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Sovereign class captain's yacht
Galaxy class captain's yacht
California class captain's yacht
The captain's yacht was a large support craft built into the design of several Federation starship classes, including the Galaxy-class, Sovereign-class, and California-class starships. It was docked to the underside of the saucer section.
History[]
On the USS Enterprise-D, the name of the captain's yacht was the Calypso.
On the USS Enterprise-E, the name of the captain's yacht was the Cousteau. In 2375, the crew of the USS Enterprise-E used the Cousteau to travel to the surface of the Ba'ku planet. (TNG: "New Ground", okudagram; Star Trek: Insurrection)
The California-class USS Cerritos also carried a captain's yacht. In 2381, the command crew used the captain's yacht to travel into the Detrion system to rescue Lieutenant jg Beckett Mariner from Nova Fleet, the Cerritos herself having thrown a derelict Orion destroyer into the trynar shield surrounding the system to breach it. (LD: "Terminal Provocations", "No Small Parts", "First First Contact", "Old Friends, New Planets")
Captain's yachts[]
- Named
- Unnamed
| Starship types |
|---|
| attack vessel • attack fighter • battle cruiser • battleship • bird-of-prey • carrier vessel • colony ship • combat cruiser • corsair • corvette • cruiser • destroyer • diplomatic vessel • dreadnought • escort vessel • exploration vessel • flagship • freighter • frigate • garbage scow • geo-terraforming vessel • heavy cruiser • holding vessel • interceptor • light cruiser • medical ship • military vessel • mining vessel • patrol ship • pilot vessel • prison ship • raider • reconnaissance ship • robot ship • runabout • science vessel • scout ship • star cruiser • starliner • starship • supply ship • support ship • survey ship • tanker • timeship • trading vessel • training ship • transport ship • troop transport • tug • warbird • warship |
Appendices[]
See also[]
Background information[]
Designer Andrew Probert came up with the concept of the captain's yacht while designing the USS Enterprise-D. Although it was never seen in use, it was labeled on the master systems display screen in main engineering and on Commander William T. Riker's bridge console ("New Ground"), docked at the bottom of the saucer section almost directly opposite the main bridge. Probert suggested possible ways for the yacht to be used during the first season, including not showing the yacht but mentioning it in dialogue, but his ideas were rejected. The Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (p. 164) claims that the producers almost used the yacht in TNG: "Samaritan Snare", but decided to use an "executive shuttlecraft" due to budgetary constraints. According to Patrick Stewart, the yacht would have been called Calypso. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual, p. 164) This name for the yacht was mentioned in the notes to the captain's yacht entry of the Star Trek Encyclopedia, 3rd ed., p. 83. With the latest edition of the Star Trek Encyclopedia, 4th ed., vol. 1, p. 117, the name has been changed to Cousteau.
A captain's yacht is visible on the underside of several Nebula-class starships, such as the USS Phoenix and USS Prometheus as well.
Rick Sternbach designed similar craft into the USS Voyager and the USS Equinox, known as the aeroshuttle and the waverider, respectively. Like on the Enterprise-D, however, these vessels were only depicted on technical schematics and never seen in operation or referred to in dialogue.
Ronald B. Moore notes in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual that naval tradition would insist on calling such a craft the Captain's gig rather than the Captain's yacht.
A similar vessel assigned to a ship commanded by a flag officer would traditionally be called the Admiral's barge.
Enterprise-F schematic, detailing the Aquarius-class
In promotional art depicting the schematics of the Odyssey-class USS Enterprise-F, as revealed by Dave Blass on twitter, the location of this ship's captain's yacht was labeled. [1]
Apocrypha[]
Constitution-class built-in auxiliary vehicle
In the 1969 UK Comic strip series, the dome at the bottom of the saucer section of the Constitution-class USS Enterprise is also seen detaching as a similar auxiliary vehicle.
The Captain's yacht is an obtainable ship in Star Trek Online. It is one of the game's many bonuses for subscribers and Lifetime subscribers, obtainable once a player reaches 400 days subscribed or automatically once the Lifetime subscription is activated. It resembles the Cousteau.
External link[]
- Captain's yacht at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works