NCC-1701: the Enterprise serial number finally decoded

"These are the Voyages of the Starship Enterprise," declares Captain James T. Kirk from the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

"This is Jean-Luc Picard, Captain of the Enterprise," says Captain Jean-Luc Picard from the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

"My name is Kathryn Janeway, Captain of the Federation Starship Voyager," says Captain Kathryn Janeway from the bridge of the U.S.S. Voyager.

All three are unaware of one aspect of their ship. Enterprise is NCC-1701 and Voyager is NCC-74656. Here is one of the last great mysteries of the Star Trek universe. What do the letters NCC stand for?

There's nothing revolutionary about the answer. As far back as 1975, technical illustrator Franz Joseph Schnaubelt gave the answer in his book "Star Trek: Blueprints" (ISBN: 978-0345258212.

In short, NCC stands for "Naval Construction Contract."

You certainly can't see it clearly in the image above, as our system doesn't allow it to be enlarged. Sorry about that. However, you can view the image either as a raw file, or enlarged below.

If you look at the designator of Starfleet ships, you'll see that it's not just a system, but a subtle underpinning of the Enterprise's legendary status.

Enterprise: a name, a legend

The name Enterprise is part of the Starfleet tradition. However, the Federation amirality knew nothing about it when the first Enterprise was launched in 2245 from the San Francisco space yards. Well, the second ship in fact. In fact, it was in 2001 that the first Enterprise in the series of the same name was introduced into the Star Trek universe by retroactive continuity. It flew under the call sign NX-01. We'll come back to that.

The NCC-1701, nicknamed the "Enterprise", came under the command of James T. Kirk in 2265. It was Kirk's five-year mission that made the Constitution-class starship a legend. The ship came to an end after 40 years of service on the planet Genesis, where James T. Kirk orders the Enterprise to self-destruct.

The NCC-1701-A, nicknamed the "Enterprise", was launched the following year, 2286, from the orbital shipyard. This ship looks exactly like the destroyed Enterprise: Constitution-class and under the command of James T. Kirk. However, seven years later, the Enterprise-A will already be obsolete: the technology and crew are already too old. In 2293, Kirk reached the age of 60. After a final battle, the ship is stored in Kirk's space yards and decommissioned.

The NCC-1701-B, nicknamed the "Enterprise", set off the same year on its first mission under the command of Captain John Harriman. However, the Enterprise-B was no longer a Constitution-class ship, but an Excelsior-class vessel. It was on this ship that James T. Kirk's life seemed to come to an end, when in 2293 the entire crew found themselves absorbed into the nexus and the ship was damaged.

The NCC-1701-C, nicknamed the "Enterprise", is a little-known starship. During the battle on the planet Narendra III in 2344, the Ambassador-class starship was heavily damaged and passed through a temporal rift. In 2344, the Federation was convinced that the ship had been lost. What a surprise for the crew of the NCC-1701-D when the Enterprise-C reappears in 2366!

The NCC-1701-D, nicknamed the "Enterprise", was built in 2363 in the Utopia Planitia space yards in orbit around Mars. Jean-Luc Picard was its first and only captain. During its seven-year mission, the Enterprise-D came into contact with alien species, including the Ferengi and the Borg. In 2371, after an attack by a Klingon vessel, the ship cannot be saved.

Commander William Riker, first officer under Captain Picard, doubted, however, that the Enterprise destroyed on Veridian III would be the last ship to bear that name.

The NCC-1701-E, nicknamed the "Enterprise", was considered the pinnacle of starship technology when it was launched in 2372. Equipped with an even faster onboard computer based on the computing power of bioneural gel packs, the Enterprise-E saves Ba'ku by confronting Shinzon and his henchmen. Jean-Luc Picard was in command until he was promoted to Admiral in the 2380s, when the Enterprise left for other missions under the command of another captain.

The NCC-1701-J, nicknamed the "Enterprise", may once see the light of day. It's a ship that Captain Jonathan Archer discovers in 2154 while travelling back in time. Incidentally, Archer is the captain of the NX-01, nicknamed the "Enterprise".

NCC, NX... sorry?

We don't know if Enterprises F to I will ever be built or exist. In Star Trek, time travel is a whole story. What is known, however, is that Kirk's first Enterprise, the NCC-1701, was in fact a random Starfleet vessel that became a legend thanks to its captain and crew: the flagship of the Federation.

What about Archer's Enterprise NX-01?

Archivist John Patuto, webmaster of Cygnus-X1, gives us the answer. Thanks to his archive of over 50 years of Star Trek containing scans and construction plans drawn up by himself, we know that NCC stands for Naval Construction Contract, i.e. "construction contract for a starship". In the 2260s, during Pike's time, 14 Constitution-class starships were being built in the San Francisco space yards.

• NCC-1071: U.S.S. Constellation
• NCC-1371: U.S.S. Republic
• NCC-1700: U.S.S. Constitution
• NCC-1701: U.S.S. Enterprise
• NCC-1702: U.S.S. Farragut
• NCC-1703: U.S.S. Lexington
• NCC-1704: U.S.S. Yorktown
• NCC-1705: U.S.S. Excalibur
• NCC-1706: U.S.S. Exeter
• NCC-1707: U.S.S. Hood
• NCC-1708: U.S.S. Intrepid
• NCC-1709: U.S.S. Valiant
• NCC-1710: U.S.S. Kongo
• NCC-1711: U.S.S. Potemkin

What does NX stand for then? It's not very clear, at least as far as the "N" is concerned. What we do know, however, is that prototypes were given the designator. The NX-01, nicknamed the "Enterprise", was the first Starfleet ship to be fitted with a Wrap 5 engine.

Archer's Enterprise is therefore a prototype. As was NX-74205, the U.S.S Defiant, with which Benjamin Sisko's crew fought in the Dominion War. In fact, before being used in the 2370s as the first combat ship in decades against the Breen-Dominion alliance under the Starfleet flag, the ship was originally designed as a weapon to counter the Borg. The transition to a combat ship took place at the end of the 2360s, as the Borg were defeated by Picard. The prototypes are also called "Experimental Spacecraft". So that's where the X comes from.

And, a little detail for the road: the Enterprise shuttles also have their own callsign. NCC-1701's Ur "Galileo" shuttle has the number NCC-1701/7. Its name has become a legend in its own right. Even the NCC-1701-D still flies with a "Galileo" on board.