The Strange History of The Norway Class Starship 

The ships need more fjords....

I have a soft spot for those First Contact ships... the hull finishing, the odd configurations, the fact that they feel like they belong to the same time period but aren't just kitbashes of each other. Love 'em.

The idea of additional pods to add to it's capacity gives a great reason for the ungainly, fragile looking design of the rear structure. With that in mind, I can easily see a larger version of a pod designed to take up the whole area between those structures and dock into the curved space with the two shuttlebays, turning it into a mass-evacuation ship or a temporary large-scale hospital.

I like the emergency medical ship idea. I like the idea that Starfleet would have ships that could perform rescue missions during combat, recovering pilots from fighters or crews from downed ships.

I can see this as a rescue starship that picks up escape pods after a battle and can defend itself from enemies still in the area. Imagine that it uses multiple tractor beams to grab them en mass, put then between the aft booms, then warp away to a safe place to debark them.

Being a short run S cience and medical ship gives it an interesting niche and may help explain why the are about as infrequently seen as Ambassador Class vessels are too. I like the cargo pod idea too. You could use that slot to lay mines or buoys too, or carry something like a spare starship Nacelle. .

The Norway has always held a special place among my favorite ships since the days of Starfleet Command III - it looks so good to me. I really wish we got so much more of it.

I thought the reason the Norway class never appeared in Deep Space 9 during the Dominion war was because the data files got corrupted. ILM was able to provide 3 of the 4 designs, but discovered that the Norway was unrecoverable. I think it was STO that did much of the work of recreating the design for later appearances, which was later the basis for the Eaglemoss models (or the other way around, but I kinda expect it would have been STO that did it first)

A Norway class ship, the USS Tenara, is the ship of my Star Trek Adventure's campaign I run, and it's a wonderful blend of being an Next Gen style hero ship and a Lower Decks style workhorse ship. It feels rugged and well equipped, but it's also clearly not built to do everything or go where no man has gone before. Narratively it's a great vehicle for plot ideas too, because responding to emergencies gives so much variety yet still holds a consistent theme. We've had things from dealing with a virus from fluidic space infecting a tropical world to investigating espionage on a research outpost.

Star Trek Adventures has a wealth of information, and it is nice to hear it mentioned more and more in videos like this. Glad to hear that you enjoy our work with Star Trek.

The real reason why the class was never seen agaib was because the hardrive that contained the 3D model crashed in between First Contact and DS9 and the model was lost. It was recreated for Voyager, but was just never made it on screen.

I expected the RL reason that it's little seen to be mentioned, they lost the digital model.

The design project was headed up by Dr Slartibartfast. he won a award for it.

One of the Norway class ships at Sector 001 was the USS Budapest, so Finland must have been built third.

Crazy fan theory: the Jaegers were actually the prototype vessels for the Prometheus. The Norway is the top, the Steamrunner is the middle, and the Saber is the bottom, and they're all designed to nestle into each other. And the reason the Norway-class has engineering where it does is because the original was the test bed for the dinky little nacelles in the Prometheus' saucer; subsequent ships of the class got standard nacelles, but they were just sort of tacked on without much refinement to their design. I know it's stupid and probably not at all what Alex Jaeger was thinking. But it's an entertaining thought.

Crazy theory: What if the Norway-class and Steamrunner-class were meant to combine together into a larger and more powerful ship. So the Steamrunner's rear mounted deflector dish would slot into the opening between the nacelles on the Norway-class. That would create a more powerful weapons platform and offer more docking bays.

The ship is a blockade runner. Built to use speed and heavy phaser fire to zip through limited defenses, then pick up or drop off supplies, medical staff, and such. Big enough to evacuate a few hundred people, but still small and narrow enough that it could be hard to hit while it made its run through the lines. it COULD do other rolls too... while not listed, its cargo area... between the pylons.. would allow for rapid deployment of mines or orbital defenses, holding them in place then dropping them one after another as it made a high speed run. In fleet action, its limit on torpedoes made it weak in fleet actions but it could do phaser escort and play the phaser screen for heavier torpedo ships.

I always wonderd if the space between the warp pylons wouldn't look better if it was filled in. But the fact that it was basicly an external cargo bay blew my mind.

Thank you for doing a video on this often overlooked ship. I find it soo interesting how all the major youtube channels and games each have a unique take on this ship. Its a fighter carrier in STO, you have it as a medical ship and theres another youtube channel that has it set up as a long range heavy phaser cannon ship designed to work in tandem with the Akira. I hope they eventually make a legendary version of it in STO. keep up the great vids!

"Not bad, for a doorstop." That had my sides hurting! Well played!

I been thinking on this ship for years. Three design features stand out, the inspiration for thr supposed captians yacht looking much more like and experimental deflector dish, thr 4 rear heavy tractor beams, and the curved gap under the shuttlebays looking like a special docking section. All this screams to me a mining, salvage, and recovery ship. Adding medical functionality does also make sense.

the way it's built, it would make an ideal lander. also: I see it potentially able to dock to another Norway beyond just tractoring small cargo boxes, it looks like it could be fitted with a full cargo towing module.

IIRC the original CGI model/mesh was lost and the ship was never seen again in TV or movies as a result. The newer version was slightly redesigned to have conventional phaser banks rather than the large phaser cannon in the bow, where the deflector now is. The ship being a science/medical vessel is news to me, since I figured it was always meant to be a combat vessel like the Sabre and Defiant classes given its small profile and heavy armament.

5:24 I love it when those congratulations you are being rescued moments happen in star trek

out-of-universe, the reason this ship wasn't seen in the shows is because there was only ever a digital model of it, and apparently, the file containing that model got corrupted, and was subsequently unrecoverable. Probably why they made a physical model of voyger for that show, rather than just sticking with a digital one.

The quote "Lots of ways to help people. Sometimes heal patients; sometimes execute dangerous people" comes to mind w/ this

Giving a nod to the SW-Verse, I could see either Corellian Engineering Corporation or a rival making something Norway Class shaped with the space for the cargo pods serving the same function as the forward pylons on a YT-1600 freighter.

Love the look of this ship. The wedge shape is distinctive and definitely looks more nimble than the typical Federation saucer designs whilst looking like a tough little nugget. Class!

Fun fact I noticed while I was building a model kit of the Norway; a lot of the ventral hull details appear to be lifted from the dorsal hull design of the Defiant-class. You can see at 8:01 the dark areas with the lifeboats and the deepened sections near the middle are the same. The area immediately in front of the pennant arrowhead is where the Defiant’s deflector/nose would be.

Love this video and the lore, even if ILM did lose the original file with the CG model when they where doing the DS9 War arch

The Starship built for Trauma Team International.

An interesting ship design. With the gap between the pylons and their supports leading from the saucer section it looks like it could be expanded relatively easily at a later date with the addition of an 'engineering section'.

The "doorstop" comment makes me think that was a reference to the Enterprise-E EMH's retort to Crusher: "I'm a doctor, not a doorstop!"

heck yeah! I just bought the fleet version a couple of weeks ago, and I was sad when I looked and you hadn't made a video on it yet, but now I'm pumped!

I have been looking forward to a video on this class so much.

"Whatya mean you mounted a .50 cal on an ambulance! For what!?" "Zombies" "Oh."

New viewer because I just randomly typed in Star Trek. An episode or three from whatever series is a favourite nightcap, currently Enterprise and I’ve watched all series except Discovery more than once. This was a fun vid, and many of comments enjoyable as well.

The Norway kinda looked like it has that giant Intrepid sensor array at the front, which lead me to believe that (in my headcanon) it was a long-range scout and AWACS ship, which is why it wasn't seen at the front of battles too often.

In the video game Star Trek: Starfleet Command III, it was stated that the Norway-class starship had a crew complement of 337 personnel, including three passengers and fourteen dependents.

I actually quite like the form factor of this ship. While the finer details leave something to be desired, I'd love to see more ships that dare to defy elliptical saucer sections and distinct - even if well blended and without a thin neck - engineering hulls. The idea of leaving a lot of space for external cargo pods is truly inspired, I could definitely see a use case of this ship dropping a handful of refugee pods on a planet and then flying back up to defend the area while everyone gets ready for evac, then swooping down to pick up the pods and fleeing. Kind of like the idea behind the Galaxy class saucer separation, but with fewer compromises and more versatility (especially because the galaxy saucer section doesn't exactly have a great track record for landing on a planet gently).

I greatly appreciate all the work u do😊

I think this would be a good class for a landing ship as well, based on it's overall flatness on the bottom. It would be cool if they actually had drop pods that went in the negative space the nacelles instead of holding cargo by tractor beams.

Every video I've ever seen on this ship has given it a completely different role and I love that

The Norway Class was no doubt influenced by the Y-Wing Fighter in Star Wars. The gap between the pylons always bothered me as it looks like a major vulnerablilty but that's before I found out that the gap can house cargo pods.

The flat bottom of the ship makes me think it would be very good at landing on planets, even more so than the Intrepid. Handy for large scale evacuations that would overwhelm the transporters.

"Not bad, for a doorstop." That perfectly describes my life's ambition.

The Norway has always been the oddball of the First Contact starships. Its design is the most different from the FC ships and traditional Starfleet ship designs, and its name diverged from traditional Star Fleet naming convention, establishing a new naming scheme that persists to this day, i.e. the Luna class naming ships after moons from the Terran system, the California class naming ships after cities from California. And it all started with the Norway-class! This reinforces Starfleet’s apparent human-centric bias that the Klingons called out in ST6:TUD. I’m glad that the Norway-class has faded away.

I don't know. In my head cannon the Norway class always looked more like a beefed up boxcar hauler, kinda like the Millenium Falcon in reverse. The area between the nacelles looks like a docking section for a long cargo pod or series of cargo pods. It's primary tasks would be moving cargo around the federation, but if attacked it could disconnect from the cargo pods and defend them. It could haul, but in a pinch it had the teeth for defense.

The Norway needs more attention

You should do the Olympic class next!👀

"Not bad for a doorstop," Oh I see what you did there, well played...

Tough little ship

At 1:11 The ship in the inset.... That as a lot of the flavor of NX-01 Enterprise.... So far the views of the Norway looked a bit like the NX-01 as well....

I like this Star Ship. It is simple and clean style. And has a practical side with being extra storage. 👍

Anyone else here because of the fan film Squadron from 2021? In that film, the 38th Squadron consists of 4 Norway-class ships: the USS Minneapolis (which is also the flagship of the squadron), the USS Luanda, the USS San Jose, and the USS Nuuk. I also thought the Norway-class looked similar to the Texas-class from Lower Decks.

Changing the standard designs to prepare for the advent of using slipstreams and the possibility of a working slipstream drive for anywhere anytime slipstream travel, required a total retooling of starship construction protocols.

I didn't know about the medical aid history of the class. Great video!

In the SFC3 it operated more like a federation bird of pray, filling the same rapid response role and patrol missions.

these videos really make me appreciate these (lets be honest) odd looking ships, other than the akira of course the lore and explanations as to why they look the way they do makes me feel like i understand them more, like meeting an unattractive girl but falling in love with their personality which eventually makes you see their "odd" shape as something more sexy i just called a ship sexy... and it wasn't the sovereign... i think im proud of that

I'm imagining one of these with adapted storage bays for a squad of Valkyrie Fighters, repurposing the vessel for single purpose peacekeeping/escort missions

I could have sworn that some of the canon references said the Norway was designed as a long-distance artillery support vessel to complement the Akira's torpedo armament, and had a Lance Phaser in the in-cut portion of the saucer, just below the bridge?

All these years and I had no idea that that weird ass butt of this ship actually served a cool tractor beam purpose or that it was a medical ship at all. Awesome. Thanks for this. I'm guessing it was expanded in Star Trek online so yeah. I would never have known otherwise. EDIT, NOPE the Star Trek Adcebtures RPG. Never even heard of that, so even more awesome.

Awesome ship Awesome video Are you doing Star Trek online again?

My idea for the "deflector weapon" is a spinal phaser lance. Capable of drilling into something, or stand off fire.

“Not bad for a doorstop.” I genuinely snorted!

Thanks

Slightly off topic but I'd love to see a video about how when Q introduced humanity to the borg he saved them from the dominion.

You know, going with a combo of medical and heavily armed might be a point towards it being intended to be something that would be deployed in the aftermath to rescue survivors and deal with things like the Borg infestations of the remaining hulks there. That combo might also make it something that would see heavy use as a prison transport for moving prisoners out of hot zones after conflicts

The reason for the Norways’ absence is that the designers lost the computer files or something like that.

hi sir cheers from venezuela sir! another awesome video ! i wanna ask about a ship present in this chapter specifically the one present from the 2.13 minutes to the 2.22 minutes of this video thanks in advance sir! and please keep on making this videos ! is a magnificent work

I'm glad there's some use for all that negative space between the nacelle limbs, it'd be weird otherwise.

I liked it... except for the big gap running down the middle of it. Fill that opening or at least add a bridge and I think it would look a lot better.

thanks Rick

Love your videos of infos and wondered if you could make a cultural index of Ba'ku?

Rick, that's boss! I didn't know that this class could be used as hospital ships. 👨‍⚕️👩‍⚕️🏥

Okay, what about that sketch at 1:04 ? That's an interesting looking ship concept, it would be interesting to see a 3D render of it.

Excellent video!

My headcanon believes this was an offshoot of the Intrepid-class...like a torpedoboat variant, specifically designed for 'close quarter' combat

You should do the Iwo Jima Class from Star Trek Armada

Please do New Orleans next!

Personally, rather than a doorstop, I would say it looks more like a shoehorn or shoe-shaper. 😂

A wonderfully balanced ship.

Yoyodyne Propulsion, and its head of research, Dr. Emilio Lizardo, always build the best stuff!

I regularly hear opinion that Norwey was a Lance ship. So that explain special weapon. It is first time I hear it was medical ship. Though it does make sense.

Simpler and more faceted designs are easier to produce quickly and maintain under tight constraints, such as combat or war, where time, energy, and material resources are at a premium. This is why they Ambassador Class, as seen in "Yesterday's Enterprise" reads a a ship Starfleet would build knowingly entering into a period of conflict. Meanwhile, the Andrew Probert version is the ship Starfleet would build knowingly going into a period of peace. The simpler ship pointing to a wartime footing being taken. The more curvaceous shapely ship needing more time, material, and attention to build it, pointing to a low conflict or peacetime environment. Further, the Vengeance Class emphasizes this as well being a deliberately designed Battleship, if having a LOT of holes, figurative and literal, in its design implementation. But is a much easier design to build quickly and easier to repair and maintain. Since Adm Marcus was sure the Klingons were going to declare war on the Federation (A story line that could have informed future installations), the design makes sense, if only as prototype.

I fly this ship quite a bit in star trek online.. its a nimble little minx 😳

This ship reminds me of the armed and armoured combat ambulances that armies use today.

I always saw this as a match for the Dominion Beetle ships

I like that: medical fregate. Kind of Trauma Team/Doc Wagon starship.

Am I the only one who when they look at this they get the impression that someone in the starship design bureau took a look at the Vor'cha class and said to someone hold my synth ale.

Star Fleet's CSAR ship.... As it atmosphere capable? Because being able to sling the bunks and tents everything else for a mobile hospital, and run it with a take off from the ship would be a huge amount of capability. And fast, precise cargo transporters so you can try to beam a whole crew out in a couple of passes. Whoever came up with this role.... They made a ship called Doc. IYKYK

Are the grill panels between the numbered shuttlebay doors and the impulse engines the launch bays? They a similar appearance to the bay doors and look like behind them, it could lead to the same hanger.

I think the sins of an empire mod used these as mimelayers... it might have been the Homeworld mod though

I hope the Norway class will have more actions in Star Trek, and I means "real actions"!

while the concept of the norway class is very intresting and very federation like to build a space rescue helicopter type of ship, but on the other hand, Starfleet seems to only send one small Ship for a Planet if there is a Medical Problem, but i guess, it's okay since there is always just a Hamlet on most Planets

Remember SFC III ? Yes, you do. :)

Do impulse engines just provide forward thrust? Lots of Star Fleet vessels have a small profile and thus a smaller target from the front but when they fly by or turn, they offer a big side-target and all its vulnerable engine systems. For a SF ship to pass an opponent and rotate/slide to their nose pointed at them, they'd need more than just lateral thrusters. Do impulse engines have any lateral thrust?

USAF veteran flight paramedic: I WANT ONE !

Am I the only one who recognizes Yoyodyne from The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension?

The Norway Class, built fjord tough.