USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) - Depiction

Depiction

The Constitution-class starship Enterprise-A was commissioned in 2286, at the end of the events depicted in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. It is the second Federation starship to carry the name Enterprise (although the ship in the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise had the same name and preceded both the NCC-1701 and 1701-A, that series took place before the formation of The United Federation of Planets). While the ship's history prior to its recommissioning as Enterprise has never been officially stated, several non-canon sources (such as the AMT/Ertl Model kit documentation) have claimed it to formerly be the USS Yorktown (NCC-1717); others cite it as the former USS Ti-Ho (NCC-1798), or the USS Atlantis, both newly-built ships. The ship is placed under the command of newly demoted Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) as "punishment" for his and his crew's actions in the rescue of Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. It replaces the original USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), destroyed in Star Trek III. Though outwardly identical to its refitted and updated predecessor, in its debut, the new ship is beset with teething problems and Chief Engineer Scott and Commander Uhura are shown making numerous repairs and reconfigurations to the new ship before deployment.

In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the ship is dispatched to rescue hostages on Nimbus III. The Vulcan renegade Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill) and his followers hijack the ship and take it to a planet at the center of the galaxy, where Kirk and his crew eventually regain control of the ship. Several novels and comics explore the six-year period between the fifth and sixth films. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the Enterprise escorts Klingon chancellor Gorkon (David Warner) to a peace summit on Earth. The renegade Klingon general Chang (Christopher Plummer), assisted by traitors aboard the Enterprise, makes it appear that the Enterprise had fired on the chancellor's vessel. The Klingons take Kirk and Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) prisoner; Spock and the Enterprise crew disregard Starfleet orders and instead rescue Kirk and McCoy. The Enterprise encounters and, with aid from the USS Excelsior, destroys Chang's ship, and the crew protects the Federation President from an assassination attempt. The film concludes with Starfleet ordering a return to spacedock to be decommissioned, an order which Kirk and the crew gleefully disregard.

There is no canon information about the ship's fate beyond Star Trek VI. In the epilogue of Star Trek VI. Uhura had stated they received a communication from Starfleet Command that ordered the Enterprise to report to space dock to be decommissioned, however she may have been speaking only of the ship's original crew members as Captain James T. Kirk previously stated his crew was due to stand down in three months, while Spock noted this would be his last voyage on the Enterprise as a member of her crew; and Captain Kirk states the ship "will become the care of another crew," but no further information is given. Documentation provided with the Bandai model states that the ship was displayed in the Starfleet Museum at Memory Alpha. According to the novel The Ashes of Eden, written by William Shatner, Starfleet Commander-in-Chief Androvar Drake orders the Enterprise-A decommissioned and destroyed during war games and weapons testing, but the Chal government intervenes. Ultimately, the Enterprise is destroyed to prevent Drake's completion of a disastrous personal agenda.