USS Enterprise ( NCC - 1701 - A ) The USS " Enterprise " ( NCC - 1701 - A ) was a vessel operated by Starfleet in the 23rd century . It was the second Federation starship to bear the name " Enterprise " . History . Technical info . Externally , the " Enterprise " - A was virtually identical to the refit , destroyed several months prior to the launch . ( ) The bridge was in its customary location on Deck 1 . At least three different designs were used during the ship ' s service . ( ; ; ) Ship ' s Interior . The bridge was located on Deck 1 , at the very top of the saucer section . The large viewscreen could project different views from cameras scattered on the saucer section of the ship . The " Enterprise " could also show tactical views and alerts on the screen along with hails . There were two turbo lifts . The torpedo bay was on Deck 13 . It was much more automated than on the previous " Enterprise " , and the torpedo room itself was smaller and enclosed . No " unauthorized " hand phaser could be fired aboard the ship at a vaporizing level without an alarm sounding . ( ) The shuttlebay was located at the rear of the ship ' s engineering section . Unlike her predecessor , the shuttlebay of the " Enterprise " - A was a separate and distinct area from the cargo bay . The ship had at least two ( possibly five ) shuttlecraft , including the ' and the ' . Normally , a tractor beam guided the shuttle to a landing . A large net barricade could be erected to capture an incoming shuttle which was landing too fast or otherwise disabled . ( ) Officers had crew quarters similar to those on the previous " Enterprise " . Enlisted crew members were required to bunk together . As many as eight crew members were assigned to a room , each assigned a storage locker . Chimes sounded at the top of every hour . Meals were prepared in a galley , although there appeared to be primitive replicator s on board the ship . The " Enterprise " - A had a vertical warp core similar to that of the of eighty years later . The core could be accessed through main engineering on Deck 15 . An isolation door could be brought down to separate the core from the rest of the ship . ( ) There was a crew lounge at the front of the ship which contained several maritime relics , including a steering wheel from a sailing vessel inscribed with the ship ' s motto , " " to boldly go where no man has gone before . " " An emergency transmitter was also located in the lounge . ( ) The officers had a private dining hall in the saucer section , which was often used to entertain guests . There were several paintings in the room ( including a portrait of Abraham Lincoln , a personal hero of James T . Kirk ) . ( ; ) The brig was located in the bowels of the engineering hull . It was designed to be escape - proof , certified so by Captain Spock . The turbolift shafts were triangular in shape . In addition to the normal corridors , there were full - height Jefferies tube s in the engineering hull . ( ) In service . In 2286 , the " Enterprise " - A was commissioned at the San Francisco Fleet Yards on stardate 8442 . 5 . She was launched from the Earth Spacedock on the order of the Federation Council in appreciation of Captain James T . Kirk and his crew ' s efforts to prevent the Whale Probe from devastating Earth . The crew initially thought they were going to be assigned to the ( or , according to Leonard McCoy , a " freighter " at best ) , but the new " Enterprise " was soon revealed , docked behind the " Excelsior " . The crew took their stations and the " Enterprise " left spacedock on a shakedown cruise . ( ) The shakedown did not proceed as planned , and the " Enterprise " limped back to spacedock for several weeks of repair under the supervision of Captain Montgomery Scott . Although her warp drive was working perfectly , half the doors on the ship were malfunctioning and several control interfaces did not work . The transporter was also nonfunctional , requiring shuttles to be used for off - ship missions . Before the repairs were complete , the " Enterprise " was called into duty in order to intervene in a kidnapping situation on Nimbus III . The ship was subsequently commandeered by the rogue Vulcan Sybok , who ordered her to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy , in order to pursue the mythical Sha Ka Ree . During the return of Sybok to the ship aboard the " Galileo " , Commander Hikaru Sulu was forced to crash the shuttle into the " Enterprise " landing bay , as the ship was pursued by a Klingon Bird - of - Prey , commanded by Klaa , and there was no time to use the tractor beam for a safe entrance . The Bird - of - Prey followed the " Enterprise " to the center of the galaxy . The crew was too involved with Sybok ' s visit to the planetoid found there and did not notice the Klingon vessel enter sensor range . The Bird - of - Prey caught the " Enterprise " off - guard and disabled her before she had a chance to retaliate . However , Klingon ambassador Korrd , rescued from Nimbus III , relieved Captain Klaa and ordered the Bird - of - Prey to stand down . The Klingon crew was later invited to a reception following the return of the " Enterprise " to Kirk ' s control and the discovery that Sha Ka Ree was a myth . The brig was also damaged during the mission , as Captain Scott blew a hole in the back wall to free Captain Kirk , Spock , and Dr . McCoy . ( ) Spock also kept a picture of himself and his friends taken on the bridge of the " Enterprise " - A from this time for the next century until his death in 2263 of the alternate reality . ( ) Starfleet began a fleet - wide research project into the investigation of gaseous planetary anomalies in the early 2290s . The " Enterprise " - A was one of several Federation starships to be outfitted with advanced equipment for their study . In 2293 , the " Enterprise " - A was due to be retired along with most of her command crew . However , she was pressed back into service for one last mission as an escort for Klingon chancellor Gorkon during the initial stages of the Khitomer Accords . The ship rendezvoused with the Klingon flagship , " Kronos One " , and was to follow it to Earth . Unfortunately , a joint Starfleet , Klingon , and Romulan conspiracy had an operative , Lieutenant Valeris , aboard the ship . Valeris participated in a plan to implicate the " Enterprise " and Captain Kirk as rogue assailants in Gorkon ' s murder , with the goal of derailing the peace process . The " Enterprise " appeared to fire two photon torpedo es at " Kronos One " , temporarily disabling her propulsion and gravity systems . Amid the chaos two space - suited Starfleet crew members , and Samno , beamed aboard , assassinating Gorkon . Valeris altered the ship ' s records to make it seem as if two torpedoes had been fired . The torpedoes actually came from a cloaked protoype Bird - of - Prey directly below the " Enterprise " , which had been modified to fire while cloaked . Kirk and Dr . McCoy were arrested and tried for the murder , and sentenced to life imprisonment on the penal colony Rura Penthe . Valeris also provided Kirk ' s log entries from the " Enterprise " to the Klingon co - conspirators to further implicate Kirk . The " Enterprise " was ordered back to Earth , but Spock ignored orders and initiated an investigation aboard the ship . He discovered evidence which linked Valeris to the conspiracy , despite her best efforts to sabotage the investigation . The " Enterprise " then entered Klingon space , masquerading as the freighter " Ursva " and rescued Kirk and McCoy . Spock mind melded with Valeris and learned more about the conspiracy , including details of the Bird - of - Prey and names of those involved . Captain Sulu aboard the USS " Excelsior " provided Kirk with the new location of the peace conference , and the two ships warped to Khitomer in order to prevent a second assassination of the Federation President and the new Klingon chancellor , Azetbur . General Chang was waiting in orbit with his Bird - of - Prey , however , and the " Enterprise " was attacked upon arrival . The starship was seriously damaged and suffered a hull breach through her saucer section . The " Excelsior " , too , was helpless against the cloaked ship . Fortunately , Spock , McCoy , and Uhura devised a plan to use a photon torpedo equipped with sensors capable of tracking ionization from the Bird - of - Prey ' s impulse engine s . It successfully hit Chang ' s vessel , knocking it out of the cloak and leaving it vulnerable to further torpedo volleys from the " Enterprise " and the " Excelsior " . Following the destruction of the Bird - of - Prey , " Enterprise " and " Excelsior " crew beamed down to the Khitomer Conference and apprehended the conspirators , preventing the assassination . ( ) Following the Khitomer mission , the " Enterprise " was ordered by Starfleet Command to return to spacedock to be decommissioned . Quoting J . M . Barrie ' s directions home from " Peter Pan " , Captain Kirk ordered the ship on course to the " second star to the right , . . . and straight on ' til morning . " Kirk later recorded in his log that the " Enterprise " and her history " " will shortly become the care of another crew . " " The next USS " Enterprise " , the , was launched later that year . ( ; ) Appendices . Background information . The " Enterprise " - A was a reuse of the refit " Enterprise " model built for . The ship was designed by Andrew Probert and Richard Taylor , partly based on Matt Jefferies and Mike Minor ' s design sketches for " " . Other artists who worked on the refit design were Joe Jennings , Douglas Trumbull , and Harold Michelson . Michelson also designed the sets for the first film , which were altered to become those of . In the first draft script of but not in the final version of that film , the " A " in this " Enterprise " s registry was finished being painted on top of the primary hull just as the shuttle containing Kirk and his senior staff arrived ; this scene was retained in the novelization . Also , the same script described the ship being shown emerging from Spacedock , though that is not depicted on - screen , in which the scene instead cuts from the vessel being inside Spacedock to being outside the facility , already in space . The bridge seen in was a simple redress of the existing bridge from . It was painted white and the lighting scheme was slightly altered . In addition , okudagram s now replaced the gauges and dials formerly seen on the ship . Only the portions of the bridge seen on film were modified ; the rest of the bridge was left unchanged to save time . By , most of the movie " Enterprise " sets had been recycled to become the " Enterprise " - D of . The bridge had been irrevocably modified as various Starfleet bridges seen throughout the series , including the " Enterprise " - D battle bridge , and also became several science lab s and alien interiors . A new bridge was constructed under supervision of production designer Herman Zimmerman , who wanted to show a transition to the TNG era by introducing carpet and warmer tones to the bridge . The turbolift alcoves were the only parts saved from the previous set , as they were removed during TNG ' s second season . Other " Enterprise " - D sets were reused for the film , specifically sickbay , the transporter room , and the corridors , in order to save money . Unfortunately , much of the signage and graphics were left in place , and TNG - style door labels and control panels can be seen on the sets . According to Michael and Denise Okuda ' s text commentary for the " " DVD , the shuttlebay doors as seen in " The Final Frontier " were modified from a portion of the Zamundan Royal Palace set from the 1988 Eddie Murphy film . The new bridge was reused in for both the " Enterprise " and the " Excelsior " , with some modifications . Director Nick Meyer wanted to give the vessels a much more militaristic feel , and incorporated metal flooring and some tactile control surfaces . " Enterprise " - D sets were used for engineering , sickbay , the transporter room , the officers ' mess , Kirk ' s and Spock ' s quarters , and the corridors , but they were disguised better for this film , undergoing several changes . This explains why some of the TNG sets were noticeably altered at the start of the fifth season . The bridge set was placed in storage at the end of production . It was later turned into the " Enterprise " - B bridge and the Amargosa observatory for , the " Excelsior " again in , and many " guest " Starfleet ships on and , including the ( ) and the . ( ) The turbolift alcoves eventually became part of the bridge in , , and as well as an " Enterprise " - D turbolift in . While the ship ' s history before its recommissioning as " Enterprise " has never been officially stated , several non - canon sources ( such as the AMT / Ertl Model kit documentation ) have claimed it to formerly be the USS " Yorktown " ( NCC - 1717 ) ; others cite it as the newly - built ( but not yet commissioned ) USS " Ti - Ho " ( NCC - 1798 ) , or the also newly - built USS " Atlantis " ( NCC - 1786 ) . Captain Scott alludes to the ship being newly built in the ship ' s log of , stating " This new ship must have been built by monkeys " . " Mr . Scott ' s Guide to the Enterprise " , released shortly after , cites the origin of NCC - 1701 - A as the USS " Ti - Ho " ( NCC - 1798 ) , a " Constitution " - class II starship which was a testbed for transwarp technology alongside the USS " Excelsior " . The " Ti - Ho " was rechristened " Enterprise " after Kirk and his crew were exonerated . The model of the " Enterprise " - A ( lot # 1000 ) was sold at the auction on for US $ 240 , 000 . The " Enterprise " - A was pictured on a painting in the waiting area of the sickbay aboard the in the fifth season episode .