Star Trek: 10 Secrets About The 25th Century Fleet You Need To Know
7. Keep Coming Back
The fabled transwarp drive couldn't dampen the arrival of the Excelsior Class in the 23rd Century and its legacy would continue. In the era of The Next Generation, the Excelsior Class would become the true workhorse of Starfleet and so it's suitable that it would receive a follow-up in the 25th Century.
The Excelsior II Class retained the look of the original although the saucer was a more oval shape front-to-back and the nacelle pylons would be slightly swept as opposed to the right angles of the original.
At the Frontier Day celebrations, six of the class were in attendance. Designed by John Eaves and Doug Drexler, the Excelsior II was confirmed as a sizable 1929 feet long. The original was around 1676 feet in length.
The "new" USS Excelsior however would not be one of the ships that survived the catastrophe of Frontier Day although its crew would initially attempt to resist. The irony was that the Excelsior NCC-2000 had been commanded by one Hikaru "fly her apart then!" Sulu in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, only for a ship bearing the name of her legendary captain to be among those vessels responsible for the destruction of its 25th-century incarnation.