The USS Ranger (CV-61) was a United States Navy Forrestal-class supercarrier which was in service between 1957 and 1993. She stood in as the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) during the filming of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in 1986. She was commissioned at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard 10 August 1957 and served in the US Navy until 10 July 1993, when she was decommissioned. She was stored at Bremerton, Washington until March 2015. She was then moved to Brownsville, Texas for scrapping, which was completed in November 2017.
The scenes seen in the movie were filmed in two machinery rooms, at the hangar bay, and on elevator one and shot in February 1986 while the Ranger was stationed in San Diego, California. Beside Newell Tarrant, who previously served aboard the Ranger and portrayed Commander Rogerson in Star Trek IV, many sailors and crewmembers of the Ranger appeared as background performers during these scenes. Among the actors who filmed aboard the Ranger are Walter Koenig and Nichelle Nichols, Koenig's stunt double Spike Silver, and assistant stunt coordinator Gregory Barnett.
The USS Ranger was also used as a filming location in the war drama The Final Countdown (1980), the action film Top Gun (1986), and the action film Flight of the Intruder (1991).
The crew of the USS Enterprise in the film were all sailors and Marines who served aboard the Ranger. Among the USS Ranger sailors who also appeared in Star Trek IV are:
(This list is currently incomplete)
- Paul Giebner (1985-1989)
- Robert Jack (1984-1986)
- Ken Peacock (1984-1988)
- Brooks Gulledge (1983-1987)