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 Intrepid Class, to better understand its place in Star Trek History.
Please note, I will be referring to this class as the NX Intrepid Class, even though in-universe it truly is just known as the Intrepid Class. I’ve done this to differentiate it from the 24th Century Intrepid Class made famous of course in Star Trek: Voyager.
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’s begin.
With Starfleet’s dream of creating a Warp 5 capable, true exploration vessel, they first had a few major roadblocks to break through before that dream could become a reality. And one of those roadblocks just happened to be the direct cause for creating an entirely new class of starship, the NX Intrepid Class…
Starfleet’s warp 2 engine system had been a complete success, and so now, Starfleet set its eyes on breaking the warp 3 barrier. With Earth attempting to become a greater part of the galactic community, several concerns had been raised by Earth’s civilian population as to whether Starfleet could protect its own Star System, let alone be making plans to venture further and further out into deep space.
Though heavily partnered with the planet Vulcan, Earths technologies included in starship classes up to this point, were rather disappointing aside from of course the Warp Drive, and Earth’s Vulcan allies were continually informing Starfleet of potential and very real threats that space actually possessed.
So Starfleet resigned itself to creating a New Class of Vessel which could not only break the Warp 3 Barrier but also be well-armed to ensure a high level of protection for Earth and any Human Assets acquired while exploring surrounding star systems… And thus the NX Intrepid Class would be born.
Sitting at a length of approximately 165 meters, and 7 decks tall, the NX Intrepid Class would be designed for a crew of 46 officers and crew members.
The design itself was the combined effort of both Starfleet Command’s best starship designers and engineers, and that of the United Earth Space Probe Agency also simply known as UESPA.
Together, these 2 agencies would work tirelessly for over 2 years before the design was finalized. The NX Intrepid Class would display several of the design elements that would end up becoming a standard in most Starfleet designs, including a saucer style primary hull as well as cylindrical type warp nacelles. Starfleet also had hopes that should this design prove viable, that it would be able to refit with a new engine system to break the Warp 4 barrier, though that plan would not end up becoming a reality.
Construction on the Prototype was completed in early 2142, and shortly thereafter the Intrepid was launched for her shakedown cruise. Originally armed with 3 Phase Cannons and 1 torpedo launcher, 5 additional Phase Cannons and an Aft torpedo launcher would be installed after these systems proved successful during its shakedown.
A new invention, Polarized hull plating would also be included in this design. The precursor to Starship Defensive Shields, Polarized Hull Plating incorporated a polarization matrix in its armored 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. This system proved to perform far greater than the expectation of both Starfleet and its own creator. And so this system would be included in all starship designs until the birth of the United Federation of Planets when the Andorian’s would share their shield technology with Starfleet.
The NX Intrepid Class would also contain the first starship, cargo rated transporters. And by 2155, these cargo transporters would be replaced with bio-rated transporters similar to those of the NX Class.
Starfleet held its breath when it came to the warp trials of the vessel, many components which had made the Warp 2 Engine system operate, had to be completely redesigned, and no one was quite sure if these components would do what the warp theorists intended them to. Thankfully, they did, and on April 17th, 2142, the Intrepid herself reached, and was able to maintain Warp Factor 3.
So impressed by the performance of the class, Starfleet immediately ordered 23 more starships to be constructed over the next 6 years. And with the invention and improvement of existing technologies, Starfleet would continually be upgrading the class, making the NX Intrepid Class the Backbone of Early Starfleet. By mid-2143, 5 of the class had been constructed, and Starfleet decided it was time to send one of these starships out of the Sol System on a mission of exploration.
Starfleet wanted to begin to colonize nearby star systems, and take advantage of the vast resources uninhabited space could offer. And so they sent the Intrepid to the Luhman16 Binary Star System, 9 light-years from Earth, in the hopes of claiming it for Humanity.
Travel to the Luhman16 took approximately 122 days, and once there, the Intrepid’s crew was sad to discover a dead planetary system as the Captain Reported, with no Earth Type planets at all. But the Star System DID contain a wide array of minerally rich planets and moons, and so the Intrepid spent the next 4 months doing detailed surveys of every object in the system, and in Early 2144, a modified cargo vessel rendezvoused with the Intrepid with supplies and equipment to begin to construct mining domed facilities on selected sites within the Star System. The Intrepid would remain to oversee the operations in the sector and would be joined by her sister ship the Lexington a short time later charged with maintaining the security of Starfleet’s latest asset.
But in 2150 Starfleet Command decided to recall the Intrepid for a much-needed refit…
The NX Freedom Class, which had broken the warp 4 barrier, had taught Starfleet a lot about warp drives. And with the NX Classes construction finally underway, Starfleet’s scientists believed they had found a way to improve the efficiency and increase the speed available for the Intrepid Class.
Spending 8 months in dry dock, the Intrepid was completely refit and redesigned, taking full advantage of all new available technologies, by the launch of the NX Class Enterprise, the Intrepid would be assigned to head up the Sol Systems own security forces. By the time of the Earth/ Romulan War in 2156, Starfleet Command would begin mass-producing the NX Intrepid Class, as its already substantial firepower would be an asset to the fleet.
When originally looking to upgrade the class to break the warp 4 barrier, Starfleet quickly discovered that the Intrepid Class design simply couldn’t house a warp 4 engine. The Nacelles themselves being on the Primary Hull, and the massive increase of Delta Radiation created by a warp 4 engine, meant that the Intrepid Class couldn’t hit warp 4 without lethal doses of delta Radiation killing off the starship’s crew.
However, by the time of the Earth/ Romulan War, Starfleet’s technology had come a long way. Including the discovery of an alloy that would become known as Vitrium. Vitrium by its nature is able to absorb a great deal of delta radiation. And so, by coating the interior of the nacelle with this alloy, the Intrepid Class design was suddenly able to include a warp 5 engine system similar to her big sister class the NX Class.
When the United Federation of Planets came into existence in 2161, Admiral Jonathan Archer, head of Starfleet Operations, immediately chose the NX Intrepid Class as the first vessel class to receive another extensive refit with prototype Federation technologies donated by the various founder members of the organization, and although it took quite a while for Starfleet to create a working version of this new Intrepid Class, as the technologies donated had to be reworked and redesigned to be compatible with each other, by 2165, the new NX Intrepid Class made it’s a debut to much Federation FanFare. After that, several other classes would receive similar upgrades and refits.
But by 2180, the NX Intrepid Class had begun to show its age. Several more advanced and much larger designs had begun to supplant the small powerhouse design. And so Starfleet began to decommission the class over the space of the next 15 years.
Many of these starships would continue as Planetary Defense Vessel for the Federation’s ever-expanding territory. But by 2195, the last vessel in service, the Intrepid herself, would be recalled to Earth for a decommissioning ceremony which would see the starship restored to her original configuration and placed in Starfleet’s Fleet Museum.
And there the Intrepid sits to this day. A shining beacon of an early time in humanities history when the space surrounding the Sol System was still largely unexplored and human heroes were made with every light year…
Thank you for watching today’s episode of Truth or Myth Beta Canon, what do you think of the NX Intrepid Class, and the historical narrative I’ve created here. Would you like to see more videos like this one? Well leave your comments in the section below and don’t forget to like the video and subscribe to the channel.
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