USS Stargazer NCC-2893
Picard's battered, beloved first command: an overworked Constellation-class ship that made him a captain.
Service dossier
- Registry / identity
- NCC-2893
- Class / type
- Constellation-class Federation starship
- Picard's role
- Helmsman, then commanding officer
- Recorded period
- Entered service in 2326; Picard served aboard in 2333 and commanded it until 2355
Why this ship matters
The Stargazer was the second Starfleet vessel to bear the name. It entered service in 2326, and Picard later remembered it as an "overworked, underpowered vessel, always on the verge of flying apart at the seams."
In 2333, Picard was serving as a bridge officer when the ship's captain was killed. He took command of the crisis and the vessel, earning Starfleet Command's confidence and the permanent captaincy he would hold for twenty-two years.
Picard's crew included Jack R. Crusher, weapons officer Vigo, and physician Moritz Benayoun. The ship was also connected to a secret mission to the fireforest of Calyx.
During the Cardassian Wars, Picard lowered the Stargazer's shields as part of a Federation truce offering in sector 21503. The Cardassians attacked, damaging most of the ship's weapons and its impulse engines before the Stargazer escaped.
Jack Crusher was killed on an away mission in 2353, forcing Picard to return his remains to Beverly Crusher. In 2354, the ship visited Chalna.
In 2355, the Stargazer was attacked and badly damaged by an unknown vessel in the Maxia Zeta system. Picard destroyed the attacker with the warp-driven tactic later known as the Picard Maneuver, but the Stargazer had to be abandoned.
Because losing a starship was a court martial offense, Picard was prosecuted by Phillipa Louvois for the loss of the Stargazer. He was ultimately absolved of all charges.
The Ferengi recovered the wreck in 2364. DaiMon Bok, whose son had commanded the vessel destroyed at Maxia, falsified the Stargazer's logs and used an illegal thought maker to make Picard relive the battle before the scheme was exposed.
After being towed to Xendi Starbase 9, the Stargazer eventually became part of the Fleet Museum at Athan Prime. By 2402 it had been restored and displayed near the rebuilt USS Enterprise-D.
The ship remained central to Picard's legacy: he kept a model of it in his quantum archive, fondly told Montgomery Scott he sometimes wished he could command it again, and corrected Agnes Jurati that the Picard Maneuver originated aboard the Stargazer, not the Enterprise.
Early archive material sometimes associated the Stargazer with Constitution-class specifications, but later technical records settled on the similar-sounding Constellation class.