-=> Quoting Paul Andinach to Martin Nickell <=-
 PA> The original Enterprise lasted out a five year mission, plus the
 PA> years between the mission and the Vejur crisis, plus the years between
 PA> the Vejur crisis and the escape of Khan.
 PA> Plus the time Pike had it before Kirk made captain.
 PA> Just a touch more than seven years, I think. :)
        Look at it this way:  (Canon mileage may vary!)
        Capt Chris Pike     Launch to +5  - First Five Year Mission
                              +5 to +6    - 1 Year Refit
                              +6 to +11   - Second Five Year Mission
        (In Managerie Spock states he served on the Enterprise with Pike for
         11 years.)
        Capt James Kirk      +11 to +12   - 1 Year Refit
                             +12 to +17   - Third Five Year Mission
                             +17 to +19.5 - (1.5 Year Refit *)
                           +19.5 to 27.5  - VGER crisis to Wrath of Khan **
        * - (In ST:TMP during the famous POD scene, Scotty argues that the
      Big E has just undergone an 18 month refit.  Kirk counters by replying
      that "Two and a half years at Starfleet Operations made me a little
      stale, Mr. Scott, but I wouldn't exactly consider myself 
"inexperienced.",
      therefore I'm using this as the minimum time between the end of the
      mission and the VGER crisis.)
        ** - Eight years was a figure I saw for the time between these 
ents.
            Quite a bit more than seven years, and if we postulate that
   Capt. Robert April actually had command of a five-year mission and a
   refit before Pike took over, she actually could be as much as 33.5 years
   old by the time of The Search for Spock.
            Admiral Morrow himself stated the "E" was over 20 years old,
   and who should know better then the commanding officer of Starfleet.
            Knowing the military mind the way I do, I don't see a year refit
   after a five year mission as unreasonable or too lengthy.  There had to
   have been reams of data to go through, and tons of debriefings even with
   the ship's log to assist.  Not to mention the contractor's engineers would
   have wanted a peak through her insides to see how well their creation
   withstood the stress of the mission. (I would have!)
             If this is hard for someone to swallow, consider the career
   of the BB USS Iowa.  Twice mothballed and then hauled back into service,
   after the Soviets launched the Kirov Class Heavy Cruisers, at a 10th
   of the cost of rebuilding from scratch, and she's a product of 1930's
   technology!
             This might also explain why the Queen of Starfleet was being 
sed
as a training vessel, ferrying around cadets instead of patrolling the outer
reaches of the Federation.  (Personally, I think Nogura and Spock cut a deal
to keep Spock on the Enterprise because Nogura owed Kirk after the Vger 
Crisis!)
             Christopher
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