USS Shenzhou The USS " Shenzhou " ( NCC - 1227 ) was a 23rd century Federation starship operated by Starfleet , under the command of Captain Philippa Georgiou . ( ) Service history . Prior to 2249 , the " Shenzhou " was launched into service from the San Francisco Fleet Yards , Earth . Its motto was , " " All existing things are really one . " " ( ) In 2256 , the " Shenzhou " conducted a mission to the Crepusculan homeworld , where a landing party revived a dry water well . Due to communication s interference from a fast - moving storm , Captain Georgiou and First officer Commander Michael Burnham signaled the ship by making a Starfleet insignia in the desert sand , causing " Shenzhou " to fly into the planet ' s lower atmosphere and transport the officers from close range . ( ) Following that mission , " Shenzhou " was dispatched to a binary star system on the outer edge of Federation space , to investigate damage to an interstellar relay . After encountering a Klingon vessel , and ultimately a fleet , the " Shenzhou " was the first ship to be attacked in the Battle of the Binary Stars . ( ) During the battle , " Shenzhou " took fire from multiple attackers , defending the crippled USS " T ' Plana - Hath " before herself suffering heavy damage , losing shield s and impulse engine s . Adrift in the system ' s debris ring , the " Shenzhou " was rescued by the , which used its tractor beam to prevent the " Shenzhou " from colliding with an asteroid . ( ) Despite their ship being disabled , Captain Georgiou and the crew of the " Shenzhou " mounted an offensive against the Klingon capital ship , resulting in the crippling of its defenses and the death of its commander , T ' Kuvma . Despite Georgiou herself also being killed in the attack , the surviving " Shenzhou " crew were able to escape , leaving the ship arrive and abandoned . ( ) The wrecked " Shenzhou " remained adrift for six months following the battle , at which point Klingons Voq and L ' Rell boarded the ship in order to loot its dilithium processing unit with which to repair their own ship . Voq was later marooned aboard the " Shenzhou " by Kol and left to die , though Voq was rescued shortly afterwards by L ' Rell . ( ) A drawing of the " Shenzhou " was among several images of starships on display in the mess hall aboard the when " Shenzhou " survivor Michael Burnham joined that ship some months later . ( ) See also : USS " Shenzhou " personnel Appendices . Background information . Although it first appeared in " The Vulcan Hello " , the " Shenzhou " s interior was shown in a chronologically earlier sequence ( in addition to later - set footage ) in " Battle of the Binary Stars " . The set used for the " Shenzhou " s interior was later reused as the interiors of the and , with just a few changes . ( ) David Mack , who wrote the Pocket DIS novel " Desperate Hours " , developed the characters and even the names of a number of the " Shenzhou " background crew . He noted that : " " Most of them I developed on my own , along with detailed character bios , backstories , quirks , interests , etc . Those were then submitted to the show via Kirsten Beyer for approval . Some , such as Gant , Detmer , and Jannuzzi [ sic ] , ended up being used on the show . ( A few , like Connor and Britch Weeton , were established by the show ' s writers . ) Also , Kirsten tells me that the " Shenzhou " bridge crew actors were given my bios of their characters to provide a foundation for their performances . " " The " Shenzhou " computer voice was provided by Tasia Valenza , who previously appeared in as T ' Shanik . Valenza is the first actor from previous Trek installments to appear on " Star Trek : Discovery " . The ship appears to be named after the 20th century Chinese spacecraft , or the Chinese space program in the 20th and 21st centuries of that same name . The name can be somewhat translated as ' Divine Vessel ' . Apocrypha . The Pocket DIS novel " Desperate Hours " establishes Burnham ' s predecessor as first officer was , who served in that role from 2251 to 2255 before accepting a post as commanding officer of the starship " " , the " Shenzhou " s second officer joining ch ' Theloh as his first officer . It also establishes that both the " Shenzhou " and the fell under Admiral Anderson ' s jurisdiction .