USS Intrepid ( NCC - 1631 ) The USS " Intrepid " ( NCC - 1631 ) was a 23rd century Federation starship operated by Starfleet . This ship was crewed entirely by Vulcan s . ( ) History . In 2267 , the " Intrepid " was undergoing repairs in maintenance section 18 at Starbase 11 . The base commander , Commodore , rescheduled the " Intrepid " s repairs , upon giving the " priority one " status on stardate 2947 . 3 , after being damaged in an ion storm . ( ) In 2268 , the " Intrepid " worked in conjunction with Starbase 6 , in conducting a mission to investigate the loss of contact with star system Gamma 7A in Sector 39J . While traversing that sector of space , the " Intrepid " encountered an unknown dark zone which was , unbeknownst at the time , slowly killing the ship ' s crew . On stardate 4307 . 1 , the Starbase 6 commander lost contact with the " Intrepid " . A rescue priority was issued to the " Enterprise " to investigate the loss of the " Intrepid " in an unknown dark zone . " En route " , Commander Spock telepath ically sensed the crew of four hundred Vulcans die . On stardate 4309 . 2 , the " Enterprise " established that the phenomenon destroying the " Intrepid " and the Gamma 7A system was an incredibly huge but simple cellular being whose energies were totally destructive to all known life . The crew of the " Enterprise " destroyed the amoeba , which was determined to be nourishing itself for reproduction . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Starfleet insignia s for the " Intrepid " were created for the . The fourth edition of the described this vessel as a starship , with a registry of NCC - 1631 ( " Intrepid , USS " entry , vol . 1 , p . 373 ; ship chart , vol . 2 , p . 331 ) or NCC - 1831 ( " Constitution " - class entry , vol . 1 , p . 158 ) . A ship diagram of the " Intrepid " in the third edition of the " Encyclopedia " on p . 212 depicted the ship with the registry NCC - 1631 . The registry NCC - 1831 was seen in the chart in . Unfortunately , the chart didn ' t provide names to the registries . Greg Jein also originally used " 1631 " in his influential " The Case of Jonathan Doe Starship " article . ( See the " The Case of Jonathan Doe Starship " article for the full explanation . ) The " Star Fleet Technical Manual " assigned NCC - 1708 to the vessel . According to the " Manual " , this ship ' s successor was to be called USS " Intrepid II " NCC - 1730 and to be " Constitution " - class . Due to the crew count of 430 that the writers of " The Original Series " had mentioned in the dialogue for , it was , at the time , a likely assumption they inferred the vessel to be " Constitution " - class , especially since " Original Series " Producers D . C . Fontana and Robert Justman " had " , at the start of second season of " The Original Series " , already included the ship in a definitive list of fourteen ships belonging to what they , at the time , still referred to as the " " Starship " - class " . ( " The Making of Star Trek " , p . 165 ) Yet , it should be noted that neither class , registry , nor appearance were canon ically established prior to 2008 , as the ship has never been visibly featured in the original series run . It was only for the 2008 remastered version of " Court Martial " that the ship , seen in orbit of Starbase 11 with the registry NCC - 1631 , was digitally retcon ned into the episode and that Michael Okuda , in his role as Visual Effects Producer , had Jein ' s registry number applied onto the ship , only then confirming all three items in canon . On his name list suggestion memo of , Justman made the annotation , " " In addition , I think a name ought to be made up that would be of Vulcan origin . " " Jein had picked up on this clue and included an " USS " Tashik - Sotra " ( NCC - 1865 ) " in his article , the only name he had not derived from production sources . Justman ' s notion , however , was watered down in merely having " Intrepid " a crew that was almost entirely composed of Vulcans . Like the " Intrepid " , and also had predominantly Vulcan crews . According to the " Star Trek Concordance " by Bjo Trimble , the captain of the " Intrepid " was Satak . This reference , like that of the similarly referenced , may have been acquired from an early draft of the script . " The Worlds of the Federation " by Shane Johnson refers to a captain of this vessel being named Spiak . The fact that no Vulcans are seen on Starbase 11 in " Court Martial " may be due to the fact that Vulcans do not believe in the concept of shore leave , as Spock described in . The " " episode " Deadlock " was set to open with the " Enterprise " receiving a distress call ( which later turned out to be fake ) from the " Intrepid " , which by that point had been presumed destroyed for nearly five years . The " Intrepid " may have been named after any number of Royal Navy vessels which had borne the name ( i . e . , the ) or US Navy ( ) , though the reference book " The Making of Star Trek " ( pp . 164 - 165 ) made it very clear that the " Original Series " producers had the World War II aircraft carrier , in mind when they came up with their name list in the summer of 1967 . The lunar module of NASA ' s was also known as " Intrepid " . In all cases , the name signified a willingness to go in harm ' s way to accomplish a mission of great importance . Apocrypha . Several novels mentioned the second " Constitution " - class " Intrepid " , such as " My Enemy , My Ally " and " " ( Pocket TOS ) . " Prime Directive " has the under - construction " Intrepid " s nacelle s diverted to be attached as replacements on the " Enterprise " , and " My Enemy , My Ally " described " Intrepid " , under Captain Suvuk , as being slightly more advanced than the as yet un - refit " Enterprise " of that era . " My Enemy , My Ally " referred to " Intrepid " , named so for the ship destroyed by the giant amoeba , as NCC - 1631 a number previously used in Greg Jein ' s original article and FASA manuals . FASA ' s " Enterprise " - class " Intrepid " had the registry NCC - 1707 and would be in service around this time . The novel " " mentioned a ship in the 2290s named " Intrepid II " that was an scout under command of Captain Spock . After his resignation , he proposed Uhura to be its new captain . The novel " Desperate Hours " sets out that both Spock and Michael Burnham considered joining the " Intrepid " due to its Vulcan crew complement ; Burnham ' s application for a position there being outright rejected by its captain , despite her " culturally Vulcan " nature .