The origins of the Enterprise Class Heavy Battleship and Explorer dates back to the 2370s. During this period in Federation history saw challenges from almost every major power within the Alpha and Beta Quadrants: The Dominion threat grew in strength, the Klingon Empire took on an adversarial stance with the Federation, the Romulan Star Empire attempted to destroy the Bajoran Wormhole, and the Borg launched a renewed invasion of Federation Space. Starfleet attempted to counter these hotspots with the Perimeter Defense Directive and several other acts; however, these were a simple stop gap measure and nothing more. When the Cardassian Union joined the Dominion the Federation/Dominion Cold War began to grow hotter, and for the first time in a long time the Federation faced actual defeat.

It was around this time that the Federation Security Council called for the immediate creation of a new line of Federation starships based upon the research completed to defend against the Borg. These ships, unlike their predecessors, would be devoted to military applications, and would have limited to no science capabilities aboard. This led to the creation of the Defiant Class and the Sovereign Class starships, the approval of the Achilles and Prometheus Class vessels, and a slew of other combat capable vessels. Investigation of the Excalibur and Titan Class battleships began in earnest, each assigned to be the first of a new line of ships with the primary directive of defending the Federation.

Dozens of ships were built with these directives, surprisingly though production of most of these classes came to a screeching halt. Construction of several vessels was scrapped, combat designated vessels already completed were decommissioned or scrapped, and the Excalibur and Titan Class starships found themselves on their way back to the drawing board to be equipped with exploration capabilities. Starfleet returned fully to the explorative mission on which it was founded; sacrificing their new line of combat oriented starships.

When the Klingon Conflicts of the 2390s erupted, Starfleet found itself losing ground to it’s one time allies and a lot of old fears from the Dominion Wars resurfaced. Even with the reactivation of the mothballed and reserved ships from the war era the Federation saw a loss of life much greater than that of the entire Dominion War. Hundreds of ships were lost, several member worlds ceased their memberships, out of security concerns, and throusands of lives were lost. It was at this point that Starfleet Command reviewed their old practices and returned to ships specialized in combat practices. Several new classes resulted, and a review of already launched starships to incorporate a more militaristic stance began.

Of the new designs to emerge from the construction yards none of the creations seemed to live up to the standards of the past. Starfleet Command wanted to create a vessel of a more militaristic nature, but that also featured the standards of Starfleet’s past. Several design proposals were presented, but each were summarily rejected. Each proposed vessel failed to live up to the expectations of Command. The proposals were either too aggressive in appearance or offensive, some were too powerful and shook themselves apart, or a few were incapable of the long term mission parameters that Starfleet was hoping for. A second design brief was sent out for a vessel “Capable of tactical missions of an extreme nature, but also capable of living up to the standards of the Federation’s past.” This called for a vessel capable of, essentially, being a task force in itself that was capable of operating without Starfleet support for at least a decade.

Further designs were also rejected and Starfleet considered scrapping the entire project. Surprisingly though the decision for the ‘next generation heavy battleship’ came not from these proposals, but the proposal for a standard galactic Explorer. Starfleet Admiral T’Vrak of the Science Council was looking over a proposal by Commander William Teagarden for an Exploration class vessel to continue pushing the Federation's borders of discovery. Called the Pennsylvania Class, Admiral T’Vrak presented the proposed vessel as the answer to the quandry of the next generation of battleships. The design was approved after minor modifications to the ship and construction began at San Francisco Yards the following month with an estimated completion in early 2409 due to new construction methods. Starfleet promoted Commander Teagarden to Captain summarily and transferred him to command of the USS Galaxy.

Construction went well for the first several months, however delays began cropping up. The ship, due to it’s size, was underpowered for all of it’s technology and some design flaws became apparent. They were corrected, but a full three months of work was lost. To correct the power problems it was decided to install a second warp propulsion core in the saucer module, to solve the sensor problems R&D began work on a experimental refit to their already established Type XXI sensor array. Thus when the Enterprise would be completed the ship would be the most powerful Federation vessel launched with the most impressive sensor suite to date.

Delays, however, continued to crop up. Once these problems were defeated the project was delayed even further when the Borg launched an invasion in 2409. Due to the loss of several defense ships Starfleet ordered the Pennsylvania launched from it’s docking port even though it was only 80% completed. Recently appointed captain of the Enterprise-F, William Teagarden (and the ship’s designer) was on Earth for a conference and took command of the Pennsylvania to protect the heart of the Federation. The ship performed admirably for not being completed, but was damaged in the attacks (which added another 6 months to her final launch date). William Teagarden was promoted to Commodore and repairs and construction continued on the Pennsylvania.

Following the loss of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F while testing a prototype Quantum Slipstream Drive for the Pennsylvania, Starfleet Command decided to change the designation of the Pennsylvania to the Enterprise and work continued. The ship was now independent of the dockyard and was in the final stages of her construction phase at the time of the incident. The Enterprise Class Project was completed in March 2410 and Commodore William Teagarden was assigned as the ship’s commanding officer. Testing began; and it was discovered that (all in all) the Enterprise Class Heavy Battleship was the equivalent of an entire squadron of Titan Class Explorers. The prototype was approved for full activation (but kept the NX designation) and was ordered to the Cardassian Border for routine systems checks.

The Enterprise's first mission was to investigate reports that a group of rogue Jem'Hadar had established a hatchery in the Badlands. During the course of the mission the ship was lost and presumed destroyed in an accident near a plasma stream. This, coupled with the costs of building and maintaining a ship of this class, led to the cancellation of the Enterprise Class of starship. Plans for the next generation vessels (The USS Pennsylvania, the USS America, the USS Franklin Roosevelt, the USS Sable, and the USS Dakota) were cancelled.

In 2412 the Enterprise Class USS Enterprise emerged from a temporal eddy near Starbase 375. The ship was towed to the station and was ordered to be scrapped. This changed when the T'Saz destroyed Deep Space 8 and Starfleet deemed it necessary to allow the Enterprise to continue as usual. The ship was given an upgrade and relaunched in January 2413 under the command of William Teagarden.

At the moment the Enterprise is continuing her original assignment. She was recently upgraded further following a brief take over by enemy forces and given several new prototypes originally designed for implementation on the class during it's constuction phase (they were unable to be completed at the time of launch). Included is a prototype Artificial Intelligence Monitoring System Avatar, a regiment of security androids, a new tactical control system, and an upgrade to her damaged sensor arrays. Perhaps one of the most interesting upgrades was the permanent addition of a new Terminator Class Escort Vessel onto the underside of the Enterprise's saucer to serve as a defense vessel in extreme situations. In honor of the original name for the Enterprise Class, Admiral Teagarden ordered the ship to be named the USS Pennsylvania.

Surprisingly, even though it has performed admirably over the last several years, Starfleet Command has not authorized the continuation or construction of vessels of this line. Claiming cost reasons, Starfleet has since begun transferring their assets to the creation of standard dreadnought class vessels as opposed to the expensive Enterprise. The prototype still remains under the command of her designer, William Teagarden.

NOTEWORTHY VESSELS:

USS Enterprise NX-1701-G, Class prototype and the current Federation Flagship vessel as well as the Alpha Fleet Flagship. See extensive documentation.

Alpha Fleet Simulations is based upon Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry and is in no way affiliated with Paramount Pictures Corporation or the Viacom Corporation. Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, and all related marks are registered trademarks of Paramount Pictures and their respective owners; no copyright violation is intended or desired.