Summary
- The USS Enterprise is the most iconic starship in Star Trek and has been destroyed on-screen multiple times.
- Different generations of the Enterprise served as the primary starship in Star Trek series, but they often met explosive endings.
- Not every Enterprise was destroyed, some were decommissioned, but each one has a story worth telling and represented the Federation's idealism.
Star Trek features plenty of iconic starships, but it really does all come back to the USS Enterprise, which has been destroyed on-screen more than once. More often than not, Star Trek revolves around the adventures of Starfleet's flagship vessel, whether the Enterprise Captain be James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), or Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). If Star Trek has a non-human protagonist, it's the various iterations of the Starship Enterprise.
In Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Enterprise, the different generations of the USS Enterprise served as the primary starship in the series. Unfortunately, ships called Enterprise tend to experience explosive endings. More often than not, the Enterprise goes down in a blaze of glory, a sign that things have taken a truly dire turn. Not every Enterprise suffered a fiery end in Star Trek — some of them were simply decommissioned after long runs — but every single one has a story worth telling, and successfully traversed the final frontier on behalf of the Federation's idealism.
Star Trek: Every Captain of the Enterprise
Star Trek has featured many starships named Enterprise. Along with Kirk and Picard, here's every Enterprise Captain from each movie and TV series.Enterprise NX-01
Star Trek: Enterprise
The first starship to bear the name Enterprise, the NX-01 was commanded by Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) in the 22nd century, and was the first Earth spacecraft to explore the depths of deep space. The first Warp 5-capable Starfleet ship, the NX-01 took its share of poundings but is one of the few ships named Enterprise to survive its run relatively unscathed. According to the controversial Star Trek: Enterprise series finale "These Are The Voyages...", the NX-01 was retired in 2161 to make way for more advanced starships.
Star Trek: Picard season 3 established the refitted NX-01 Enterprise is on display at the Fleet Museum on Athan Prime.
USS Enterprise NCC-1701
Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
The ship first seen in Star Trek: The Original Series had a long, eventful life. Commissioned in 2245, it saw several Captains, most notably Robert April (Adrian Holmes), Christopher Pike, and James T. Kirk, and boldly went where no one had gone before for decades. The Enterprise enjoyed at least two refits during its 40 years of service, including the sleek, iconic look introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. After the ship was decommissioned following the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Admiral Kirk and his crew stole the Enterprise in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock.
En route to the Genesis Planet to find the resurrected Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Kirk and friends ran afoul of some Klingons intent on unlocking the destructive power of Genesis. After the ship took severe damage — and the Klingons executed Kirk's son — the Enterprise's auto-destruct was activated as Kirk and the crew escaped to the Genesis planet and the Klingons boarded the ship. The gambit worked — the Klingons were defeated and Kirk and crew lived to fight another day and save Spock — but the cost was high.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds depicts the voyages of the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Christopher Pike.
USS Enterprise NCC-1701 (Kelvin Timeline)
Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Beyond
The USS Enterprise of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies may be the most abused of any of the Federation ships called Enterprise. It took heavy fire from the time-displaced Romulan mining ship commanded by the crazed Nero (Eric Bana), and it survived even more serious damage from the USS Vengeance, a ship controlled by Section 31's Admiral Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller). The Enterprise survived both of those encounters but swiftly fell in Star Trek Beyond, decimated by the Swarm ships under the command of the mysterious Krall (Idris Elba). At the end of Star Trek Beyond, Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) was given command of the Kelvin Timeline's USS Enterprise-A.
USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
After some time-travel shenanigans to save Earth in the classic Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, a brand new Constitution-class starship is assigned to the newly demoted Captain Kirk, the USS Enterprise-A. Visually identical to the refitted USS Enterprise, the NCC-1701-A spends most of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier malfunctioning, much to the chagrin of Scotty. The ship gets a more serious sendoff in the final TOS film, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, where after a pitched battle with a group of Klingons who oppose making peace with the Federation, the damaged ship is ordered back to base to be decommissioned.
The USS Enterprise-A is also docked in the Fleet Museum at Athan Prime as seen in Star Trek: Picard season 3.
5 Times Enterprise Wasn’t Ready For Its Star Trek Mission
Exploring space, seeking new life, and boldly going. But here are five times Star Trek's USS Enterprise wasn't actually ready for its iconic mission.USS Enterprise NCC-1701-B
Star Trek Generations
The Excelsior Class USS Enterprise-B was launched in 2293 under the command of Captain John Harriman (Alan Ruck). The only adventure audiences got to see of the ship was its inaugural cruise featuring Captain Kirk, Scotty (James Doohan), and Chekov (Walter Koenig) as special guests. The ship would end up being called into emergency action, forced to rescue a group of El-Aurian refugees who were fleeing the Borg after the destruction of their planet. Captain Kirk seemingly died during this mission, though he was actually sucked into an alternate reality energy ribbon known as the Nexus. Little is known about the fate of the Enterprise-B beyond its maiden voyage, but it was said to have served for many years with distinction in the tie-in novels before it was decommissioned.
The USS Enterprise-B's helmsman was Ensign Demora Sulu (Jacqueline Kim), the daughter of Kirk's former Enterprise helmsman, Captain Hikaru Sulu (George Takei).
USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C
Star Trek: The Next Generation
The USS Enterprise-C was commanded by Captain Rachel Garrett (Tricia O'Neil). The Ambassador Class starship infamously traveled through a wormhole and ended up two decades into its own future in the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Yesterday's Enterprise." The Enterprise-C was fated to come to the rescue of a Klingon ship under attack from Romulans, but when it was displaced in time it radically altered the timeline, creating a reality where Captain Picard and crew were engaged in a brutal war with the Klingons. Rather than stay in the new reality, the Enterprise-C went back to their own time — with Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) in tow — to sacrifice themselves and set the timeline back to the way it was supposed to be.
USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D
Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: Picard Season 3
The iconic Federation flagship featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the beloved Galaxy Class USS Enterprise-D was the crown jewel of Starfleet in the mid-24th century. The massive, powerful ship took on everything from diplomatic missions to Borg attacks under the watch of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. The Enterprise-D met an untimely demise in Star Trek Generations when Klingons Lursa and B'Etor found a way to penetrate the Enterprise's shields, stunning the ship's crew and inflicting serious damage before the Enterprise was able to destroy the Klingon vessel.
Despite their victory, too much damage was taken by the Enterprise; the crew evacuated to the saucer section just moments before the drive section exploded, sending the saucer hurtling into the atmosphere of a nearby planet. The majority of the crew survived the crash landing, but that was the end of the line for the Enterprise-D. Many fans were shocked to see the Enterprise-D meet such a sudden end, but almost 30 years later, Star Trek: Picard season 3 resurrected the mighty USS Enterprise-D to save the galaxy from the Borg.
The main bridge of the Enterprise-D was a standing set that had been living on the studio lot for the previous eight years during TNG's television run. The set had to be struck to make way for the next TV show's bridge, Star Trek: Voyager. So, in a way, Voyager destroyed the Enterprise.
USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E
Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: Nemesis
The SovereignM Class USS Enterprise-E was designed as a battleship specifically to take on the threat of the Borg, which it did in style in Star Trek: First Contact. The E took a beating during the three Star Trek: The Next Generation movies in which it was featured, most notably in Star Trek: Nemesis, where it rammed the Romulan Praetor Shinzon's (Tom Hardy) ship, the Scimitar, smashing the front of the saucer section. The Enterprise-E was never destroyed onscreen, but Star Trek: Picard season 3 revealed Captain Worf (Michael Dorn) took command after Jean-Luc Picard's promotion to Admiral. The Enterprise-E was subsequently lost in a mysterious event that Worf claims was not his fault.
USS Enterprise NCC 1701-F
Star Trek: Picard Season 3
The Odyssey Class USS Enterprise-F originated in the Star Trek Online video game but was officially made canon by its appearance in Star Trek: Picard season 3. Under the ceremonial command of Admiral Elizabeth Shelby (Elizabeth Dennehy), the Enterprise-F was due to be decommissioned in 2401 following Starfleet's Frontier Day celebration. Tragically, the Borg assimilated every Starfleet Officer under age 25, and Shelby was killed during the takeover of the Enterprise-F. The Odyssey Class starship wasn't destroyed on-screen, but it was retired to make way for the next Starship Enterprise.
USS Enterprise NCC 1701-G
Star Trek: Picard season 3
The newest Starship Enterprise, the USS Enterprise-G, is the rechristened USS Titan-A. The Neo-Constitution Class starship was formerly commanded by the late Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick), who posthumously recommended Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) for a promotion to Captain. In recognition of her heroism during Star Trek: Picard season 3's Frontier Day disaster, Seven of Nine became Captain of the USS Enterprise-G, the next generation of Star Trek's greatest starship, which will hopefully voyage for many years before it is ever destroyed.
Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are available to stream on Paramount+.
Star Trek: The Original Series movies and Star Trek: The Next Generation movies are available to stream on Max.
Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond are available to stream on Paramount+.