Sfdebris.net

So, random question for people. I'm mulling over an idea for a Star Trek fan-fic that would be set some time after "The Undiscovered Country," set on the last actively commissioned Constitution-class starship. It would basically be seen as something of a hard-luck assignment, with only the captain, who is winding down his career and looking forward to retirement, being cool with it.

So the question is about the ship's name. I have three choices, which coincidentally all start with the letter E, and all have some history behind them.

The first is Endeavour, named after the HM Bark Endeavour, which was a British royal Navy research vessel commanded by James Cook, and was the first European vessel to reach New Zealand and Australia, and circumnavigated the globe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Endeavour

The second is Emden, named after a WWI era German protected cruiser, SMS Emden. During the war, she conducted commerce raiding in the Indian Ocean, and was so distinguished in her career that the Kaiser ordered another to be built featuring a large Iron Cross on her bow to commemorate the first, which in turn became a tradition that has continued through to the last one that was launched in 1980 and laid up in 2013. She is noted for the chivalrous manner in which she conducted her raids. She had an interesting career, and I'd suggest reading the article on her and/or watching this video about her:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlcRnS-lXhU

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Emden

The last is Endurance, named after the three-masted barquentine that Sir Ernest Shackleton took on an expedition to Antarctica in an effort to make the first land crossing of that continent, thereby reaching the geographic South Pole first. Unfortunately the ship ultimately became stuck in ice and was crushed, but her crew all survived against all odds, after completing an epic journey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endurance_(1912_ship)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgh_77TtX5I

I'm curious to see what name people would pick for this ship that would be the last of her class.

If anything I'd pick Endeavour as it was the last space shuttle and the Enterprise was the first.

To the extent that the fiction is timely... I'd suggest eliminating Endeavour because the IRL astronauts just picked it for their ship docked to the ISS.

That leaves Endurance as the 'safe' choice as it's fairly rare to see Star Trek fanfic with German ship names. Unless this is supposed to appeal to the Euro market?

I hope you can make a few alteration to the films timeline like idk, have hints of why Klingons are commiting self cultural-genocide andaallowing Starfleet's best admirals be infected with the god-complex in later film?!

Anyone else have any opinions on the name at all?

If it's just these three, then go for Emden, precisely because it is different from the rest and feels like a throw-away name for a ship with a (maybe) glorious past long gone.

Aren't these names rather dramatic for a ship which at this point in-universe is an obsolete piece of junk? I would recommend ''Mary Rose'' after Henry VIII's flagship that when built was one of the most advanced ships afloat and then ended its days at the bottom of the ocean after it was upgraded to the point its centre of gravity shifted and allowed water to enter its open gunports - all because Henry couldn't bear to accept that the ship that carried his rose insignia was no longer seaworthy and continued to load new shit onto an old frame.

I think its rather fitting for a class of ship that WAS awesome but now isn't.

She wasn't an obsolete piece of junk when she was built. And two of those names are canon, incidentally.

What is the story of the fic about? If it is the final mission of this Constitution ship, how does it go out? Just decommissioned and salvaged for usable parts or does it go out in a blaze of glory? Endurance or Endeavor as names could fit into what you're trying to do with the story rather than just being carryover names from past naval ships.

It's the last Constitution class ship that was commissioned and was built in the "refit" configuration. Initially, what I had in mind is that she'd also be the last one still in commission, with all the others having been either been destroyed, or decommissioned as the Excelsior, Miranda, and Constellation class ships become the workhorses of the fleet, but I wouldn't be against there being other Constitution class ships still being around. The premise of the show is that she's on what's supposed to be on a routine, boring, patrol mission along the Romulan Neutral Zone, which is why most of the crew is actually unhappy to be there, because they want to be out exploring strange new worlds and all that. The only one who's happy is the captain, who is basically looking for an easy job to run out the clock before he retires, having had a decades-long career. But, they all end up getting a lot more than they bargained for as the crew ends up getting a lot of that excitement and adventure they claimed they wanted to have, and the captain does not get the easy wind-down job he was hoping for. For example, the Tomed Incident is going to be a part of the show, and, no, it isn't going to follow what happened in the novels at all.

As for the names, aside from Endeavour and Emden being the canon ships listed with the highest registry numbers in Memory Alpha (both just being listed in the "Operation Retrieve" plan shown to the Federation President in Star Trek VI). Both names have history to them. Endurance is simply another name I've been wanting to give to a starship for a while, because of its history.