USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) was a Federation starship, Constitution class, built and comissioned in the early-23rd century. It was the first Federation starship to bear the name, though preceeded by the Enterprise (NX-01) of the Earth Starfleet. Jonathan Archer, commander of that earlier vessel, was an honored guest at the launch ceremonies.

She was first commanded by Captain Robert April, followed by Captain Christopher Pike, then Captain James T. Kirk. In 2270, following the completion of Kirk's historic five-year mission, the Enterprise was put in to dry dock for a major refit, taking eighteen months to complete.

Command of the ship was given Captain Willard Decker upon the ship's relaunch; however, then-Admiral Kirk assumed command in response to the crisis involving the machine entity "V'Ger." Decker was reported missing in action during that mission, and Kirk resumed permanent command of the Enterprise.

Later, Enterprise was retired from active service, and assigned to Starfleet Academy as a training ship. She was reactivated by Admiral Kirk in response to a crisis involving Project Genesis. Shortly thereafter, the ship was destroyed while in orbit of the Genesis Planet.

So significant were the accomplishments of NCC-1701, that Starfleet re-used this registry (with the addition of a letter suffix) for each of the five subsequent starships (to date) to have been christened Enterprise.