USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)

"The Enterprise-E is the most advanced starship in the fleet."
 * - Geordi La Forge, 2373

The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) was a Federation  starship that was in service with Starfleet in the late 24th century. She was the sixth Federation starship to bear the name Enterprise.

Construction and launch
The Enterprise was launched in 2372, on stardate 49827.5 and was, at the time, the most advanced starship in the fleet. She was constructed at the San Francisco Fleet Yards orbiting Earth.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard assumed command shortly after the vessel's christening, just over a year following the destruction of her predecessor. Most of Picard's crew from the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) were reassigned to the Enterprise-E. 

In service
After a year-long shakedown, the Enterprise was ordered to the Romulan Neutral Zone during the second Borg incursion. Starfleet was officially concerned about possible Romulan military action since many of the available ships had been diverted to fight the Borg, but in reality, Starfleet was worried about Picard's presence at the battle.

Disobeying orders, Captain Picard returned to Earth, his decision proving instrumental in the Battle of Sector 001.

The Borg cube was destroyed, but not before it launched a second vessel towards Earth. This ship created a temporal vortex and traveled back to the year 2063 in order to stop Zefram Cochrane from launching his historic Phoenix warpship and prevent the formation of the Federation by assimilating Earth itself.

The Enterprise, protected by the vortex, chased the Borg into the past and destroyed their ship, then sent an away team to help Cochrane repair the Phoenix.

However, the ship's sensors were damaged during the trip to the past, and unbeknownst to the crew, several Borg drones transported aboard the Enterprise before their ship exploded. They began to assimilate the ship's engineering section below Deck 11, including many crewmembers. They also attempted to build an interplexing beacon on the Enterprise deflector dish to contact the Borg Collective of that time period.

A three man team led by Captain Picard stopped the beacon from being completed by separating the deflector from the ship by disengaging the magnetic locks and then destroying it. Picard eventually realized that the fight was a lost cause, and ordered the evacuation of the ship and an auto-destruct to prevent the Borg from interfering with the Phoenix flight.

He eventually confronted the Borg Queen in main engineering, only to find, to his horror, that the Borg had "assimilated" Lieutenant Commander Data, who aborted the auto-destruct and used three quantum torpedoes to destroy the Phoenix - as Picard begged him not to, the android walked right past his captain as if he wasn't there. However, he had in fact deceived, not joined, the Borg; the torpedoes missed their "target", and Data, mockingly repeating the Borg mantra, used the contents of a ruptured plasma coolant tank (the Queen had been too busy taunting Picard to see him approach it) to liquefy the organic components of the Borg, destroying their temporary collective.

The Enterprise crew was successful in helping Cochrane make his flight and instigate First Contact with Vulcans. The ship then returned to 2373 where she was repaired and returned to service. 

With the Federation Diplomatic Corps negotiating an end to the Dominion War, the Enterprise was relegated to a diplomatic role, much to the dissatisfaction of Captain Picard. In 2375, the Enterprise was conducting a diplomatic mission with the Evora, a new Federation protectorate species, and was scheduled to resolve a dispute in the Goren system when her crew became embroiled in a plot by the Son'a, assisted by Starfleet Admiral Matthew Dougherty, to forcibly remove the Ba'ku from their isolated homeworld in the Briar Patch.

The Son'a (actually vengeful former Ba'ku, exiled from the planet after a failed coup a century prior) planned to harvest metaphasic radiation from the planet's ring system, and needed Starfleet cooperation to carry out the plan. Captain Picard felt the relocation of the Ba'ku was a severe violation of the Prime Directive and resigned his commission, leading a team of Enterprise crewmembers to the Ba'ku planet to prevent their capture and removal.

Commander William T. Riker was instructed to take the Enterprise and contact the Federation Council to alert them to the realities of the situation. It was a treacherous journey, since the Briar Patch interfered with external communications as well as the ship's impulse drive.

Two Son'a battle cruisers were sent by Ahdar Ru'afo to intercept the Enterprise before she left the Briar Patch, and severely damaged the ship in the process. The warp core was ejected in order to seal a dangerous tear in subspace created by the isolytic weaponry of the Son'a.

Riker was able to outsmart the Son'a by collecting metreon gas native to the Briar Patch then venting it behind the ship. When the Son'a used their weapons, the gas exploded, destroying one ship and severely damaging the other. This became known as the Riker Maneuver.

Riker convinced the Federation Council to reconsider the plan for the Ba'ku and Captain Picard was reinstated as the ship's commander. 

The Enterprise visited Earth for several days in 2376, around the time the Pathfinder Project made contact with the USS Voyager, and conducted a mission about seven light years from Earth the following year. According to Deanna Troi, it was an important mission. 

Sometime between 2375 and 2379 the Enterprise underwent a major refit. Four additional aft-facing photon torpedo tubes were added, along with one more forward-facing tube: a twin launcher aft of the bridge, a single launcher above the aft hangar deck, and a single launcher at the forward base of the bridge terracing. The bridge was refitted with handrails and the consoles were improved across the port and starboard walls with more detailed displays. Additionally, new nacelle pylons were fitted at that time, slightly longer, broader and more sharply swept than the originals, and fitted with four additional phaser arrays.

In 2379, the Enterprise returned to Earth for the wedding of William T. Riker and Deanna Troi. She departed for Betazed, where another ceremony, a traditional Betazoid wedding, was scheduled.

While en route, the ship detected unusual positronic signals from the Kolarin system, discovering another Soong-type android, the prototype B-4. Shortly following, the Enterprise was ordered to Romulus for a meeting with the new Praetor, Shinzon, who wanted to initiate peace talks. Both the discovery of B-4 and the peace overtures turned out to be a ruse to capture Captain Picard and discover tactical positions of Starfleet vessels.

Once it became clear Shinzon was going to use his starship, the Scimitar, to destroy all life on Earth and wage war on the Federation, the Enterprise was to join Star Fleet Battle Group Omega and make a stand against Shinzon. Shinzon caught up to the Enterprise in the Bassen Rift, and in the ensuing confrontation, the vessel was severely damaged, including a major hull breach on the bridge, destroying the viewscreen and controls and disabling the warp core.

As a last resort, Picard ordered the Enterprise to ram the Scimitar, causing the destruction of much of the saucer section's forward area. The collision disabled the Scimitar, but Shinzon, driven by vengeance, activated his deadly thalaron weapon and trained it on the Enterprise.

The weapon was overloaded and the Scimitar was destroyed due to interference from Commander Data, who sacrificed himself to save the Enterprise, Picard, and, indirectly, Earth.

Following the Scimitar incident, the Enterprise returned to Earth where it underwent an extensive refit in one of the orbiting spacedocks for several weeks. 

Technical information
In her original configuration, the Enterprise-E was 685 meters long and had 24 decks. She was equipped with twelve phaser arrays and five torpedo tubes.

By 2379, the Enterprise-E had undergone at least one refit, including four additional phaser arrays and five additional torpedo tubes. The number of decks was also increased by five to a total of 29. 

Sections included deflector control, stellar cartography, hydroponics (on deck 11), and one sickbay ward. Main engineering and sickbay were on Deck 16. 

The ship could be controlled by a manual steering column located on the bridge. She was also the first Enterprise to be equipped with an Emergency Medical Hologram. 

The Enterprise carried a newer design of shuttlecraft as well as numerous other forms of transportation including a warp-capable captain's yacht, the Cousteau, and a special multipurpose shuttlecraft, the Argo. The yacht was installed as a part of the saucer section, and detached upon deployment. Other auxiliary craft were launched from two shuttlebays; one at the aft end of the secondary hull, and another near the aft end of the primary hull.

Crewmembers included those of the Human, Vulcan, Bajoran, Betazoid, Bolian, and Trill species, as well as a Klingon and an android. 

Personnel
See: USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) personnel

Command crew

 * Commanding Officer (CO)
 * Captain Jean-Luc Picard
 * First Officer/Executive Officer (XO)
 * Commander William T. Riker (2372-2379)
 * Second Officer/Operations Officer/Science Officer
 * Lieutenant Commander Data (2372-2379)
 * Chief Engineer
 * Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge
 * Tactical Officer/Security chief
 * Lieutenant Daniels (2372-2375)
 * Lieutenant Commander Worf (Acting 2373, 2375, 2379)
 * Chief Medical Officer (CMO)
 * Commander Beverly Crusher
 * Counselor
 * Commander Deanna Troi (2372-2379)
 * Conn
 * Lieutenant Hawk (2373)
 * Ensign Kell Perim (2375)
 * Lieutenant Branson (2379)

Background information
The Enterprise-E was principally designed by John Eaves and Herman Zimmerman. Rick Sternbach drafted the blueprints for the ship. Eaves and Zimmerman also supervised the interior design of the bridge, engineering, and corridors, although many sets from Star Trek: Voyager were also reused during and. Though the Enterprise-E was mentioned in several episodes of Voyager, and once on Deep Space Nine, the ship was never seen outside of the films. However, the interior of the ship is visible in a communication with Deanna Troi in.

A ten-foot physical model constructed under the supervision of John Goodson at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) was used for some visual effects shots during Star Trek: First Contact, alongside a CGI version. By the time of Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek Nemesis, a CGI version of the ship completely replaced the physical model.

For Nemesis, the CGI model received several modifications designed by John Eaves. In addition to the new weapons mentioned above, the warp pylons were slightly modified and the connection between the primary and secondary hulls near the main shuttlebay was made more sleek.

The model of the Enterprise-E from Star Trek: First Contact (Lot #107) was sold at the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection auction on October 5, 2006 for US$132,000 including the buyer's premium (the winning bid was US$110,000).

There seems to be some confusion about the size of the Enterprise-E. The construction blueprints of the filming miniature as well as the master systems display on the bridge created for Star Trek: First Contact indicate the ship was designed with 24 decks. In the film, Picard confirms this when he tells Lily Sloane that the ship had 24 decks. Earlier on, however, Daniels had reported that the Borg are in control of Decks 26 through 11. Michael and Denise Okuda say in their text commentary on the film, during the scene in which Picard tells Lilly about the 24 decks: "Unfortunately, earlier in this film, we are told that the ship has at least 26 decks. We can't imagine that Picard doesn't know his own ship, so we theorize that the other two decks are top secret for some reason. Either that, or his memory was affected by his earlier Borg assimilation. It certainly couldn't be a goof, because the design of the ship changed slightly during filming."

In Star Trek Nemesis, the Remans beam onto Deck 29. This could mean that Picard did not tell Lily the truth and there are actually more than 24 decks, or that more decks were added to the ship prior to Star Trek Nemesis. It may also be the case that Picard was counting only finished decks, as there could have been decks left unfinished for future expansion. Also, there is the possibility that Picard may have intentionally withheld or lied about certain aspects of the Enterprise-E design in the event that Lily was assimilated by the Borg.

Also in Nemesis, the Viceroy falls several decks down a maintenance shaft. Because the Viceroy and the other Remans boarded the ship on Deck 29, it has been assumed that the ensuing battle took place on Deck 29 and that the Viceroy fell from that deck, implying that there could be 35 or more decks, or that the normal deck scheme was altered in some way that the ship could have more named decks than it measured in height.

This is not the case as signage on the corridors where the phaser fight between the Remans and the Enterprise officers took place indicate they were actually on Deck 9. This suggests that the two parties encountered each other about halfway to their destinations (Enterprise officers to Deck 29, the Remans to the bridge on Deck 1).

Apparently, the six-foot filming model for the Galaxy-class USS Enterprise-D had been modified to have the registry read "USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E". The archivist at Paramount Pictures, Penny Juday, had no explanation for this change as of 19 October 2001. (TNG Season 2, Disc 6: "Inside Starfleet Archives"). The change was done at ILM by John Goodson prior to crating up the model after completion of, presumably on the presumption that the new Enterprise might be a Galaxy-class ship as well and having the number changed over already would save whoever did the special effects the trouble of having to change it over themselves. (Industrial Light & Magic: Into the Digital Realm, p. 60)

Size
It is apparent from the lineup charts that every new starship Enterprise is slightly longer than the previous one. In, Picard informs Lily Sloane that the Enterprise-E is "almost seven hundred meters long". John Eaves described the rationale as follows:

"When the 'E' had a final approved design, we drew up a chart of all the Enterprises in profile. Herman [Zimmerman] and I set down a whole bunch of cutouts of the 'E' in various sizes to see where this new ship should scale with the others. We found one size that looked appropriate and we put a scale to its length and that would be 2248 feet. Rick [Sternbach] was waiting to do the blueprints and add his creativity to the design, so we gave him a drawing with this one measurement. From there he sized the whole ship ..."

By January 7, 1997, the following dimensions from Rick Sternbach were added to FAQ: A History of Ships Named Enterprise:

Length: 2248'

Beam: 820'

Height: 290'

L of saucer: 1150'

Nacelle span: 700'

L of nacelles: 1056'

The same length, beam and height (in meters) appeared on the SciPubTech poster from around the same time, while the remaining dimensions were omitted. In addition, the length of 2248 feet is listed in at least three comparison charts prepared for. It can also be seen in the charts prepared for. The size chart puts it at 2250 feet, consistent with a size revision during either the filmed or the unfilmed stage of redesign. 

Apocrypha
In Star Trek: Countdown, the Enterprise was still active as of 2387 with Data as captain, having been successfully revived after imprinting his neural network into B-4's existing CPU.

Some missions of the Enterprise during the Dominion War are featured in Behind Enemy Lines, Tunnel Through the Stars and Tales of the Dominion War. Star Trek: A Time to..., set during the year leading up to Star Trek Nemesis, features the Enterprise being involved in a major political scandal that disgraces the ship and her crew for much of the coming year; the final duology in that series features the Enterprise being ordered to lead an invasion and occupation of a sovereign planet, with resemblance to the current real life world political situation at the time the novels were written. A "TNG relaunch" of sorts follows the Enterprise's activities after Nemesis; the first book in the series, Death in Winter, was released in September 2005. In the DS9 Millennium book series, the Enterprise was destroyed at the Battle of Rigel VII in an alternate future that the intrepid heroes of Deep Space 9 later prevented.

The Enterprise has also featured in many apocryphal productions, including the strategy games Star Trek: Armada, Star Trek: Armada II, Star Trek: Bridge Commander, Star Trek: Starfleet Command III, and Star Trek: Elite Force II, Star Trek: Legacy, and most recently Star Trek Online.

The novel Resistance establishes that before he left the Enterprise for the Titan, Commander Riker christened this Enterprise's version of the crew lounge, or Ten Forward, as the "Happy Bottom Riding Club," a name Worf absolutely hates and refuses to use under any circumstances. The name for the lounge was derived from a similar that old Earth astronauts used to frequent. It also establishes that every ship's computer that was built during the last decade has encrypted information about Romulan cloaking technology, which can be decrypted in case of emergency using an admiral's code and thus enabling the crew to build a cloaking device. In Resistance the crew separates the saucer section from the engine section (a feat the Enterprise previously has been unable to do) and then cloaks the engine section to engage a Borg cube.

In the novel Ship of the Line, the Enterprise was given to Captain Morgan Bateson for its shakedown cruise, which included war games near the Klingon border. Along for the ride, as temporary chief engineer, was Montgomery Scott.

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (which was printed before Star Trek: First Contact), the Enterprise-E was planned to be a Nova class ship.

According to Star Trek Online, sometime around 2408-2409, the Enterprise was removed from service for an unknown reason and replaced with the Enterprise NCC-1701-F.