The USS Excelsior in 2293

The USS Excelsior is a starship in the Star Trek fictional universe. The Excelsior was first seen in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and had a cameo in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The ship appeared once again in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country when it was under the command of Captain Hikaru Sulu in 2293.

The USS Excelsior (NX-2000) was commissioned as a testbed for new technologies by Starfleet Command. One of these technologies, transwarp drive, was seen as a possible revolution in starship design, with the potential to open up the entire galaxy to exploratory missions. Unfortunately, transwarp physics were well beyond the technology available at the time, and this experiment was shut down—to some degree of embarrassment on the part of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers.

However, the basic ship design proved highly adaptable, forming the basis of several starship classes equipped with conventional warp drive. The Excelsior was recommissioned as NCC-2000, after the retrofitting of standard warp coils to its existing nacelle design.

The Excelsior class spaceframe proved to be remarkably durable, able to withstand considerable punishment both from the elements and enemy vessels alike. This accounts for the considerable number of vessels remaining in Starfleet, even several decades later.

Producer Harve Bennett originally intended for the Excelsior to replace the Enterprise after Star Trek III, possibly as a result of complaints by ILM technicians that the Enterprise's model was too unwieldy. The idea did not prove popular however, and the replacement Enterprise was another Constitution Class.

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