From the day of its launch in 2245, the Constitution class U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701, was famous. Its first captain, Robert April, commanded many missions into the unknown. His first command had been a Daedalus class vessel U.S.S. Reliant, NCC-295. He commanded the Reliant for nearly twenty years before taking control of the new Constitution class vessel. He had been the second officer when first contact with the Klingons had taken place. The Reliant, along with two other ships, U.S.S. Egypt and U.S.S. Serra, attempted to make the contact a success, but they failed completely. April was able to convince the Klingons that they could try again later and was able to end the disastrous meeting on a good note with only the Egypt and one Klingon vessel being destroyed.

April commanded the Enterprise honorably for five years before being promoted. His years as commander sent him up against the Klingons more than once. He was the first to be able to defuse the hostilities between the Federation and Klingon Empire. Though hostilities still remained, war had been averted more than once. When he was promoted to commodore, he took command of the Constitution class U.S.S. Yeager, NCC-1804. It is well documented that April missed his original ship, but all the Daedalus class vessels were decommissioned and removed from service shortly after he had taken command of the Enterprise. The Yeager had gone on another five-year mission and returned to have April promoted to admiral. In a big protest, April took the Yeager back into space for another five-year mission. He never returned. His wife began extensive talks about honoring his name and accomplishments. Finally, Starfleet gave in and christened the U.S.S. Robert April, NCC-1825, in 2263, a Constitution class vessel. April's wife never saw the christening. She had died two weeks before the event.

Christopher Pike was not very famous, but the ship he was to captain had been commanded by one of the most famous captains in all of history. Pike had been granted command in 2251. When the honor of commanding the Enterprise came to him, he jumped on it with enthusiasm. He had commanded the U.S.S. August, NCC-1689, for five years. When he took charge of the Enterprise, he had the honor of meeting April for the first, and last, time. The celebrations lasted far too short for anyone's tastes, but when Pike sent the order to "boldly go..." no one even once thought he was a poor choice. He was most noted for contacting the Talosians. This was the first contact with another culture since the Klingons. Though this contact was not exactly very successful, the experience helped forge new rules and regulations concerning first contact. Just before the end of his exploration tour, he encountered the Orion Syndicate. This was the first successful first contact since the Vulcans. Being a syndicate, the Orions were not friendly, but Pike was able to defuse any and all hostilities during the meetings. No one was ever able to say that Pike stabbed anyone in their backs or allowed anyone to do the same to him. Over his ten years as captain of the Enterprise, he encountered nearly thirty new species and contacted them all successfully. More than any captain before him, though only one made Pike's name all but disappear.

Pike was promoted to Fleet Captain and in charge of training new cadets for further exploration. It was well documented that Pike missed the exploration and thrill, but longed even more for Talos IV. The Federation suffered greatly when he was promoted.

James Kirk was a strong young man. And unlike the other two in charge of the Enterprise, this was to be Kirk's first command. He took control of the Enterprise in 2264. He had already received a few commendations, but nothing like what he received when he took command. Heralded as the best and greatest captain ever to be turned out to from the Academy, his most renowned achievement was his entire five-year mission. No one had ever been able to do what he did in the same style that he did without first thinking that they were following in Kirk's footsteps. Because Kirk's exploits are required reading (that and recounting his most notable accomplishments would take up more space than is needed for this article) for Federation students regardless of whether their in Starfleet or not we won't be going into them that greatly. Kirk was promoted to admiral after his tour. Historians agree that he would have been promoted along the normal gradient except that he was on tour and to promote him would be too much trouble since he would have to be promoted again a few months later.

For nearly two years the Enterprise underwent massive reconstruction and reconfigurations. The ship was the first and only ship to return from such a long tour-of-duty. In 2271, the Enterprise's reconstruction had completed and its command was given to Will Decker. Kirk interceded and took control before Decker could do more than say hello. Kirk controlled the Enterprise for another five-year mission. He retired and the ship was given to Captain Eric Korben for another five-year mission. Kirk overshadowed him, but non-the-less he was able to make a name for himself. His most noted accomplishment was the re-encounter with the First Federation. His diplomatic training allowed the First Federation the confidence that the Federation was progressing peacefully and honorably. Trade of goods, but no technology, was established. It was Korben's assurance to the First Federation that later lead to the technological trade that took place nearly fifty years later.

The Enterprise was decommissioned and refitted to be a training vessel in 2284. The ship was sent on one final mission to protect the Regula-1 station and the still classified Project: Genesis. Six months after the mission completed, Kirk stole the Enterprise and destroyed it above the planet Genesis. For forty years the Enterprise was an icon of exploration and expansion. With its untimely destruction, Starfleet Command was considering honoring Admiral Kirk's legacy and giving him another Enterprise. The U.S.S. Yorktown was nearly finished when the Enterprise was destroyed so Starfleet re-christened her the Enterprise, NCC-1701-A. Only three other starships in history were ever granted the designation 'A' before the Enterprise. Kirk served one more five-year mission on the A.

The Enterprise-A was marked with one captain and one major mission. The Khitomer Peace Accords. The A only served for seven years, she made her mark and Starfleet thought that with Kirk retiring for good, they would retire her ship. Unfortunately, there was an uproar as to retiring the name Enterprise. As the A was being decomissioned, she was purchased by a private dealer. The dealer was Kirk's current flame. And she gave him the ship as a gift. Shortly thereafter, the A was destroyed protecting the planet Chal. Kirk returned to Starfleet for the christening of the Enterprise, NCC-1701-B, in 2293.

This ship was built from the ground up. She was an Excelsior class starship, but because she was an Enterprise, she was given further upgrades that no other Excelsior ship ever received before. There was much debate as to the granting of the Enterprise name to a failed transwarp test-bed, it was finally granted simply because the Excelsior class was the most advanced class at the time. From the construction of the Excelsior on it was the most advanced. The A was granted to the Constitution class only because Starfleet was trying to honor Kirk and his exploits.

The Enterprise-B was given to Captain John Harriman in 2293. His command was believed cursed when on her maiden voyage, the ship entered the Nexus, a natural phenomenon, to try to rescue two El-Aurian transports caught within. The ship came under the same distress that the transports had been, but Captain Montgomery Scott had the idea that they could make enough of a disruption, they could escape. Kirk volunteered for the duty and was lost in that line. No other captain or admiral ever received a larger funeral. Morning for the Federation's greatest loss lasted for nearly a month. Meanwhile, the crew of the B was morning in the only way the crew of the Enterprise could, or should. They explored and made a name for themselves.

The Enterprise-B was marked by two major events. The first was the loss of Captain Kirk. The second was the discovery of the first tachyon eddy. Up until that time, the belief that tachyons existed was nothing more than a belief. With its discovery, Harriman was able to use the new particles in a practical application, the hunt for a Romulan Bird of Prey. The B was sent in to find the enemy near the Neutral Zone. The search continued for nearly two weeks with no luck when a bizarre attack occurred at an outpost that was unmanned. The outpost was closer to the Klingon-Federation border than the Enterprise was to the Romulan Neutral Zone. The B was able to intercept and destroy the Romulan vessel. It was discovered that the Romulan vessel was after a construction site and got lost along the way. According to the Romulan military intelligence, the Tal-Shiar, the unmanned sensor array was a construction site for a Klingon-Federation hybrid warship designed to attack the Romulan Star Empire. The sensor array was not completely destroyed because the crew of the Bird of Prey realized their mistake and blamed it on poor navigation. The array was the first of its type to be constructed. Harriman received a promotion to commodore and was the first commodore to command the Enterprise. He remained in control for another five-year mission.

For twenty years, the B explored the unknown under two captains. The second was Captain Sekom, the first Vulcan to command an Enterprise. He was in charge of the B for the last ten years of the ship. His command was marked by the Tomed Incident in 2311. This was a major defeat of the Romulan forces, again. The B responded to a distress signal from the U.S.S. Tomed, NCC-14280. The Tomed was eventually reclaimed, but all hands had been lost and all but the warp core was repairable. Sekom was also given credit for the destruction of the B in 2312. He was protecting a planet of Romulan colonists from an Orion Syndicate raid. The ship was destroyed, but not before a Romulan Warbird had decloaked to aid in the defense. The Romulan government was amazed by this act of heroism that they were unable to do anything to the Federation again. The B was suffering from a warp core breach and was unable to pull itself away from the gravitational pull of the planet. Sekom ordered the Romulan Warbird to destroy her before she hit and destroyed the planet below. The only casualty was Captain Sekom, all of the other crew had abandoned and been picked up by Starfleet vessels some two months later. But when Starfleet arrived in response to the request of the Warbird, there was no evidence of a Romulan colony ever being on the planet. The crew of the Enterprise was given the shadow of the doubt. The Romulan Star Empire never said anything about the colony, but they said that the Enterprise came to the aid of the Romulan government.

The Enterprise-C was going to be granted to the newest addition to the fleet, the Ambassador class starship. Unfortunately, there was some structural difficulties that prevented the U.S.S. Ambassador, NCC-26100, from passing the Starfleet mandated builder's trials. It took two years to complete the necessary modifications and refits to allow it to pass the tests. After one year in service, Starfleet finally agreed that the class had been able to survive in space and ordered the construction of the Enterprise-C. The C was commissioned in 2316 and placed under the command of newly promoted Captain Eric Bascombe. Bascombe served one five-year mission and with the aid of his first officer, Samson Greene, expanded the boundaries of the Federation by nearly two hundred sectors. In 2323, a fast battle with the people of Dexpondan VIII caused the death of Captain Bascombe. Samson Greene assumed control and was able to defuse the situation. Because of his actions, Dexpondan VIII became part of the Federation just a few years later. Greene controlled the C for ten years. His most noted achievement was the memberships of nearly thirty worlds to the Federation. He gave up command to raise a family and requested that his best friend, Rachel Garret, take control. Starfleet decided to grant this request and followed through.

Rachel Garret commanded the C for ten years starting in 2333. She was not happy to take command of the C. She was perfectly happy on board her ship, U.S.S. Drexler, NCC-30025, a Belknap class cruiser. She took the command nonetheless and did so with a forced smile. She was able to expand the reaches of the Federation backward through time. She had eight temporal violations on her record by the time of the end of her first tour of duty. Because of all the trouble she was causing, she worked harder at being "Captain of the Enterprise". She held on to the C for another five years when, toward the end of her tour, she received a distress signal from a Klingon outpost, Narendra III. The attackers remain unknown to this day, but she commanded the Enterprise to its death. Because of this selfless act, historians believe that she had averted a war with the Klingons. The war, some conjecture, probably would have ended with the Federation loosing only because Klingons build warships while the Federation only builds exploration and science vessels.

The investigation into the real attackers of the outpost delayed Starfleet Command from looking at what they should do next. Another ship was chosen as flagship for twenty years. The decision had been made after the C's construction that there were to be no more Enterprises. Unfortunately, Starfleet Command did not account for the large number of Vulcans, Klingons, Betazeds, El-Alurians, and most every other race known to the Federation only because the Enterprise, in one form or another encountered them, raised havoc over the new flagship. The decision was made to retire the current ship and build another Enterprise.

The Enterprise-D, Galaxy class, was christened in 2363 under the command of experienced Captain Jean Luc Picard. He missed his first command, U.S.S. Stargazer, NCC-2893, Constellation class. He was reunited with his ship during his tour on the Enterprise-D. Unlike Kirk, Picard was most noted for his encounter with the Borg and the Q. To compare these two captains, Kirk was often noted for saving the galaxy and the Federation on far too many accounts while Picard is noted for saving humanity on just as many occasions. The D served for eight years when it was destroyed over Veridian III in a battle with rouge Klingons. The true death of Captain Kirk was revealed as dying on Veridian III and not on the B. The honorable sacrifice of both Kirk and Picard endured throughout the Federation on that day. The first successful, and only known test of, saucer landing was executed by the crew of the D. Though all survived, excepting Kirk, the D was totaled and non-reclaimable. Starfleet Command again himmed-and-hawwed over the construction of yet another Enterprise. The Sovereign class was proving itself quite quickly in the battles with the Dominion. So it was decided that there would be another Enterprise.

The Enterprise-E is a Sovereign class warship. It is the second warship design to be constructed by the Federation. The first warship design is the Defiant class anti-Borg/Dominion warship. Though the U.S.S. Defiant, NX-74205, is still in the experimental stage, the design had proved itself many times. It was decided that with the war with the Dominion lengthening out, the Defiant class should be constructed, but the lead ship would remain experimental for a while longer with the belief that the ship could be improved upon more religiously than any other vessel. The E had intercepted a Borg vessel against orders and destroyed the vessel. Though it is uncertain how, the E was partially assimilated by the Borg when it went into the McKinley Station for repairs. Starfleet is keeping the encounter with the Borg classified at this time, but who knows what really happened.

Following the trend of things, the Enterprise makes its crews famous and in turn makes itself more powerful. The Enterprise, in any form, is the most powerful starship ever to be constructed and its crew is creative enough to use its power in new and different ways. The Enterprise sets the standard and it breaks the records. No one who serves on the Enterprise leaves unchanged. Usually a promotion ensues, while others go on to make their own fame. Though the Federation has not always condoned what the crew had done in some situations, it has been forced to admit that the Enterprise and her crew did the right thing and did it when needed. Once the Enterprise has finished its term as flagship, one way or another it will die in a fantastic fireball of self-sacrifice and glory. This does, however, mean that there is no Enterprise in a museum anywhere, but maybe the E will be the first. Highly unlikely, but we can hope.

writen by Enterprise historian William P. Buckley, Smithsonian Institute.