USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

=== James T. Kirk's command ===
[[File:USS Enterprise orbiting Omicron Ceti III, remastered.jpg|left|thumb|The ''Enterprise'' in orbit, 2267]]
In 2265, the ''Enterprise'' was assigned to another five-year mission of [[space|deep-space]] exploration, and command passed to [[James T. Kirk]]. The ship's primary goal during this mission was to seek out and contact alien life. Captain Kirk's standing orders also included the investigation of all [[quasar]]s and quasar-like phenomena.

Beyond its primary mission, the ''Enterprise'' defended Federation territories from aggression, aided [[Federation members|member]] [[planet|worlds]] in crisis, and provided [[science|scientific]] expeditions and [[colony|colonies]] in her patrol area with annual examinations and support. ({{TOS|Balance of Terror|The Man Trap|The Cloud Minders|Journey to Babel|The Galileo Seven}}, {{e|The Deadly Years}})

{{bginfo|Despite [[2270]] being given as the year Kirk's first five-year mission in command of the ''Enterprise'' came to an end (in the {{s|VOY}} episode {{e|Q2}}), many production resources &ndash; including the booklet for the [[TOS Season 1 DVD]] set &ndash; continue to use the {{ste|c}}{{'}}s date of [[2264]] as the starting point of the mission. It is possible, however, that the mission ran from 2264 through 2269 and that the ''Enterprise'' did not return to Earth until 2270.|According to a line from the script of {{film|11}} but removed from the final draft, the crew of the ''Enterprise'' came together in a time of "ultimate crisis", much like their [[alternate reality]] counterparts did. ''[http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Star-Trek.html]''|According to a line of dialogue from the final draft script of {{e|Mudd's Women}}, the ''Enterprise'' was located two years, five months, twenty-two days, and seven hours from a [[starbase]] at impulse speed in that episode.}}

==== Discoveries ====
From 2265 to [[2270]], the ''Enterprise'' visited over seventy different worlds and encountered representatives of over sixty different [[species]]. More than twenty of those were [[first contact]]s with [[lifeform|beings]] previously unknown to the Federation, including stellar neighbors like the [[First Federation]] and [[Gorn]], voyagers from the [[Kelvan Empire]] in distant [[Andromeda Galaxy|Andromeda]], and powerful [[non-corporeal]] entities like the [[Thasian]]s, [[Trelane]], and the [[Organian]]s. Two discovered species were the first known examples of [[silicon]]-based lifeforms: the [[Horta]] and the [[Excalbian]]s. ({{TOS|The Corbomite Maneuver|Arena|By Any Other Name|The Devil in the Dark|The Savage Curtain}})

[[File:USS Enterprise leaving galactic barrier, remastered.jpg|thumb|In the barrier void in 2265]]
The ''Enterprise'' was the first Federation vessel to survive an encounter with the [[galactic barrier]]. The ship's warp drive and other systems, however, were critically damaged and casualties totaled twelve [[crew|crewmembers]] and [[officer]]s. By [[stardate]] 4657.5, the ''Enterprise'' was traveling through space in a region hundreds of light years further than any Earth starship had explored. ({{TOS|Where No Man Has Gone Before|Return to Tomorrow}})

The reality of [[time travel]], externally influenced, had been known for over a [[century]], but following two accidental [[temporal displacement]]s, the ''Enterprise'' became the Federation's first deliberately-controlled [[timeship]]. Observing the death-throes of [[Psi 2000]], the crew suffered from [[Psi 2000 intoxication|polywater intoxication]] and the ''Enterprise'' nearly lost [[orbit]] after an engine shutdown. A previously untested "[[cold start]]", via controlled [[matter-antimatter reaction|matter-antimatter implosion]], saved the ship, but the high-speed escape from the planet's [[gravity well]] caused the ship to travel three [[day]]s into the past. ({{TOS|The Naked Time}})

[[File:USS Enterprise in orbit of Earth.jpg|left|thumb|Orbiting [[1960s]] Earth]]
In [[2267]], while escaping the gravitational pull of a [[black star]], the ''Enterprise'' was hurled through space and time to Earth of [[1969]]. The crew developed and executed a method to return to their own time, by [[warp]]ing around [[Sol|the sun]]'s [[gravity well]] in a [[slingshot effect|slingshot maneuver]]. A year later, the ''Enterprise'' was ordered to repeat the recently proven slingshot effect, and returned to Earth's past on a mission of [[history|historical]] observation. ({{TOS|Tomorrow is Yesterday|Assignment: Earth}})

{{bginfo|Originally, "The Naked Time" and "Tomorrow is Yesterday" were planned to be back-to-back stories, with the events in "Tomorrow is Yesterday" happening as a result of the "cold start" of the warp drive in "The Naked Time". A change in production plans resulted in the two stories being de-linked and slightly reworked to stand alone.}}

[[File:USS Enterprise approaches space amoeba, remastered.jpg|thumb|left|The space amoeba in 2268]]
Some missions of discovery confronted ''Enterprise'' with entities and mechanisms that threatened great swaths of Federation and neighboring space.

An ancient "[[planet killer]]", fueled by the consumption of planets it destroyed with its [[antiproton]] [[weapon]], approached Federation population centers in 2267. It required the combined efforts of the ''Enterprise'' and her sister ship, {{USS|Constellation|NCC-1017}}, to destroy it. ({{TOS|The Doomsday Machine}})

One year later, in [[2268]], a [[space amoeba|single-cell organism]] of colossal scale emitted [[negative energy]], toxic to [[humanoid]] life, killing the entire [[Vulcan]] crew of the {{USS|Intrepid|NCC-1631}}. The ''Enterprise'' penetrated the {{dis|cell|biology}} interior and destroyed the organism before its imminent cell division threatened to overwhelm the rest of the galaxy. ({{TOS|The Immunity Syndrome}})

==== Battles ====
[[File:USS Enterprise firing phaser proximity blast.jpg|thumb|The ''Enterprise'' fires a [[proximity blast]]]]
The nature of its mission of exploration meant the ''Enterprise'' was frequently the only Federation [[military]] asset in a little-known, otherwise undefended frontier. When called into harm's way, the ship regularly did so with little chance of immediate support against previously unknown enemies and threats.

Happily, the ''Enterprise''{{'}}s earliest engagement of its five-year mission, against a deceptively powerful starship called the ''[[Fesarius]]'', ended with an amicable first contact with the First Federation in [[2266]]. Following the destruction of a colony on [[Cestus III]], a surprise attack &ndash; from a previously unknown species &ndash; led the ''Enterprise'' to battle and pursue an evenly matched [[Gorn starship]] in 2267. ({{TOS|The Corbomite Maneuver|Arena}})

The ''Enterprise'' played the [[fox]] for four of her [[sister ship]]s in a [[war games problem]] on stardate 4729.4, as part of the [[M-5 drill]]s. Equipped with the new [[M-5 multitronic unit]] [[computer]] and stripped of most of its crew, the ''Enterprise'' became a killing machine &ndash; crippling the {{USS|Excalibur|NCC-1664}} and killing its entire crew &ndash; before Kirk could re-assert control. ({{TOS|The Ultimate Computer}})

===== Klingon engagements =====
[[File:USS Enterprise-D7 face off.jpg|left|thumb|The Battle of Organia in 2267]]
Warships of the [[Imperial Klingon Fleet]] were frequent opponents of the ''Enterprise''. [[Commander]] [[Kor]] held the ''Enterprise'' and Kirk in high professional regard, and relished the prospect of battle. Lower [[rank]]s chose to mock the starship; on one such occasion, [[Korax]] compared the vessel to a "[[garbage scow]]" before he corrected himself, adding, "''It should be hauled away as garbage.''" ({{TOS|Errand of Mercy|The Trouble with Tribbles}})

While Starfleet rallied its forces at the outbreak of a {{dis|Federation-Klingon War|2267}} in 2267, the ''Enterprise'' was sent forward to secure a border region anchored by the planet [[Organia]]. The vessel destroyed a [[Klingon D7 ship 001|Klingon ship]] and prepared to engage an approaching [[Klingon D7 fleet 001|Klingon fleet]], before the [[Organian Peace Treaty]] precluded a full-scale [[war]]. ({{TOS|Errand of Mercy}})

The ''Enterprise'' sporadically engaged Klingons throughout its voyage. [[Klingon D7 warship 001|A warship]] failed in an attempt to [[blockade]] the ''Enterprise'' from [[Capella IV]] in 2267. [[Sabotage]]d during a [[diplomacy|diplomatic]] mission to the [[Tellun system]] in 2268, the ship successfully fought off the assault of a harassing [[D7 class|D7]]. The same year, the ''Enterprise'' was forced to destroy a [[battle cruiser]] that [[Kang]] had commanded but had recently abandoned, and the rescued Klingons (influenced by the [[Beta XII-A entity]]) subsequently made an unsuccessful attempt to wrest control of the ''Enterprise'' from Kirk. ({{TOS|Friday's Child|Elaan of Troyius|Day of the Dove}})

===== Romulan engagements =====
[[File:Romulan bird-of-prey, CG TOS-aft.jpg|thumb|Ventral view of a Romulan Bird-of-Prey during the Neutral Zone Incursion of 2266]]
The [[Romulan Star Empire]] reemerged from a century of isolation to antagonize the Federation with the [[Neutral Zone Incursion]] of 2266. The ''Enterprise'' responded and was victorious against a new {{dis|Romulan Bird-of-Prey|23rd century}} equipped with a [[cloaking device]] and [[plasma torpedo]] system. ({{TOS|Balance of Terror}})

In later encounters, the [[Romulan]] fleet used strength of numbers in their efforts to overwhelm the ''Enterprise''. When [[Commodore]] [[Stocker]] took temporary command and violated the [[Neutral Zone]] in 2267, up to ten [[Bird-of-Prey]] swarmed and pummeled the starship until Kirk's "[[corbomite]]" [[maneuver|bluff]] inspired their withdrawal. ({{TOS|The Deadly Years}})

In 2268, the ''Enterprise'' again violated the Neutral Zone &ndash; for the purpose of [[espionage]] &ndash; and was quickly surrounded by three Romulan [[D7 class]] battle cruisers. She escaped by becoming the first Federation vessel to install and successfully utilize a (stolen) Romulan cloaking device. ({{TOS|The Enterprise Incident}})

Near [[Tau Ceti]] in the following year, Kirk employed the [[Cochrane deceleration maneuver]], allowing the ''Enterprise'' to defeat a [[Romulan vessel 001|Romulan vessel]]. ({{TOS|Whom Gods Destroy}})

In the final year of Kirk's original mission, the ship was ambushed by a trio of Romulan battle cruisers while on a routine survey. The ''Enterprise'' managed to escape through an [[energy field]] that adversely affected the ship's main computer. The malfunctioning systems were corrected by another pass through the field, this time with the Romulan ships in pursuit. The attackers then became incapacitated by the same computer malfunctions, and the ''Enterprise'' was able to escape. ({{TAS|The Practical Joker}})

==== Casualties ====
Service aboard the ''Enterprise'' proved to be hazardous duty. Between 2265 and 2269, [[Starfleet casualties (23rd century)#USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|individuals who were killed while assigned to the ship]] included at least fifty-eight officers and crew &ndash; thirteen-point-five percent of the standard complement of 430. Nine crew members were killed when the ''Enterprise'' encountered the [[galactic barrier]] in 2265. [[Gary Mitchell]], [[Lee Kelso]], and [[Elizabeth Dehner]] later died on [[Delta Vega]]. ({{TOS|Where No Man Has Gone Before}})

Two of the seven crewmembers assigned to study [[Murasaki 312]] on the [[Class F shuttlecraft|shuttlecraft]] ''{{dis|Galileo|2267}}'' &ndash; [[Latimer]] and [[Gaetano]] &ndash; both met an unfortunate end by the hand of [[Taurus II anthropoid|a large creature]] on the planet [[Taurus II]]. ({{TOS|The Galileo Seven}})

In 2267, ''Enterprise'' security officers [[Hendorff]], {{dis|Kaplan|Lieutenant}}, [[Mallory]], and [[Marple]] were killed on the planet [[Gamma Trianguli VI]]. ({{TOS|The Apple}}) Further incidents with multiple fatalities included four security guards killed by ''[[Nomad]]'' in 2267 as well as five [[security guard]]s killed by the [[dikironium cloud creature]] on [[Argus X]] in 2268. An outbreak of [[Rigelian fever]], in 2269, killed three crewmen and imperiled the rest until a source of [[ryetalyn]] could be obtained. ({{TOS|The Changeling|Obsession|Requiem for Methuselah}}) 

As well, two ''Enterprise'' security officers were beamed out into open space while the ship was under the control of [[Gorgan]]. ({{TOS|And the Children Shall Lead}}) Lieutenant [[Galloway]] was vaporized by Captain [[Ronald Tracey|Tracey]] on [[Omega IV]], ({{TOS|The Omega Glory}}) but later was somehow resurrected. ({{TOS|Turnabout Intruder}}) [[Yeoman]] [[Leslie Thompson|Thompson]] was reduced to a dry cuboctahedron solid. She was killed when the [[Kelvan]] [[Rojan]] crushed the object in his hand. ({{TOS|By Any Other Name}})

In the mid-[[2270s]], Commander [[Sonak]] and [[USS Enterprise transporter accident victim|an ''Enterprise'' officer]] were killed in a [[transporter accident]] while beaming to the ship. ({{film|1}})

{{bginfo|'''See also:''' [[Redshirt]]}}