USS Apollo
USS Apollo is a Federation Duderstadt-class light cruiser assigned to Arcturus Squadron of Starfleet's Fourth Fleet. Configured as a scout cruiser, she succeeded a Rhode Island-class scout with the same name when she entered commission in 2401. Captain Sean Gaudain, who also commanded the previous ship to bear the name, assumed command at her launch. The Apollo is presently assigned to reconnaissance and threat assessment duties in the Olympia Sector.
History
Construction of NCC-90769 began in 2398 with the tentative name Tranquility assigned to it, after the lunar base component of the Apollo 11 mission. As she neared completion, it was decided that she would instead carry on the legacy Apollo, replacing a Rhode Island-class scout in service. Along with most of his command crew, Captain Sean Gaudain transferred from the previous Apollo to the new Apollo in early 2401. As with her predecessor, Apollo has been assigned to Arcturus Squadron.
Lost Fleet Campaign
Weeks after her commissioning, the Apollo rushed to the Deneb Sector to participate in the Fourth Fleet's action against the Lost Fleet.[1] She participated alongside Arcturus, Antares, and Achilles in the Battle of Farpoint at the end of that campaign,[2] and a subsequent skirmish in a stellar nursery with her squadron-mates against a rogue Changeling vessel which had enslaved a Farpoint Cnidarian.[3]
Configuration
The Apollo is a Duderstadt-class light cruiser built in the scout cruiser configuration. She is intended to travel beyond Federation space to conduct deep space reconnaissance and threat assessment duties. At Captain Gaudain's request, the bridge has been configured similar to old-style Constitution-class heavy cruisers, with a single command chair and duty stations ringing a central command-helm-operations platform.
Namesake & Lineage
Apollo was the name of the first crewed Human spaceflight program to explore Luna, Earth's only natural satellite. Consisting of seventeen crewed missions between 1967 and 1972,[4] the Apollo Program is revered within the history of spaceflight as the first step on Humanity's journey toward becoming an interplanetary civilization. All of the Federation starships named Apollo trace their namesake directly to this program, though the Apollo Program itself is named for the Greco-Roman god Apollo.
In both Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo ( Ἀπόλλων) was an exemplar Ouranic (i.e. sky) god, who had under his sphere archery, prophecy, art, music, poetry, and light. Often associated (or conflated with) Sol and Helios, he was also considered to be specifically a sun god. Throughout surviving literary sources, Apollo represents order, intellect, truth and excellence.
The Apollo Program and subsequent space vehicles named Apollo share their namesake with nine vessels of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy, along with a class of frigate and a class of sailing vessel.[5]
The starship to bear the name Apollo was an Earth Starfleet Columbia-class cruiser which continued in service with the Federation Starfleet. From then until the newest vessel to bear the name, there have been five other vessels to bear the name Apollo:
- USS Apollo - NCC-1705 - Constitution/Constitution II-class heavy cruiser
- 2269-2300 (Decommissioned)
- USS Apollo - NCC-2929 - Excelsior-class heavy cruiser
- 2300-2325 (Destroyed)
- USS Apollo - NCC-10200 - Apollo-class scout
- 2325-2340 (Destroyed)
- USS Apollo - NCC-30000 - Ambassador-class exploratory cruiser
- 2340-2374 (Destroyed)[6]
- USS Apollo - NCC-82789 - Rhode Island-class scout
- 2390-2401 (Decommissioned)