Belle Terre Colonial Expedition

The Belle Terre Colonial Expedition was a colonization effort by the United Federation of Planets, established shortly after the V'Ger crisis. The Expedition's goal was to set out for the distant planet designated "Belle Terre", six months outside of Federation space. The expedition included more than 40 ships, carrying more than 64,000 colonists to settle on the new world.

Originally, expedition defense was to be handled by four Federation privateer vessels, but shortly before the expedition's departure, four Starfleet vessels were included in the expedition, led by the USS Enterprise under the command of Admiral James T. Kirk. The expedition arrived at Belle Terre early in 2279, in spite of attacks by Orion pirate ships. (TOS - New Earth novel: Wagon Train to the Stars)

Composition of the Expedition

Colony Ships

The main vessels of the Expedition were the Conestoga-class colony ships, powered by "mule engines" designed by Enterprise chief engineer Montgomery Scott. (TOS - New Earth novel: Wagon Train to the Stars)

• Comanche
• Hampton Roads
• Lakota
• Lewis and Clark
• Mandrake Anachronae
• Northwest Passage
• Promontory Point
• Oregon Trail
• Sacajawea
• Yukon

Support Vessels

The support vessels carried all of the supplies needed both for the colonization of Belle Terre as well as the journey itself. The support force included a medical ship, food supply and engineering support ships, a coroner ship, a transport carrying real cattle and ranchers, a series of industrial drones, and the VIP transport of the Colonial Governor, Evan Pardonnet.

In addition to the ships that accompanied the actual expedition, two more were sent ahead of it: the survey ship Kensington Taylor, to scout around Belle Terre, and the "lightship" Hatteras, to act as a beacon to guide the Expedition to its destination. (TOS - New Earth novel: Wagon Train to the Stars)

• American Rover - pathfinder
• Annie B' - ranch barge
• Black Swan - garden ship
• Brother's Keeper - mercy ship
• Charger - equine stable
• Colunge - mule roundhouse
• Crystobel - commercial pilot
  • Webb 1 - Webb 9 - industrial drones controlled by telemetry from CP Crystobel
• Foggy Dew - dairy barge
• Heidi - ranch barge
• Iroquois - industrial ship
• Kaleonahe - mining vessel
• Mable Stevens - Colonial Governor's transport
• Macedon - commercial tow
• Norfolk Rebel - Tugantine
• Olympian - organ lab
• Pandora's Box - industrial ship
• Polynesian' - Conestoga tender
• Quincy B. Hobbs - cattleship/dairy barge
• Red Barn - cattleship
• Twilight Sentinel - coroner ship
• Uncle Jake's Pocket - hotel ship

Privateers

The Expedition originally hired four privateer captains and their ships to act as the security and defense enforcement during the journey, a role partially superseded by Starfleet shortly before the Expedition's departure. (TOS - New Earth novel: Wagon Train to the Stars)

• Hunter's Moon
• Rattlesnake
• Royal York
• Zavada

UFP Official Escort

The Federation Council ultimately sent four Starfleet vessels as an official escort: the starship Enterprise, two cutters, and a combat support tender. (TOS - New Earth novel: Wagon Train to the Stars) The cutters returned to Earth after the Expedition arrived, while the Beowulf was destroyed shortly after. The Enterprise was eventually replaced by the UFPF Challenger (formerly USS Peleliu) in 2280. (TOS - New Earth novel: Challenger)

• USS Enterprise (command ship)
• USS Beowulf (combat support tender)
• USS Impeller (cutter)
• USS Republic (cutter)