The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) was a 23rd century Federation Constitution-class starship operated by Starfleet. Launched in 2258, the vessel was officially made the Federation flagship, and the first Federation starship to bear the name Enterprise. (Star Trek; Star Trek Beyond)
In 2260, the Enterprise became the first starship assigned by the Federation to undergo a five-year exploration mission of uncharted deep space. (Star Trek Into Darkness)
After nearly five years of service, the Enterprise was destroyed during the battle over the planet Altamid in 2263, when it was attacked by Krall and his Swarm ships. It was soon replaced by the newly-built USS Enterprise-A. (Star Trek Beyond)
Lineage[]
Service history[]
Construction[]
The Enterprise was under construction around 2255 at the Riverside Shipyard, in Iowa, and launched into service from the San Francisco Fleet Yards, Earth. (Star Trek)
Events in the movie show the ship under initial construction in Iowa, but the ship's official dedication plaque lists the vessel as being from the San Francisco Fleet Yards, indicating that–at some point prior to launch–the unfinished vessel was either transferred there or that the Riverside Shipyard was a branch of the San Francisco Fleet Yards.
As described in the script of Star Trek, the Enterprise was to be "unmistakably" identifiable in the first view of the ship, even though the craft was meanwhile to be not yet more than a "skeletal frame". The ship was also to look "unformed, raw" at that stage of its development. [1]
Acccording to Christopher Pike's database(X) on StarTrek.com, The Enterprise was originally scheduled to launch in 2245 but the arrival of Nero and the Narada pushed back the launch as they redesigned the Enterprise and led to a much more massive scale, thanks to telemetry of the 24th century technology captured off Nero’s ship.
During its construction, a piece of the Enterprise NX-01 was used as it was the previous ship to bear the name. (SNW: "Those Old Scientists")
Maiden voyage[]
In 2258, the ship's planned maiden voyage, under the command of Christopher Pike, was brought forward after Earth received a distress call from Vulcan while the bulk of the fleet was engaged in the Laurentian system. As a result, the Enterprise was crewed primarily by Starfleet Academy cadets.
The ship launched from Starbase 1 with seven other starships to respond to the call, including the USS Farragut, the USS Truman, and the USS Hood. However, its departure was delayed because helmsman Hikaru Sulu forgot to disengage the external inertial dampener, which actually saved the ship after it arrived shortly after the rescue fleet had been destroyed by the Romulan mining ship Narada.
The Enterprise proved to be no match for the technologically-advanced missiles of the Narada. Fortunately, Nero recognized the Enterprise as the vessel that Spock served on. He chose not to destroy the Enterprise in order to allow Spock to see the destruction of Vulcan.
Enterprise found that it was unable to contact Starfleet or to begin evacuating the inhabitants of Vulcan, as the Narada's drill platform, while in operation, prevented communications and transporter use. Despite the sabotage of the drill platform, Nero launched a container of red matter into the planet's core, which created a singularity that caused Vulcan to implode, killing all but about ten thousand Vulcans.
Following the destruction of Vulcan and the capture of Captain Pike, Acting Captain Spock intended to take the Enterprise to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet at the Laurentian system, but acting First Officer James T. Kirk thought it better to attempt to stop Nero first. A fight ensued, and Spock then marooned Kirk for mutiny on Delta Vega, but Kirk managed to beam back on board with the help of another Spock and Montgomery Scott. Spock was forced to resign his command to Kirk according to Regulation 619, and the Enterprise reversed course in an attempt to intercept the Narada before it could strike Earth.
Emerging from warp in the atmosphere of Titan, the Enterprise hid from the Narada's sensors using the magnetic distortion of Saturn's rings, while beaming Spock and Kirk aboard the Romulan ship before its drill could be activated. However, the duo could not be rescued as the drill was turned on shortly after their arrival. Kirk then rescued Pike, while Spock confiscated the Jellyfish and used it to destroy the drill.
Spock then warped out of the system, with Nero pursuing. Spock set a collision course, and Nero launched his remaining missiles to defend the Narada. Unexpectedly, the Enterprise then warped in, firing phasers full spread, destroying the missiles, and allowing Spock to continue. Shortly before impact, Spock, Kirk, and Pike were beamed out by Scott onto the Enterprise.
The impact ignited the red matter aboard the Jellyfish, creating a black hole which caused the Narada to be stuck. When Kirk offered assistance, Nero refused, saying that "he would suffer the death of Romulus a thousand times," and that "he would rather die in agony than receive the Enterprise's assistance."
Kirk acknowledged the refusal and the Enterprise brought all her phasers and photon torpedoes to bear on the Narada, firing on the ship and blasting it to pieces, causing the massive ship to collapse and be pulled into the black hole. During the attempt from escaping the black hole’s gravity, the Enterprise was nearly pulled into the black hole as well, even through warp. However, the ship was saved when the ship's warp core was ejected and detonated; the resulting shock wave propelled the Enterprise to safety.
Following the successful mission of the Enterprise, Pike was promoted to admiral and Kirk was assigned to command the Enterprise as his relief. Kirk subsequently chose Spock as his first officer. (Star Trek)
Nibiru[]
In 2259, the Enterprise was sent to survey the planet Nibiru when the crew discovered a volcanic eruption would render the primitive Nibirans extinct. Kirk parked the Enterprise underwater, despite Scott's protests,ultimately forcing Kirk to expose the ship to the natives in order to transport Spock out of the volcano before the cold fusion device he placed detonated.
After appearing to the natives, in violation of the Prime Directive, the Nibirans drew a sketch of the Enterprise on the ground and began to worship the ship as a deity. Returning to Earth, Kirk was demoted, but Pike convinced Admiral Alexander Marcus to let him appoint Kirk as his first officer.
Going after "John Harrison"[]
That evening, the rogue agent John Harrison attacked Starfleet Headquarters to assassinate Marcus, but killed Pike instead. Marcus gave a vengeful Kirk permission to take the Enterprise to Qo'noS where Harrison had fled, and fire on his location with 72 advanced long-range torpedoes. Chief Engineer Scott protested the loading of the photon torpedoes aboard Enterprise without his chance to examine them, offering his resignation, which Kirk accepted. Chekov was appointed as Scott's replacement.
Kirk found Harrison on Qo'noS and had him brought to the brig. Harrison was reticent about his motives, but suggested Kirk examine the torpedoes Marcus gave him, and also gave him a set of coordinates, which the captain sent to Scott to investigate.
Marcus's daughter Carol and McCoy opened up a torpedo and discovered it held a man in cryogenic stasis. Harrison revealed he was Khan Noonien Singh and the torpedoes held his fellow Augments, with whom Marcus had threatened him into cooperation. Marcus arrived in the USS Vengeance and demanded Kirk hand over Khan, but Kirk refused, intending to expose the conspiracy by bringing Khan to trial on Earth.
The Vengeance caught up with the Enterprise at warp and fired on it, halting it as it arrived just outside Earth. Marcus beamed up his daughter before preparing to wipe out all other witnesses to his plot, but Scott, who had sneaked aboard the Vengeance at the coordinates given by Khan, temporarily deactivated its weapons. Kirk and Khan donned thruster suits to commandeer the Vengeance, while Spock ordered McCoy to remove the cryo tubes from the torpedoes.
Aboard the Vengeance, Khan killed Admiral Marcus and demanded Spock hand over the torpedoes in exchange for Kirk, Scott, and Carol and the safety of the Enterprise. Spock, knowing Khan would renege on letting the Enterprise survive, set the transported torpedoes to detonate in the Vengeance's cargo bay. The damage inflicted caused both ships to hurtle to Earth: the Vengeance's engines were compromised while the Enterprise's warp core became misaligned, causing loss of power and propulsion. As the ship plummeted toward Earth, Kirk realigned the ship’s warp core despite Scott’s warning about the high radiation levels.
The five-year mission[]
In 2260, following nearly a year of repairs, the Enterprise was rechristened and refitted to become the first starship to embark on a five-year mission of uncharted deep space exploration. (Star Trek Into Darkness)
During its five year mission, the Enterprise made a stop at Thasus and picked up a supply of Saurian brandy. (Star Trek Beyond)
Mission to Teenax[]
In 2263–nearly three years into its five-year mission–the Enterprise visited the planet Teenax, where Captain Kirk was tasked with brokering peace between the Teenaxi and the Fibonans. Following that failed assignment, the Enterprise traveled to Starbase Yorktown for resupply. (Star Trek Beyond)
Final voyage[]
Soon after docking at Yorktown, the Enterprise was ordered to traverse the Necro Cloud to rescue Kalara's crew, allegedly stranded on the planet Altamid. Despite the navigational difficulties presented by the cloud, the Enterprise was equipped with the most advanced navigational sensors and emerged from the nebula in orbit of Altamid–immediately coming under attack by Swarm ships commanded by the tyrant Krall.
The Enterprise was unable to handle this style of attack, the ship's phasers having minimal to no effect against the swarm, the photon torpedoes proving to be ineffective, and the shields unable to identify the assaulting ships as threats, leaving them open to attack.
The first assault destroyed the Enterprise's phasers and main deflector dish and, as the ship attempted to warp back to the nebula, the swarm severed its warp nacelles. The ship was then boarded by Krall's drone soldiers and his henchman Manas, searching the ship for an artifact known as the Abronath and killing many Enterprise crew members.
As Lieutenant Sulu attempted to pilot the Enterprise away from Altamid at impulse speed, Krall ordered yet another assault on the ship, this time severing the primary hull from the secondary hull. With the Enterprise critically damaged, Captain Kirk ordered all hands to evacuate and the ship's escape pods were launched. However, Krall's ships captured the pods and carried them to the surface of Altamid.
The remains of the secondary hull drawing power from the impulse engines prevented the saucer from escaping until Lieutenant Uhura successfully separated the ship. However, the Enterprise had fallen into the planet's gravity well and even with impulse engines restored, could not escape. With the Abronath safely hidden away, Kirk ordered the last of his crew to man their Kelvin pods and abandon ship. The primary hull then fell out of orbit and entered Altamid's atmosphere, crash-landing to a stop at an angle.
With the crew scattered on Altamid, Kirk decided to return to the wreckage of the Enterprise and attempt to use her scanning systems to locate the crew. Kirk, Chekov, and Kalara boarded the ship through a hole in the hull and returned to the ruined bridge, where Chekov was able to restore power to the engineering console and scanning systems. Kirk took Kalara to supposedly retrieve the Abronath, at which point Kalara called Krall to report. Unknown to Kalara, Kirk suspected the double-cross and had Chekov use the Enterprise's scanners to track Kalara's call back to Krall's base.
After the deception was revealed, Kalara and a few of Krall's drones chased Kirk and Chekov through the wreckage of the Enterprise, ultimately cornering them against one of the thrusters. Discovering the ship's thrusters to still be primed, Kirk used a phaser blast to ignite them, causing the Enterprise to flip over.
As the ship flipped, Kirk and Chekov were able to use the distraction to escape by shooting out the bridge window and sliding down the saucer. The saucer flipped upside down and crashed to the forest below, killing Kalara, who was underneath it. Following the flip, the wrecked saucer was left upside down on the forest floor of Altamid, burning.
After Kalara's death, Krall's men searched the wreckage of the saucer for the Abronath but were unable to locate it. They retrieved the ship's logs while aboard the information in which inspired Krall to threaten Sulu to find the Abronath. The Enterprise crew, once reunited, repaired the USS Franklin to escape and chase Krall, abandoning the wreckage of the Enterprise on Altamid.
After Krall's defeat, the surviving members of the Enterprise crew made a toast to their fallen ship and were later reassigned to a new starship, the USS Enterprise-A, and continued their mission of exploration. (Star Trek Beyond)
Command crew[]
Christopher Pike's command crew[]
- Commanding officer
- Christopher Pike (2258, 2259)
- Spock (2258) (acting)
- First officer
- Spock (2258)
- James T. Kirk (2258, 2259) (acting, later promoted)
- Chief engineer
- Olson (2258)
- Chief medical officer
- Puri (2258)
- Leonard McCoy (2258)
- Helmsman
- McKenna (2258)
- Hikaru Sulu (2258)
- Navigator
- Pavel Chekov (2258)
- Operations officer
- Hannity (2258)
- Communications officer
- Hawkins (2258)
- Nyota Uhura (2258)
- Science officer
- Spock (2258)
James T. Kirk's command crew[]
- Commanding officer
- James T. Kirk (2258–2263) (acting, later promoted)
- Hikaru Sulu (2259) (acting)
- Spock (2259) (acting)
- First officer
- Spock (2258–2263)
- Chief engineer
- Montgomery Scott (2258–2263)
- Pavel Chekov (2259) (acting)
- Second officer
- Montgomery Scott (2258–2263)
- Hikaru Sulu (2259)
- Chief medical officer
- Leonard McCoy (2258–2263)
- Helmsman
- Hikaru Sulu (2258–2263)
- Navigator
- Pavel Chekov (2258–2263)
- Darwin (2259) (acting)
- Communications officer
- Nyota Uhura (2258–2263)
- Brackett (2259)
- Tactical officer
- Science officer
- Spock (2258-2263)
- 0718 (2259–2260s)
- Carol Marcus (2259–2260s)
This information establishes that Captain Pike, Spock and Lieutenant Nyota Uhura were the only members of the prime Enterprise command crew from before Kirk who are known to have served on board the ship in the alternate reality.
See also: USS Enterprise personnel (alternate reality)
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Appendices[]
Appearances[]
- Star Trek films:
- Star Trek (First appearance)
- Star Trek Into Darkness
- Star Trek Beyond
Background information[]
In the script of Star Trek, the Enterprise, in its ready-for-launch condition, was referred to as "miraculous" and "the queen of the fleet". At the end of the script, the vessel was additionally described as "the greatest starship ever built." [2]
For its appearance in Star Trek Beyond, the Enterprise was refitted by Sean Hargreaves. According to Hargreaves, the redesign consisted primarily of proportional modifications, including placing the warp nacelles further apart and sweeping back the warp pylons to pull the engines back from the rim of the saucer. [3]
The revised Enterprise appeared in the music video for the song "Sledgehammer", the single from Star Trek Beyond by Rihanna.
Apocrypha[]
Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness, Issue #2 shows that the Enterprise had another predecessor after Enterprise NX-01 in the alternate reality. This ship was in service since, at least, 2239, during which it was under the command of the alternate reality's Robert April (β), who abandoned the ship and disappeared during that same year. The ship was then later decommissioned in 2257. According to the biography on the Star Trek movie app, Christopher Pike was appointed captain of this USS Enterprise (β) in 2254.
The 2013 virtual collectible card battle game Star Trek: Rivals has the USS Enterprise as card #108.
The Enterprise, or rather the alternate reality Constitution-class, is available as a playable ship in Star Trek Online with the release of the Agents of Yesterday expansion pack, via players opening in-game Kelvin Timeline lockboxes that have a chance to have the vessel inside. It is known in the game as the "Kelvin Timeline Heavy Command Cruiser". Players in the game, who play starship captains in the "prime" universe, also participate in missions visiting the alternate reality, interacting with the Constitution-class ship USS Yorktown (β) and crew member 0718.
The Constitution-class of the alternate reality is significantly larger than the prime timeline's version, and is both longer and "taller" than a prime universe Galaxy-class vessel. In-game references state that thanks to rapid development of military technology in the alternate reality, its weapons and other systems are comparable to those used by prime universe starships in the early 25th-century, despite being developed over a century "earlier".
The Star Trek: Boldly Go comic series revealed that the crew of the Enterprise went different ways while the USS Enterprise-A was being built. James Kirk was given temporary command of the USS Endeavour (β) with Leonard McCoy and Pavel Chekov joining him. Spock and Nyota Uhura took a leave of absence from Starfleet and were living on New Vulcan with Spock, focusing on building a new Vulcan Science Academy. Montgomery Scott divided his time between supervising the construction of the Enterprise-A and teaching at Starfleet Academy. Hikaru Sulu was promoted to lieutenant commander and assigned to the USS Concord (β) as first officer under the command of Clark Terrell (β).
External links[]
- USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (alternate reality) at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- Experience the Enterprise