USS Discovery

Warning! This page contains information regarding Star Trek: Discovery, and thus may contain spoilers.

The USS Discovery (NCC-1031) was a 23rd century Federation Crossfield-class starship operated by Starfleet, under the command of Captain Gabriel Lorca and, later, acting captain Saru. (DIS: "Context Is for Kings", "What's Past Is Prologue")

Operations Edit

Discovery was launched into service from the San Francisco Fleet Yards, Earth. Its motto was "All things can be understood once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." (DIS: "Context Is for Kings", "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad")

By November of 2256, it was still considered impressively new, fresh out of the shipyards, and equipped with some of Starfleet's most advanced technologies (in contrast with the relatively old USS Shenzhou). (DIS: "Context Is for Kings")

As a Crossfield-class starship, Discovery was officially designated a science vessel. It has a crew manifest of approximately 140.(DIS: "Choose Your Pain") The ship's facilities were able to accomodate three hundred discrete scientific missions, a Starfleet record at the time. (DIS: "Context Is for Kings")

Both Discovery and its sister ship, the USS Glenn, were equipped with an experimental spore drive for field testing. Much research and refinement remained to be done as of late 2256, but if perfected it had the potential to instantly traverse vast galactic distances in the blink of an eye. Discovery only used it in short bursts while attempting to perfect it into a reliable drive system. In contrast, the crew of Glenn took bolder risks to develop it more quickly, resulting in an accident which killed the entire crew and crippled the ship. (DIS: "Context Is for Kings")

Discovery was built from the ground up to be a test bed for the experimental spore drive, based on the research of Paul Stamets and his colleagues. Stamets had intended his research to pursue purely theoretical knowledge and peaceful applications but, with the outbreak of war, Discovery was rapidly constructed to perfect the military applications of his research. (DIS: "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry")

Due to the top secret (and in some cases dangerous) research projects being conducted on Discovery, its internal security was much more rigid and compartmentalized than was regular protocol on Starfleet vessels; breath print identification locks were used to restrict access to different sub-sectors. It also possessed a disproportionately prominent and well-armed security detail, standing guard at various restricted access points throughout the ship. These guards were outfitted with tactical gear bearing a "black star" uniform insignia, unlike the normal silver Starfleet delta insignia. (DIS: "Context Is for Kings")

Several experiments conducted aboard Discovery had the potential to physically endanger the ship itself and its crew, hazardous situations caused by the black ops experiments being activated were addressed by declaring a "black alert" (which was not a standard protocol on Starfleet vessels). (DIS: "Context Is for Kings")

Service during the Federation-Klingon WarEdit

Following the outbreak of the Federation-Klingon War, Discovery was placed under the command of Captain Gabriel Lorca and given a clandestine mission to conduct black ops scientific research, developing top-secret weapons and technologies that would help the Federation win the war. (DIS: "Context Is for Kings")

Six months into the war, Discovery rescued the prison shuttle SPT 21 from an infestation of Species GS54 during an interstellar storm. Among the prisoners being transported, former Commander Michael Burnham came aboard and was enlisted by Captain Lorca to serve as a Specialist aboard Discovery. (DIS: "Context Is for Kings")

In November 2256, Discovery received a distress call from Corvan II, under attack by Klingons. The only ship in range, Discovery attempted a spore jump to the Federation mining colony, ending up dangerously close to a star. Utilizing the tardigrade as a conduit through which to the navigate the ship, the crew ultimately jumped Discovery to Corvan II in time to destroy the attacking Birds-of-Prey and save the colony from destruction. (DIS: "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry")

The following month, Discovery (under the command of first officer Saru) was tasked by Vice Admiral Katrina Cornwell with the rescue of Captain Lorca following his abduction by the Klingons. Once again using the tardigrade as a living navigational computer, Discovery jumped into Klingon territory, but the creature was disabled in the process. Unwilling to subject the tardigrade to further injury, Lieutenant Stamets injected himself with the creature's DNA, allowing Discovery to recover Lorca and his fellow POW, Ash Tyler, and jump back to Federation space. (DIS: "Choose Your Pain")

One week later, Admiral Cornwell's cruiser rendezvoused with Discovery before departing for peace talks on Cancri IV . (DIS: "Lethe")

On stardate 2136.8, Discovery encountered a injured space-dwelling lifeform known as a gormagander and conducted aid per the Endangered Species Act. This resulted in Harcourt Fenton Mudd boarding Discovery and activating a time crystal, creating a time loop in which Mudd repeatedly destroyed the ship in an effort to learn the secret of the spore drive and sell the ship to the Klingons. The loop was eventually discovered by Paul Stamets, the permanent destruction of Discovery. (DIS: "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad")

Stardate 1308.9: Discovery engaged a Klingon destroyer in defense of the USS Gagarin. With the advantage of their invisibility screens, the Klingons succeeded in destroying the Gagarin forcing Discovery to withdraw. Discovery then proceeded to the planet Pahvo where it retrieved a landing party as the native Pahvans broadcasted a signal directed at both the Federation and Klingons. (DIS: "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum")

Encountering the Ship of the Dead in orbit of Pahvo, Discovery engaged in ship-to-ship combat with the Klingons. Discovery then conducted 133 micro-jumps around the cloaked Klingon vessel, allowing the crew target and destroy the enemy's capital ship. (DIS: "Into the Forest I Go")

After an apparent accident with the spore drive propelled Discovery into the mirror universe, it emerged that Captain Lorca was in fact an inhabitant of that universe who had replaced his counterpart and deliberately brought Discovery to his home universe. Following Lorca's revelation, first officer Saru assumed full command of Discovery. (DIS: "Despite Yourself", "Vaulting Ambition", "What's Past Is Prologue")

In order to return to their universe, Discovery then launched an attack on the Terran flagship, ISS Charon, on stardate 1834.2. Flying through the Terran ship's superstructure, Discovery destroyed the super-mycelial reactor powering the Charon, and used the resulting mycelial shockwave to power the spore drive and cross back into normal space. (DIS: "Despite Yourself", "Vaulting Ambition", "What's Past Is Prologue")

Discovery returned nine months after its departure, having overshot its intended destination. In that time, the Klingons had captured a significant proportion of Federation territory. Boarded by a number of Starfleet officials including Vulcan Ambassador Sarek, Discovery was placed under the temporary command of Admiral Cornwell and brought to Starbase 1, 100 AU from Earth. Finding the station overrun by Klingons, Discovery warped away. (DIS: "What's Past Is Prologue", "The War Without, The War Within")

With Klingon forces encroaching on Earth, Starfleet elected to use Discovery to prepare a strike against the Klingon homeworld, Qo'noS, and solicited the abilities of the Terran emperor, Philippa Georgiou. In order to make the jump to the Qo'noS, Discovery traveled to the Veda system where the crew terraformed the moon Delta 2 and replenished their supply of mycelium spores. (DIS: "The War Without, The War Within")

Under the command of Emperor Georgiou (standing in as the deceased Captain Philippa Georgiou), Discovery became the first Starfleet vessel to visit the Klingon Homeworld since Captain Jonathan Archer and the Enterprise NX-01 visited the planet in 2151. In order to avoid detection and conflict with Klingon planetary defenses, Discovery jumped into an inactive volcanic cavern large enough to accommodate a Crossfield-class starship beneath the surface of Qo'noS. A landing party to the surface ultimately concluded the mission and brought a peaceful resolution to the conflict. (DIS: "Will You Take My Hand?")

With the war over, Discovery returned to Earth, where its senior staff was honored. (DIS: "Will You Take My Hand?")

The starship was then ordered to Vulcan to retrieve its new commanding officer. En route, a priority 1 distress call led Discovery to drop out of warp and respond to the call from Captain Pike and the USS Enterprise. (DIS: "Will You Take My Hand?")

Command crew Edit

• Commanding officer
  • Captain Gabriel Lorca (2256-2257)
  • Vice Admiral Katrina Cornwell (2257) (acting)
  • Philippa Georgiou (2257)
  • Commander Saru (2257-) (acting)
• First officer
  • Commander Saru (2256-)
• Security chief
  • Commander Ellen Landry (2256)
  • Lieutenant Ash Tyler (2256-2257)
• Science officer
  • Commander Michael Burnham (2257–)
• Chief Engineer
  • Lieutenant Commander Paul Stamets (2256–)
• Helmsman/Conn officer
  • Lieutenant Keyla Detmer (2256–)
• Communications officer
  • Lieutenant Milton Richter (2256)
  • Lieutenant junior grade R.A. Bryce (2256-2257)
• Operations officer
  • Lieutenant junior grade Joann Owosekun (2256–)
• Physician
  • Lieutenant Commander Hugh Culber (2256-2257)
  • Pollard (2257)
• Tactical officer
  • Lieutenant Rhys (2256–)

See also: USS Discovery personnel

Appendices Edit

Appearances Edit

Background informationEdit

Bryan Fuller chose the Discovery's registry number, 1031, because he loves Halloween. [2]

The set used for the Discovery's interior was a reused set which, with just a few changes, had previously served as the interiors of the USS Shenzhou and the USS Glenn. (After Trek: "Episode 2")

In "Choose Your Pain", Saru while commanding the ship, says he has 134 souls to protect, strongly hinting at the size of the ship's crew. The statement is made while captain Lorca and the shuttle pilot are off-ship, one episode after Ellen Landry is killed, and before Ash Tyler joins the crew, suggesting the compliment is 136 at that time.

External link Edit

• USS Discovery at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works