Talk:USS Lakota

Is Lakota Enterprise B?

There is some circumstantial evidence to suggest that USS Enterprise NCC-1701-B is in fact the same ship as USS Lakota NCC-42768:

1) Canonically these are the only two Excelsior-class ships seen to be of the same "side fairings" variant.

2) We have seen other Excelsior-class vessels with registry numbers lower and higher than Lakota's 42768 and all of them are of the standard Excelsior variant.

3) There is no evidence that Enterprise B was ever destroyed.

4) There seems to be a degree of prestige associated with the Lakota.

5) At the time of Lakota's commissioning (about midway between the commissioning of Enterprise C's sister ships [based on their registry numbers] and the commissioning of USS Galaxy [based on its registry number]) it is entirely possible that Enterprise C was still active, so if Enterprise B had been recommissioned (for whatever reason brought out of mothballs) she would require a new name and registry number.

I realize that this is all speculation, but I think the evidence is compelling and would like to see any other opinions or evidence confirming or refuting this hypothesis. Sings-With-Spirits 00:40, February 28, 2010 (UTC)

An interesting theory, but as it is speculation, it doesn't need to be refuted- it can't be in the article without citeable evidence.--31dot 00:51, February 28, 2010 (UTC)

I doubt that the Enterprise-B is still in use by the time of the Enterprise-D/E under a different name...it's just a reuse of the same model, and that represents a specific variant of the Excelsior class. No need to complicate it by saying that it has to be the same ship; it's just another ship with the same feature. --Golden Monkey 06:04, February 28, 2010 (UTC)

1) 2 seen isn't 2 existing, it's 2 that we know about. We never saw all the Excelsiors.

2) Registration numbers are not fully understood and it isn't known if they are a fool-proof way to tell age.

3) There is no evidence that it wasn't destroyed or simply vanished like several other ships. It's captain was still a n00b, unlike other Enterprises.

4) Any well known or experienced ships can gain prestige, it's not an Enterprise exclusive thing.

5) *See #2* – Fadm tyler 03:03, April 18, 2010 (UTC)

1) But we have seen many, many Excelsior-class ships, with only these two being the exact same variant.

2) While this may be true for the early ships (namely the TOS Contitution-class), they have been fairly consistent in that they are sequential, so having a registry number in the 40k range means that this ship was absolutely and definitely commissioned long after Enterprise B.

3) There is no evidence either way (unless you discount Lakota itself). Point is, we don't know. Also, Captain Harriman may not have been a line officer, but may have been the commander of Enterprise B for its launching and trials. (Really, I don't think Starfleet would give command of their flagship to such a dunderhead).

4) True, but the context here does lend itself to speculation.

5) See #2. Furthermore, we have actual on-screen visuals of Excelsior-class ships that closely preceeded and succeeded Lakota (USS Hood and USS Valley Forge) which are of the standard Excelsior-type, lending argument that Starfleet did not just suddenly return to building "B" variant Excelsior hulls.

Sings-With-Spirits 10:23, April 19, 2010 (UTC)