The case against a Galaxy Class being present at the Battle of Wolf 359.
‘The Battle of Wolf 359’ (W359) depicted on screen as part of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Season 3 Finale and Season 4 premier was a watershed moment rarely seen in the history of on-screen science-fiction and Star Trek. In over thirty years since the original aired, the battle has received renewed attention. This has been partly due to it providing character plot background to Season 3 of the ‘Star Trek: Picard’ series. However, specific to Galaxy Class starships and their fans are the rise of various projects and initiatives that have chosen to place a ship of the class at the battle which takes place early in 2367 (in-universe).
Two interpretations through fan projects have rose to prominence. The first is the ‘Wolf 359 Project.’1
The second by Youtuber and 3D animation artist ‘JTVFX’.
Be under no illusion, these fan projects are highly regarded due to the dedication and passion that the authors and creators have poured into their fan projects. But like any fan fiction, neither is right nor wrong and neither––my own work included––have any right to tell others that they are ‘correct’2 or ‘official’.3 However, both projects, and others, have chosen to place a Galaxy Class Starship at the heart of the fleet assembled to tackle the lone Borg cube headed to the Human home world (Earth). The ship is assigned as flagship to the taskforce under the flag of Admiral J.P.Hanson. This is an interesting notion, but I’d like to explain why I think it unlikely, if not impossible. To do so fairly, and considering my previous statement, requires weighing the evidence in an unbiased manner as far as possible, limiting speculation where prudent and making it clear if speculation is used:
FRAMES (How many Galaxy Class ships are available, have been built or are under construction?)
The question of frames––that’s the number of starships in working order available––is interesting, as numbers of Galaxy Class have somewhat fluctuated officially and unofficially. To tackle this requires a histography or a literature review to work from.
Officially by 2367 it is stated only three Galaxy Class starships are in service out of six planned frames. These are:
USS Galaxy NCC 70637 – prototype of the class, launched sometime in the 2350s.
USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D launched 2362.
USS Yamato NCC-71807 launched 2362.4
ENTERPRISE and YAMATO are declared as sister ships on screen. This would make them the first two ships which, to meet the timeline of the Galaxy Class Project per the TNG Technical Manual, would have been built or planned just behind GALAXY.
The waters are slightly more muddied in Deep Space Nine (DS9) where the USS Odyssey (NCC-71832) is introduced. Arguably, the ship is either built and completed the same time as ENTERPRISE and YAMATO or just after them, in order to meet the timeline presented in DS9.
Should the official facts be limited to just six space frames manufactured, this causes further issues when DS9 features additional Galaxy class starships on screen (unnamed). This would consume at least Frames 5 and 6 or mean an undetermined figure beyond the 6 frames were built. It is not the purpose of this post to speculate on ships beyond the original six but to remain within the context of what is shown in 2365-2367. The counter argument would be that these ships are part of a second batch, launched later, and therefore any ships bar ODYSSEY and GALAXY as seen in DS9 are not from the ‘original’ six ships.
Following this line of thought, to place a Galaxy-class starship at W359 means it would have to be Frame 5 or 6. To allow this would mean the ships would have to be commissioned around the same time as ENTERPRISE and YAMATO or in some form of ‘functional’ non-commissioned status. Furthermore, this means the statement ‘YAMATO and ENTERPRISE’ are sister ships becomes murky and rather that frames 2 through at least 5, if not 6, are all in construction at the same time or launched within months of one another. This means that considering this is a ship class that initially takes 3-7 years (canonically) to construct and requires a vast amount of resources to do so would see the entire class built in ‘one go.’ This challenges the TNG technical manual, which paints the scale, scope and effort to build these ships and warrants some heeding that no matter how you approach the class, they are ‘special’ and far fewer in number to many previous classes––Miranda, Constitution, and Excelsior to name a few. This is without mentioning that the Galaxy class mission profile of deep space multi-mission exploration requires training, testing, and development of operational doctrine, and more, of a scale beyond anything Starfleet had produced prior to the Galaxy Class Development Project.
It is speculative and up to the reader if you think that Starfleet would have embarked on construction of all six starships at the same time. I have my doubts because this would mean when GALAXY was still in testing––essentially one of the biggest endeavours Starfleet engineers and architects had embarked on to that point––they had such confidence they went ahead and built all of them simultaneously. There is some argument to support this, that ships both featured before W359 and during it fit within the Galaxy family of starships, which demonstrate the family and some shared technologies were either tested or used on a smaller scale prior to or during the Galaxy Class Development Project. However, this is a question of spaceframe worthiness, rather than internal components––do we sufficiently trust this frame beyond any doubt––considering those onboard and its mission profile––to not aggressively test it prior to building all the planned or potential future ships in one go or vast numbers?
A more modern example is to look to current naval warship construction that usually sees a lead class ship built initially and following batches come after it only once the initial prototype has passed rigorous testing. After that, one, two or very small batches of ships are built sequentially after that. This allows experience from previous ships, including ‘bugs’, to be resolved, enhancing the class as it goes on––a practice well established not just in shipbuilding but many facets of construction of complex machines. In short: ‘lessons learned’. Considering that by the 2360s Starfleet has vast experience in shipbuilding, they would know a class changes and improves with time, so this adds to the idea that it is unlikely all ships in the class were built in one go. The Excelsior class an insightful example to consider to emphasise this point.
Returning to the case at hand: GALAXY or ODYSSEY (whatever state ODY is in) are left free to attend W359––YAMATO having been destroyed––however, both ships are seen on screen after the battle, which rules them out as contenders. If you want to make DS9 work, this complicates the matter further and requires some speculation if you feel Starfleet continued to plough resources into building vast numbers of Galaxy class starships after W359, rising doubts to if the class of ship was required in large numbers for the mission profile or perhaps if Starfleet switched attention to focus on other ship classes or new ships classes to develop. Otherwise, DS9 would effectively consume frames 5 and 6, meaning no frames are free to attend W359.
Fan projects have clearly chosen to use frame 5 or 6 and make up a name and registry for it.5 It’s a push to claim this when the more technical, operational and architectural considerations over a broader timeline are taken into account.
Finally on the matter of frames, Gene Roddenberry remarked in Star Trek The Next Generation Technical Manual (1991):
Gene Roddenberry tellus us that there are presently five Galaxy class starships in existence, presumably including the USS Galaxy….A sixth, the USS Yamato, was destroyed in the episode ‘Contagion.’.
As the TNG Technical manual was published in 1991, when season four was airing have been recorded the year prior along with the work on the manual this places the comment by Roddenberry per the year 2367. This places five ships in existence after the battle of Wolf 359 and therefore creating no space for the loss of a ship.
The Problem of Admiral Hanson on screen and on set
Admiral Hanson is probably the most mystifying part of this problem, in either direction.
The Wolf 359 Fan Fiction Project, along with others, argue that in a draft script that Admiral Hanson was to “be seen on a Galaxy class starship bridge.” This note is on a production note of a script where quite a few elements from that script never made it into the final cut, ended up on the editing floor or were never used or even ruled out in the various stages of development. This places immediate doubt on the credibility of why the ‘script’ argument should be accepted.6 As this is central to arguments by bringing its creditability alone into question could serve a mortal blow to their claims. However, on-screen evidence of Hanson must also be considered in this. Overarchingly, to cast further doubt on this is the fact that producers clearly went out of their way to place Hanson, when on screen, to be immediately identifiable as not being on ENTERPRISE’s sets, even though they used them.
Some key points stand out in consideration:
Hanson’s appearance in what is perceived rooms––never officially stated––office, ready room, whatever, are different to other shots of Admirals or Starfleet staff seen to that point. 7
If Hanson is using Picard’s ready room set––again never stated––the room or elements in shot were redressed to not look like ENTERPRISE. One can argue not all Galaxy classes are alike in décor, or perhaps simply they did not want to confuse viewers as to his location––this is a purposeful act to place Hanson elsewhere, clearly showing he had left ENTERPRISE earlier and had established that fact in various scenes even if exactly where is not declared–planet-side, starbase, a ship?
The ENTERPRISE battle bridge set, as seen when Hanson faces down the Borg cube, is interesting. The producers again made an active choice to not use the same angles as seen later by Riker on the set nor use the graphics from ENTERPRISE. Some useful things to ponder:
There was an active choice early by Roddenberry, Probert and others to move away from TOS/TMP style of graphics, interface, fonts and more.
The TOS/TMP Red Alert graphics seen by Hanson’s head behind him is not seen onboard a Galaxy class starship nor seen on one again on screen. 8
It’s pushing the boundaries of belief that Galaxy Class Starships each have different operating systems––at a push it might be that GALAXY did in trials but even so, just like modern computing, efforts to standardize systems are made, not least military equipment. Rather you’d see, as done from TMP to TNG, that class or family changes are made, than say one warship running a different theme or some tiny, unique changes. (You can debate this endlessly, but again, this is head canon and fan fiction versus what is seen on screen).
It is not the purpose of this discussion to explicitly state where to place Hanson, but it is a point of debate since the original airing of the episode that Hanson was likely on a Nebula or Excelsior class ship, which may feed into some of the aforementioned talking points.
What do we see on screen or officially?
There isn’t wreckage specific to a Galaxy Class Starship from the battle:
Was the ship was vaporized or did it suffer a warp core breach?
OK, why is there no mention of the Admiral’s ship when ENTERPRISE arrives. The line by Data that ‘no survivors’ – something clearly retconned for DS9 and beyond is explainable for numerous reasons, but it causes some issues on how far the absence of any remark about the flagship is––led by a man (Hanson) who had worked with Shelby, and later, was so closely connected to the ENTERPRISE’s story. Was Shelby’s response to the loss of MELBOURNE (NCC 62043) purely about Riker or also the flagship? What of HOOD or the unnamed Excelsior ferrying Hanson around? This is speculation but the point stands, we are not short of potential flagships.
Galaxy family ships are clearly and purposefully created for the battle rather than reusing Galaxy class starships.
Creators and showrunners went out of their way to make different and new ships within the family instead of just building more Galaxy class ship models.
There are no diagrams, LCARS or specific ship logs that state a Galaxy class starship was present.
It’s never mentioned what ship Hanson is on during the events of W359.
It’s never mentioned what ship Hanson was on after the events of W359.
The loss of a Galaxy class starship at the battle is not mentioned—yet the loss of ODYSSEY in DS9 is made a lynch pin of a story and wider arch. Underlining the loss of a ship of the class is a significant and notable event in the fleet.
The fact Hanson is keen for the ENTERPRISE to help neither confirms nor denies that he needs more Galaxy class ‘fire power’ to what he may or may not have had.
The TNG technical manual, made after the episode aired, does not address the matter.
Debate and Conclusion
First, let’s be under no illusion, Star Trek has little qualms about destroying hero ships or ships of the same class as a hero ship.
A great deal has usually been made about the loss of a ship in a hero class, not least the Galaxy class’s lost such as YAMATO, ODYSSEY and even ENTERPRISE.9 Putting the loss of a Galaxy class front and centre into the Battle scene or when the ENTERPRISE arrives at the battlefield would have only intensified the drama. Imagine seeing the hulk of a Galaxy class shattered. How would have that made ENTERPRISE’s crew feel? Is that the fate we as viewers are in for when ENTERPRISE intercepts the Borg cube on any future occasion? However, we never see one.
With that in mind, it doesn’t quite fit within the script writer’s modus-operandi to destroy another Galaxy on the grounds that our focus is on ENTERPRISE, so why take away from it? The ship at least represents our heroes, and it would potentially detract from the feeling of hope that ENTERPRISE and her crew can save the day—an established theme for TNG and arguably prior to that.
The script and reality around Hanson and the Flagship are sufficently nebulous that holes can be punched clearly in any definitive argument to his specific location being set as onboard a Galaxy Class.
The question of hulls is perhaps the most interesting. Technical arguments are quite often central to fan fiction explanations to resolve a question over lore and canon. Perhaps the best way to tackle this is to accept that the likelihood of a Galaxy class frame being built, ready and sufficiently able to act as flagship is, in the end extremely improbable and unlikely. There is often an oversimplification to the timeline to develop, design, build, test and operate a starship which further undermines the idea of a spare Galaxy Class being available.
In conclusion, it’s a matter of balance and weighing up the evidence. I’d argue, the threshold has not been met to state a Galaxy Class was present particuarly with Roddenberry’s comments. Furthermore, there is sufficient doubt to cast against the argument that a ship of the class is present. A superior debate is to perhaps to speculate what starship Hanson is on, which is not a Galaxy Class starship.
At the end of the day, perhaps the most persuasive answer is that no Galaxy class is seen on screen, referenced, or mentioned, and that is the simplest answer as to why no Galaxy class ships were at the Battle of Wolf 359.
W359 project admitted: “In "alpha canon" only 15 ships are positively identified as being at Wolf 359 so we had a lot of leeway in coming up with names for the ships, We knew we wanted a Galaxy class there…” https://x.com/Wolf359Project/status/1750514382168023262?s=20
There are things I like and dislike about other fan work, including theirs for various reasons. My views are no more right or wrong than theirs but what I do respect is passion, the sharing of ideas and hard work. However, if some claim they are ‘official’ when they are not (as one person associated to their project was claiming) and justify that on for whatever reason, like financial resources, personal connections or presentation style, it does a disservice to the wider fan community and taints their efforts in my view.
It is notable that ‘Star Trek Online’ MMO collaborated and took inspiration for their W359 ‘TFO’ mission in their game from the fan fiction W359 project. After, the Star Trek community pointed out that because of variances in the W359 verse that numerous mistakes crept into Star Trek online that challenge canon, something they are correcting. A reminder to delineate between head cannon, fan work and established on screen/official lore. https://x.com/Tumerboy/status/1750340083767804403?s=20
YAMATO’s launch date is unclear but she is termed as sister ship therefore fair to assess a earlier if not identical launch date per the TNG technical manual.
Registry numbers and names are not a reliable source or indication of starship development, build or operational date.
For example the following notes and line by Data ‘Bridge. Data calls Riker as they approach battle site. Reactions as they see the first wreckage of Starfleet...”the worst defeat in military annals since the Spanish Armada was sunk”’… was never translated from that script to the production script.
This does not rule out use of the set to place Admirals in, more that an effort was made to clearly make it not look like a Galaxy Class, particuarly in colour and style although clearly standard practices to use and change sets for filming were deployed (like flipping the image/cropping etc). Admiral Nakamura in another episode uses a similar chair but the background is the ENTERPRISE set.
It maybe regulated to onboard somewhow or featured early on, but evidence is lacking to its wide or even use on the ship class.