The manual then states that the first starship "Enterprise" was commissioned in 2245. As stated above, there is an abundance of information working against this date. However, considering that it comes right after Captain April's service aboard the "Enterprise," it is not too far fetched to assume that the ship was REcommissioned following some minor refitting in this year. Following this, three other dates are mentioned. 2284: the ship was reassigned to training duty at the Academy--this date is right on the ball, and comes straight out of the Federation Reference Series (TO:01:04:01:09.41). The remaining two dates (2285: the destruction of the "Enterprise" in ST III, and the commissioning of NCC-1701-A in 2286) are a couple years off and should be dismissed as poor research on the part of the writers. Further research reveals that they got these two dates from Starfleet Prototype, a relatively new manual which incorporates elements of both the Officers Requirements Manuals and Ships Of The Star Fleet. Page 8 states that heavy cruisers began to be decommissioned in 2285--this was misinterpreted to mean that ST III was set in this year. While the ship designs in this manual are sound and are logical developments from Ships Of The Star Fleet and other "mainstream" Tech Fandom works, Starfleet Prototype has some inconsistencies: Transwarp is considered to be a success and ships are scheduled to be retrofitted with the new drive, certain starship classes consist of hundreds of ships, and the first paragraph on page 8 says the "Constitution" class was launched in 2260.
Sternbach and Okuda are, after all, technical designers and are not necessarily historians--at least not of the 23rd Century. Their realm is the 24th Century...
The TNG manual does give us some problems with starship classes. Beginning on page 3, it says that NCC-1701-A was a "Constitution" class starship (despite Tech Fandom, FASA, the novels, and everyone else being in agreement that the movie "Enterprise" was "Enterprise" class and bore little similarity to her original configuration!). I would guess that this was done for simplification, and to avoid confusing the readers. Even more disturbing is the statement that she was going to be christened the "Yorktown" as opposed to "Levant" (or originally "Ti Ho" if you like Shane Johnson's stuff)... I suppose it might have been one of many projected names chosen--but then what of the original "Yorktown"? The manual makes little distinction as to whether NCC-1701-A was in name the "Yorktown" or the actual ship upgraded. I go with the former. In any case she is now the "Enterprise." Too bad the problems didn't end here. Scotty views an outboard blueprint of the "Enterprise" in ST VI, titled "Constitution Class," the 1701-D cutaway poster doesn't acknowledge the "Enterprise" as anything other than an "Uprated Constitution Class" starship, and the new novels "Probe" and "Best Destiny" refer to 1701-A as "Constitution" class. My guess is that "Constitution Class" has become a general classification for all original "Constitution" class starships, their spinoffs, and other heavy cruisers of like design. "Bonhomme Richard," "Achernar," Tikopai" etal would be sub-classes. With the influx of new hull designs in the early 2290s, this simplification seems sound. Recently, Ships of the Star Fleet Volume 2 tackled this problem, proving me right, with the "Akyazi" perimeter action ships: "The terms 'class,' 'sub-class,' and 'group' are used somewhat loosely in Star Fleet parlance. For the purposes of this reference work, 'class' refers to the 'Akyazi' class as a whole, i.e. including the 'Arbiter' and 'Akula' designs. 'Sub-class' or 'group' refers to one of the three design-types individually, as in the 'Arbiter' sub-class or 'Akula' group."
Other instances of this oversimplification of starship classes are evident on page 32. The "Reliant," "Saratoga," "Lantree," and "Brittain" are all lumped together as "Miranda" class starships, despite the first two ships having been in service over 80 years ago--100 years or more ago going by their initial launching and commissioning. The "Reliant" was an "Avenger" class heavy frigate and the "Saratoga" was a "Cyane" class heavy frigate--incorporating newer systems and an improvement on the "Avenger" class, utilizing the same basic hull design. The "Miranda" class was constructed decades later, again utilizing the same general form as the "Avenger" class, and includes the "Lantree" and "Brittain." It may even be possible that the "Saratoga" was upgraded to the "Miranda" class. Yet we're talking about different classes. From the information in "Unnatural Selection" and "Night Terrors" the "Miranda" class has a ship's complement in the vicinity of 25 to 35, and is used as either a supply ship or as a research ship. A far cry from the "Avenger" and "Cyane" classes with complements in the range of 360.
I have become so disturbed by this manual in recent years that I had to put my thoughts down. The file TECHMAN.ZIP is a page by page analysis of the TNG manual and of how it's contradicted established Treknology and TNG, DSN, and V episodes. It is by far The most contradicted, non-role playing game Trek manual ever published. Another excellent idea poorly executed since it didn't need to be excellently researched to sell to a huge audience of fans.