Hello and welcome to the premiere episode of season 6 of Truth OR Myth Beta Canon, a Star Trek web series that dives into the history of any given topic using Beta Canon sources and my imagination to fill in the gaps.
In today’s episode we’re taking a look at the 32nd Century Constitution Class of Starfleet Starships, as first seen in Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery, to better understand its place in Star Trek History.
Once again, this video is a little bit different, as there isn’t a whole lot of information on this class or its history quite yet. So, I scoured both Alpha and Beta canon sources and came up with a story that I hope you’ll enjoy.
I’d also like to remind everyone that Alpha Canon always trumps Beta Canon, so although Star Trek: Online, a Beta Canon Source, refers to this class as the Kirk Class to differentiate it from the other Constitution Class Starships in the game, Alpha Canon has already declared this to be a Constitution Class, merely one having been created and constructed in the 32nd Century.
And of course, as always, because this IS a Beta Canon video, all information re-laid should pretty much be taken with a grain of stardust, and only considered a little bit of Star Trek Fun! And so, with all that out of the way, let’s begin. NB… Star Trek: Discovery is Canon, whether a minority like it or not, and we’re all adults here, meaning, we all can follow the fundamentals of the franchise we claim to cherish, such as IDIC and respect for others.
With the Temporal Cold War in full swing, and the Federations public weary of the shortage of Dilithium, Starfleet Command would embark on a project Lineage, to bring Federation Member Worlds closer together.
Although successful for a time, creating new versions of classes such as the Constitution Class, this amazing endeavour would eventually be dropped when “The Burn” devastated the entire galaxy.
The galaxy was being torn apart… The Temporal Cold War, as it would come to be known, had created clear divides between The Federation members and non-members worlds alike.
In the Century before the Temporal Cold War, the Galaxy was actually in a state of relative peace.
Though not yet completely explored, the vast majority of the Milky Way Galaxy had come together in the spirit of cooperation and had learned how to live peacefully with one other.
Nonetheless, when Time Travel had become a relatively easy thing to achieve, and more aggressive and hostile races threatened to alter the timeline to their end, Starfleet and the Federation Council would clamp down hard on this new technology, to the resentment of many species, who saw the technology as an opportunity to change the current timeline for the better.
Eventually, the Temporal Cold War would simply become the Temporal War, heating up rather quickly and forcing Starfleet to use time travel itself to win the conflict.
Eventually, they were successful, and the Galaxy would agree to ban all forms of Time Travel in the name of the Greater Good, but hurt feelings and shattered pride, would continue to fracture the Milky Way Galaxy as never before, tarnishing its once great galactic image.
So even before the Temporal War had finished, Starfleet Command and The United Federation of Planets began a Project to bring the Galaxy back together and remind everyone of the roots of the organizations.
Project Lineage would once again redefine the image of Starfleet, back to one of an earlier time of exploration and first contact.
Setting its best and brightest starship design engineers the task of creating starship classes in the likes of the best hero ship classes throughout Starfleet and Federation History, the 2 organizations hoped to inspire the Galaxy once again, and for the most part, they were successful.
However, with a shortage of Dilithium crystals becoming a huge problem for the Galaxy at large, some member worlds saw this project as unnecessary use of the few remaining resources they had available.
Most of these fears, however, were put aside when the first class of Project Lineage completed its construction and was debuted to the Galaxy as a whole, with the promise that this new Constitution Classes primary goal, was to explore all remaining unexplored regions of the galaxy, as well as the Milky Way’s Satellite Galaxies, in search of further deposits of Dilithium Crystals for the galaxy to share.
The design itself, was the product of centuries of upgrades to the original Constitution Class heavy cruiser, first launched in the year 2245, as Starfleet Command had always had a design similar to this original class in service throughout its history.
Although these classes were not named the Constitution Class, the general configuration of the starship had always remained the same.
Sitting at a length of 1399.82 meters and constructed to be a city in space, this New Constitution Class was designed to be operated by 2000 officers and crew members and could carry 10000 additional persons, such as the crew’s family, both immediate and extended and support personnel to create a thriving colony in Space.
Equipped with the latest Quantum Slips stream drive as well as a standard warp drive, the Constitution Class could reach the nearest satellite galaxy to the Sol System, the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, in just 3 and half days.
The traditional Deflector Dish design seen in many of Starfleet Classes was done away with completely in favour of newer Deflector Strips, adorned at various places along its hull.
These new deflector strips created a large bubble around the ship to deflect all space particles, while simultaneously improving the speed and capabilities of the Slipstream drive.
The entire design of the ship, though again retaining the general shape of the original Constitution Class, had been designed with tremendous speed and efficiency of the Slipstream drive in mind.
As a result, many areas of the design would have what was known as cut out sections and brace bars… The secondary hull would retain the now commonplace feature of being disconnected from the primary hull.
This had the advantage of allowing the starship to easily separate into two vessels, but also to be far more manoeuvrable than traditionally connected starship ever had been.
Unlike most Starfleet Vessels of time, however, the Constitution Class did not have detached nacelles, again done in the interest of speed and efficiency of its Quantum Slipstream Drive.
The weaponry of this class was the most advanced for its time and included several Phaser and Torpedo Array systems, with shield capabilities to match these upgraded technologies.
As previously stated, this New Constitution Class design intended to explore the satellite galaxies surrounding the Milky Way, in search of new deposits of Dilithium Crystals. As this was to be such a long-term mission, this vessel class was designed as a self-sustaining colony rather than a traditional starship design.
The Constitution Class included everything from state-of-the-art medical facilities to its version of Starfleet Academy, which would allow aspiring young students, to train and be promoted to the ranks aboard the ship.
Plus, should the Quantum Slipstream Drive become damaged or inoperative, the Constitution Class could even act as a Starbase of sorts, with its stockpile of programmable matter and provision to convert resources and set up Starbases in these Satellite Galaxies.
The USS Constitution, NCC-1700-N was launched in 3062, with 4123 people aboard to brave the unknowns of the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy and to establish a permanent presence for the federation and Starfleet in that Satellite Galaxy.
But in 3069, when the burn overtook the galaxy, destroying all starships with active warp cores, contact was lost with the USS Constitution and her sister starships in the Dwarf Galaxy, the USS James T. Kirk, and the USS Matthew Decker.
Believed to have been destroyed by the burn, Starfleet Command was shocked to find all 3 starships still fully operational having established several colonies and Starbases within Canis Major.
Apparently “The Burn” did not penetrate the Galactic barrier which surrounded the Milky Way, instead, it irradiated the Barrier, making outside galactic communications an impossibility for over a century.
After lengthy discussions between the 3 starships, it was decided that they would continue their mission, and establish a new Starfleet and the Federation in that Satellite Galaxy as they had determined that travel through the irradiated Galactic Barrier would cause their own starships destructions.
So the 3 starships alone in Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, would wait and hope for the day that the Galactic Barrier would return to normal and that they could regain contact with their home Galaxy, the Milky Way.
Finally, in 3190, contact would be regained between the old guard and new, and full diplomatic relations would be established much to the delight of both sides.
Currently, the USS Constitution is working with Starfleet Command of the Milky Way to establish safe travel between Galaxies, and as soon as safety can be assured, the Constitution herself will be returning to Starfleet command for a full debriefing and update with the hopes of integrating this century-old version of itself into its newly re-establish Federation.
But for now, both sides, still wait.
Constructed to Inspire new generations for the foreseeable future, no one could have predicted the major influence the New Constitution Class would have after “The Burn.”
The full ramifications of this classes effect on Starfleet’s future in the cosmos have not yet even begun to be realized. And this fact alone, for good or bad, has earned the New Constitution Class its place in Starfleet History…
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Thank you for watching today’s episode of Truth or Myth Beta Canon, what do you think of the 32nd Century Constitution Class and the historical narrative that I’ve created here.
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Thanks again for watching, Live long and prosper…
