USS Kelvin The USS " Kelvin " ( NCC - 0514 ) was a Federation starship operated by Starfleet during the 23rd century . In 2233 , the " Kelvin " was under the command of Captain Richard Robau , while his first officer was Lieutenant Commander George Kirk . On stardate 2233 . 04 , the " Kelvin " was on a mission 75 , 000 kilometer s from the Federation - Klingon border . George Kirk ' s wife Winona was also aboard at that time , pregnant with their son , James T . Kirk . Alternate reality . In 2233 , the " Kelvin " encountered a black hole created in 2387 by the detonation of a red matter device , which subsequently spawned the alternate reality . As the " Kelvin " was observing the black hole , an unidentified vessel emerged from the future . It would later turn out to be the " Narada " , a 24th century Romulan mining vessel commanded by Captain Nero . The " Kelvin " was attacked , leading to a battle during which Captain Robau was murder ed , having been invited to the attacking ship under the pretense of negotiating a ceasefire . His first officer , , assumed command . Almost immediately after Robau died , Nero abandoned all pretense of negotiations and attacked once more , inflicting major damage on the " Kelvin " . With no chance of defeating the " Narada " in combat , Kirk ordered an evacuation , planning to set the autopilot to ram the " Narada " with the " Kelvin " only for the system to fail . Kirk therefore elected to stay on board , to both steer the ship and to operate its weapons in order to protect the fleeing shuttlecraft from the " Narada " s missiles . Kirk then piloted the craft to its destruction , ramming the " Narada " , disabling it , and giving the crew of the " Kelvin " a chance to flee . It was during the battle that George Kirk ' s son , , was born ( indeed naming him over the communicator was one of George Kirk ' s final actions prior to impact ) . Despite the fierceness of the engagement , the evacuation effort culminated in the " Kelvin " being survived by over eight hundred of its crew ( a clear majority ) including and her newborn son , but with the notable exception of Captain Robau , George Kirk , and several other crewmembers who were killed during the " Narada " s attack or were unable to escape prior to the ship ' s fatal impact with its attacker . ( ) Legacy . In memory of the " Kelvin " , Starfleet later adopted the ship ' s arrowhead assignment patch as the sole insignia . wrote a dissertation on the ship and the actions of its final commanding officer , . In 2255 , the Shipyard Bar in Riverside , Iowa on Earth featured " Kelvin " - shaped salt - shakers . ( ) In 2259 , a replica of this starship was on display in the office of Admiral . The Kelvin Memorial Archive was also named for the ship . ( ) By 2263 , the had escape pod s known as Kelvin pod s attached to the bridge . These pods were also named after the ship . ( ) See also : USS " Kelvin " personnel Appendices . Background information . A dedication plaque was made for the bridge set . However , due to camera angles and lighting conditions , it was illegible . The plaque was located adjacent to the turbolift . The contains a graphic of this plaque , which includes the ship ' s commission ing stardate as 2225 . 5 ( which translates to January 5 , 2225 under the rules explained by Roberto Orci ) at San Francisco , California , and the motto " " All glory comes from daring to begin . " " ( This motto was from Eugene F . Ware , an author and politician of 19th century Kansas . ) The plaque does not include the ship ' s class . The Artisan prop and model shop of Quantum Mechanix , QMx FX Cinema Arts , was asked to illustrate the history of space flight with models for " Star Trek : Into Darkness " . They constructed fourteen models in total . On their website , there was a picture of the USS " Kelvin " model . The " Kelvin " breaks from convention with regards to its registry , having a zero preceding the primary three digits , whereas previous ships with a three - digit registry had no preceding zero , such as the . According to " Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual " the registry NCC - 514 was assigned to the destroyer . Identifying the " Kelvin " . The " Kelvin " was named after physicist and engineer as well as Harry Kelvin , the grandfather of director and producer J . J . Abrams . The registry number of the " Kelvin " is Harry Kelvin ' s birthday ( audio commentary , / Three - disc Blu - ray ) . Abrams frequently includes references to his grandfather in his productions . In early stages of the film ' s development , the ship was named the USS " Iowa " . While known by this eventually unused name , the vessel was given a registry number of 1201 . In a later interview with screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci , Kurtzman explained that the ship ' s initial name was to have been " our nod " to the fact that the prime universe James T . Kirk had been semi - established as having been born in Iowa . " " Then we decided that was too radical , " " Kurtzman said of the reference . Furthermore , Orci explained that the writers imagined that – in the prime timeline , shortly prior to the birth of James Kirk – the " Kelvin " would have successfully completed the return journey to Earth , safely delivering the as - yet unborn boy , as well as his parents , to the planet , ( ) though it is unclear if it would have been January 04 , 2233 or a slightly later date as trauma and stress can trigger a delivery . Robau actor Faran Tahir once made several speculations about the " Kelvin " , such as suggesting that – prior to its destruction in the alternate reality – it had a long history that included having been in previous battles . He reckoned , " " The " Kelvin " is a ship that ' s been sent out to the uttermost reaches of the explored universe at that point [ . . . ] The " Kelvin " has been out there and has run the gamut of creating peaceful situations out of dangerous situations [ . . . ] I think it ' s a great parallel that the " Kelvin " is very much what " Enterprise " ends up being later in the story . It is a prototype and I would suggest that the events of that ship were taught as a model at the Academy . " " ( ) Creating " Kelvin " scenes . The opening shot of the " Kelvin " , a sweeping forty - second camera move , was not planned for in initial previsualization footage , created during the early stages of production by David Dozoretz and an affiliated team at Paramount . It was only once J . J . Abrams and his editors began combining live - action and previz footage that they realized they wanted the previz to be different from what had originally been planned . " " They decided they wanted to tell a different story in quite a few sequences , " " recalled Industrial Light & Magic animation supervisor Paul Kavanagh . ILM consequently began creating their own previz shots , including the initial view of the " Kelvin " , which was orchestrated by ILM during principal photography at Paramount . " " J . J . wanted to create a sense of mystery in the shot , " " Kavanagh explained . He ultimately thought this notion was achieved , commenting , " " Each piece of the shot revealed a little bit more of the story , keeping the audience intrigued until the end , when we finally revealed this starship . " " ( " Cinefex " , No . 118 , p . 48 ) Of all the shipboard scenes in the film , the ones set aboard the " Kelvin " were filmed first . As such , Director of Photography Dan Mindel considered the shooting of the " Kelvin " scenes to be a " trial run " for the upcoming filming of the " Enterprise " sets . " " We went onto the " Kelvin " knowing that we were going to be blind for the first few days until we started seeing dailies from those sets , then we could take notes and add whatever we wanted to for the " Enterprise " , which hadn ' t been built yet , " " Mindel remarked . " " We wanted to make the " Kelvin " a lot darker and less welcoming and positive than the " Enterprise " was going to be , so everything is muted in there . " " ( ) One of the viral promotion sites , at , occasionally showed a picture of a mysterious corridor , supposedly on the " Enterprise " . It was , in fact , a corridor from the " Kelvin " , seen very briefly while George Kirk was in command . Apocrypha . A computer - generated depiction of the " Kelvin " was included in the of the " Ships of the Line " calendar , in the image for February ( entitled " U . S . S . " Kelvin " – On Patrol " ) . Created by Tobias Richter , this image shows the starship passing through a planetary system with its warp nacelle energized , nearest a ringed planet with two other planets nearby . The virtual collectible card battle game " " has the " Kelvin " on card # 93 " NCC - 0514 USS " Kelvin " " .