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The USS Enterprise-C is one of the Enterprises we’ve hardly spent any time with.
It appears in one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, where it accidentally caused the creation of alternate history, but that’s all we’ve seen.
Yesterday’s Enterprise was a fantastic episode, but we need more information!
Today we’re going to talk about the Destruction of the USS Enterprise-C.
I don’t think we need to give a spoiler warning here, but if you’ve not seen the episode that came out well over 20 years ago, here is your warning.
SPOILERS!!
Welcome to Trek Central! I’m your host, Ensign ZephyrsVoice I’m currently standing in for Captain Jack and Lieutenant Adam, as both are off the ship right now!
Anyway, let’s talk about the USS Enterprise-C, shall we?
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We’ll be talking about the Enterprise-C in both the canon and extended canon. The canon details on the Enterprise-C are rather sparse, sadly.
Though we know the starship is an Ambassador-class heavy cruiser and was under the command of Captain Rachell Garrett during her fateful encounter with the Romulan Star Empire.
Extended Star Trek canon confirms that the Enterprise-C was commissioned in 2332 at Earth Station McKinley.
Captain Rachell Garret assumed the starship within the same year, and thus the Federations flagship began its adventures.
The starship was also fitted with state-of-the-art weapons and defence systems, as most Federation flagships were.
Around 2335-2336, the Enterprise-C’s First Officer, Commander Nigel Holmes, was killed in action during a raid by Klingon renegades.
Commander Samir al-Halak subsequently replaced him.
The adventures of the ENterprise-C would get worse due to the presence of Al-Halak, as he became involved in the Asfar Qatal Cartel while taking shore leave on Farius Prime.
Eventually, the Enterprise-C would catch up with the illusive First Officer, as he was captured by the same Cartel he became involved with.
The cartel posed as Starfleet Intelligence Operatives and had the starship proceed to the Dravid Nebulae Cluster.
There, the Enterprise discovered a disabled Aatwehan Colony starship, to which they proceeded to offer aid.
Upon boarding, the crew located surviving colonists and transferred them to another Federation starship, the USS Blakey.
The Enterprise-C would then continue on the hunt for there missing First Officer. The seach led them to a dead pre-Cardassian Order world.
Arriving on the planet, alien entities attacked the away team, and therefore the forces retreated before sustaining too much damage.
Of course, the Enterprise-C is most known for the Battle at Narendra Three. The ship would end here, but not before a few timeline shenanigans.
In the year of 2344, the Enterprise responded to a distress call from the Klingon outpost on the planet of Narendra Three.
The outpost was under attack from the Romulan Star Empire.
The Enterprise, under the command of Captain Rachell Garrett, responded and arrived at the outpost.
Exiting warp saw the Enterprise come under attack by four Romulan warbirds. Immediately the ambassador-class starship suffered major damage to her warp nacelles and external hull, with only 125 crew members surviving.
While the battle raged intensely for several minutes, the Enterprise-C was eventually destroyed, protecting what was left of the Klingons.
However, before the ship was destroyed, the detonation of a lone photon torpedo created a Temporal Rift.
This rift threw the Enterprise-C twenty-two years into a future in which the Federation and Klingon Empire were at war.
Due to the Enterprise-C’s displacement in time, the Klingons interpreted the disappearance of the starship as a cowardly withdrawal.
As such, they viewed Starfleet and the Federation without honour. Therefore the peace agreements between Klingons and the Federation rapidly broke down, eventually causing an all-out war between the two galactic powers.
Drifting through the Temporal Rift, the Enterprise arrived in this hostile alt-history.
They immediately encountered their successor, the Galaxy-class USS Enterprise-D, under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
The crew of the Enterprise-C discovered what had happened due to their absence from the battle.
Thus both Enterprise crews realised that the C needed to return through the rift.
However, matters are complicated further. During essential repairs, both starships came under attack from the Klingon forces, with Captain Garret being killed in action.
Her last remaining senior officer, Lieutenant Richard Castillo, assumed command of the Enterprise-C and prepared to take the ship back through the Temporal Rift to 2344.
Before this happened, the Enterprise-D’s tactical officer requested a transfer.
Lieutenant Natasha Yar learned from Guinan that if the Enterprise-C successfully repaired the timeline, she would die a meaningless death.
Tasha was uncomfortable with this idea and thus requested a transfer from Captain Picard to the Enterprise-C. Picard understood her request and granted the transfer.
While the Enterprise-D took on 3 Klingon warships, sustaining critical damage, The Enterprise-C finally made it through the Temporal Rift, resetting the alt-timeline history.
Arriving back in 2344, The Enterprise-C returned at the same time it had left.
Therefore engaging the Romulans again was eventually destroyed due to the overwhelming firepower of the warbirds.
Due to the Enterprise sacrificing itself to protect the Klingon outpost, this impressed them. Ultimately the Enterprise-C’s short-lived battle reinforced the relationship between the two powers.
The result was an alliance of peace that would last many decades into the future. However, what complicated matters later down the line was the Enterprise-C survivors.
Lieutenant Tasha Yar survived but was captured by the Romulans.
She was held prisoner inside a Romulan Prison Camp, where she would give birth to a half-Romulan daughter named Sela.
Due to the destruction of the Enterprise-C, Starfleet did not commission another USS Enterprise for nearly two decades.
This changed in 2363, with the arrival of the Galaxy-class USS Enterprise-D.
In Star Trek extended canon, a story is told through the Star Trek Online video game. When returning to their timeline, the Enterprise-C was accidentally pulled farther into the future.
It would arrive in the future in the year 2409 via an anomaly in the Azure Nebula.
Therefore restoring the timeline in which the Klingons defeated the Federation in war.
While attempting to return to their timeline, the Enterprise-C was captured by a race known as the Tholians.
The crew were imprisoned and forced to work for the species. This timeline was made worse by the Dominion, who invaded the Alpha Quadrant and quickly defeated the Klingon Empire and other major powers.
Mostly due to the Federation being gone and the quadrant in much disarray.
With help from other Temporary displaced officers, the Enterprise-C escaped and finally returned to its timeline.
There is a story in the extended canon where more crewmembers escaped the destruction of the Enterprise-C.
The only crew members who survived and avoided Romulan Capture were Doctor Frances Stewart, two security guards and a shuttle pilot.
These ship personnel were assigned to escort the stricken Vulcan Saavik back to her homeworld.
Therefore, none of them was onboard the Enterprise-C during the Romulan attack, having left the starship in a shuttle many hours earlier.
When we think about it, we’ve not seen much of the Enterprise-C in the Star Trek Universe.
Yes, we know for certain that it was destroyed, thanks to the appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation; however, you think we would be seeing more of it.
Star Trek made the bold jump from the Enterprise-A to the Enterprise-D and filled in the blanks of the Enterprise-B and C later down the line.
While a format like Star Trek: Short Treks might never happen again, it would be great to explore a short story onboard the Enterprise-C to show the ship's destruction.
Hell, it could even be done in animation. Thankfully we have seen more of the Ambassador-class starship before.
Commander Riker even commanded one in an episode of The Next Generation, the USS Excalibur.
So that is the story of the USS Enterprise-C and her valiant sacrifice in Star Trek History. Do you want to see more of this starship?
It’s one of the Enterprises that we have barely spent any time with currently.
If you want to keep up to date on all the latest Star Trek news, lore and more, then make sure to hit that subscribe button to never miss a video from the team here at Trek Central!
You can also follow us on social media, or join our Community Discord Server!
For now, I’ve been ZephyrsVoice, thanks for watching and we’ll see you next time! Live Long and prosper my friends!