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Warning! This page contains information regarding Star Trek: Prodigy, and thus may contain spoilers.
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(covers information from several alternate timelines)
Cetacean Ops on the USS Cerritos
Cetacean Ops was a facility aboard certain Starfleet starships, during the latter half of the 24th century, which was responsible for a ship's navigation. They generally contained an aquarium, so as to simulate the natural habitat of various cetacean lifeforms. By the 2380s, these facilities had been installed on Galaxy-class, California-class and Lamarr class starships.
Galaxy-Class[]
In the 2360s, the USS Enterprise-D housed Tursiops crewmembers. Their designated facility was marked next to one of the many onboard holodeck facilities. (TNG: "We'll Always Have Paris", TNG: "The Perfect Mate")
In 2366 of an alternate timeline created by a time traveling USS Enterprise-C, Doctor Joshua Kim was ordered to report to Cetacean Ops on the USS Enterprise-D, shortly after the Galaxy-class warship encountered a temporal rift. (TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise")
California-Class[]
Diagram
By the 2380s, the California-class USS Cerritos was built with a relatively small Cetacean Ops facility that consisted of a long narrow vertical tube, with several smaller connected horizontal tubes. Lieutenants Kimolu and Matt were beluga whales who served abord the starship. (LD: "Second Contact", LD: "First First Contact")
Lamarr-Class[]
By the mid 2385s when the Lamarr-class USS Voyager-A launched on its maiden voyage to follow the wormhole created by the destruction of the USS Protostar, the ship launched with a Cetacean Ops facility manned by Rok-Tahk and a female Humpback whale named Gillian. (PRO: "Into the Breach, Part I")
The mirror universe version of the ship, the ISS Voyager-A, also had a Cetacean Ops facility. (PRO: "Cracked Mirror")
During the Battle of Solum, Gillian helped guide the ship and the Protostar through the Loom and into a wormhole after the rest of Voyager's navigation systems went down. (PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II")
The Cetacean Op's location in the Voyager was labeled in the ship's master systems display. (PRO: "Into the Breach, Part I")
A clear view of the Voyager-A MSD was provided by Dominique Rossier of Wardenlight Studio. [1]
Appendices[]
Background information[]
The term "Cetacean Ops" was first heard in the "background chatter" during "Yesterday's Enterprise". The subtitles for the episode on streaming services – including both Netflix and Amazon – as well as the TNG Season 3 Blu-ray release, give the facility's name as "station Ops."
According to the 1996 reference book Star Trek: The Next Generation USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D Blueprints, the cetacean ops facilities, including a cetacean navigation lab and four cetacean lifeboats, were located on Deck 13, with the navigation labs extending into Deck 14 as well. [2] Conceptual artwork at Andrew Probert's website shows that the facility may have been featured in the original version of Star Trek Online.
According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual, the ship's dolphins work in navigation and are overseen by two whales of species Orcinus orca takayai, or Takaya's Whales. This references the 1988 anime OVA Gunbuster, where the starship Exelion uses dolphins for navigation due to their natural familiarity with moving in three dimensions; as well as the name of that series' protagonist, Noriko Takaya.
External link[]
- Cetacean Ops at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- Cetacean Ops at StarTrek.com