Excalibur (NX-03) was a 22nd century United Earth starship, an NX-class cruiser in United Earth Starfleet service in the 2150s decade. Excalibur had a crew complement of 57. Its commanding officer was Captain Bran Stiles of the Stiles family. (ST reference: Federation: The First 150 Years)
- This ship shares its registry with Challenger (NX-03), which is also implicated to be the third NX-class ship built.
Service history and disposition[]
Construction[]
Following the launch of Enterprise NX-01 in April 2151[1], Starfleet Command put three additional NX-class ships on the drawing board. Around August that year, Ensign Travis Mayweather told fellow Boomer Matthew Ryan about these, and suggested Starfleet could use experienced personnel like Ryan aboard NX-02, NX-03, and NX-04. (ENT episode: "Fortunate Son")
NX-03's sister ship Columbia.
After numerous delays, the second NX-class ship Columbia NX-02 finally launched in November 2154. (ENT episode: "Affliction")
As of Thursday, 22 May 2155, NX-03 was still under construction in the skies above San Francisco. On that date, while on an assignment to patrol Earth Cargo Service trade routes, Captain Jonathan Archer of Enterprise quipped whether he might be able to persuade Starfleet Command to rush the ship into service, re-christening it Sisyphus, to take on his less than engaging mission. (ENT novel: Kobayashi Maru)
- Challenger NX-03 launched in August 2155.[2]
Romulan War[]
Gileus I, Praetor of the Romulan Star Empire, issued a threat to Earth Starbase 1 in the Algeron star system on 11 March 2156. Fleet Admiral Avram Gardner immediately sent Columbia and the new Excalibur NX-03 to Algeron under the pretense of scheduled maintenance.
Rick Stiles, assistant engineer aboard Columbia, hoped to meet his Uncle Bran on the starbase during the layover on 12 May. The opportunity did not come to pass. On 18 May, Admiral Mindar of the Romulan Star Navy, led a fleet of five T'varo-class warbirds the first attack of the Earth-Romulan War on the Algeron system. Because the Romulans jammed communication, Fleet Captain Erika Hernandez of Columbia dispatched one of her shuttlepods to order her counterpart Bran Stiles to leave the system and warn Starfleet Command. At the time, each vessel had a crew complement of 57.
While Columbia defended the starbase, two warbirds pursued Excalibur out of the system. The Romulans destroyed Columbia but Excalibur escaped to the Gamma Hydra. Stiles had the ship's science officer search for a comet of the magnitude five or higher, then put first officer Bryce Shumar in a shuttlepod and hid it in a cometary trail. The Romulans subsequently destroyed Excalibur, leaving the lieutenant commander the only survivor.
Excalibur seeks a comet.
The attack on the station made the news at United Earth on the same day. Gannet Brooks wrote the news article about the loss of Starbase 1, Columbia and Excalibur, and that "Lieutenant" Shumar was the sole survivor. The article was published on the United Sol System Information Network and was viewed by 2 billion people in the first ten minutes.
When Enterprise arrived at Gamma Hydra, they recovered Shumar and his shuttlepod on 20 May. Commander Shumar learned from Captain Jonathan Archer about the loss of his ship. (ST reference: Federation: The First 150 Years)
Legacy[]
Shumar's new assignment, Intrepid NV-01.
During the Battle of Sol on 10 October 2158, Captain Bryce Shumar, now in command of Intrepid NV-01, led the fleet in an engagement with Admiral Mindar's warbirds at Mars. Shumar pushed the fleet forward, to give the Romulans payback for the destruction of Excalibur, despite Fleet Admiral Rafael Douglas's directive to pull back. Mindar retreated from the Sol system with six remaining warbirds out of an original fleet of ten. (ST reference: Federation: The First 150 Years)
By the 2240s decade, Federation Starfleet had launched the USS Excalibur to carry on the name Excalibur. (TOS - My Brother's Keeper novel: Republic)
In the mid-23rd century, the first few Constitution-class heavy cruisers after the USS Constitution were named after the NX-class cruisers of the 22nd century, including the USS Excalibur (NCC-1664)[3] to honor Excalibur NX-03. (ST reference: Federation: The First 150 Years)
Crew manifest[]
Appendices[]
Connections[]
Appearances and references[]
Appearances[]
- ENT episode: "Fortunate Son" (first mentioned)
- ST reference: Federation: The First 150 Years (name established)
References[]
External link[]
- Excalibur (NX-03) article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.