USS Shenzhou
The USS Shenzhou (NCC-1227) was a 23rd century Federation  starship operated by Starfleet, under the command of Captain Philippa Georgiou. ()

Service history 
The Shenzhou was launched into service from the San Francisco Fleet Yards, Earth. The ship's motto was, "All existing things are really one." ()

Under the command of Captain Georgiou, Shenzhou visited  in 2249 where it received its first officer – recent graduate of the Vulcan Science Academy, Michael Burnham. ()

In 2256, the Shenzhou conducted a mission to the Crepusculan homeworld, where a landing party revived a dry water well. Due to communications interference from a fast-moving storm, Captain Georgiou and Commander Burnham contacted the ship by making a Starfleet insignia in the desert sand, signaling the Shenzhou to fly into the planet's lower atmosphere and transport the officers from close range. ()

The Battle of the Binary Stars

Following that mission, Shenzhou was dispatched to a binary star system on the outer edge of Federation space to investigate damage to an interstellar relay. After encountering a Klingon vessel, and ultimately a fleet, the Shenzhou was the first ship to be attacked in the Battle of the Binary Stars. ()

During the battle, Shenzhou took fire from multiple attackers, defending the crippled  before herself suffering heavy damage, losing shields and impulse engines. Adrift in the system's debris ring, the Shenzhou was rescued by the , which used its tractor beam to prevent the Shenzhou from colliding with an asteroid. () 

Despite their ship being disabled, Captain Georgiou and the crew of the Shenzhou mounted an offensive against the Klingon capital ship, resulting in the crippling of its defenses and the death of its commander, T'Kuvma. Although Georgiou herself also was killed in the attack, the surviving members of the Shenzhou crew were able to escape, leaving the ship abandoned. ()

Legacy

The wrecked Shenzhou remained adrift for six months following the battle, at which point Klingons Voq and L'Rell boarded the ship in order to loot its dilithium processing unit with which to repair their own ship. Voq was later marooned aboard the Shenzhou by  and left to die, though Voq was rescued shortly afterward by L'Rell. ()

A drawing of the Shenzhou was among several images of starships on display in the mess hall aboard the  when Shenzhou survivor Michael Burnham joined that ship some months later. ()

For Starfleet Remembrance Day on the  in 2259, Chief Kyle wore a pin memorializing the crewmates he had lost from the Shenzhou. ()

Command crew 

Commanding officer
Philippa Georgiou (2240s–2256)
Michael Burnham (2250s) 
First officer
Michael Burnham (2250s–2256)
Chief medical officer
Nambue (2240s–2256)
Operations officer
Danby Connor (2250s–2256)
Science officer
Saru (2240s–2256)
Communications officer
Troy Januzzi (2250s–2256)
Helm officer
Keyla Detmer (2250s–2256)
Tactical officer
Kamran Gant (2250s–2256)
See also: USS Shenzhou personnel

Appendices

Appearances 
 
 
 
  (image only)

Background information 
Although it first appeared in "The Vulcan Hello", the Shenzhous interior was shown in a chronologically earlier  sequence (in addition to later-set footage) in "Battle of the Binary Stars".

The set used as the Shenzhou bridge was one of the first sets which the  production crew filmed on. ("Designing Discovery", DIS Season 1 DVD & Blu-ray special features) The set of the ship's interior was later reused as the interiors of the  and , with just a few changes. () The bridge set was used as the bridge of the  in the episode , which also featured the Gagarin represented by a graphic of a Walker-class starship on monitors aboard Discovery. 

David Mack, who wrote the Gallery DIS novel Desperate Hours, developed the characters and even the names of a number of the Shenzhou background crew. He noted that "Most of them I developed on my own, along with detailed character bios, backstories, quirks, interests, etc. Those were then submitted to the show via Kirsten Beyer for approval. Some, such as Gant, Detmer, and Jannuzzi [sic], ended up being used on the show. (A few, like Connor and Britch Weeton, were established by the show's writers.) Also, Kirsten tells me that the Shenzhou bridge crew actors were given my bios of their characters to provide a foundation for their performances." 

The voice for the Shenzhou Computer was provided by Tasia Valenza, who previously appeared in  as T'Shanik. Valenza is the first actor from previous Star Trek installments to appear on Star Trek: Discovery.

The ship appears to be named after the 20th-century Chinese spacecraft, or the Chinese space program in the 20th and 21st centuries of that same name. The name can be somewhat translated as "Divine Vessel".

According to a fact sheet shown at a mirror universe exhibition running concurrent with San Diego Comic Con 2018, its mirror universe counterpart had a maximum speed of warp six.

Apocrypha 
The Gallery DIS novel Desperate Hours establishes that Burnham's predecessor as first officer was , who served in that role from 2251 to 2255 before accepting a post as commanding officer of the starship , the Shenzhous second officer  joining ch'Theloh as his first officer. It also establishes that both the Shenzhou and the  fell under Admiral Anderson's jurisdiction.

External link 

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Shenzhou