User:Morwen/prometheus

(tag removed) merge|prometheus class starship (Star Trek)}} USS Prometheus (NX-59650) is a guest ship in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Message in a Bottle". It is the prototype of the new Prometheus-class.

The Prometheus was first launched on stardate 50749.5 (2373) from the Antares Shipyards after over a decade of extensive development by the Advanced Starship Design Bureau at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards at Mars.

An unidentified Prometheus-class ship was also seen the Voyager finale, "Endgame"

In reality, the Prometheus class was designed by Star Trek: Voyager senior illustrator Rick Sternbach and rendered as a computer generated image by Foundation Imaging. The interiors were designed by series production designer Richard James, using redressed portions of the re-created USS Excelsior (NCC-2000) bridge that James made for "Flashback" as well as the Voyager sickbay, in addition to new sets.

Hijack by the Romulans
In 2374, the Prometheus was fully commissioned and began a series of shakedown cruises before it was commandeered by Romulans. Due to the collaboration of two Starfleet Emergency Medical Holograms (The Prometheus experimental MkII and the USS Voyagers MkI), the ship was successfully retaken by Starfleet. It was on this mission that Starfleet learned of the Voyager's exact position and situation in the Delta Quadrant, and the vessel was removed from the MIA list.

Endgame
The Prometheus was last seen assigned to the Sol system. When a Borg transwarp conduit opened directly ahead of Earth, the Prometheus was part of the defense fleet assembled that escorted Voyager home.

Technology


In standard configuration, a ship of this class is composed of an arrowhead-shaped primary hull attached directly to a short, small secondary hull supporting four warp nacelles on short pylons in an 'X' configuration. In battle, this ship may divide into three ships &mdash; the saucer, the upper engineering hull, and the lower engineering hull &mdash; to allow for multiple independently moving weapons platforms, an expansion on the Galaxy class' concept of saucer separation. The saucer has two small warp nacelles that are stored in recesses while joined and extend once the saucer has separated.

This class also has enhanced defences including ablative armor and regenerative deflector shields.

The Prometheus was the first ship to be equipped with a "Multi-Vector Assault Mode" which enabled the vessel to separate into three fully independent spaceframes during a battle, and reconvene and reconnect after the mission was completed. This ability is similar to the saucer separation of a Galaxy class starship, though that function was not designed to increase the tactical potency of both separated sections, instead using the saucer section as something of a massive Escape pod though this was not the only reason for Galaxy-class vessels to separate.

The class makes much greater use of holographic systems than earlier vessels. The entire ship is fitted with holographic projectors, allowing the ship's Emergency Medical Hologram to move outside sickbay, enabling him to treat injuries sustained during battle as quickly as possible.

Registry confusion
The Prometheus' registry is disputed. Despite the CGI model being labelled onscreen as registry NX-59650, the vessel was said to be Starfleet's newest design and so it is assumed by some fans that the higher number - seen on the ship's dedication plaque - represents the correct registry, as this would place the vessel's construction after the relatively new Galaxy-class vessels (generally numbered in the 71000s), and the newer Intrepid-class vessel, Voyager (NCC-74656). A Nebula-class USS Prometheus had been seen earlier in DS9, under the registry NCC-71201.

In reality, production designer Mike Okuda used NX-74913 for all the internal displays, including the ship's plaque but the independent FX artists did not receive a memo regarding this, and so used an "incorrect" number for the CGI model.