Forum: scifi.stackexchange.com
Tags: <star-trek><spaceship>
Title: Why did flagship starships all get the name Enterprise?
Question: All of the flagship starships of humanity/the Federation get the name Enterprise: Enterprise NX-01, USS Enterprise NCC-1701, USS Enterprise NCC-1701 D,  etc.  Flagships of the United Federation of Planets could be named under a naming convention following from the first Warp 5 starship of humanity, the Enterprise NX-01 (humans were the dominant race in the Federation after all). But, how did Enterprise NX-01 get its name? And how did this naming convention arise?  What's the in-universe history behind this naming?

Answers:
sents: text: Captain Decker showing Ilia the ships named "Enterprise" in Star Trek: The Motion Picture :
text: And from Enterprise history on Memory Alpha: First image: The Enterprise was a noted sailing frigate , either of the Royal Navy or of the US Navy.
text: She was active in the late 18th century.
text: (ENT: "United")
text: Second image:
text: The USS Enterprise (CV-6) was an aircraft carrier that served in World War II.
text: (ENT: "Storm Front")
text: Its successor was the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which was the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
text: Third image:
text: The first space shuttle was the Enterprise OV-101 .
text: (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
text: Note: Also featured in the opening of Star Trek:
text: Enterprise Fourth image:
text: An early Warp starship was the USS Enterprise (XCV 330) .
text: (Star Trek: The Motion Picture) Notable for
text: not having the traditional nacelles+saucer design of usual Starfleet ships.
text: Fifth image:
text: The original NCC-1701 from The Original Series.
text: (At least according to Memory Alpha.
text: I don't recognize it from the above screenshot..
text: Odd shadows.)
text: Not in the above, but featured in the opening sequence of Star Trek:
text: Enterprise : The HMS Enterprize was a noted sailing ship of the British Royal Navy.
text: A galleon, she was active sometime between the 16th century and the early 18th century.
text: Additionally, I'm
text: fairly certain Captain Archer had a similar scene as the above, where he explains the history of the name "Enterprise" to Commander Shran .
text: I don't recall which episode, though..
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/2242/Izkata
score: 12
sents: text: George Kirk, Kirk's father, convinced his friend and Captain Robert April that the appropriate name for the ship was the Enterprise after so many famous ships in history.
text: The novel is Final Frontier from Diane Carey published in 1988.
text: The ship was experimental and they were to secretly take her out to test her systems.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/11979/Adam Reyes-Thomas
score: 6
sents: text: Often time the name Enterprise is given to the first or second vessel of a line, or a vessel involved in exploration.
text: As such they are often the most advanced vessel in a fleet technologically or design wise.
text: Even the word Enterprise has connotations of difficult undertakings, taking on new ventures, initiative, leading the way.
text: Also Flagship does not only refer to the best or most important ship in a fleet, but the ship that carries the commander of a fleet or subdivision of a fleet.
text: As such the Defiant served as the flagship of the second fleet on occasion.
text: In the movie First Contact, the Entrprise-E is not the flagship, but the unnamed vessel of Admiral Hayes.
text: Once it is destroyed Picard takes command of the fleet.
text: Also, as far as I can find searching the transcripts the only time the Enterprise is referred to as a "flagship" in The original series era is the reboot.
text: The word flagship is mentioned in TOS in the Balance of Terror and Enterprise Incident referencing Romulan Flagships, and the Corbomite Maneuver in reference to the Fesarius.
text: (If I have missed something from the TOS era comment on it and I will remove this section) Here are some historical examples culled from wikipedia: HMS Enterprise 1774 - first of a class of 6th-rate frigates commissioned by the British Navy USS Enterprise 1775 - first sloop-of-war captured by Colonial Navyand acted as flagship of the Lake Champlain squadron.
text: Enterprise 1814 - first steamboat to successfully navigate the Ohio river from Louisville to Pittsburgh opening up a new trade route.
text: HMS Enterprise 1848 - Arctic discovery ship making voyages to the arctic from both the Pacific and the Atlantic. Enterprise (balloon) 1858 -
text: Originally built for a transatlantic crossing, eventually put to use with the Union Army during the AmericanCivil War.
text: Enterprise 1862 - first in a line of sternwheelers that would travel the Fraser River in British Columbia HMS Enterprise D52 1918
text: - One of 2 Emerald class light cruisers with prototype twin 6" turrets.
text: Lead ship in Assault Force "U" during invasion of Normandy.
text: USS Enterprise CV-6 1938 - US aircraft carrier regularly used asa flagship during WW2, equipped withadvanced radar.
text: USS Enterprise CVN-65 1958 -
text: First nuclear powered US aircraft carrier HMS Enterprise A71 1959 - Echo class survey ship Space Shuttle Enterprise
text: 1972 - Prototype orbitermodule HMS Enterprise
text: H88 2002 -
text: Multi role survey vessel of the Royal navy.
text: VSS Enterprise 2009 -
text: First Virgin Galactic commercialspacecraft
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/4751/Tyson of the Northwest
score: 4
sents: text: According to a primary source - the United States Navy - "the first ship of the new Continental Navy was named Alfred in honor of Alfred the Great, the king of Wessex."
text: ( http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq63-1.htm ) All eight ships of the United States Navy named Enterprise, and their stories, are on the United States Navy site for Enterprise (CVN-65) at http://www.public.navy.mil/airfor/enterprise/Documents/Enterprise/the_legend.html
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/36055/steward
score: 3
sents: text: The Enterprise was the first US ship ever created.
text: There is therefore a tradition that at all times in the US fleet a ship named Enterprise.
text: I'd surmise that the original ship was named after this tradition, and then Starfleet made a tradition like the US's tradition.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/11987/PixelArtDragon
score: 2
sents: text: The Enterprise (NCC-1701) was a Constitution-class heavy cruiser.
text: By naval tradition, the class shares its name with the first ship of that class.
text: For example, the first Nimitz-class carrier was the USS Nimitz, the first Kitty Hawk-class carrier was the USS Kitty Hawk, etc.
text: So, the Enterprise was actually the SECOND ship of its class.
text: The first ship of its class was...
text: the NCC-1700 Constitution, of course.
text: The NCC-1701-A was actually the NCC-1798 Ti-Ho, a refitted Constitution-class starship which was a testbed for transwarp technology alongside the USS Excelsior.
text: After Kirk was exonerated, it was given a new name and number.
text: The NCC-1701-B, NCC-1701-C, NCC-1701-D, and NCC-1701-E were Excelsior-class, Ambassador-class, Galaxy-class, and Sovereign-class.
text: So, in every case (except for the NX-01), the Enterprise was NOT the first ship of its class.
text: Thought
text: I'd better point that out, for anyone who thought that the Enterprise had some sort of special importance from being the "first of its class" or any such nonsense.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/79427/AhrounDragon
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
The Enterprise was the first US ship ever created. George Kirk, Kirk's father, convinced his friend and Captain Robert April that the appropriate name for the ship was the Enterprise after so many famous ships in history.  In addition, the name Enterprise is often given to a vessel involved in exploration.  
The name Enterprise was the first US ship created and it is now, thanks to Kir’s father, the name given to a first or second exploration vessel.