USS Pegasus The USS " Pegasus " ( NCC - 53847 ) was a Federation starship operated by Starfleet . A prototype vessel , the " Pegasus " served as a testbed vehicle for various technologies , many of which would later be implemented on the and other designs . History . In 2358 , the " Pegasus " was commanded by Captain Erik Pressman , and included Ensign William T . Riker , on his first assignment out of the Academy . In that year , the " Pegasus " was assigned to conduct a secret test of a phasing cloaking device , in direct violation of the Treaty of Algeron . During the test , an explosion occurred in main engineering , resulting in heavy casualties . Several members of the crew , including the first officer and chief engineer , mutinied in an attempt to shut down the illegal test . Pressman , Riker , and seven other crewmembers fled the ship in an escape pod . Not long after departing , the plasma relay s were ignited with the ship still cloaked . The escaped crew , however , believed that the ship had exploded as a result of a warp core breach . In fact , the " Pegasus " drifted in phased - cloak form in the Devolin system until it failed inside asteroid gamma 601 , half of it materializing in solid rock . The rest of the crew died during these events , though the cloaking device itself survived . The surviving crew was recovered and returned to Starfleet . Subsequent investigations found no wreckage , and the crew , led by Pressman , stated that the accident in engineering had been responsible for the destruction of the " Pegasus " , and made no mention of the cloak . The Judge Advocate General ' s inquiry into the incident concluded that the surviving officers had not been entirely truthful in their recounting of the events , and suggested a further investigation . The follow - up investigation never took place , however , and the inquiry report was quietly buried by Starfleet Intelligence . Twelve years later , in 2370 , the Romulan warbird " Terix " discovered a piece of wreckage from the " Pegasus " in the Devolin system . Pressman , then a rear admiral , was given authority to dispatch the to recover the vessel first , aiming to reach the cloaking device before the Romulans discovered the Federation ' s duplicity . The " Enterprise " entered the asteroid and found the ship . The illegal events that happened aboard were made public , and Pressman , among others , were court - martialed . The ship itself was not recovered . ( ; ) Appendices . Background information . The " Pegasus " was named after the of Greek mythology , who was said to have sprung from the neck of . ( ; ) In the episode , La Forge asks " " What would the Romulans want with pieces of a twelve year old starship ? " " suggesting that the " Pegasus " was also launched in the same year it was lost . However Pressman claimed to have known most of the " Pegasus " crew " a lot longer " than Riker had , implying they had served under his command for much longer than that . The original model of the USS " Pegasus " ( USS " Grissom " ) was now part of ScienceFictionArchives . com collections . According to the of the episode , the USS " Pegasus " was one of the ships that had been commanded by Mark Jameson . In the script , just before Jameson beamed aboard , Jean - Luc Picard mentioned that he had heard legends of Jameson ' s command of the old " Pegasus " in the Klingon conflicts . The scene mentioning the " Pegasus " was cut from the final episode . It is unknown if this " Pegasus " is a different " Pegasus " . Design origins . Rick Sternbach designed a new ship type in October 1993 for the " Pegasus " based on parts from the . Budget limitations forced the re - use of the " Grissom " studio model from . ( " " 2nd ed . , p . 278 ) Sternbach himself has noted in this regard , " " As far as the " Pegasus " was concerned , yes , there were a few sketches of a ship done , but to make it easy on the VFX folks it was supposed to be a kitbash of sorts from either a " Nebula " or an " Ambassador " ( I don ' t have the sketches handy , so I can ' t recall exactly ) . For whatever reason , probably time / money , the " Oberth " miniature or a copy served as the " Pegasus " . " " Though not apparent on his sketch , it appears that this design would have ended up with four nacelles , as an engineering display visible in the final episode shows such a configuration . Rick Sternbach ' s original sketch ( titled " The Pegasus " Ship Concept Semi - ORIGINAL Sketch ) was auctioned off on eBay on December 1 , 2009 . The relevant part of its description was reproduced below : " This was an 11 " × 17 " semi - original pen and ink and pasteup drawing for a concept for making the U . S . S . " Pegasus " out of " Enterprise " - C physical model parts , instead of re - using the model of the U . S . S . " Oberth " science ship . Drawing is signed in the lower right . " Based on his original design , Sternbach had also produced a detailed master systems display graphic in ink of the design for use in the episode , which ended up unused . Further commenting Sternbach added , " " I think the ink drawing assumed " Ambassador " parts , from what I recall of the general proportions . I don ' t recall if I did a new systems cutaway for the " Oberth " - " Pegasus " . " "