A Brief History of the U.S.S.Enterprise‘s Pre-Kirk Voyages

The original Enterprise ’s voyages to explore unusual new worlds , and to seek out novel living and novel civilizations under the auspices of its most noted maitre d' , are a fable Star Trek fans are more than familiar with . But Kirk was n’t Enterprise ’s first captain . Now that the famous ship has shown up on Discovery , here ’s a abbreviated scout to what we do cognize about what do before .

Honestly — and oddly , give its stature as one of the most legendary starships in Federation account — there ’s not a whole batch known .

Two captains take statement of Enterprise before Kirk ’s five - year commission in 2265 : Robert April and Christopher Pike . And even then , what we know of their clock time aboard the ship is limit to just a handful of Trek episodes — and now , in the case of Pike specifically , the occasional tidbit dropped here and there now that he ’s currently helping captain the Discovery . But even with just a few nuggets of information to go on , we can still paint a clearer scene of the 20 years the Enterprise spent boldly going before Kirk get his hands on it .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

2245-2250: Robert April

The Enterprise was one of the first 12Constitution - year starshipscommissioned by Starfleet in the mid 23rd century . The Constitution - Class would become the pride of the Federation fleet , ego - sufficient heavy cruiser that were capable of operate further away from Federation Starbases for longer , and design for extended years of solo exploratory and diplomatic missions out in the galaxy — the vanguard of the Federation ’s exploration of the stars beyond its current moulding .

Captain April , the first to command the Enterprise , has only ever appeared once on screen — in the final episode of Star Trek : The Animated Series , “ The Counter - Clock Incident , ” set just ahead of his plan ( albeit unsought ) retreat from Federation Service . April actually helped superintend the go-ahead ’s construction at the San Francisco Naval Yards ; he was directly involved in not just trial tally for the vessel and its fellow Constitution - Class ship , but superintend proficient constituent . His married woman Sarah designed tools for the ship ’s sick berth , and eventually serve well as the endeavor ’s first Chief Medical Officer . Rounding out what small we be intimate of Aprils ’ command stave was none other than Christopher Pike himself , who would serve on the ship he ’d one day command as First Officer .

April ’s instruction of the Enterprise lasted for just one five - year exploratory mission between 2245 and 2250 , and … that ’s middling much all we really know about it . The Star Trek : Discovery tie - in novel “ Drastic Measures ” observe that the Enterprise , under his dictation , was present in offer relief efforts after the infamous slaughter on Tarsus IV . It wasa traumatic experiencethat is part of Kirk ’s own backstory , and cover in the original series installment “ The Conscience of the King , ” having been a nestling that make it the hair-raising execution of one-half of the planet ’s colonists after a major food shortfall . But beyond that , inside information of April ’s other exploits in those five years have never formally been covered .

William Duplessie

What we do know is all retrospective . “ The Counter - Clock Incident ” told us that after the conclusion of the missionary post April was promoted to Commodore , and shortly thereafter left the go-ahead to become the Federation ’s embassador at large , one of its most noted diplomats ( presumptively thanks to the issue of contacts he developed exploring unknown area of the galaxy ) . Brief references in Discovery paint him by the mid-2250s as one of the most notably decorated Captains in Starfleet history up to that level … a list that also included April ’s replacement aboard Enterprise , First Officer Pike .

2250-2265: Christopher Pike

Pike ’s tenure aboard Enterprise lasted for much recollective ( maybe Starfleet decide that just upgrade and supersede captains every five years was a regretful idea ? ) . But while we do know a slight more about Pike ’s meter aboard the vessel , like April ’s career , it ’s still mostly vague . We know that at least part of the statement work party switch — Doctor April left the ship with now Commodore April , replaced by Phillip Boyce as Chief Medical Officer . A new phone number One ( played by Majel Barrett in “ The John Milton Cage Jr. ” and Rebecca Romijn in thesecond season of Discovery ) stepped in to take Pike ’s position , and around 2254 the ship gained a new Science Officer in Spock , who would work with Pike in the position for the residue of Pike ’s command — and of course continue on with Pike ’s replacement , James T. Kirk .

Long term missions of outer space geographic expedition were once again priority for the Enterprise at this point , but it ’s in the 2250s that we really jump to see the Enterprise and its fellow Constitution - Classes start to garner a legendary report . As Starfleet ’s pridefulness and joyousness , the Enterprise , and its sis ship , were considered the emollient of the craw when it came to assignment , with accession to not just the latest tech the Federation had to tender , but even early admission to upcoming Starfleet uniform changes , like the move from blue and metallic - accented jumpsuits to the Graeco-Roman , brilliantly colored uniforms we see in the original Star Trek .

At least in comparability to April ’s bid , we arrive to see some of Pike ’s adventures on his missionary work in of Star Trek ’s early episodes — specifically its conk out original “ The Cage ” ( which had footage reuse for “ The Menagerie , ” parts one and two , in Trek ’s first season , a narration that is mostly set over a decade after Pike ’s early instruction ) . So we mostly bonk that Pike visited lieu like Rigel VII and Talos and was — despite the fact he would continue to dominate the endeavour for almost another 10 geezerhood after the fact — mull over retirement from dictation after lose several crew member on an away mission . By the goal of his coming upon with the Talosians , however , Pike was re - invigorated by his mission to explore the stars …

Starship Test 9

… Which is pretty good because just two years after the events of “ The Cage , ” all - out war between the Federation and the Klingons crack out after Star Trek : Discovery ’s Battle at the Binary Stars . Pike and the gang of the Enterprise , already halfway through another multi - yr mission , were eager to generate and take part in the war , but were specifically keep from returning by the Federation , as a potential last stamping ground should command fall to the Klingon menace ( plus , interesting sidenote : an coming Discovery novelwill research at least a little of what the Enterprise was up to during the war — mainly being catch up with up in another war , it seems ! ) . That did n’t happen of course of study , thanks toa bit of near - genocideand a sealed alt - reality evil emperor as well as the crew of the Discovery , which intend that the Enterprise set about to persuade on boldly going to its heart ’s content .

Well , until we get to where Discovery ’s 2d seasonis decent now — the Enterprise is recalled to investigate a series of orphic signals appear all over the galax , only to find its systems heavily damaged en road , cripple the ship . Pike jumps over to the Discovery to command the foreign mission from there , and the short Enterprise is dragged back home for reparation … where it ’s likely perish to stick until the end of Discovery ’s second time of year . Beyond that , we do n’t really know what Pike was up to after the casing of the ruby signals presently on-going in Discovery . We know that he returns to overlook the Enterprise on at least one more foresightful - term geographic expedition delegation after its wide repairs , after which he was promoted to Fleet Captain and retired from the Enterprise ’s captainship , handing instruction over to Kirk ahead of another black five - year deputation for the now in truth - iconic enterprisingness .

devote that the Enterprise is the most of import vessel in Star Trek , it ’s kind of unearthly how little we really know about its earlier years before Kirk captained the ship right into the history books . Over clock time , in tidbit here and there , we ’ve check enough to piece together a jolty history like the one above — and thanks to Pike ’s arriver on Discovery , we could be nigh to become at least a few more snippet to flesh out this hazy two - decade period . But it seems that , for now at least , the early days ofStarfleet ’s finest shipare going to remain confine to a account we ’re never quite going to genuinely learn about . You know , unless CBS All Access greenlightsyet another Star Trek show .

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