Ambassador class starship

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Ambassador class
The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C)
First appearance	"Yesterday's Enterprise"
Last appearance	"Emissary"
General Characteristics
Armaments	Phasers Photon torpedoes
Defences	Deflector shields

The Ambassador class is a fictional Starfleet starship class that first appears in the Star Trek series Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Ambassador class is first mentioned in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Conspiracy", but an Ambassador-class ship does not appear until "Yesterday's Enterprise". Ambassador-class ships subsequently appear in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Data's Day", "Redemption Part II, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Emissary".

A golden sculpture of the "original" Ambassador-class Enterprise-C hangs on the Enterprise-D's conference room back wall during the first seasons of the series. This ship was designed by Andrew Probert to suggest a natural progression from the older Excelsior class to the newer Galaxy class. As a practical, budget-saving consideration during the early production days of the series, the filming miniature of the USS Excelsior was intended as a stand-in for Ambassador Class starships, usually used in the background (a miniature of the original Ambassador Class starship was never built).

This production policy changed with "Yesterday's Enterprise", when a different design was created by Rick Sternbach and Greg Jein.^[1]

The Sternbach-Jein design deviates significantly from the original Probert design. The confusion in literature stems from the fact that Andrew Probert (designer of Kirk's motion picture and Picard's Enterprise) is indeed the father of the original Ambassador Class design, but which bears little or no resemblance to the filming miniature design Sternbach and Jein came up with during the third season (Andrew Probert had left the production art department after season one).

The class design has a saucer section attached to a tubular engineering section and two warp drive nacelles attached to the rear of the engineering section. At the bow of the engineering section is the navigational deflector, while the shuttlebay is at the stern. The main bridge, lifeboats and dorsal phaser arrays are embedded into the top of the saucer section, while the ship's ventral phaser arrays, a sensor dome, and more lifeboats occupy the bottom half of the ship. The USS Yamaguchi and USS Zhukov have a modified navigational deflector, additional lifeboats, a different sensor dome and an additional shuttlebay.

The first example of the 'new' Ambassador class starship seen on screen is the USS Enterprise-C in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Yesterday's Enterprise".

With the appearance of the Enterprise-C all previous Excelsior stand-ins as Ambassador Class starships were reclassified as Excelsior Class starships. Given two existing Ambassador Class designs (the Probert one, displayed on the Enterprise-C conference room wall, and the Sternbach-Jein one, visible as a model miniature) some confusion remains whether Ambassador Class starships mentioned in the series (but not shown on screen) are of the Probert or Sternbach-Jein design.

Andrew Probert provides NX-10521 as the official registry number for the USS Ambassador, suggesting that the USS Horatio (NCC-10532) is equally a Probert design. Considering that the Enterprise-C started as a Probert design (displayed on the sculpture wall of the USS Enterprise history on Picard's Enterprise) and literally ended as a Sternbach-Jein design ("Yesterday's Enterprise"), this suggests either a considerable refit or the construction of a new type of Starfleet starship while maintaining the class designation.

[edit] List of known Ambassador class starships

USS Adelphi (NCC-26849): Commanded by Captain Darson, the starship Adelphi was assigned to a first contact mission with the planet Ghorusda in 2366. However, due to a misunderstanding, a conflict broke out and 47 crewmembers, including the captain and two friends of William Riker's, were killed.^[2]

USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C): The fourth Federation starship to bear the name Enterprise, the starship Enterprise-C was commanded by Captain Rachel Garrett in 2344. In 2344, the Enterprise-C responded to a distress call from a Klingon outpost on Narendra III. When the Enterprise arrived, it fought several Romulan warbirds before being destroyed and several members of the crew captured. The Enterprise-C's sacrifice helped improve Klingon-Federation relations and prevented a Klingon-Federation war in the main Star Trek timeline.^[3]

USS Excalibur (NCC-26517): The starship Excalibur was undergoing a major refit and repair at Starbase 234 in 2367. The Excalibur is briefly commanded by Commander William Riker during the Romulan tachyon blockade in 2368 during the Klingon Civil War.^[4] Riker also commands it during the events of the fifth book in the Double Helix series, Double or Nothing. This ship might have fought at the Battle of Sector 001 in 2373.^[5] This ship is the centrepiece for the first nine books of Peter David's Star Trek: New Frontier book series.

USS Exeter (NCC-26531): The starship Exeter was a former assignment of Lieutenant Tom Paris. The Exeter was assigned to the Ninth Fleet during the Dominion War. The Exeter briefly visits Deep Space Nine for resupply in 2374. Commanded by Shelby and later Alexandra Garbeck, Star Trek New Frontier

USS Gandhi (NCC-26632): Named for Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the starship Gandhi was assigned to the Lagana sector for a terraforming mission in 2369.^[6] The Gandhi was a former assignment of Lieutenant Tom Riker who left the Gandhi in 2371 to join the Maquis.^[7]

USS Hannibal: Named for the famed Earth conqueror, this was the first large scale starship construction project carried out on Bajor after the Cardassian Occupation. Launch was delayed by terrorists hijacking the anti-matter that was slated for the Hannibal's warp drive.^[8]

USS Horatio (NCC-10532): The starship Horatio is commanded by Captain Walter Keel in 2364 when it is destroyed near Dytallix B to cover up a conspiracy within Starfleet Command.^[9]

USS Valdemar (NCC-26198): Sent to the Cardassian demilitarized zone in 2370 after the arrest of Chief Miles O'Brien by the Cardassian government.

USS Yamaguchi (NCC-26510): Named for Yamaguchi Prefecture, the starship Yamaguchi was destroyed by the Borg at the Battle of Wolf 359 in 2366.^[10]

USS Zhukov (NCC-26136): Named for General Georgy Zhukov, the starship Zhukov was Lieutenant Reginald Barclay's first assignment under Captain Gleason (TNG: "Hollow Pursuits"). The Zhukov transfers Ambassador T'Pel to the USS Enterprise-D.^[11] The USS Zhukov also appears in Star Trek Bridge Commander.