USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)

The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A), sometimes referred to as the Enterprise-A or NCC-1701-Alpha, was a Federation starship in service to Starfleet during the late 23rd century.

Overview and specifications
Nominally, ships of this class were heavy cruisers, but in particular, this vessel was outfitted as a tactical command cruiser. The second Federation starship to bear the name, the Enterprise-A was christened shortly after the destruction of her predecessor, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), in 2285. Captain James T. Kirk and his senior staff were reassigned to the Enterprise-A after they relinquished command of the captured HMS in San Francisco in 2286. Captain Kirk commanded the Enterprise-A for seven years, and the ship's final cruise was highlighted by the protection of the Khitomer conference as the Khitomer Accords were drafted. 

Despite the USS Excelsior (NX-2000) being more advanced and already in service, the Enterprise was designated as the Federation flagship, as such when she would be assigned to escort Klingon chancellor Gorkon to Earth for peace talks, when the chancellor was assassinated. 

Construction history
When construction began on the Enterprise-A in the early 2280s, the ship was named the USS Ti-Ho and assigned the registry number, NCC-1798. Though resembling a Constitution-Class rebuild, Ti-Ho was built new from the keel up. The Ti-Ho was to serve as a test-bed for transwarp drive which was also being tested on the USS Excelsior (NCC-2000).

Construction of the Ti-Ho was largely completed by 2285, but shortly afterwards transwarp drive was proved a failure and Starfleet Command decided to equip the Ti-Ho with conventional warp drive. 

A few weeks later, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) was destroyed in orbit of the Genesis Planet, and in 2286, Admiral James T. Kirk and the former crew of the Enterprise prevented the destruction of Earth by the Cetacean Probe. In honor of their achievements, Federation President Hiram Roth ordered that the Ti-Ho be renamed Enterprise and assigned the registry NCC-1701-A. Shortly after, command of the Enterprise was assigned to newly-demoted Captain James T. Kirk. 


 * In the, the ship redesignated as the Enterprise-A was a newly-built vessel that was to be named USS Atlantis. Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise lists the USS Yorktown (Constitution class) as a possible candidate for re-christening to Enterprise. The also gives the ship's original name as the Yorktown; the same game also says the ship's commissioning was in 2285.

2286

 * Stardate 8925.2: Shortly after leaving Spacedock following its initial shakedown cruise, the Enterprise-A is nearly destroyed by a dangerous religious fanatic. Fortunately, the attempt is thwarted by Captain Spock. (, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
 * Stardate 8931.2: During a routine patrol, the Enterprise-A becomes trapped by an unknown force and is taken to a previously unexplored planet. Captain Spock attempts to lead a landing party to the surface, but instead of the team, Spock, Kirk, Dr. McCoy, and Captain Scott are transported to an amusement park planet which is ruled by Harry Mudd. Mudd claims to have arrived on the planet and only wishes to seek a way off the planet, which the Enterprise-A can provide. As the landing party investigates the planet, they discover that it is actually a nursery, and Spock is able to free the Enterprise-A by melding with the artifact which controls the planet.
 * Stardate 8950.4: The Enterprise-A receives a distress call from a merchant ship that is under attack by Orion pirates. When the Enterprise-A arrives they find the merchant vessel being towed by the Orion vessel and find that the merchant crew had been taken prisoner. However, the Enterprise crew frees the hostages and takes the pirates captive thanks to another engineering marvel by Captain Scott.
 * Stardate 8953.7: While under the night-shift command of Commander Codobach, the Enterprise-A encounters a meteor storm, and sustains damage when the deflectors fail to engage, allegedly due to substandard repair work by Captain Scott during the earlier Orion hostage crisis. Federation President Hiram Roth sends the ship back to Gamma Trianguli VI on a reconnaissance mission, where Kirk and crew will assess the state of the civilization encountered there twenty years before. During departure preparations, a further series of technological failures (including a near-fatal explosive decompression near Engineering) occur, causing Mr. Scott to ascribe the fault to "gremlins" within the ship. Coming up with a plan, Captain Scott convinces Mr. Codobach to shut down the Enterprise's engines for fifteen minutes. Luring a mischief-causing alien entity into an empty photon torpedo tube using an old-fashioned petroleum engine (from his personal collection), the torpedo is fired onto an unmanned navigational beacon. The entity receives a playground it can live in, without placing sentient life in jeopardy. Afterward, the ship arrives safely at Gamma Trianguli VI.
 * Stardate 8954.8: The Enterprise-A enters orbit around Gamma Trianguli VI, where a landing party led by Captain Kirk discovers a nearly-devastated world, brought about by the destruction of the Vaal computer-entity's environmental maintenance systems two decades earlier. Encountering a large number of natives, led by Makora (who has amassed a large number of wives and children), the group is soon drugged by their host at dinner, imprisoned, and marked for death. Challenging Ensign Konom to a duel for the "hand" of Nancy Bryce, Konom flees in cowardice, leading Makora to select Dr. McCoy as his substitute. However, Spock enables the group's escape from captivity, and they soon encounter Konom and Akuta, leading a force of disaffected Vaalites. A battle soon erupts in the nearby arena, with the Enterprise firing a stun-dispersion phaser pattern on the area, disabling the combatants. However, Captain Kirk quickly learns that the entire crew in orbit have been mysteriously rendered unconscious by means unknown.
 * Stardate 8958.6: Discovering that it is Akuta behind the Enterprise-A's disabling (having gained telekinetic abilities), the landing party under Captain Kirk is once again taken prisoner, Akuta blaming Kirk for the ruin of his world decades earlier, as well as his own accelerated aging. While Akuta uses his powers (augmented by those of other Vaalites) to drag the Enterprise down into the atmosphere in an attempt to burn it up, Spock escapes his bondage and convinces Akuta to release the ship from its plunge, and awakening the crew in orbit from their comatose state. Nerve-pinching Captain Kirk and feigning mutiny, Spock contacts the Enterprise and joins Akuta beneath the planet's surface. About to be burned alive at the stake, Kirk and his crew are rescued by a security force beamed down by Captain Scott, but the Vaalites drive them back to the ship. However, Kirk leads Sulu, Chekov, and other crew members down into the bowels of the planet, where they encounter Vaal's still-functioning defenses...and an immobilized Spock.
 * Stardate 8960.2: Attempting to free Captain Spock, who has been imprisoned within a machine-apparatus beneath Gamma Trianguli VI, the Vaal-entity uses Spock to trigger a series of violent groundquakes, entombing Captain Kirk and his landing party. On the surface, anti-Vaalites led by Makora attack the other natives, while Kirk discovers a portal opened by Vaal millennia earlier, through which the entity receives energy. In orbit, Captain Scott attempts to beam down a security force but the Enterprise-A is attacked by Spock's mental energies. Seeking to find a non-violent solution to the crisis, Kirk learns from Spock that the Vaalites were placed on the planet by Sargon's race millions of years earlier, who tasked Vaal with maintaining peace and tranquility there. Kirk volunteers himself as a sacrifice, with Spock loosening his hold upon the orbiting Enterprise, and Makora throwing himself into the energy vortex. Vaal reasserts its custodianship over the planet, returning the landing party to the Enterprise, promising great woe to Kirk and his crew, should they ever return.
 * Stardate 9212.8: The Enterprise-A arrives at Starbase 30, located planetside on Christofi IX, the former site of strife at the hands of several marauding warrior races, now a pristine resort-world. With most of the crew on shore leave, Captain Scott remains aboard with Captain Spock, seeking to perform maintenance upon the ship's frequently-malfunctioning systems. Captain Kirk unsuccessfully attempts to evade a Starfleet Internal Affairs official, who is to be the Enterprise's new onboard "watchdog." Hikaru Sulu, Dr. McCoy, Chekov, and Uhura go on a sand-skiiing trip, where the doctor is injured after a collision with a tree. Mr. Scott, deep in upgrade-work aboard the Enterprise, manages to beam the entire landing party up just in time to prevent the Internal Affairs official from boardings the ship. The Enterprise then departs Starbase 30.
 * Stardate 9214.7: Captain Kirk orders the Enterprise-A to Sector Nine of the Alpha Quadrant in response to an urgent message sent by cadet crewmen aboard the Miranda-class USS Cluster, whose captain and entire senior command staff had recently been killed by Romulan forces while on a planetary landing mission. Using Kirk's near-legendary command record as misguided inspiration, Cadet Ronald Penn (now in command of the Cluster) orders an attack upon a Romulan cruiser, but faces opposition by several members of his own crew, who covertly contact the Enterprise for assistance. Cadet Penn demands the surrender of the Romulan ship. The enemy captain, who personally killed Captain Fields earlier, attacks the Cluster, beaming over an assault party, who easily capture the bridge. However, a security force, beamed over from the Enterprise, immediately overwhelm the Romulan boarders, thought Cadet Penn attempts to kill the Romulan captain out of a misguided sense of vengeance and hero-worship of Captain Kirk. The Romulans agree to depart out of respect for Kirk's reputation, the Cluster is sent back to Starbase 30 for repairs, and the Enterprise-A heads outward to new, unexplored sectors.

2287

 * Stardate 8454.1: The Enterprise-A is ordered to Nimbus III to deal with a hostage situation, after the Federation, Klingon, and Romulan ambassadors are taken captive by Sybok, Captain Spock's half-brother. Despite a limited crew complement, and systems being in substandard operation, she is the only starship within range with experienced command personnel. The ship is hijacked by Sybok, and travels beyond the Great Barrier, into the very heart of the galaxy. While there, a Klingon Bird-of-Prey under the command of Captain Klaa attempts to destroy the Enterprise and James T. Kirk, but is foiled by Spock and the disgraced General Korrd. A malevolent imprisoned entity is discovered on a planet within the Barrier, and is destroyed by a photon torpedo strike fired by the Enterprise, with the ship departing the region in the company of the renegade Bird-of-Prey not long afterward.
 * Stardate 8475.3: Upon the death of the Romulan Praetor, the Enterprise-A delivers a complement of Federation archaeologists and musicians to a peace conference on Temaris Four, located within the Neutral Zone &mdash; a summit soon subjected to sabotage and murder by hardline elements within the Romulan delegation. However, the Cetacean Probe suddenly reappears in local space, and destroys a Romulan colony world and a number of vessels. The Enterprise and a Romulan Bird-of-Prey are captured by the Probe and whisked to the far side of the galaxy, where they discover the Probe's homeworld (later revealed to have been destroyed by the Borg). Contact is made with the Probe by Spock, and meaningful communication finally established between the entity and the Federation.

2291

 * Stardate 9121.4: The Enterprise-A pursues a Torye ship, which attacked the Discovery Center and stole a subspace-compression weapon. When the Torye transfer the weapon aboard a Klingon mobile battle base, the Enterprise-A joins forces with Captain Kang, commanding the IKS K'tanco, to stop them.

2293

 * Stardate 9521.6: The Enterprise-A is to escort Klingon chancellor Gorkon to Earth for peace talks, but the chancellor is assassinated. The ship and crew later play a key role in uncovering a conspiracy and preventing the assassination of Federation President Ra-ghoratreii at Camp Khitomer.
 * Stardate 9523.1: The Enterprise-A is ordered to be decommissioned by Admiral Androvar Drake and is scheduled to be destroyed in a live fire exercise. However, the government of Chal requests that they be given the Enterprise to use in their system defense forces. When Chal's population takes control of the vessel, they retrofit the ship with disruptors. Retired Captain James T. Kirk is appointed commanding officer of the vessel, which is renamed Enterprise (without a registry or registry prefix) as it makes way for Chal. The Enterprise is then destroyed over planet Chal by Admiral Drake in an act of revenge against Kirk.

Senior staff

 * Commanding officer: Captain James T. Kirk (2286-2293)
 * First officer and science officer: Captain Spock (2286-2293)
 * Chief medical officer: Commander Leonard McCoy (2286-2293)
 * Chief engineer: Captain Montgomery Scott (2286-2293)
 * Helmsman:
 * Commander Hikaru Sulu (2286-2290)
 * Lieutenant Saavik (2290-2293)
 * Lieutenant Valeris (2293)
 * Navigator and security chief/tactical officer: Commander Pavel Chekov (2286-2293)
 * Communications officer: Commander Nyota Uhura (2286-2293)

Crew manifest

 * See USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) personnel and USS Enterprise'' (NCC-1701-A) personnel roster