- See Kobayashi Maru (disambiguation) for related links.
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| Type: | 3rd class neutronic fuel carrier |
| Length: | 237 meters |
| Beam: | 111 meters |
| Draft: | 70 meters |
| Mass: | 147,943 metric tons |
| Cargo Capacity: | 97,000 metric tons |
| Crew: | 81 |
| Passenger capacity: | 300 |
| Max Cruising Speed: | Warp 3 |
| Max Emergency Speed: | Warp 6 |
The Kobayashi Maru was a 3rd class neutronic fuel carrier and a component of the Kobayashi Maru simulation, a no-win-scenario at the Starfleet Academy.
The home port of the vessel was Amber, Tau Ceti IV. The ship's master was Kojiro Vance.
According to the scenario, the Kobayashi Maru was located in Gamma Hydra, Section Ten, nineteen periods out of Altair VI. The vessel had struck a gravitic mine, and its hull was breached. The ship had lost all power, life support was failing and its crew had sustained many casualties. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
The term "kobayashi maru" may be a slang term in the 23rd century for a hopeless situation at least in Starfleet culture. When imprisoned in the Rura Penthe dilithium mines in 2293, Leonard McCoy commented to James T. Kirk in their first night there, "One day, one night... Kobayashi Maru," making a throat-slash motion before Kobayashi Maru, to suggest they weren't going to last another day. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
Background
The Kobayashi Maru may or may not have been a real ship in the Star Trek universe; it could have just been invented for the Academy scenario, or it might have been based on a real incident or real ship.
Kobayashi Maru (小林丸) is a rather typical Japanese name for a ship. Kobayashi (小林) is a typical Japanese surname which means "small forest" and Maru (丸) means "perfection" or "purity" and is used to designate ships.
The Kobayashi Maru is also the title of a novel (written by Julia Ecklar) detailing the Kobayashi Maru tests taken by Kirk, Chekov, Scotty and Sulu during their respective enrollments at Starfleet Academy. In David Mack's novel A Time to Heal, Ensign Carmona identifies the actual Kobayashi Maru as having been lost in the Tezel-Oroko system, the location of the planet Tezwa, where most of this book occurs, just before he is killed in a massive explosion.