uss enterprise ncc-1701-a

A fictional spacecraft from the Star Trek universe, and the primary setting for the fifth and sixth Star Trek films (it was seen briefly at the end of the fourth film). Succeeded the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 after that ship's destruction in Star Trek III: the Search For Spock, and was eventually replaced in-universe (after only 7 apparent years of service) by the Enterprise-B.

No canon origin exists for the 1701-A. A popular theory is that the ship was originally in service under another name (possibly Yorktown, per a comment supposedly made in passing by Gene Roddenberry himself after Star Trek IV had premiered) and was hurriedly renamed in the aftermath of the main events of Star Trek IV. Some non-canon reference materials published in the 1980s speculated that the ship was a new build and was constructed for use as a testbed for the Transwarp drive project; Scotty's comments in Star Trek V about how the ship had numerous problems (and essentially broke down) on it's shakedown cruise would seem to support part of this theory. Similarly, beyond being decommissioned after the events of Star Trek VI, the ship does not have a canon fate. The non-canon novel The Ashes of Eden shows the ship being sold for use by the defense force of the planet Chal before being destroyed defending that world.