Point of Divergence[]
- According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia, the Repulse was "named for the British battle cruiser that fought in Earth's Battle of Midway in World War II." (Which is odd, seeing as the Repulse was destroyed roughly 6 months before Midway.)
This really shouldn't be considered odd but an indication that the Star Trek universe had split from ours no later than 10 December 1941. On that date in our timeline, HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales were sunk east of Malaya by Japanese aircraft. Our Battle of Midway occurred 4-7 June 1942, thousands of miles away and involved only American and Japanese forces.
If, in Star Trek's history, Repulse was sunk at Midway rather than off Malaya, we have a significant point of divergence. A discrepancy in a birth date or a registry number in the Encyclopedia can be dismissed as a typographical error (even in the 24th century). In this case, however, the who, the when and the where are all different making this a substantive issue and not so easily disregarded.
How (or if) this divergence affected the future would be anyone's guess. – StarFire209 04:25, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
- Actually, the note quoted above was an italicized background note in the Encyclopedia written separately from the canon info. It wasn't describing what the ship was named for in the Trek universe, it was describing the basis of the name in the real world. In other words, saying it's "odd" is just a sarcastic way of saying the book's writers goofed. ;) --From Andoria with Love 12:12, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
That's what I thought. I was just having a laugh.
But couldn't you see it. Two Repulse sailors don't die in 1941. One ends up in Hawaii, stays in America, becomes Zefram Cochrane's ancestor. The other's descendant: KHAN!!! Warp Drive and World War III in one ship. Oh, the symmetry! ;) – StarFire209 15:25, 19 August 2007 (UTC)