USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)

tend to think of this ship as home."

– **Captain Jean-Luc Picard**, 2063 (Star Trek: First Contact)

The **USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)** was a 24th century Federation Sovereign-class starship operated by Starfleet. This ship was the sixth Federation starship to bear the name Enterprise.

## Service history

###### Construction and launch

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Asked about its construction, Ronald D. Moore replied that his "working assumption was that the E-E had her keel laid sometime during TNG's last season and was probably going to be given another name. When the E-D was destroyed, that Sovereign-class ship was nearing completion and was then christened Enterprise. This same sort of thing happened during WWII. After the carrier Yorktown was sunk at Midway, the US Navy decided to rename a carrier then under construction in honor of the fallen ship." (AOL chat, 1998)

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In the novel Headlong Flight, it is stated that the Enterprise-E was originally going to be named the USS Honorius before the Battle of Veridian III.

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The novel The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard stated that the vessel was originally going to be named the USS Sentinel.

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###### The Borg threat

After almost a year in space, the *Enterprise* was ordered to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone during the second Borg incursion. Starfleet was officially concerned about possible Romulan military action since many of the available ships had been diverted to fight the Borg, but in reality, Starfleet was concerned about Picard's presence at the battle.

###### Return to Earth

However, shortly after the Federation fleet engaged the Borg cube, Picard disobeyed orders and returned to Earth to assist the fleet. Once there, Picard became aware of a battle-induced weakness in the Borg ship due to his residual link to the Collective and ordered all the ships in the fleet to concentrate their fire on that section of the ship. As a result, the Borg vessel was destroyed and the Battle of Sector 001 was a victory for Starfleet.

###### Journey to 2063

Before the Borg cube was destroyed, it launched a second vessel towards Earth. This ship created a temporal vortex and traveled back to the year2063 in order to stop Zefram Cochrane from launching his historic warp ship, the *Phoenix*. Their hope was to prevent first contact with the Vulcans and assimilate Earth before the Federation could be formed to resist them.

The *Enterprise*, protected from the alterations in the timeline by a temporal wake within the vortex, chased the Borg into the past and destroyed their ship and sent an away team to help Cochrane repair the *Phoenix.*

However, the ship's sensors and shields were damaged during the trip through the vortex and, unbeknownst to the crew, several Borg drones transported aboard the *Enterprise* before their ship exploded. They began to assimilate the ship, beginning with main engineering and sickbay on deck 16 and converting the corridors into a Borg configuration, complete with regeneration alcoves and assimilation chambers. On Picard's order, Lieutenant Commander Data locked out the main computer with a fractal encryption code to prevent the Borg from fully seizing control of the *Enterprise*. The Borg established their collective in engineering and cut primary power to all other decks, cutting the *Enterprise* off from the away team still down on the surface. The Borg were able to swiftly overrun the defense checkpoints set up by the Starfleet crew on decks 26 through 11, assimilating the crew as they progressed and seizing control of such sections as hydroponics, Stellar cartography, deflector control and the shuttlebays. They also attempted to build an interplexing beacon on the particle emitterof the deflector dish to contact the Borg Collective of that time period.

A three-man team led by Captain Picard stopped the beacon from being completed by separating the dish from the ship by disengaging the magnetic locks and destroying it. The Borg changed tactics and continued to overrun the defense checkpoints, assimilating the ship up to deck 5 with the intent to fully assimilate the vessel. The Borg's ability to adapt to the handheld weapons of the Enterprise crew made stopping them impossible and Picard realized that the fight was a lost cause. After great consideration, he reluctantly ordered the evacuation of the ship via the escape pods and activated the ship's auto-destruct sequence to prevent the Borg from interfering with the Phoenix flight.

Picard eventually confronted the Borg Queen in main engineering, only to find, to his horror, that the Borg had apparently coerced Data into collaborating with them. He aborted the auto-destruct sequence and entered the encryption codes into the main computer, effectively giving the Borg Queen command of the Enterprise. On the Queen's instructions, Data fired three quantum torpedoes at the Phoenix, ostensibly intending to destroy it. However, the torpedoes narrowly missed their target and Data revealed that he had in fact simply been deceiving the Borg. He ruptured one of the plasma coolant tanks, flooding engineering with plasma coolant and liquefying the Borg Queen and all the drones in engineering. With the death of the Borg Queen, the remaining Borg onboard were disabled, which allowed Data and Picard to recapture the vessel.

The Enterprise crew was successful in helping Cochrane make his flight and instigate First Contact with Vulcans. Using the gravitational field of Luna allowed the Enterprise to remain undetected by the Vulcan ship and the Enterprise was able to recreate the vortex used by the Borg to return to 2373 where the Borg components were removed, the ship repaired and subsequently returned to service. (Star Trek: First Contact)

###### The Briar Patch

With the Federation Diplomatic Corps attempting to negotiate an end to the Dominion War, the Enterprise was relegated to a diplomatic role, much to the dissatisfaction of Captain Picard. In 2375, the Enterprise was conducting a diplomatic mission with the Evora, a new Federationprotectorate species and was scheduled to resolve a territorial dispute in the Goren system when her crew became embroiled in a plot by the Son'a, assisted by Starfleet Admiral Dougherty, to forcibly remove the Ba'ku from their isolated homeworld in the Briar Patch.

###### The Son'a plot

The Son'a turned out to be vengeful former Ba'ku who had been exiled from the planet after a failed *coup* a century prior. They planned to harvest metaphasic radiation from the planet's ring system and needed Starfleet's cooperation to carry out the plan. Captain Picard felt the relocation of the Ba'ku was a severe violation of the Prime Directive and resigned his commission, leading a team of *Enterprise* crewmembers to the Ba'ku planet to prevent their capture and removal.

Commander William T. Riker was instructed to take the *Enterprise* and contact the Federation Council to alert them of Admiral Dougherty's treachery. However, the *Enterprise* was required to navigate an area of space known as the Briar Patch in order to contact Starfleet Command. This area disrupted communications as well as the ship's warp drive.

###### The Battle of the Briar Patch

Main article: Battle of the Briar Patch
Two Son'a battle cruisers were sent by Ahdar Ru'afo to intercept the Enterprise before she left the Briar Patch and severely damaged the ship in the process. The warp core was ejected in order to seal a dangerous tear in subspace created by the isolytic weaponry of the Son'a.

Riker was able to outwit the Son'a by collecting metreon gas native to the Briar Patch then venting it behind the ship. When the Son'a used their weapons, the gas exploded, destroying one ship and severely damaging the other. Geordi La Forge half-jokingly commented that the tactic could become known as the Riker Maneuver. The Enterprise later returned to the Ba'ku planet to aid Captain Picard disarming the Son'a collector. They ran into Ru'afo's flagship on their way there and Commander Riker pretended to ram into the flagship but instead flew over it and used its phaser banks to fire at it. When the collector started to blow up, the Enterprise beamed up Picard and left Ru'afo to be destroyed in the collector while it blew up. The Enterprise later left Briar Patch to leave for Earth. (Star Trek: Insurrection)

###### Continuing voyages

The Enterprise visited Earth for several days in 2376, around the time the Pathfinder Project made contact with the USS Voyager and conducted a mission about seven light years from Earth the following year. According to Deanna Troi, it was an important mission, but the objective was never discussed. (VOY: "Pathfinder", "Life Line")

Sometime between 2375 and 2379 the Enterprise underwent a major refit. Four additional aft-facing photon torpedo tubes were added, along with one more forward-facing tube: a twin launcher aft of the bridge, a single launcher above the aft hangar deck and a single launcher at the forward base of the bridge terracing.

The bridge was refitted with handrails and the consoles were improved across the port and starboard walls with more detailed displays. Additionally, new nacelle pylons were fitted at that time, slightly longer, broader, and more sharply swept than the originals and fitted with four additional phaser arrays. (Star Trek Nemesis)

###### Stopping Shinzon

In 2379, the *Enterprise* returned to Earth for the wedding of William T. Riker and Deanna Troi. She departed for Betazed, where another ceremony, a traditional Betazoid wedding, was scheduled.

###### Discovery of B-4

While en route, the ship detected unusual positronic signals from the Kolarin system, discovering another Soong-type android, the prototype B-4. Shortly following, the *Enterprise* was ordered to Romulus for a meeting with the new Praetor, Shinzon, who apparently wanted to initiate peace talks. Both the discovery of B-4 and the peace overtures turned out to be a ruse to capture Captain Picard and discover tactical positions of Starfleet vessels.

###### Shinzon's true goals

Once it became clear Shinzon was going to use his starship, the *Scimitar*, to destroy all life on Earth and wage war on the Federation, the *Enterprise* was to join Star Fleet Battle Group Omegaand make a stand against Shinzon.

###### Battle in the Bassen Rift

Shinzon caught up to the Enterprise in the Bassen Rift and, in the ensuing confrontation, the vessel was severely damaged, including a major hull breach on the bridge, destroying the viewscreen and controls and disabling the warp core.

As a last resort, Picard ordered Counselor Deanna Troi to take control of the Enterprise and have it ram the Scimitar, resulting in the loss of much of the saucer section's forward area. The collision disabled the Scimitar, but Shinzon, driven by vengeance, activated his deadly thalaron weapon and trained it on the Enterprise.

The weapon was overloaded and the Scimitar was destroyed due to interference from Commander Data, who sacrificed himself to save the Enterprise, Picard and, indirectly, Earth.

Following the *Scimitar* incident, the *Enterprise* returned to Earth where it underwent an extensive repair in one of the orbiting spacedocks. (Star Trek Nemesis)

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A cut scene from the script for Star Trek Nemesis revealed that it was the starship USS Hemingway that towed the critically damaged Enterprise to Earth.
towed the critically damaged Enterprise to Earth.

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According to the Star Trek Nemesis script and a deleted scene, the Enterprise was to explore the Denab system following her refit. In this scene, Commander Martin Madden, the new executive officer, has an awkward first encounter with Picard (having, as a joke, been given laughably inaccurate advice by Riker), and Picard is delighted to find a new captain's chair with something most Star Trek bridges have lacked: a seat belt.

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###### The 2380s

In the 2380s, Captain Picard was promoted to Admiral and left the *Enterprise* to spearhead the construction and deployment of a massive transport fleet intended to aid the evacuation of the Romulus system before its sun went supernova in 2387. (PIC: "Remembrance")

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According to the press kit for PIC Season 1, Picard left the Enterprise and was promoted to admiral in 2381, to assist the Romulan people. [1]

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## Technical information

In her original configuration, the *Enterprise*-E was under 700 meters long and had 24 decks according to Jean-Luc Picard, although Deck 26 was reported as being controlled by the Borg. She was equipped with twelve phaser arrays and five torpedo tubes.

By 2379, the *Enterprise*-E had undergone at least one refit, including four additional phaser arrays and five additional torpedo tubes. The number of decks was also increased by five to a minimum of 29. (Star Trek Nemesis)

Sections included deflector control, Stellar cartography, hydroponics (on deck 11), and one sickbay ward. Main engineering and sickbay were on Deck 16. (Star Trek: First Contact)

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 In the script of Star Trek Nemesis, Picard mentions the main dorsal output of the ventral type XII phasers on average was 125,000 terajoules, but this didn't make it into the film. John Eaves stated this to be true when asked about the script. (John Eaves official website PM) "The total output of phasers was indeed added to the script at one point but was removed due to it being unneeded, (125,000 TeraJoules)." (citation needed • edit)

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The ship could be controlled by a manual steering column located on the bridge. (Star Trek: Insurrection) She was also the first *Enterprise* to be equipped with an Emergency Medical Hologram. (Star Trek: First Contact)

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Ronald D. Moore commented that, as of First Contact, the Enterprise-E "definitely" had no children aboard. (AOL chat, 1998)

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The *Enterprise* carried a newer design of shuttlecraft as well as numerous other forms of transportation, including a warp-capable captain's yacht, the *Cousteau*, (Star Trek: Insurrection) and a special multipurpose shuttlecraft, the *Argo*. (Star Trek Nemesis) The yacht was installed as a part of the saucer section and detached upon deployment. Other auxiliary craft were launched from two shuttlebays, one at the aft end of the secondary hull and another near the aft end of the primary hull.

Crewmembers included those of the Human, Vulcan, Bajoran, Betazoid, Bolian, and Trill species, as well as a Klingon and an android. (Star Trek: Insurrection)

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In The Q Continuum trilogy by Greg Cox, it is stated that the Enterprise used the bio-neural gel packs used by USS Voyager.

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## Command crew

* Commanding officer
	+ Jean-Luc Picard (2372–2380s)
	+ William T. Riker (2375) (acting)
* First officer
	+ William T. Riker (2372–2379)
* Operations officer
	+ Data (2372–2379), also Second Officer
	+ Perim (2375)
	+ Deanna Troi (2379) (acting)
* Chief engineer
	+ Geordi La Forge (2372–)
* Tactical officer/Security chief
	+ Daniels (2372–2375)
	+ Worf (2373, 2375, 2379) (acting)
* Chief medical officer
	+ Beverly Crusher (2372–)
* Counselor
	+ Deanna Troi (2372–2379)
* Flight control officer
	+ Hawk (2373)
	+ Geordi LaForge (2375) (acting)
	+ Branson (2379)

**See also:** USS Enterprise personnel

*Scenes cut from the theatrical release of* Star Trek Nemesis *(but included in the 2003 and 2005 DVD releases) state that Commander Martin Madden took over for Riker as first officer and that Beverly Crusher left the ship to head up Starfleet Medical. Early versions of the script made reference to an Andorian ops officer. The new counselor was female, according to dialogue. Novels set after* Nemesis *have ignored these deleted scenes and several new characters were created by the authors. Beverly Crusher returned to the* Enterprise*, beginning a romantic relationship with Captain Picard, eventually marrying him and as of the third book of the* Star Trek: Destiny *trilogy* Lost Souls*, she was pregnant with their first child. Worf was also promoted to commander and became the* Enterprise*'s new first officer.*

In the Countdown comic mini-series leading up to Star Trek, which was set in 2387, Picard had left the Enterprise and Starfleet, becoming Federation ambassador to Vulcan. Worf had again left Starfleet and become a general in the Klingon Defense Force and a restored Data (in the body of B-4) was now captain of the Enterprise. Geordi La Forge had also retired from Starfleet to design ships, including the Jellyfish, although it is listed as having been commissioned by the Vulcan Science Academy. Also, the storyline for Star Trek Online has Data as being brought back by the Soong Foundation (**β**) (with assistance from Geordi La Forge) and being given command of the Enterprise after Picard retired.

In The Last Best Hope, Picard leaves the Enterprise in 2381 after being promoted to admiral and tasked with leading the Romulan rescue fleet. Command of the Enterprise-E was turned over to Worf. a year later, Geordi LaForge leaves the Enterprise to help with the Federation fleet tasked with relocating the Romulans.