Why is the Enterprise "The Finest Starship in the Fleet"?

TOS constantly refers to Enterprise as being the finest of a dozen (or a baker's dozen) of deep exploration ships. However, when we see other ships, they're basically identical. So, what's the secret sauce?

Kirk didn't command any of the others... that's why!

Enterprise was the first starship, (but it was originally NX-01 instead of NCC-1701), but I think it's considered the best more because of the crew than because of the ship itself.

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I recall Kirk also saying the "finest ship with the finest crew" which imply that the two are independent categories. Of course, Kirk's one true love is the Enterprise, so there is considerable bias here.

This line from Spock in The Immunity Syndrome, on the other hand, might be evidence for either reading,

>SPOCK: Personal log, Commander Spock, USS Enterprise. I have noted the passage of the Enterprise on its way to whatever awaits it. If this record should survive me, I wish it known that I bequeath my highest commendation and testimonial to the captain, officers, and crew of the Enterprise. The finest starship in the fleet.

Spock is speaking more of the crew here than the ship in speaking that line.

If the Enterprise was the first of her class to be constructed, she might have been made with the best of the best (e.g., as a technology demonstrator, before budget cuts, slightly over-built for safety/redundancy), but was she the first of her class? Also, as tech is always improving, you would think that her sister ships coming on line later would be the latest and greatest.

That she has the finest crew is a nice answer, but doesn't feel quite accurate in terms of history. The finest or mostest ships have sometimes proven to be a failure like the Bismarck (too much of a symbol of pride to risk sinking her for much of the war) or the Yamato (the bigger they are, the harder they fall, and Yamato fell hard - she only fired her main guns once). On the other hand finest ships have had different crews and captains (HMS Victory). Scotty's admiration for the Enterprise has much less to do with the crew, but rather the ship has a technological achievement. He is also in love with the ship and a lush, so there's that, but he's also a brilliant engineer and the ship itself is held in special esteem by him.

I don't know that there is an answer to the question and I know that the answer does not matter, yet still I wonder.

I think a big reason is the Enterprise was the first Federation starship to make the Rigel run in 15 parsecs!

Klingons might call her a garbage scow, but she's the fastest hunk of junk in the Galaxy.



Star Trek III does have Capt. Punchable-face boasting of looking forward to take out the Excelsior to beat Enterprise's speed records. I don't know how he thought he would do that since the Kelvin race had rigged the Enterprise to haul ass all the way to the Andromeda galaxy in 300 years (By Any Other Name). Voyager was a fast ship years later in the TNG era and she was going to take 75 years to get home, and Voyager was just moving from one side of the galaxy to the other! Perhaps he was referring to Enterprise's standard speed records when she was under normal propulsion. I'll pass on transwarp, myself. The more they overtake the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain.

The show "Star Trek: Enterprise" confirmed that the Enterprise was the first starship, and if I remember correctly, it was the first ship with warp drive. I think it was also the first ship to have a multi-species crew.

The Enterprise went through several refits and upgrades over the years, eventually making it the best ship in the fleet for its time.

But the crew was always supposed to be the best of the best.

The NX-01 is pre-Starfleet. She is the first of her kind. There is no United Federation of Planets just yet. The only other ship we see on screen to potentially rival the NX-01 is the NX-02 Columbia. This ship, if anything is superior to NX-01 in having improved hull plating, better weapons, and a better computer.



https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Columbia


If anything, the latter ship is the finest in that pre-Starfleet fleet of two. Alternatively, we might be inclined to say that they're basically the same, but either stance undermines the notion of Enterprise being the finest.



The Enterprise we meet in the Original Series is not the NX-01, but an entirely different class of Starship representing a fleet of 12 (or 13?) vessels in Starfleet, the Navy/Exploration service of the United Federation of Planets (or "Federation"). The NCC-1701 is a "Constitution Class" ship. She had (in terms of tight cannon of the original series) at least on captain before Kirk. In the wider canon (e.g., the animated series and books), it has been established that she had two captains before Kirk. So, the ship has been around awhile even though she (and her sister ships) remain(s) as a point of pride for Star Fleet. The Constitution class was still the best of its kind when Kirk was commanding the ship. When Starfleet wants to show off (diplomatic missions and political events) she is called to serve. And when Starfleet gets into a fight, these ships are also called upon.



We have a ship which is ten to twenty years old by the time Kirk takes the helm, but she is still a ship of the line, and apparently at the top of her class. But (again) why is she at the top of her class?

Folks here's this thread's answer:
https://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_th..._arguings_sake

The true answer is probably something along the lines of most star hours logged, furthest distances covered, most warp breakthroughs achieved, most crucial battles won, most commendations granted to crew, most red-shirted security officers lives lost to hostile lifeforms , greatest number of discoveries of class "M" or high resource planets, greatest number of first contacts in least amount of time, most peace treaties with first contacts negotiated, greatest number of rescue missions or delivery of emergency medications / resources to colonies or alien planets in need, greatest experimental technical advances & discoveries later adopted by the fleet, served as flagship for the most important Federation diplomatic missions, etc.

While the NX-01 and NCC-1701 are different ships, the idea is that the Enterprise is a respected ship. It's respected not only for the ship itself, but also for its crew and its missions.

That's why after the NCC-1701 ship is destroyed (in STIII), the new ship is still named Enterprise, with the same NCC-1701, and the letter "A" added. This tradition continues several times, each time with the same name and number, and just upgrading the letter. This is done out of respect for being the best of the best.

I didn't realize that we were arguing. I thought this was just a discussion.

I like this notion, but I would take this to be why the Enterprise is the most storied ship in the fleet, or the most noteworthy, etc. Consider two examples, the Grace Dieu and the USS Johnston.

Angus Konstam (2008), in his book Sovereign of the Seas, tells of the Grace Dieu, a "super warship" laid down in 1416 in Southhampton. The ship was apparently quite a technological achievement and an impressive sight to behold.
Alas, this was only to be in theory, because she never had a war to fight. After her maiden voyage in 1420, Konstan tells his reader, there is no evidence that the ship ever again left her berth at Bursledon. Even so, this was a less embarrassing fate for a fine ship than that of the Vasa which keeled over on her first attempt to set out to sea.

On the other hand, there is the story of the USS Johnston, a member of Taffy 3 in the Battle Leyte Gulf in World War Two (in which the historical USS Enterprise also fought). The USS Johnston, was a Fletcher class destroyer, a class of ships which were
The Johnston went toe-to-toe with the Yamato, the most massive battleship in the world at the time. I won't bore you with the details of the battle (with which you already be familiar), but her crew fought like hell, and managed to make that ship punch above her weight class. Her captain, who died in the battle, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

Nevertheless, I grant that "provenance" is often a key feature in the perceived value of an object. USS Enterprise seems to have the best story among her sisters and always seemed to be in the important sport when it mattered and to prevail. That stated, the exploits of the Enterprise are the achievements of her crew. Thus, we're back to the "she's the finest ship, because she has the finest crew" line of analysis, right? If so, that still has some difficulties as explored above, in a prior post. I think Kirk talking about "the finest ship with the finest crew," while probably biased, was speaking to something special about both, independently, even though you are right in noting that the two overlap at the edges and becomes fused in the pages of history. But even before this flower was pressed into the pages of history, the people there who were breathing in her aroma noted that she was finest of flower in the bouquet. Perhaps she was the fastest, or the most finely finished, or elaborately fitted out. I guess the show never really tells us, and the "canonicity" of other sources is minefield of controversy. I think she had something going on in addition to having the best crew and the best story.

This is true. The Enterprise is unique in registries in that she has simply kept hers starting with her Constitution Class. The Enterprise was the first of the Galaxy Class ships (or at least she was described as such in the alternate timeline of Yesterday's Enterprise per Memory Alpha) and also served as Flagship at some point, right?



At the time, however, when Kirk was commanding the pre-refit NCC-1701 (no alphabet soup yet), this ship was already regarded to be the finest in the fleet. Archer's Enterprise was important for being the first warp 5 and for being the only deep space vessel for many years. The Constitution Class, on the other hand, emerge after the frontier times of the pre-federation. All of the Constitution class ships are special (the metaphorical equivalent of the United State's carrier force in the 60's), but there is something recognized to be just a bit better about the Enterprise, even then.

Pike and Kirk probably drove their crew and ship to take far more risks than most Captains.

Other starships probably went for months charting, scanning and exploring without any incidents, whereas the Enterprise had some crazy adventure every week!

I don't know if I would want to serve on the Enterprise without a character shield. It would be kind of like serving with the 101st Airborne. That five year mission - Hey, go out as far as you can and purposefully find new life we've never encountered. While you're at it, go to lengths to interact with that life and try to make it back alive. Also, try not to get killed by our known enemies while doing it. You're on your own.