USS Drake (2364)

The USS Drake was a 24th century Federation starship operated by Starfleet. It was classified as a light cruiser.
In 2364, Lieutenant commander William T. Riker, then-XO of the , had been offered command of the Drake, but declined in favor of the . Instead, Paul Rice was given command, who also happened to attend Starfleet Academy at the same time as Riker.
Later in 2364, the Drake was sent to Minos on a mission to investigate the disappearance of the Minosians. After the ship reported arriving at the planet, there was no further contact with the Drake. The would investigate the disappearance of the Drake and the Minosians.
The fate of the Drake was still unknown; however, in a conversation between a holographic and Riker, the former, when stating the top speed of the Drake at warp 3, used the present verb tense of "is". This indicated to Riker that, while the crew might probably have been killed, the ship itself was not destroyed. When he asked for its location from Rice, he responded that the ship's location was "classified". ()
== Appendices ==
=== Background information ===
In an internal list of starships, from 26 September 1990, the Drake was identified as a freighter which was presumably destroyed at Minos. 
In the main entry for this ship in the , it was stated that the ship had been destroyed. However, in the second and third editions (3rd ed., p. 122), the Drake from "The Arsenal of Freedom" and the from the were treated as the same ship. Then, in the , they were treated as two separate ships, with the first ship being reported as destroyed. In the Starship Chart, for the , there were two Drakes listed. This list in , with a major change being that the first Drake was identified as a freighter.
According to the , this vessel was a starship, with the registry NCC-20381. The Encyclopedia further noted that "the ship was named after the English admiral Sir , who commanded the first British ship to circumnavigate planet Earth."
=== External link ===
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Drake 2364