The Federation in the seventh decade of the twenty-fourth century was under siege

The Federation in the seventh decade of the twenty-fourth century was under siege.

Seemingly on all sides, it was beset with hostile and implacable foes. Major adversaries – the Romulans, the Cardassians, the Borg, the Dominion – waited and watched, for their opportunity to take down "the dream given form" that was the Federation. Minor powers – for example, the Breen – were emboldened by the Federation's troubles, and bided their time, seeking the strongest power with which to ally themselves against the Federation.

As always, it was the job of Starfleet to respond to these threats to Federation security. But Starfleet was not designed as a war machine. Intended primarily as a vehicle of exploration, it had nonetheless done its job well enough in defending the Federation's borders when it faced only one or two potential adversaries. Conviction, courage, technology – these things could and were used as a substitute for raw firepower in the Starfleet of the mid-24th century.

After the Borg invasion of 2366, everything changed. Starfleet saw it could no longer hold the line with the resources it had at its disposal. Reluctantly, it was concluded that more firepower was needed.

Thus was born the Perimeter Defense Directive ("PDD" for short). The purpose of the PDD was simple – to design and construct new ships, weapons, defenses and technologies that would allow Starfleet to defend against multiple attackers simultaneously. Among its many aspects were two strategies for enhancing Starfleet's potential.

One strategy was to design entirely new classes of ships, incorporating cutting-edge technology and design. These ships would be stronger, faster, tougher, more agile than anything Starfleet had put into service before. Ships such as the Defiant, Norway, Akira, Saber and, eventually, Sovereign classes rolled out of the assembly facilities charged with building them.

And, indeed, these ships were everything promised. In the conflicts to come they would all serve with distinction and valor, making an significant contribution to the Federation's defense in the trying times ahead.

But there was a problem. The new ships provided Starfleet with quality – but could not provide what was really required, that is, ships in quantity. More ships were needed, many more, if Starfleet was to fend off the attacks of so many varying enemies. New ships took time to design, new materials time to test, new designs time to prove. The new ships could not be constructed in the quantities Starfleet required.

Enter Project Resurrection – the second shipbuilding strategy of the PDD. The philosophy behind Project Resurrection was simple: it would be faster and more cost-efficient to refurbish existing starships than to build new ones. The new ships might form the spearhead of the new Starfleet, but ships restored by Project Resurrection would form the mass of the fleet to shoulder the burden of the heavy work.

At first, Project Resurrection drew its supply of ships from two sources: older starships still in service, like the Excelsior- and Ambassador-class starships, as well as retired starships mothballed throughout Federation salvage yards. Rearmed, refurbished and restored to active service, these ships soon began making valuable contributions to Federation security. Though not a spectacular success like the new starship project had been, Project Resurrection soon proved its value. Ships that at one time would never have been deployed in certain situation were now routinely able to do so. With its newly swollen ranks, Starfleet was able to reinforce its presence wherever and whenever required.

Though a Galaxy-class starship, Constitution was born out of Project Resurrection. After their initial success restoring older starship designs, the engineers in charge of Resurrection asked themselves a simple question. What would happen if they took the skills and methods learned so well from Project Resurrection, and applied them to a new ship of the line? If they could make an old cruiser a force once again, what could they do with a modern spaceframe built from scratch?

Constitution was chosen to answer this question because as a Galaxy-class starship, she was the most advanced type of ship then available. Also, she happened to be in the early stages of construction when the go-ahead was given to the Project Resurrection team to "enhance" a Galaxy-class starship. From the beginning, Constitution would be a hybrid, a fusion of the restorative powers of Project Resurrection and the cutting edge technologies of the new starship designs.

When the sister ship of the Constitution, U.S.S Odyssey, was destroyed in an encounter with the Jem'Hadar in the Gamma Quadrant, the project took on even greater significance. More resources were diverted to the construction of Constitution, and she was completed and ready for her initial shakedown cruises on stardate 48115 – only a month after the destruction of the Odyssey.

Constitution immediately caused a controversy within Starfleet and the Federation Council itself. Many people were shocked by what the engineers had come up with. In addition to the standard fittings for a Galaxy-class starship, Constitution was outfitted with ablative armor, pulse phaser cannons, quantum torpedoes, pivoting warp nacelles and an external sensor pod.

There could be no mistaking the primary purpose of such a vessel, and the Council was divided on whether or not it was wise to commission it. One school of thought, the "hawks", saw this ship as "sending a message" to the various hostile powers of the quadrant that Starfleet had both the will and the capability of defending itself against all comers. They favored granting Project Resurrection their request to move ahead with the shakedown cruise and were led by the Andorian, Earth and Tellarite delegations in the Federation Council.

The other group, the "doves", were appalled at the mere notion of the Federation building what appeared to be a battleship. They pointed out that such a ship would indeed "send a message" - that the Federation was arming for a war of conquest; a message that would be just as likely to set off the Federation's hostile neighbors as intimidate them. Among the most vocal critics of the proposal were the Vulcans, Centauri and Betazeds.

After a long and sometimes acrimonious debate, the decision was made to allow the shakedown cruise to move ahead. It soon became apparent that the engineers of Project Resurrection had done an outstanding job on the new starship. Constitution proved to be faster, capable of withstanding far more damage, and possessing much greater firepower than an average Galaxy-class starship (which, already, was a vessel possessing impressive defensive capabilities!) Some on the Federation Council, even some of the "hawks", expressed concern that the engineers had in fact done "too good of a job". Constitution had turned out to be an even more potent weapon than had initially been envisioned. Nonetheless, Starfleet had invested too much time and effort into the ship to end the project at this point, and on Stardate 48911, she was officially christened the U.S.S. Constitution, NCC – 75747, Galaxy-class ship of the line. Designed to counter the threat of hostile foes on all sides, Constitution would soon be pressed into service – but against the one enemy no one had foreseen her ever having to fight.