numerous skirmishes and operations lasting through the turn of
the century when in 1815 she was converted into a prison ship and renamed the Captivity
in 1824 so that the namesake could be passed to another ship of the line. In 1836 the Captivity
was broken up. The ship, then that received the title was
originally the 1818 HMS Waterloo. She was used as part of an experimental fleet and
trained with new tactics and the like until being sold in 1892. Two very long serving
vessels it seems. In 1865, the HMS Bellerophon name found its
way to the central battery ironclad complete with ram. She served in the Channel Fleet
until 1871 when she was reassigned to the Mediterranean Fleet for a year. She even served
as the Flagship of the North America Station and was accidentally rammed by a merchant
vessel. Being, you know, ironclad, the Bellerophon was fine. The merchant ship was not. The Belleraphon
underwent several refits and in 1904 was designated as a training vessel and renamed.
Three years later, 1907 sees the launch of the Bellerophon Class Dreadnaught, the initial
vessel being, yes the HMS Bellerophon. This vessel served in the First World War and in
a strange coincidence (which I hope isn’t a tradition), it collided with a merchant
vessel. Being, you know, a Dreadnaught, the Bellerophon was fine. The merchant ship was
not. This vessel too served as a flagship for several Admirals and was finally broken
up in 1922. In 1942 and 1945, there were two Minotaur-class
cruisers that were planned to be named Bellerophon, but they never were, possibly as there was
a USS Bellerophon ARL-31 in 1944. This was an Achelous-class landing craft. She served
for two years as a repair vessel before being decommissioned.
The First canon starship to bear the name USS Bellerophon was the NCC-62048, a Nebula
class Starship. The first mentions we have of it actually include the year 2359 when
Ensign Natasha Yar was assigned as a Junior Security Officer, fresh out of the Academy.
As a nebula class starship, it had the typical mission pod that could be switched out and
in its only canon appearance, supported the tactical variant.
However its early missions from 2362 to 2365 saw it performing mapping missions. That sounds
like dull work, but it is probably what the vast majority of Starfleet was engaged in,
survey missions are vastly important in creating those Star Chats that the Federation is so
reliant on. But that changed in 2367 when Starfleet amassed a fleet to intercept the
Borg cube at Wolf 359. The infamous battle saw an underprepared Starfleet lose 39 starships
including the USS Belleraphon. It seems that this is the first ship of its name to be sunk,
as it were. You don’t sink in space…. You know what I mean.
Two years later, the intrepid-line of Starships was being completed and one of its number
was the USS Bellerophon NCC-74705. It was not one of the original four models of Intrepid-Class
but launched under the command of Captain Adams. Unusually for an Intrepid vessel, which
were usually reserved for scientific deeps space missions, the Bellerophon was engaged
in numerous wargames and actual battles for most of its service. Perhaps this was Starfleet
testing out the capabilities of the Intrepid-class as a combat vessel but whatever the case,
it must have served well as it became the flagship of Admiral William Ross and was often
used to ferry the Dominoin War hero around the theatres of war, likely for the intrepid’s
high speed and manoeuvrability. In Star Trek Online, there are actually two
USS Bellerophon ships. The first is a cruiser that has a randomised appearance, but then
later that year we have an intrepid inspired variant class named after this vessel. The
first of its line being the NX-62048, later recommissioned as the NCC-62048-A. In a similar
way to the Discovery-class of 2409, this USS Bellerophon was an attempt to recreate the
unexpected success of the Intrepid based on the legendary journey of the USS Voyager.
This Vessel has no launch date but is likely to have replaced the previous cruiser that
was presumably lost earlier that year. The Bellerophon name carries a long history
of battles and a surprising amount of survivability with many ships of the name serving long and
distinguished careers. The names origin as a mythical hero and monster slayer makes sense
for battleships and we see a recurring theme in both history and Star Trek that they end
up being the chosen vessel for Admirals in times of war. In fact, I’d say the real
world histories of the namesake are more storied and impressive than Starfleet interpretations,
let just hope Admiral Ross never collided with a Ferengi merchant’s shuttlecraft at
some point. So there we have it, a brief and stories history
of ships of the name Bellerophon. Honestly there were a lot more here than I expected
so thank you for putting me on the trial of this one. Thanks again for watching and I’ll
see you next time for another science fiction video, probably Trek, but maybe not. Thanks
again and Goodbye!