- For other uses, see Constitution.
The USS Constitution was a Federation starship in Starfleet service in the 22nd century.
In the midst of the era of the Federation-Tarn War, the Constitution was answering a distress call in the 2160s when a Tarn vessel appeared and opened fire. Two hundred Constitution crewmembers were killed, including Geordi La Forge's ancestor, Ensign La Forge. It was later revealed that the distress call was a ruse to attract the vessel into the Tarn's range, although the Tarn defend their attack as a necessary step to prevent the Constitution from reinforcing combatants fighting Tarn starships at the front lines of the conflict.
Geordi and Tarn Commander Harna Karish discussed their opposing views of the blame for the Constitution incident over two hundred years later in the ten forward lounge of the USS Enterprise-D. Although much time had past, neither of the former enemies were ready to discuss the Constitution amicably. (TNG novel: The Forgotten War)