Hiya peeps! This video is a look into the
captains of the various Enterprise ships of
Starfleet starting from the Excelsior Class
Enterprise B to the E. Now If you’re looking
for the original series vessels and earlier,
you can check out part one of this vid linked
here and in the description below. And another
thing, this video contains a lot more speculation
and theorising based on Memory Beta content,
and I’ll mention it as such, but this is
the reason for it being a separate video as
the constitution ships captains, apart from
some vagueness here and there, are quite well
mapped out. So on with the rundown.
As mentioned last video, the Enterprise A
was in essence a 40 plus year old vessel given
a new lick of paint and renamed the Enterprise
as such plans were already in motion to resume
the legacy of the vessel with Starfleet’s
latest technology and pride and joy, the Excelsior
class. The ship was assigned to Captain John
Harriman in 2293, and for its shakedown run,
crew from the USS Enterprise, including Admiral
Kirk were in attendance. This was Harriman’s
first command at the age of 34. It’s said
that he reached such a prestigious position
because of the influence of his father, the
then Commander in Chief of Starfleet. Whether
true or not, Harriman was indeed relatively
inexperienced but at least understood that,
offsetting his lack of experience with a more
open-forum style of command that encouraged
questions and discussion until a decision
had been made.
The ship’s launch was marred by tragedy
however, when they responded to a distress
call from El-Aurian refugees caught in the
Nexus energy ribbon. The rescue attempt seemingly
resulted in the loss of Captain Kirk and the
superstitious would go on to say this was
an ill omen for the ship. Harriman had a lot
to prove, that he deserved his spot on the
bridge, that he hadn’t been just handed
it by his father and to outgrow the idea that
the Enterprise B was to remembered as the
ship that got Kirk killed. He also undertook
missions assigned by Starfleet Intelligence,
routinely involving the Romulan Empire and
eventually relinquished command in 2311 after
18 years. He would continue his career in
Starfleet, stepping away from the Starfleet
Intelligence, as the Tomed Incident had left
a bitter taste in his mouth; he was made the
liaison to Corps of Engineers until 2375.
The Enterprise would then pass into the hands
of Demora Sulu who had served on the ship
for most of her career until reaching the
rank of captain. She remained in command,
stepping away once in 2315 for a few months,
until the early 2320 when command finally
passed to Captain Thomas Johnson Jr. Whom
served as captain until the ship’s disappearance
in 2329 after an unknown infection spread
throughout the crew. No wreckage was found
nor a complete record of events. Eventually
the search would be called off and the ship
and crew presumed KIA.
Three years later in 2332, Utopia Planitia
oversaw the construction of the new Ambassador
Class, USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C. Captain
Rachel Garrett was the CO of the vessel and
like Harriman before her, it was her first
command. The most notable thing about the
Enterprise C was its final mission in 2344
where it responded to a distress call from
Narendra III, a Klingon outpost. Once there,
it discovered four Romulan Warbirds attacking
the colony and intervened buying the Klingons
enough time to escape. During the fight, Garrett
was killed along with the majority of the
senior staff and in its final minutes, Lt
Jr Grade Richard Castillo took command. The
few survivors were brought as slaves back
to Romulus and there are records that a temporal
event was involved with the discovery of Natasha
Yar’s daughter, Sela. What is certain is
that the sacrifice of the Enterprise C strengthened
the weakening relations between the Klingons
and the Federation ensuring the peace established
at Khitomer endured. The second time an Enterprise
would enable peace between the two powers.
It wouldn’t be for another 19 years that
another Enterprise was launched. This Vessel
was the galaxy class, NCC-1701-D. Captain
Thomas Halloway oversaw the construction of
the vessel and was pencilled in as its first
CO until he walked away from the position.
Starfleet then turned to the experienced Captain
Jean Luc Picard who even turned down a promotion
in order to remain as the ship’s captain.
Picard would go on to serve as the captain
of the vessel for its entire tenure, except
in 2367 when Riker took command to combat
the Borg incursions into Federation space
and again in 2369 when Picard was assigned
to a top secret mission in Cardassian territory
and Captain Jellico was assigned for diplomatic
negotiations with the potential aggressors.
Picard served with distinction and was able
to hand pick most of his senior staff from
his many years as a captain. It underwent
a minor refit in 2371, however despite the
Enterprise being the centre of the Next Generation
show, it was one of the shortest lived vessels
to bear the name. Eventually it was destroyed
over Veridian III by the Duras Sisters with
the help of Dr. Tolian Soran. The crew survived
the encounter with minimal casualties but
the ship’s drive section was destroyed and
the saucer unsalvageable.
Most of the crew would do their best to stick
together and only two years later, the Sovereign
Class, USS Enterprise 1701-E was launched
with the majority of the staff in the same
positions, with Captain Picard still in command.
The vessel was launched from San Francisco
Fleet Yards, the same as the original Enterprise
and assigned minor tasks for several years,
likely due in part to the mostly untested
Sovereign design. This can be backed up by
the vessel and its sister-ships being reserved
for peacekeeping and diplomatic missions during
the Dominion War. The ship received upgrades
and maintenance in 2378 and was eventually
dispatched to Romulus in 2379 at the request
of Praetor Shinzon. The ship endured major
structural damage during the encounter but
was still functional. This is where the story
ends, for now, but I thought I’d include
some more content to flush out a potential
future for the ship based on the extensive
books and other media surrounding the vessels.
Picard would remain in command of the vessel
for a total of 12 years, retiring from Starfleet
in 2385 become the Federation’s Vulcan Ambassador,
resuming the reunification work initiated
by Ambassador Spock. The ship then spent a
long time in dry-dock undergoing extensive
refits to keep up with advancing technologies.
Meanwhile, Data had effectively been resurrected
when his memories were restored in full in
the body of the porotype B-4. After several
years, he returned to active duty and was
assigned command of the Enterprise E in 2387
which makes sense after all, he was the second
officer and Riker was in command of the USS
Titan and Picard had retired. This future
is the one described in Star Trek Online and
also hinted to in the technically prime universe
Star Trek 2009 prequel story, Countdown where
we see Captain Data in command, in a uniform
very reminiscent of the Star Trek Online attire.
The vessel was potentially decommissioned
in 2409, leaving Data in command for a whopping
22 years, making him potentially the longest
serving captain of a Starship Enterprise.
And there we go, this history of the Enterprise
captains technically ends with Nemesis and
the announced Picard series could rewrite
anything beyond 2379 but I thought I’d include
it anyway as a sort of current farewell to
the lineage, after all, I can’t stand loose
ends. After the E, we technically have the
F but that’s getting further and further
from canon with time so I’ll leave it there.
As it stands the longest confirmed serving
captain of an Enterprise according to just
the shows and movies is Christopher Pike at
15 years with almost everyone else not even
having exact start dates. But what about the
longest uninterrupted captain? If we include
changing ships as an interruption.
Well, According to the list I’ve worked
out and with admittedly some assumptions,
it’s Data, if you want to include the extensive
memory beta, then John Harriman. Pike at number
three then Rachel Garret tied with Picard’s
Enterprise E tenure. Then Kirk, based on the
motion Picture and the assumed second 5 year
mission, but he could be as high as number
two on this list, if we assume he was in command
at every unmentioned opportunity the canon
leaves open. Then Archer with a confirmed
10 years, Demora Sulu at 9, shared with the
unknown Captain Johnson Jr. Spock takes eight
place with 7 years, but maybe 13 depending
on Kirk, phew. Then Picard with the Next Generation,
Kirk again with his tenure aboard the Enterprise
A. Picard again in eleventh place with a confirmed
6 years on the Enterprise E but potentially
12 if he retires in 2385. Near the bottom
of the list is Robert April with his only
five year mission and at the last is Decker
with his unfortunate 2 and a half years. Oh
Decker, as forgettable as the uniform you
wore. Still you can see why this is harldy
a definitive list as most of these dates are
based on speculation, books and media outside
of the shows primary canon, but you know what?
I had fun putting it all together and I hope
you did watching it.
Thanks for watching and being part of the
channel’s growth, and I’ll see you next
time, but before I go, a question shall I
do a list on the many alternate Enterprises?
And if you could see a series at any point
in the Enterprise’s history, not already
covered, where would you focus it? I’d like
to see more on the voyages of the Enterprise
B because the Excelsior is my favourite class,
the movie uniform my favourite uniform and
I like the idea of a captain who trying forge
his own story, not just be the son of the
Admiral or the one that got Kirk killed (even
though he didn’t really cos Kirk wasn’t
dead but in a make believe fairy tale land
of happy horse-riding and omelettes.)
I’ll see you later, I’ve been Ric, thanks
again and Goodbye!
