USS Excalibur ( NCC - 26517 ) The USS " Excalibur " ( NCC - 26517 ) was a 24th century Federation starship operated by Starfleet . In 2365 , Captain was the commanding officer of this ship . In that year , this ship was assigned a patrol mission of the Neutral Zone in Sector 130 . The ship was named on the Starship Deploy Status chart in the Starbase 173 courtroom . ( , " okudagram " ) In the late 2360s , the " Excalibur " survived an attack by the Borg during a night shift . Several members of the crew , including Marika Wilkarah , were assimilate d in the encounter . ( ) In 2368 , when the " Excalibur " put in for repairs at Starbase 234 , the ship ' s crew was reassigned . Later that year , the ship was selected for a mission into Klingon territory . The mission commander , Captain Jean - Luc Picard , selected Commander William T . Riker as the ship ' s commander . His first officer would be Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge . In the mission , the " Excalibur " joined Picard ' s fleet which would blockade the Klingon - Romulan border during the Klingon Civil War . The ship was one of twenty - three assembled for the fleet and was one of the seventeen chosen for the tachyon network . Identified by its name and registry number , the ship ' s position in the network was monitored from the . A plan was hatched by Picard , which he hoped would lure the Romulans through the detection grid . When Gowron launched a full attack against the forces of the House of Duras , the Romulan ships would rush to their aid . During this , the " Excalibur " would fall back with feigned engine troubles , taking the and the . In doing so , this would open up a small gap in the detection net for the Romulans to attempt to pass through . As their ships passed through the gap , the " Enterprise - D " and the would swing around , close the gap , and catch the Romulans in the act . The plan was foiled when the network was disrupted by a high - energy burst released by the Romulan s , the net was no longer effective in a of ten million kilometer s around the . Subsequently , Picard ordered the fleet to proceed to Gamma Eridon at maximum warp , where the fleet would attempt to reestablish the net before the Romulans got there . ( ) Appendices . Background information . The " Excalibur " was first mentioned in " The Measure Of A Man " , where it had the registry NCC - 21534 . The " Excalibur " was a reuse of the studio model with the modifications introduced on the . New footage of the " Excalibur " was briefly seen as the fleet departed for the Klingon border , however , some stock footage from was also reused . The short scene on the " Excalibur " bridge was filmed on Tuesday on Paramount Stage 8 . The stated the " Excalibur " was attacked by the Borg in 2368 . A starboard profile of this ship , with the registry NCC - 26517 , accompanied the article . Apocrypha . The " Excalibur " became the star of Peter David ' s " " novel series and was later destroyed and replaced with a new starship " Excalibur " . Captain Morgen , a former crewmate of Captain Picard ' s from his days on the , was mentioned as having commanded the " Excalibur " for many years in Michael Jan Friedman ' s book " Reunion " . It was then commanded by Captain Morgan Korsmo just before the start of the " New Frontier " series . Korsmo was killed fighting the Borg , and was an old Academy classmate of Picard . "