Hello and welcome to another episode 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 own imagination to fill in the gaps. In today’s episode we’re taking a look at the NX Delta Class of Starfleet Starships, as first seen in Star Trek: Enterprise, to better understand its place in Star Trek History.
And as always, Because this IS a Beta Canon video, all information relaid 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 us begin…
Starfleet Commands first full-fledged warp driven starship, the NX Delta would go down in history as a symbol of Humanity Drive towards the stars. But what do we really know about this groundbreaking class? Well, today we’ll find out…
Even in the post World War 3 era of Humanities history, news travelled fast. The historic first warp flight of Zephram Cochrane and the subsequent First Contact with the Vulcan Species would be one of the most important turning points for humankind.
Almost overnight, disease, poverty and the divides that kept humanity from coming together as one disappeared. Earth became united in a common cause, to venture out into the starry unknown and become a part of the galactic community… But to do this, Earth needed starships…
Starfleet Command was founded in the early 2130s, as a direct symbol of Earths United drive for Space Travel. And their first mission objective was to pierce the warp 2 barrier.
Though ecstatic at first over First Contact with the Vulcans, Humanity soon realized that the friendship between their species, was not all they had hoped it would be. Because of very specific rules enforced by the Vulcan High Command, Humanities new friends were forbidden from sharing their own technology. Thus every technological breakthrough for humanity had to come from their own hard work and determination.
Many in Starfleet saw this as the Vulcans holding humanity back, but never the less, it did not deter a single Starfleet Engineer, Scientist or Officer from reaching for technological breakthroughs.
By the 2130s, the Warp 1 Engine had been put into various vessels designed for running Cargo. These engines had even been refined to reach speeds up to warp 1.3.
Generational Cargo Vessels were a direct result of Cochrane’s breakthrough, But Starfleet Command knew that if they truly intended to join the interstellar community, they would not only have to break the Warp 2 Barrier but create starship designs that could travel at a speed of up to warp factor 5, and so, Starfleet’s best and brightest began to work on the problem.
Piercing the Warp 2 Barrier, however, was harder than anyone had thought. But eventually, in 2143, the NX Beta was able to reach and sustain a speed of Warp Factor 2.5.
With the new Warp 2 Engine ready to be installed into a Starship for further testing, Starfleet Command approved a brand new, Arrowhead design which would become known as the NX Delta.
Sitting at a length of approximately 127 meters and a width of approximately 115 meters, the NX Delta had 4 decks and was designed to be operated by a crew of 35 Officers and Crew Members.
The NX Delta would also include several other technological breakthroughs Starfleet had been working on.
The first Plasma Canons and Spatial Torpedo Launchers would be included in the design. Its Plasma Canons, though not very powerful from today’s standpoint, were rated at a power output of 4 Terrawatts, while the class would carry a complement of 12 Spatial Torpedoes. The Plasma Cannon range at the time was only 9 Kilometers, though this range would be slightly increased over time.
With Starfleet Command eager to begin testing this new design, many other elements that would become standard for the class would be left out for time being.
Though supposedly unemotional, Starfleet Command got the distinct impression that their Vulcan Friends had been shocked by Starfleet’s development of a viable Warp 2 Engine. As a result, they had requested and been granted permission to run safety tests on the engine design before the launch of the NX Delta.
After a gruelling year-long slate of Tests, the Vulcan High Command admitted that the engine system itself, would most likely work, and with that, the NX Delta was launched.
Testing its New Warp Engine system, Starfleet Command was “over the Vulcan moon” as it were when its warp drive performed as well as it had in the NX Beta, reaching and sustaining warp factor 2.5. And to test out its true endurance, Starfleet Command would push the starship even further, and in 2144, the NX Delta would reach warp factor 3, although the new engine system could not sustain that speed.
Once testing was complete, the NX Delta would return to dry dock for an overhaul of some of her components while the NX Intrepid, which had been built and testing an upgraded version of the Warp 2 engine, which Starfleet Command hoped would pierce the Warp 3 Barrier, finished it’s a shakedown cruise.
Using all the lessons that had been earned from the NX Delta, Starfleet Command would make several alterations to the NX Intrepid Class which would improve its performance, and eventually lead that Class Design to be completely successful as well.
Starfleet Command would decide to build 12 of the NX Delta Class, renaming the design to the NX Neptune Class. And eventually would increase this order to 36 Vessels Constructed.
And with several technologies included within the NX Intrepid Design proving to be so successful within themselves, Starfleet would include them as well in the subsequent construction of the NX Neptune Class Designs.
A new invention, Polarized hull plating would be the first NX Intrepid technology to be included in the class. The precursor to Starship Defensive Shields, Polarized Hull Plating incorporated a polarization matrix in its armoured hull plating. Through the application of electromagnetic power, the metal hull of the ship could be made several orders of magnitude harder than it was in its non-polarized state.
Also, a Cargo Rated transporter system would be installed into the class. This would allow for Non Living materials, such as ore and spare parts to beamed up to the starship, rather than the lengthy time it took to fly and load up shuttle pods with these material goods.
Finally, the NX Neptune Class would eventually have its plasma Canons upgraded to the Phase Canon design. Increasing its overall firepower by a factor of 4.
The NX Neptune Class was cramped by even standards of the time, forcing most officers and crew members to bunk up barrack style within the design, but as Starfleet made more technological breakthroughs, and starship components got smaller, as well as fewer crew members needed to run the ship, eventually, the NX Neptune Class would once again get a complete overhaul, with its internal space being increased and redesigned and it’s crew complement taken down to 26 officers and crew members.
Starfleet Command tended to use this class as more of a workhorse for its fleet, It’s slower speed made long-range exploration an impossibility, but made for excellent specialized cargo and transport vessels. Also, at least 3 of these vessels would remain in the Terran System at all times for Earths Personal Defense, though thankfully, Earth itself would require these vessels heading into combat very rarely.
By the early 2170s, after the creation of the United Federation of Planets, the NX Neptune Class was really showing its age.
With Starfleet Command combining and testing out new technologies donated by the Federations founding member worlds, the NX Neptune Class had truly become a relic of the past.
As a result, Starfleet Command made the decision to recall and decommission the entire class. Even those starships that had been assigned to Earths Colony Defense forces would be put out to pasture and replaced by more advanced and powerful starship designs.
And even though not a glamorous end for one of Starfleet’s most important designs ever created, she had nonetheless proven herself worthy, earning the position she still holds in Human and Starfleet’s History…
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