USS Cerritos
The USS Cerritos (NCC-75567) was a Federation  starship operated by Starfleet in the 24th century, under the command of Captain Carol Freeman. ()

Service history

Early encounters 
Prior to stardate 57436.2 in 2380, the Cerritos suffered damage from several meteor impacts before barely escaping a black hole. 

Later, the ship's port nacelle struck an ice formation, causing a temporary power failure. 

It also happened upon a battle between twelve Romulan  warbirds and six Borg cubes. The Cerritos warped away from the conflict after being hit only once.  The Cerritos later returned to this battle, now joined by several Pakled Clumpships and Klingon Birds-of-Prey and once again fled after taking a single hit. On a third visit to this battle, the Cerritos also encountered a Crystalline Entity.

Later still, a large space grub attached itself to the ship's port nacelle. ( opening credits)

2380

The Cerritos was in service by stardate 57436.2 in 2380, where it was docked at Douglas Station prior to its second contact mission with the Galardonian High Council. 

During this mission, as Commander Jack Ransom was wrapping up his visit with the Galardonian High Council, he was bitten by a flying insect before beaming back to the ship, where he dismissed it. Later, this insect bite caused Ransom to have a seizure at the bar, due to a viral infection. The crew panicked as he suddenly became feral, and attacked other crew members by biting them, spreading the infection.

The situation quickly got out of hand, and the call was made for any uninfected crew members to meet in Transporter Room 8. As the crew gathered, Ensigns Brad Boimler and Beckett Mariner beamed back to the ship and were surprised to see what was going on around them. Boimler was still covered in a pink slime that he picked up on the surface after a run in with a teething spider creature, which Doctor T'Ana determined could be used to synthesize a cure for this virus. After one was produced, it was able to be distributed through the ventilation system, restoring the crew to their normal selves. ()

On stardate 57601.3, the Cerritos was called to Mixtus III to assist the  with the controlled implosion of an unstable moon that threatened the population. Besides providing assistance in terms of manpower, Captain Freeman was also instrumental in helping Mixtus inhabitants to reach mutually acceptable solutions that allowed the implosion to go forward. ()

The Cerritos was engaged in a standoff with the Drookmani over the salvage of a wrecked  cargo ship. The Drookmani started picking a fight with the Cerritos by throwing debris at the ship with their tractor beam. Captain Freeman refused to engage them in a fight due to diplomatic reasons. The Cerritos stood her ground as the Drookmani continued to throw debris, weakening their shields. Freeman's patience eventually ran out, but it was too late to fight back. Shields and weapons became disabled. Freeman almost gave the order to abandon ship, when they noticed that the Drookmani ship started breaking apart due to a corrupted isolinear core that was ejected from an airlock by Ensigns Mariner and Boimler. ()

Captain Freeman, Commander Ransom, and Lieutenant Shaxs were selected by Admiral Syltrack for a mission to the Pisepian agricultural colony in disputed territory. In their absence, Captain Amina Ramsey of the  was put in temporary command of the Cerritos, accompanied by Lieutenants Durga, Ottessa Warren, and Drew Prachett. Under Ramsey's command, the Cerritos journeyed to Khwopa to perform repairs on the inhabitants' water filtration system before rendezvousing with the , which was found adrift in space. It was later discovered that the Rubidoux had been invaded by space entity that was feeding on the ship's energy. Captain Ramsey and her away team were able to save Captain Dayton and her crew before the entity consumed the whole ship. The destruction of the Rubidoux resulted in the birth a space vessel lifeform. ()

When responding to 's distress call originated from the Kalla system, the Cerritoss crew discovered that it was destroyed with the loss of all hands. Soon the Cerritos was attacked and captured by the same unknown vessel that had destroyed the Solvang, with the intent to dismantle the Cerritos for parts. The unknown vessel turned out to be a Pakled ship heavily modified with starship parts from over 30 species. Having its port warp nacelle torn away, the Cerritos was powerless to escape or fight back, but Ensign Brad Boimler discovered that the Pakled Clumpship's system can be easily hacked due to its need to accept systems from different species. With the help of his training hologram Badgey, Ensign Sam Rutherford was able to create three viruses that can disable the Pakled Clumpship. Rutherford uploaded one of the viruses into his implant and Lieutenant Shaxs flew them to the Pakled Clumpship using the shuttlecraft Sequoia. While Rutherford downloading the virus to the Pakled Clumpship's computer, Badgey triggered the auto-destruct of the ship, intending to kill Rutherford, as the latter had snapped Badgey's neck when the holo-program malfunctioned last time. Seeing no other options, Shaxs ripped out Rutherford's implant, placed him on the Sequoia, and pushed the shuttlecraft back into space, saving Rutherford but sacrificing himself as the ship exploded.

Freed from the Pakled Clumpship, the Cerritos restored its main power and attempted to fly away, but was soon captured by another three newly arrived Pakled Clumpships. Just as Ensign Beckett Mariner, taking command of the Cerritos, saw no option left but to abandon ship, the  arrived and immediately opened fire on the Pakled Clumpships, forcing their retreat and saving the Cerritos. Later, arriving back at a starbase, the Cerritos underwent extensive repairs as its crew mourned the loss of Shaxs. ()

2381

2382
By 2382, the Cerritos had been held in drydock while Captain Freeman had been arrested, accused of conspiring with Klingon extremists in destroying Pakled Planet. Convinced that her mother would be used as a Scapegoat to appease people due to her role as a California-class captain, Mariner convinced Boimler, Rutherford, and Tendi to sneak on-board to find proof of Freeman's innocence. When personal logs from Boimler proved shaky at best, Mariner decided the best thing to do was to hijack the Cerritos in search of the Klingons who were working with the Pakleds. Her attempt proved futile as her actions led to Security discovering the ship leaving, her friends stopping Mariner, and Freeman herself returning, having been cleared of all charges. ()

List of second contacts
 Galardonians (2380)
 s (2380)
 Apergosians (2381)

Legacy
Despite only being a California-class starship, the Cerritos gained a considerable reputation amongst other ships, particularly in the 2380s. Having been a staple presence in numerous encounters with the Pakleds, and her other adventurous endeavors under Captain Freeman, the Cerritos gained favorable recognition amongst other ships of Starfleet. It was the only ship of her class to be invited to the Command Conference of Starbase 25. ()

In 2382, Ensign Kearns of the  called the Cerritos the Enterprise of support ships. ()

Technical data

Crew quarter assignments 
 Deck 9: Barnes
 Deck 11:
 A12001: Beckett Mariner
 A12002: Sam Rutherford
 A12003: Brad Boimler
 A12004: D'Vana Tendi
 A12007: 
 Human sciences ensign 
 Andorian ops ensign 
 Human sciences ensign 
   
 A12011: Human operations ensign
 A12025: Alien operations ensign
 A13005: Asif
 A13007: Karavitus
 A13009: Human operations ensign
 A13011: Moxy

Embarked craft 
The Cerritos carried a complement of Type 6A shuttlecraft, all named after national parks in California, in its shuttlebay. ()

Command crew 
 Commanding officer
 Carol Freeman (c. 2380–2381)
 Amina Ramsey (2380)
 First officer
 Jack Ransom (c. 2380–)
 Beckett Mariner (2380) 
 Chief engineer
  (c. 2380–)
 Chief medical officer 
 T'Ana (c. 2380–)
 Security officer
Shaxs (–2380, 2381–)
Kayshon (2381–)

See also 
 USS Cerritos personnel
 Bradward Boimler (c. 2379–2380, 2381–)
 Beckett Mariner (c. 2379–)
 Samanthan Rutherford (2379–)
 D'Vana Tendi (2380–)
 Unnamed USS Cerritos personnel

Appendices

Appearances
  Every episode

Background information 
The Cerritos is named after .

According to Lower Decks series creator Mike McMahan, the yellow markings on the Cerritos indicate that its primary mission is second contact engineering support.

McMahan also said that the Cerritos registry number (NCC-75567) is based on his mother's telephone number. 

In , Eaglemoss/Hero Collector's Ben Robinson revealed that the company would manufacture the USS Cerritos as a starship miniature and estimated that its Lower Decks ships would begin to launch to retail at the end of 2021 or early 2022.

External links
 
 

de:USS Cerritos
Federation starships