Truant Training Ship 'Mars' on the Tay off Dundee. 1869 - 1929.The U.S.S. Mars is a purpose-converted training ship that has all of the facilities and capabilities both of a state-of-the-art starship. The U.S.S. Mars, NCC 1009, is a Bonaventure class starship dating back to the last century. All of the systems on the ship have been upgraded and uprated on a regular basis, in order to keep the experience on the Mars accurate to that of a modern starship. The Commanding Officer of the Mars when Cadet Nathaniel Hawkins served onboard was Captain Michael "Achilles" Stirling. 'Achilles'was persuaded to fly a ship of such vintage as he is one of the stars of the old U.S.S. Bonaventure from about half a century beforehand. Captain Stirling relishes in the functionality of the design and the need for crew to 'adapt, improvise and overcome' the lack of advanced techno-gadgetry. The Mars was named in honour of the T.T.S. Mars training ship of Dundee, Earth [1869-1929].

The Mars has been given all of the latest starship systems and equipment, the latest sensor systems and computers. In every sense Mars was designed to accurately represent the latest generation of starships, she is the most advanced ship of her class. A refit in 2295 brought the systems of Mars up to date again and she now virtually can not be internally differentiated from newer vessels. The Mars is regularly used for cadets in order that they be accurately tested on their performance on a starship in the actual environment of space, as opposed to the 'safe' environment of the simulator.

The starship Mars continues to serve Starfleet Academy faithfully in her training ship role. Captain Stirling helps to forge the Starfleet personnel of tomorrow.

U.S.S. Mars specifications:

  • Class 5 starship with class 3 defences.
  • Length: 280 m
  • Width: 116 m
  • Height: 40 m
  • Decks: 11
  • Compliment:
  • Officers: 18
  • Crew: 270
  • Propulsion:
  • Warp: 2 Advanced 2nd Generation Warp Nacelles
  • Max: Warp 5
  • Cruise: Warp 7
  • Sublight: Fusion Thrust Impulse Drive

  • Shuttlecraft: Two: NCC 1009[1] Phobos, NCC 1009[2] Deimos.

    Dimensions taken from the diagram by 'Irishman'

    U.S.S. Bonaventure, NCC 1000, sister ship to U.S.S. Mars.


    Author's Notes: Quite a few notes to be made here. Bonaventure class is the designation for this design, first seen in the Star Trek: Ships of the Line calender 2006. The class finally got a designation in the book Ships of the Line book. Bonaventure class is the designation from the starship in the Animated Series episode "The Time Trap". In that episode the ship had been lost after her third mission. Scotty described her as the first starship with warp drive. One could speculate these are the starships Commander Trip Tucker referred to in "These are the voyages..." as the new ships replacing the NX class. Perhaps some of the starships designated as Daedalus class, such as the U.S.S. Carolina, were in fact Bonaventure class. Bonaventure is French for 'Good Journey'.

    These are the comments made by the artist, Meni: "Constructed some 60 years before Captain Kirk's famous USS Enterprise, the NCC-1000 Bonaventure Class cruiser was the first official starship to be used by the newly formed United Federation of Planets. Mike Okuda suggested that name because an episode of the animated Star Trek series suggested that the first warp powered ship was the Bonaventure.

    "The design embodies elements of both the NX-01 Enterprise that precede it, and the Constitution class USS Enterprise that followed it. Seen here is the prototype that has yet to be christened its eventual name: the USS Bonaventure (being the first of its type, it takes the name of the class). Also seen is Space Station K-2, which is an ancestor to the K-7 station first seen in Star Trek episode 'The Trouble with Tribbles'."

    The Mars was the predecessor to U.S.S. Republic in the training role. The Mars is now being retired after over a century of service.

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