Enterprise history
The name Enterprise has a longstanding history as a ship name, starting some time prior to the 18th century and lasting at least into the 26th century.

History

Earth 
 was a noted sailing ship of the British Royal Navy. A galleon, she was active sometime between the 16th century and the early 18th century.

A frigate named  was a noted sailing ship, either of the Royal Navy or of the US Navy. She was active in the late 18th century. ()

A  from the age of the sail, , was used in a 24th century holodeck program. ()

The  was an aircraft carrier that served in World War II. Its successor was the , which was the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. (; )

The first space shuttle orbiter was the . Benjamin Sisko kept a desktop model of the Enterprise docked with the International Space Station. (; )

The  was an early spacecraft. (; )

 was the first warp 5 starship to be launched. The prototype of the , it was launched in 2151 and was decommissioned in 2161. Its relatively short service life can be attributed to the formation of the Federation; its technology was far behind that of some of the founding races, rendering it immediately obsolete. It participated in early first contact missions, the Xindi incident, and several other missions during its illustrious career under Captain Jonathan Archer. ()

United Federation of Planets 
The  was a  starship that served under five captains from 2245 to 2285, including Robert April, Christopher Pike, Will Decker, and in later years Spock. Its most famous commander was Captain James T. Kirk, whose five-year mission aboard the Enterprise became legendary.

The ship subsequently had encounters with V'ger and Khan Noonien Singh before being destroyed over Genesis.(; ; ; ; ; )

The  was a refit Constitution-class vessel under the command of Captain James T. Kirk. The ship was launched in 2286 and served during the Khitomer Conference prior to its decommissioning in 2293. (; ; )

The  was a refit  starship launched in 2293. The ship was under the command of Captain John Harriman and was noted for rescuing 47 El-Aurians from the Nexus. ()

The  was an  starship that served in the early-to-mid 24th century under the command of Captain Rachel Garrett. The ship's destruction defending a Klingon outpost against four Romulan Warbirds eventually led to closer relations between the Klingon Empire and the Federation. ()

The  was a  starship that served under three captains from 2363 to 2371, most famously Jean-Luc Picard, who commanded the ship for the majority of its service. The ship was also briefly captained by William T. Riker and Edward Jellico. The Enterprise-D was the Federation flagship and made first contact with over thirty species. It also participated in the Klingon Civil War and was the first starship to visit another galaxy. (; )

The  was a  starship launched under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in 2372. The ship participated in the Battle of Sector 001, the crew's insurrection against the forced relocation of the Ba'ku, and was badly damaged in the battle against the Reman Warbird Scimitar at the Battle in the Bassen Rift. (; ; )

Alternate timelines and realities 

In an alternate timeline created when the  accidentally traveled to the future rather than being destroyed defending a Klingon outpost, the Federation was at war with the Klingon Empire.  The  was the first of the Galaxy class warships and its design was geared for combat. It was likely destroyed by the attack of two Klingon Birds of Prey. ()

In the alternate timeline in which the Sphere-Builders attempted to invade the prime reality in the 26th century, the  participated in the historic Battle of Procyon V to drive them out. ()

In the timeline where an anomaly threatened to destroy life, the Enterprise-D was the personal flagship of Admiral William Riker. It was fitted with a large phaser cannon and a cloaking device. Starfleet had tried to decommission her, but as an admiral, Riker got to choose his own ship. ()

Alternate reality 
In the alternate reality created by a temporal incursion by Nero in 2233, the  was a  starship launched in 2258 as the Federation flagship under the command of Captain . Under the acting command of Cadet , the crew was successful in defending Earth from the Narada. ()

A year later, the Enterprise was nearly destroyed by the , but was later repaired and refitted to embark on Starfleet's first five-year mission in 2260. ()

The Enterprise was ultimately destroyed by Krall and his Swarm ships above Altamid in 2263. ()

The  was a  starship that was under construction at Starbase Yorktown in 2263 and was launched sometime afterwards following the destruction of the previous starship Enterprise. ()

Mirror universe 

The  was the flagship of the . It was commanded by Captain Maximilian Forrest and was destroyed by Tholians in 2155 during the operation to capture the . ()

The  was a  starship under the commands of  and . The crew of this ship was one of the first Terran starships to come into contact with people from the prime universe. ()

Legacy 
The legacy of the ships named Enterprise were honored at various places, including:
 The 602 Club: A painting of . ()

 The captain's ready room aboard : Drawings of the frigate , , , and XCV 330. ()

 In 2259 of the alternate reality, models of the Enterprise (OV-101), USS Enterprise (XCV-330) and Enterprise (NX-01) were displayed on a desk in ' office alongside other iconic air and space craft. ()

 The recreation room aboard the refit : Drawings of the  , , OV-101, XCV 330, and the pre-refit NCC-1701. (; The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture)

 The observation lounge aboard the : Models of CVN-65, NCC-1701, , , and . ()

 The observation lounge aboard the : Models of NCC-1701, NCC-1701-A, NCC-1701-B, NCC-1701-C, NCC-1701-D, and NCC-1701-E. The captain's ready room also contained a model of the NCC-1701-E. (; )

Appendices

Background information 
Key ships in real-world history include:

French/British
L'Entreprise (unknown – 1707) 320-ton, 24-gun,  frigate – The first known Human ship named Enterprise. She was captured by the British and renamed HMS Enterprize in 1705.

As of , the Royal Navy has had thirteen more ships named Enterprise/Enterprize, of which ten were commissioned and therefore used the prefix "HMS".

American
As of 2019, the United States Navy has had eight vessels named Enterprise, of which six were commissioned and used the prefix USS (United States Ship). A ninth ship bearing the name is currently under construction.

Continental Navy of the United States
 USS Enterprise (1775 – 1777) 70-ton sloop – served on Lake Champlain. ()
 Enterprise (1776 – 1777) 25-ton schooner – served in Chesapeake Bay. ()

US Navy (sail)
One of these ships was the inspiration for the holographic sailing ship in Star Trek Generations:
 USS Enterprise (1799 – 1823) 135-ton schooner – defeated the 14-gun Tripolitan corsair Tripoli in 1801. An 1800 refit upgraded her tonnage to 165, and in 1812 she was rerigged as a brig. ()

 USS Enterprise (1831 – 1844) 194-ton schooner. ()

Union Army Balloon Corps
 Enterprise (1861 – 1862) small hydrogen-gas balloon – the first balloon in US military service.

US Navy (powered)
 USS Enterprise (1877 – 1909) 1375-ton barque-rigged screw sloop-of-war. She was the first Enterprise known to use the USS prefix while in actual service. ( and [)

 Enterprise SP-790 (1917 – 1919) motorboat – non-commissioned, served in the 2nd Naval District during World War I. ()

 USS Enterprise CV-6 (1938 – 1947) 19,800-ton Yorktown-class aircraft carrier – the most-decorated World War II ship in US service. ( and )

 USS Enterprise CVN-65 (1961 – 2012) 85,600-ton Enterprise-class aircraft carrier – the first nuclear powered carrier, and the second such powered surface ship. (, , , , , and ) The CVN-65 Enterprise was decommissioned in 2013. CVN-65 was also notably played by the  in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). The Navy later announced that the Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier CVN-80 would be named Enterprise.  Construction began on the USS Enterprise in August 2017; it is scheduled to be delivered and commissioned in 2025. 

 Originally, the  was planned to be named Enterprise or America before being designated to honor the late President. 

Civilian
  (launched 1933) First production nonrigid airship to bear the name Enterprise, served in an advertising capacity on the east coast of the United States until WWII. Airship registration: N-1A. A second Airship Enterprise served the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in the 1980s.

  (2014) Virgin Space Ship, the first of the Virgin Galactic fleet. While the US ships above fit the Star Trek timeline, this ship did not. It is in fact named after the Star Trek Enterprise, and space ships in Treks history were much more advanced by this time. It crashed on 31 October 2014.

Apocrypha 
In the Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology, the USS Enterprise XCV 330 was stated to be a  ship launched in 2123.

The short story "Iron and Sacrifice" in the anthology Tales from the Captain's Table, describes the Enterprise-B as still being in service beyond 2315.

The Star Trek: The Lost Era novel Well of Souls, notes that the Enterprise-C as being launched in 2332.

In the William Shatner novel The Return, shortly after the destruction the of USS Enterprise-D, the   was temporarily placed under the joint command of Ambassador Spock, Captain Kirk, and Captain Picard to attack the Borg central node, the equipment responsible for linking the Borg Collective in its group mind. The ship was temporarily renamed USS Enterprise by her regular captain  for the duration of the mission, who noted that it was the least he could do for her new commanders.

The   is featured in Star Trek Online as the new Starfleet flagship and is commanded by an Andorian .

Issue #2 of the comic mini-series Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness, set in the alternate reality right before , reveals a previous  under the command of that reality's version of  was in service for roughly twenty years before being decommissioned a year before the launch of the new one.

In the alternate timeline from the DS9 book trilogy Millennium, following the destruction of the USS Enterprise-E, Starfleet launched the  , which Thomas Riker described as being like the  to the tenth power. The ship was originally commanded by Jean-Luc Picard, but was given over to William T. Riker after Picard's promotion to admiral. Among Riker's crew were Geordi La Forge, Deanna Troi, Tom Paris, and B'Elanna Torres. The Enterprise-F was lost with all hands in a horrific battle that saw the destruction of Earth. This timeline was aborted thanks to the efforts of Benjamin Sisko and the rest of Deep Space 9's crew.

Several  tie-in novels mention an Andorian starship named the , whose Andorian name translates into English as "Enterprise".

The anthology Star Trek: Enterprise Logs tells the stories of various ships, both space and sea, named Enterprise.

External link 

ja:エンタープライズの歴史
History