USS Enterprise ( NCC - 1701 - B ) USS " Enterprise " ( NCC - 1701 - B ) was a 23rd century Federation starship operated by Starfleet . This was the third Federation ship to bear the name " Enterprise " . History . On stardate 9715 . 5 , in the year 2293 , the " Enterprise " - B was commissioned . Soon thereafter , the starship was launched under the command of Captain John Harriman from a drydock orbiting Earth . The ship was christened with a bottle of Dom Pérignon , vintage 2265 . Honored guests aboard for the ship ' s maiden voyage included Captains James T . Kirk and Montgomery Scott and Commander Pavel Chekov , all of the decommissioned " Enterprise " - A , along with many journalists . The vessel was still incomplete at the time of launch and did not have a medical staff , photon torpedo es , or a tractor beam , all of which were scheduled for delivery the following Tuesday . The dignitaries were given a tour of the ship , which impressed even Scott ( he a noted critic of the " Excelsior " - class ) . Harriman requested that Captain Kirk give the order to get underway , and he accepted . Demora Sulu – a recent Academy graduate – served as helmsman , prompting Kirk to comment " " It wouldn ' t be the " Enterprise " without a Sulu at the helm . " " Her first journey was mostly for publicity purposes , and the ship was not scheduled to venture much past Pluto . However , the " Enterprise " - B was the only ship in range capable of responding to a distress call from two Federation transport ship s , the and the . The ships , which were carrying El - Aurian refugee s , had become trapped in an energy distortion called the Nexus . Because the " Enterprise " - B lacked equipment necessary to rescue the ships , the " Robert Fox " was destroyed before the " Enterprise " could transport its passengers . Only 47 were brought aboard from the " Lakul " before it , too , was destroyed . Chekov served as a makeshift medical officer , enlisting several journalists to help treat survivors including Guinan , future bartender on the , and Tolian Soran . The " Enterprise " itself became ensnared within the Nexus when she maneuvered within transporter range of the " Lakul " . Scott devised a plan to use a resonance burst from the deflector dish in order to simulate an antimatter explosion and free the " Enterprise " . Kirk went to deflector control to make necessary modifications as the " Enterprise " s engineering hull was struck by an energy tendril ; Harriman was going to do it himself , but Kirk took the role instead , deciding that Harriman , as the ship ' s captain , was needed on the bridge , and in the captain ' s chair . The " Enterprise " escaped with minor casualties and a hull breach along sections 20 through 28 on decks 13 through 15 . Kirk was believed killed in the breach , and the mission became notorious because of his loss . ( ) In 2368 , Berlinghoff Rasmussen asked William T . Riker in his questionnaire for him what he thought was innovative about the " Enterprise " - B . ( ) A sculpture of the " Enterprise " - B later adorned the wall of the observation lounge on the during the first few years of that vessel ' s service . ( ) . A similar model hung in the conference room of the , along with the other incarnations of the ship in a glass and wood casing . ( ; ) Command crew . See also : USS " Enterprise " ( NCC - 1701 - B ) personnel Appendices . Background information . In , the exterior of the " Enterprise " - B was a reuse of the studio model designed by Bill George for . The miniature was given several modifications designed by John Eaves and Herman Zimmerman , including an extra set of impulse engine s on the saucer section , flares on the side of the engineering hull , new caps on the front of the warp nacelle s , and fins on the back of the nacelles . The blue accents on the ship were repainted to a teal color . The flares were added for the specific purpose of damaging them during the Nexus escape sequence and as a way to keep the " Excelsior " model beneath undamaged . The modifications were also by request of Producer Rick Berman , who felt the " Excelsior " design had been overused in the previous motion pictures and in the television series . The NCC - 1701 - B was also rendered as a CGI model for certain sequences within the Nexus . As it turned out , the glue used to attach the additional parts did in fact damage the original model , so the modifications were never removed . The physical model was later relabeled to become the in the episode . The bridge was a redress of the bridge from , which was also seen as the Amargosa observatory in " Star Trek Generations " . The sickbay was the drydock observation area seen earlier in the film , while deflector control was a new set . The " Enterprise " - B was established as an " Excelsior " - class ship during the first season of , when a series of relief sculptures depicting the history of the " Enterprise " name was added to the conference lounge set . They were present for the first four years of the series and a during . The sculpture used represented the original " Excelsior " design . However , models in the lounge of the in and more accurately showed the " Enterprise " - B as it is depicted in " Generations " . Furthermore , the sculpture also differed from the final design , meaning the sculptures were probably meant to be abstract . Actor James Doohan once commented about the " Enterprise " - B , " " It looks absolutely fabulous . " " ( " Uniting Two Legends " , DVD / Blu - ray ) The model of the " Enterprise " - B ( Lot # 998 ) was sold at the auction on October 7 , 2006 for US $ 132 , 000 including the buyer ' s premium ( the winning bid was US $ 110 , 000 ) . The model is now part of ScienceFictionArchives . com collections . A box of video tapes of the computer graphics , including RADAR and subspace scan , aboard the " Enterprise " - B during its red alert was sold off on the It ' s A Wrap ! sale and auction on eBay . According to the " " , the " Enterprise " - B was involved in exploration beyond the Gourami sector , charting 142 star system s and making first contact with seventeen new civilizations prior to her decommissioning . Apocrypha . The USS " Enterprise " - D cut - away poster listed a Captain " Thomas Johnson , Jr . " for the " Enterprise " - B . The " USS Enterprise Owners ' Workshop Manual " established that " Thomas Johnson , Jr . " was the ship ' s final captain serving from the early 2320s through the ship ' s loss in 2329 . This source also claims that a new captain , William George was assigned alongside several other officers , but this is not referenced in any other source . The " Enterprise " - B was involved in :