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Description

Ported to OBJ from the scratchbuilt model by Rick "pneunomic81" (p81) Knox for the Starfleet Command (SFC) series of video games. Original design by Andrew Probert as first seen on screen in Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) and subsequently reused, sometimes in modifed form, in later Trek Franchise media efforts. Preview picture posed in XNALara XPS. While I'm not making my port of Mr. Knox's excellent low poly take on Galaxy available for download, a similar model along with many other TNG/DS9/VOY era Feddie starships from the Bridge Commander Pack for XPS has been ported and released by lezisell. You can get the pack at the link below:

Prolific Trek fan CG artist Dave "First Fleet" Metlesits has done his own high end, filming quality takes on Galaxy which you can get for free at the links below:

The launch of the class ship in the Galaxy class starships of the Federation Starfleet in the mid-24th century, Terran Gregorian calender, was seen by many at the time as marking the beginning of a new age in Federation starship design, technology, and operations. It is still seen today as defining the beginning of we perceive as the TNG/DS9/VOY era, although not for all the same reasons that were envisioned back then. USS Galaxy (NCC-70637) was seen by many as the ultimate expression of over seven decades of the second Pax Federationis and a solid return to Starfleet's role as primarly an exploration and first contact organiation, as opposed to the more militant role that many said had been forced upon it by an aggressive Klingon Empire during most of the TMP era. The three quarters of a century or so of the post-TMP era had been largely peaceful as far as the Federation was concerned (not so for the other known major interstellar powers, but I digress), so it's easy to see the conceit of the dawn of a new age of peace and prosperity in known space ala the second Pax Federationis creep into the minds of many. For these types Galaxy was a dream come true. It was first and foremost an explorer type starship, not a military vessel, although given past Starfleet experiences and the insistence of some of the clearer heads among its top brass she was given battleship class armament. This was begrudged for self-defense purposes given Galaxy's sheer size, which was far larger than anything that the Federation had authorized for construction in its history. Giving her anything less would have openly invited attack by what few belligerents were perceived as still lurking about (chiefly the Romulans). Talk among yourselves. XD

Much has been said about Galaxy's design and capabilities and I will not regurgitate it here. You can go elsewhere for those details. Suffice it to say that Galaxy was the largest and most powerful Federation starship class of its day as the TNG/DS9/VOY kicked off, but don't forget that it was designed and viewed by many at the time as an explorer, not a space battleship, and that it launched after three-quarters of a century of relative peace both within the Federation and on most of its borders (save for the occasional minor flareup). Their onboard facilities were largely geared towards science, survey, and exploration, and provision was even made for Galaxy crews to bring and raise their families on board with them during what was expected to be long exploratory voyages on the farthest fringes of known space. This initial peaceful "explorer" perception explains much of the subsequent history of the Galaxy class.

What the idealists, dreamers, peaceniks, and other backers of the notion of a second Pax Federationis didn't envision was to see their beloved ideals come crashing down and brought to a rather abrupt end with the arrival of the Borg only a few years into the TNG/DS9/VOY era and the subsequent Borg Incursion about a year later. Starfleet had to militarize again, especially given its heavy losses during the Borg Incursion, and more Galaxy class starships were ordered for the simple reason that they were the best Starfleet had at the time and in spite of the fact that they had done poorly against the Borg. Twelve had been originally authorized, partly as a nod to the original and legendary first block of Constitution class starships back in the TOS/TAS era, but only six Galaxys had been built and entered service by the time the Borg threat materialzed. Work on the other six had been stopped once their space frames had been completed with further work on them having been kept on indefinite hold "pending further need," to quote one Federation bureaucrat at the time. The disaster for the Federation that was the Battle of Wolf 359 during the Borg Incursion prompted the Federation Council, among many other things, to not only hurriedly approve completion of the other six Galaxy class starships but to also authorize them to be completed to a somewhat revised design and internal layout more geared towards military operations, and it also authorized a second and far larger Galaxy class production block slated for even more combat-oriented changes in an eerie echo of the Achernar class, aka Constitution Block IV, from the late TOS/TAS era (see separate entry). It was also planned that the original five Galaxy class starships still in service at the time (Yamato had already been lost with all hands by that date, the victim of an powerful Ikonian probe) would remain in service until the newer six were completed and joined the fleet, at which time they would be brought back in and also rebuilt and internally reconfigured accordingly. Even as efforts were well underway to bring all of this about, original production block member USS Odyseey (NCC-71832), which had not yet been reconfigured, was lost in battle against Jem'Hadar warships from the newly encounted Dominon in the Gamma Quadrant of the galaxy. This loss again highlighted the dangers of using the original explorer configuration of the Galaxy class starships in combat, as well as graphically illustrating Galaxy's weaknesses as a very large starship having to fight smaller, tougher, and more nimble vessels. The loss of the Odyssey would eventually result in the cancellation of the second planned production block of Galaxy class starships in the Prime timeline of the Trek multiverse and many of those keying off of it (see ASIDE 1), with Starfleet instead opting for other designs more suited to fighting the Dominion in the new war that had been forced upon it. The tale of those "other designs," however, is best told elsewhere ....

The remaining Galaxy class starships - the surviving originals plus the six new builds - continued to play important roles in Starfleet for the rest of their service lives, and I will not regurgitate their tales here. All of them were refitted and upgraded to better serve as combat vessels instead of explorers and many took part in the subsequent Dominion War. Once hostilities were concluded then the survivors were restored to their original configuration as the Federation's great explorer type starships, as soon as events and both available yard space and resources would allow. They were again returned to more peaceful missions, given that wartime production had resulted in a slew of more combat-oriented starship classes that could take over for Galaxy in all military roles. As such Galaxy once again became the Federation's largest explorer type starship in terms of sheer size in the post Dominion War era and would continue as such for the remainder of its service lifetime. It has been often said that no other class of major Starfleet vessel in the postwar period could match the old Galaxy class in the explorer role given their extensive on-board resources for such, and there is a considerable measure of truth in this statement. That said, as the beginning of the 25th century approached all of the surviving Galaxy class members were considered dated and obsolete, with many also showing excessive wear in their space frames that came from their hard use during the earlier Dominion War. Performing a new round of Galaxy class extended service life refits was deemed cost prohibitive all factors considered, so all of those still in service at this time were soon decommissioned in favor of new construction and then laid up prior to final disposal. That said, the long and storied tale of the Galaxy class does not end here.

It is worthy of note that original class member USS Enterprise-D (NCC-1701-D), the former flagship of Starfleet and which had become a legend in her own time prior to her being wrecked at Veridian III in a fierce battle with a renegade Klingon warship just short of a decade after she had been launched, had been slowly and painstakingly rebuilt and restored over decades from her surviving saucer section for eventual intended use as an operational museum ship (long story, again details available elsewhere). She would up being briefly returned to Starfleet service and playing a pivotal role in the final defeat of what was left of the Borg at the start of the 25rd century and despite her age and perceived obsolescence -- which actually played in her favor during those incredible events (again, details available elsewhere). Because of the care that was lavished on Enterprise-D during her rebuilding, with many replacement parts and an entire replacement secondary hull complete with proper period warp drives obtained from fellow decommissioned class member Syracuse (NCC-17744), she wound up being the only member of the original twelve Galaxy class starships to be restored and preserved complete. Enterprise-D continues to be maintained as a fully functional museum ship at the Starfleet Museum's main Fleet Museum complex in orbit about Terra given her legendary status and storied service career. The only other known Galaxy class survivors are a few partial hulls still kept at various Starfleet boneyards for providing the necessary replacement parts and spares specific to the class in order to keep the legendary Enterprise-D operational for as long as possible.

The Galaxy class is indisputably canon in all Trek multiverse threads. 'Nuff said.

For non-profit, non-commercial use only.

Live long and prosper.

ASIDE 1 - In some Trek licensed media (video games, novels, comic books, etc.) there are more than twelve Galaxy class starships and there are sometimes references to authorizations for additional construction depending on which of these is consulted. On-screen and spoken dialogue evidence points to only twelve, and much ado about this is made in both fanon and various selected Franchise sanctioned semi-canon materials. FWIW I came up with the second and larger Galaxy class wartime production block as a simple means of hand-waving away this discrepancy for those who want or need more, so you can have your cake and eat it too in your preferred or particular threads of the Trek multiverse. All you have to do to have more is to have that second block authorized in your part of the Trek multiverse. Occam's Razor, and all that. -_^ We know the names of only seven of the original twelve as given or named on screen in various Trek series and movies set during this era, and you can see the complete list as part of the Memory Alpha website's extensive article on the Galaxy class.

memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/G…

ASIDE 2 - I will be dealing with the alternate timeline Galaxy-X class from TNG "All Good Things" in a separate entry. It's widely considered to be a class in its own right given its distinct differences from a regular Galaxy class, both external and internal. Here's a link for more info:

ASIDE 3 - Those who think the idea of a fully functional museum ship is silly should do more research on the topic with regards to past and contemporary examples. -_^

Description

Ported to OBJ from the scratchbuilt model by Rick "pneunomic81" (p81) Knox for the Starfleet Command (SFC) series of video games. Original design by Andrew Probert as first seen on screen in Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) and subsequently reused, sometimes in modifed form, in later Trek Franchise media efforts. Preview picture posed in XNALara XPS. While I'm not making my port of Mr. Knox's excellent low poly take on Galaxy available for download, a similar model along with many other TNG/DS9/VOY era Feddie starships from the Bridge Commander Pack for XPS has been ported and released by lezisell. You can get the pack at the link below:

Prolific Trek fan CG artist Dave "First Fleet" Metlesits has done his own high end, filming quality takes on Galaxy which you can get for free at the links below:

The launch of the class ship in the Galaxy class starships of the Federation Starfleet in the mid-24th century, Terran Gregorian calender, was seen by many at the time as marking the beginning of a new age in Federation starship design, technology, and operations. It is still seen today as defining the beginning of we perceive as the TNG/DS9/VOY era, although not for all the same reasons that were envisioned back then. USS Galaxy (NCC-70637) was seen by many as the ultimate expression of over seven decades of the second Pax Federationis and a solid return to Starfleet's role as primarly an exploration and first contact organiation, as opposed to the more militant role that many said had been forced upon it by an aggressive Klingon Empire during most of the TMP era. The three quarters of a century or so of the post-TMP era had been largely peaceful as far as the Federation was concerned (not so for the other known major interstellar powers, but I digress), so it's easy to see the conceit of the dawn of a new age of peace and prosperity in known space ala the second Pax Federationis creep into the minds of many. For these types Galaxy was a dream come true. It was first and foremost an explorer type starship, not a military vessel, although given past Starfleet experiences and the insistence of some of the clearer heads among its top brass she was given battleship class armament. This was begrudged for self-defense purposes given Galaxy's sheer size, which was far larger than anything that the Federation had authorized for construction in its history. Giving her anything less would have openly invited attack by what few belligerents were perceived as still lurking about (chiefly the Romulans). Talk among yourselves. XD

Much has been said about Galaxy's design and capabilities and I will not regurgitate it here. You can go elsewhere for those details. Suffice it to say that Galaxy was the largest and most powerful Federation starship class of its day as the TNG/DS9/VOY kicked off, but don't forget that it was designed and viewed by many at the time as an explorer, not a space battleship, and that it launched after three-quarters of a century of relative peace both within the Federation and on most of its borders (save for the occasional minor flareup). Their onboard facilities were largely geared towards science, survey, and exploration, and provision was even made for Galaxy crews to bring and raise their families on board with them during what was expected to be long exploratory voyages on the farthest fringes of known space. This initial peaceful "explorer" perception explains much of the subsequent history of the Galaxy class.

What the idealists, dreamers, peaceniks, and other backers of the notion of a second Pax Federationis didn't envision was to see their beloved ideals come crashing down and brought to a rather abrupt end with the arrival of the Borg only a few years into the TNG/DS9/VOY era and the subsequent Borg Incursion about a year later. Starfleet had to militarize again, especially given its heavy losses during the Borg Incursion, and more Galaxy class starships were ordered for the simple reason that they were the best Starfleet had at the time and in spite of the fact that they had done poorly against the Borg. Twelve had been originally authorized, partly as a nod to the original and legendary first block of Constitution class starships back in the TOS/TAS era, but only six Galaxys had been built and entered service by the time the Borg threat materialzed. Work on the other six had been stopped once their space frames had been completed with further work on them having been kept on indefinite hold "pending further need," to quote one Federation bureaucrat at the time. The disaster for the Federation that was the Battle of Wolf 359 during the Borg Incursion prompted the Federation Council, among many other things, to not only hurriedly approve completion of the other six Galaxy class starships but to also authorize them to be completed to a somewhat revised design and internal layout more geared towards military operations, and it also authorized a second and far larger Galaxy class production block slated for even more combat-oriented changes in an eerie echo of the Achernar class, aka Constitution Block IV, from the late TOS/TAS era (see separate entry). It was also planned that the original five Galaxy class starships still in service at the time (Yamato had already been lost with all hands by that date, the victim of an powerful Ikonian probe) would remain in service until the newer six were completed and joined the fleet, at which time they would be brought back in and also rebuilt and internally reconfigured accordingly. Even as efforts were well underway to bring all of this about, original production block member USS Odyseey (NCC-71832), which had not yet been reconfigured, was lost in battle against Jem'Hadar warships from the newly encounted Dominon in the Gamma Quadrant of the galaxy. This loss again highlighted the dangers of using the original explorer configuration of the Galaxy class starships in combat, as well as graphically illustrating Galaxy's weaknesses as a very large starship having to fight smaller, tougher, and more nimble vessels. The loss of the Odyssey would eventually result in the cancellation of the second planned production block of Galaxy class starships in the Prime timeline of the Trek multiverse and many of those keying off of it (see ASIDE 1), with Starfleet instead opting for other designs more suited to fighting the Dominion in the new war that had been forced upon it. The tale of those "other designs," however, is best told elsewhere ....

The remaining Galaxy class starships - the surviving originals plus the six new builds - continued to play important roles in Starfleet for the rest of their service lives, and I will not regurgitate their tales here. All of them were refitted and upgraded to better serve as combat vessels instead of explorers and many took part in the subsequent Dominion War. Once hostilities were concluded then the survivors were restored to their original configuration as the Federation's great explorer type starships, as soon as events and both available yard space and resources would allow. They were again returned to more peaceful missions, given that wartime production had resulted in a slew of more combat-oriented starship classes that could take over for Galaxy in all military roles. As such Galaxy once again became the Federation's largest explorer type starship in terms of sheer size in the post Dominion War era and would continue as such for the remainder of its service lifetime. It has been often said that no other class of major Starfleet vessel in the postwar period could match the old Galaxy class in the explorer role given their extensive on-board resources for such, and there is a considerable measure of truth in this statement. That said, as the beginning of the 25th century approached all of the surviving Galaxy class members were considered dated and obsolete, with many also showing excessive wear in their space frames that came from their hard use during the earlier Dominion War. Performing a new round of Galaxy class extended service life refits was deemed cost prohibitive all factors considered, so all of those still in service at this time were soon decommissioned in favor of new construction and then laid up prior to final disposal. That said, the long and storied tale of the Galaxy class does not end here.

It is worthy of note that original class member USS Enterprise-D (NCC-1701-D), the former flagship of Starfleet and which had become a legend in her own time prior to her being wrecked at Veridian III in a fierce battle with a renegade Klingon warship just short of a decade after she had been launched, had been slowly and painstakingly rebuilt and restored over decades from her surviving saucer section for eventual intended use as an operational museum ship (long story, again details available elsewhere). She would up being briefly returned to Starfleet service and playing a pivotal role in the final defeat of what was left of the Borg at the start of the 25rd century and despite her age and perceived obsolescence -- which actually played in her favor during those incredible events (again, details available elsewhere). Because of the care that was lavished on Enterprise-D during her rebuilding, with many replacement parts and an entire replacement secondary hull complete with proper period warp drives obtained from fellow decommissioned class member Syracuse (NCC-17744), she wound up being the only member of the original twelve Galaxy class starships to be restored and preserved complete. Enterprise-D continues to be maintained as a fully functional museum ship at the Starfleet Museum's main Fleet Museum complex in orbit about Terra given her legendary status and storied service career. The only other known Galaxy class survivors are a few partial hulls still kept at various Starfleet boneyards for providing the necessary replacement parts and spares specific to the class in order to keep the legendary Enterprise-D operational for as long as possible.

The Galaxy class is indisputably canon in all Trek multiverse threads. 'Nuff said.

For non-profit, non-commercial use only.

Live long and prosper.

ASIDE 1 - In some Trek licensed media (video games, novels, comic books, etc.) there are more than twelve Galaxy class starships and there are sometimes references to authorizations for additional construction depending on which of these is consulted. On-screen and spoken dialogue evidence points to only twelve, and much ado about this is made in both fanon and various selected Franchise sanctioned semi-canon materials. FWIW I came up with the second and larger Galaxy class wartime production block as a simple means of hand-waving away this discrepancy for those who want or need more, so you can have your cake and eat it too in your preferred or particular threads of the Trek multiverse. All you have to do to have more is to have that second block authorized in your part of the Trek multiverse. Occam's Razor, and all that. -_^ We know the names of only seven of the original twelve as given or named on screen in various Trek series and movies set during this era, and you can see the complete list as part of the Memory Alpha website's extensive article on the Galaxy class.

memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/G…

ASIDE 2 - I will be dealing with the alternate timeline Galaxy-X class from TNG "All Good Things" in a separate entry. It's widely considered to be a class in its own right given its distinct differences from a regular Galaxy class, both external and internal. Here's a link for more info:

ASIDE 3 - Those who think the idea of a fully functional museum ship is silly should do more research on the topic with regards to past and contemporary examples. -_^