The history of the NX class begins in 2119 with the opening of the Warp 5 complex by Zephram Cochrane, the inventor of Earth's first warp drive in 2063 and Henry Archer. Cochrane, Archer and other scientists hoped to create a warp engine capable of reaching Warp 5. Unfortunately, Cochrane would later disappear in 2119 and Archer would die from Clarke's disease in the 2120's. However progress was made and Earth's Starfleet created the NX Project in about 2140, under the supervision of then-Commodore Forrest, to test the various warp engine systems that the Warp 5 Complex designed. During the 2140's, four Starfleet officers test-pilot the ships outfitted with the experimental engine systems. In 2143, two of these pilots, Commander A.G. Johnson and Commander Jonathan Archer would break the Warp 2 barrier and reach Warp 2.5. Two years later, another pilot, named Duvall, would make history by reaching Warp 3.
Beginning in early 2150, Earth's first Warp 5 starship was constructed by Starfleet at the Warp 5 Complex's orbital drydock and completed in early 2151. As construction of the new ship neared completion, Starfleet, through Admiral Forrest, selected Jonathan Archer, now holding the rank of Captain, as the ship's commanding officer. In April 2151 the Warp 5 ship was commissioned by Starfleet as Enterprise, bearing spacecraft number NX-01. On April 12, Enterprise launched three weeks early to conduct the urgent mission of returning a Klingon courier, who had crashed on Earth, to Qo'noS, the Klingon homeworld. Almost immediately after launching, Enterprise and its' crew become pawns in a "temporal cold war" being waged amongst various time-traveling factions and their agents. Amongst these agents were an alien species called the Suliban. Under Archer's command, Enterprise and its crew would successfully return the Klingon courier to his homeworld.
Over the next two years Enterprise and its crew would undertake Earth's first major deep space exploration. In that time, the ship and crew would make first contact with more than two dozen species including the Andorians, the Axanar, the Coridans, the Eska, the Kantare, the Kreetassans, the Malurians, the Paraagans, the Risians, the Romulans (but only their ships, no visual contact), the Tandarans, and the Vissians. Also during that time, the crew of the Enterprise would calibrate the vessel's spatial torpedoes and build & install the ship's new "phase cannons". Enterprise achieve its designed velocity of Warp 5 in February, 2152. Enterprise's deep space mission was breifly canceled following the deaths of 3,600 Paraagan colonists when the atmosphere of their planet was ignited. It was believed the cause of the disaster was the engines of one of Enterprise's shuttlepod in February 2152. However, further investigation by the crew, with assistance from a time-traveling agent named Daniels, proved that the responsible party was the Suliban.
After a horrific attack on Earth that claimed the lives of seven million humans in early 2153, Starfleet recalls Enterprise to Earth. The pilot of the ship that attacked Earth is identified as a member of the Xindi, a species previously known to humans, living in a region of space known as the Delphic Expanse. Enterprise undergoes retrofitting in order to locate the Xindi. This retrofit enhances the ship's hull plating, provides new projectile weapons known as photonic torpedoes and a new information/intelligence gathering commmand center. Over the next year, Archer and his crew aboard the Enterprise seek out the Xindi to prevent a possible second attack on Earth. The mission is successfully completed however 27 members of Archer's crew are killed and Enterprise is severely damaged during the final days of the mission. Upon their return home in early 2154, Enterprise undergoes repairs in Earth orbit; while the second NX class starship, already commissioned as Columbia and registered NX-02, is under construction and is scheduled for completion by middle of the year.
Ships of the Line
| ENTERPRISE | NX-01 |
| COLUMBIA | NX-02 |