What ever happened to the Stargazer?

[Slappy The Vulcan]

Oka, forgive me because I don't know episodes, etc. I know picard commanded the stargazer before the Enterprise, If I'm not mistaken, that ship was on a 20 year mission and broke records for the longest continuing mission. I also know that picard and his crew had to abandon the stargazer after that battle with the feringi (sp). I remember an early TNG ep. where the feringi give the stargazer back to picard as a gift but its really a trick, and picard somehow relives the battle he abandoned the ship in, but thinks the enterprise is the feringi ship. so, my question is, did the enterprise blow up the stargazer and save picard? or was the stargazer towed to a starbase? if picard had to abandon the stargazer, how come it was fairly funtional when it was given back to him, and the enterprise couldnt detect the feringi components that would have been used to repair the ship? also, are the any other instances of a ship just being "left" in space? why was it destroyed or self-distructed? If the stargazer was taken back to the federation, I would assume that it would have been made into a museum or something because it was a fairly famous ship. lastly, are the any deck layouts for the stargazer? thanks for any info.

 

[Cronos6939]

The Stargazer was damaged in battle with the Ferengi at Maxia Zeta in 2355. All surviving crew had to evacuate the ship afterwards (it is not explained why).

In 2364, the Ferengi give Picard back an operable Stargazer. Did they fix it up? Did the crew abandon ship because of radiation that later dissipated? Who knows? It just 'was ok.' Picard then took it into battle against the Enterprise, but it was caught in a tractor beam and Picard was rescued. The ship was then towed to a starbase and never heard from again.

 

[AdmiralGarak]

It's a fair bet that it was a simply scrapped. It was a heavilly damaged ship of an out-dated class.

 

[Timo]

If I'm not mistaken, that ship was on a 20 year mission and broke records for the longest continuing mission.

Naah. No such record-breaking is ever mentioned. It's just that Picard may have served on that ship for a couple of decades straight, which is perhaps a bit exceptional even in Starfleet.

Although to be sure, the idea that he would have been aboard for 22 years is completely noncanon, and only derived from the TNG writers' guide. For all we know, Picard first set foot on that vessel 12 years before her loss at the Battle of Maxia, and assumed command seven years prior...

And no, we don't know how many of those X years he spent as the actual captain of the vessel. Even though Memory Alpha unfathomably chooses to say that he became captain (and Captain) immediately after the incident where the former skipper was killed and Picard took temporary command, the short reference in "Tapestry" does not establish this at all.

In essence, all we know about Stargazer vs Picard is that the guy was a bridge officer of unknown rank aboard that ship once ("Tapestry"); took command when the Captain was incapacitated, and gained brownie points ("Tapestry"); at some unknown date became the commanding officer of the ship ("The Battle"); at some unknown date earned the four pips of Captain ("Relics"); and in 2354, lost first his good friend Jack Crusher ("Farpoint" and "Violations" et al.) and then his ship ("The Battle"). We also know that the Stargazer was the first ship aboard which Picard served as captain or Captain, but not necessarily the first one he commanded ("Relics"). Everything else is open for speculation, including whether Picard had other commands or tours of duty on other ships at some point of the timeline.

also, are the any other instances of a ship just being "left" in space?

Several, but these involve the death or incapacitation of basically all of the crew (say, "Doomsday Machine" or "Omega Glory" or, almost, "This Side of Paradise"). There is IIRC no known case of the crew abandoning a starship yet surviving and returning to the Federation. OTOH, there is no known case of the crew abandoning a starship and then scuttling it, either. So we have no evidence that it would be a Starfleet practice to engage self-destruct - unless this is of immediate help in destroying the enemy as in, say, ST3 or VOY "Deadlock".

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Plecostomus]

We only saw a small portion of the interior. The rest of the ship could have been gutted by fire or contaminated by technobabble radiation or there could have been severe structural problems that we couldn't see...

 

[Anwar]

Was Picard made a full Captain when he took command of the Stargazer? I thought that since it was a smaller ship of an already 70 year old class that he might've been only a Lt.Cmdr or a Commander when he was in command (since you don't have to be a full Captain to command all classes of ships).

 

[Finn]

I dunno. Probably covered in one of the novelizations.

Its possible the Stargazer is now in the Fleet Museum, in a little corner called "See Picard maneuvering".

 

[Nerys Myk]

It's now a gift shop and restaurant.

 

[MrsPicard]

Was Picard made a full Captain when he took command of the Stargazer? I thought that since it was a smaller ship of an already 70 year old class that he might've been only a Lt.Cmdr or a Commander when he was in command (since you don't have to be a full Captain to command all classes of ships).

One of the (IMO horrible) Stargazer novels has Jean-Luc as the ship's second officer, rank of Lieutenant Commander. He then takes charge when the captain is killed and the first officer is injured or something, I don't remember exactly, I'm trying to forget about the novels. *lol* He's then made captain I think. It's all non-canon anyway AND it is kinda false since Riker clearly says to him in "Encounter At Farpoint" that "Having been a first officer yourself, sir...", so we can assume that he must've been someone's first officer at some point.

So, we're once again left with a mystery, I guess.

 

[Timo]

Indeed, I can't believe Starfleet would give captaincy of a vessel to some junior upstart who just happened to save the day. Certainly that junior upstart would earn brownie points towards an eventual command job, and it is even possible that he would be remembered so fondly by those associated with the Stargazer that these powerful people would let him have that particular ship later on. But a direct jump to skipper just because you temporarily replace the deceased former one? Not all that believable.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Red Ranger]

Personally, I like to think Picard was first officer of Stargazer when he took command after his commanding officer died, and had just passed the bridge officer test and was therefore at the rank of full commander. After a few years, like Sisko on DSN, he was promoted from commander to captain while maintaining his previous billet, c.o. of Stargazer. I do agree that 22 years on one ship is a bit ridiculous. I like to think Picard had other assignments before serving on Stargazer. -- RR

 

[Saga]

i always assumed the Stargazer ended up in the fleet museum. over twenty years of exploration under the same captain, thats pretty remarkable. Kirk was only Captain of the 1701 for ten then Captain of the A for six or seven.

 

[Unicron]

The FASA RPG suggested that the Stargazer was decommissioned after its recovery by the Enterprise. So it could certainly have been placed in a museum, or (less glamorously) scrapped.

 

[Timo]

i always assumed the Stargazer ended up in the fleet museum. over twenty years of exploration under the same captain, thats pretty remarkable.

...If true. Could be she was under the same captain for just five years or so.

Kirk was only Captain of the 1701 for ten then Captain of the A for six or seven.

To be sure, we only saw five years of Kirk's captaincy, namely those in TOS and TAS. For all we know, he never got a second chance to captain the original ship, save for the brief stints in ST:TMP and ST2. What Kirk did with the E-A remains unknown as well - perhaps she was a dockside queen, not sailing out much save for the movie appearances?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Turbo]

Here's the basic outline from the novels, with spoilers for Michael Jan Freidman's The Valiant and Christopher's excellent The Buried Age:

Spoiler: The Novels

Picard was a Lt. Cmdr and second officer of the Stargazer when her captain will killed and her XO put into a coma during an attack near the Galactic Barrier. It was established that Captain Ruhalter had wanted to transfer the XO, as he felt the latter was unsuitable for the position and replace him with Picard. When the Stargazer returned from its mission, Picard, having naturally saved the day (and prevented an attempted mutiny by several crewmembers), was given permanent command of the Stargazer.

22 years later, she was ambushed by a Ferengi vessel, which got a lucky shot and severely damaged the ship. Picard used the 'Picard Manuever' to fool the Ferengi and destroyed them (also a lucky shot), but the Stargazer's damage was too severe. IIRC, the autodestruct had been disabled, so they set the Stargazer to plunge into a gas giant and abandoned ship. By a total fluke, the Stargazer's course slungshot it into orbit instead of being pulled in by the planet's gravity, and DaiMon Bok found it when investigating the incident.

Now I need to go figure out what I did with The Buried Age, as I couldn't find it to double-check the Battle of Maxia. Argh.

 

[Krieg1981]

If the Stargazer was still around when Wolf 359 happened and the Dominion War started to heat up, I'd bet she was given a refit and returned to service. DS9 dialog says that the Constellation NCC-1974 is still in service(never says its the "first in class", but no reason to believe it's not!), and the Hathaway NCC-2593 participated in the Tachyon detection grid during the Klingon civil war(actually seen in the episode, and on the tachyon detection grid graphic). I know the Colstellation class was dated by the time TNG/DS9 happened, but the Miranda class is of the same vintage, perhaps even older. I see no reason she couldn't have been recommissioned! Besides, the Constellation class is badass looking!

 

[MrsPicard]

^

Weeee, another Stargazer/Constellation Class fan! They are so rare to find! Hehe. I love the Constellation Class and I was very pleased when they showed more Constellation Class vessels on TNG. ^^

And the Stargazer... oooh, I somehow hope she is still there, waiting for Jean-Luc to command her again one day. Hey, I can still dream, can't I?

 

[Red Ranger]

A bit off-topic, but I can't stand the Stargazer design. It's strikingly ugly, IMO. If only they had done what they originally wanted, which was to make Stargazer a Constitution-class vessel like the Enterprise from the TOS movies. What an homage that would have been! Hell, even making the ship a Miranda-class like Reliant from TWOK would've been a massive improvement. -- RR

 

[Finn]

Miranda class-sure. Constitution Class- heck no! I think it was smart to keep the Constitution class far removed from Picard's time, making it an older class during the TOS movie era when Mirandas (assuming they weren't around during the time of TOS) and Excelisors were new on the scene. It would be like a Captain of a modern aircraft carrier coming across a 18th century frigate adrift in the South Pacific that he apparently once captained...

 

[Krieg1981]

Miranda class-sure. Constitution Class- heck no! I think it was smart to keep the Constitution class far removed from Picard's time, making it an older class during the TOS movie era when Mirandas (assuming they weren't around during the time of TOS) and Excelisors were new on the scene. It would be like a Captain of a modern aircraft carrier coming across a 18th century frigate adrift in the South Pacific that he apparently once captained...

I agree. As much as I love the refit constitution class(favorite), it would be on the order of 120 years old at the time of the Stargazer's recovery. It was wise to create a different vessel instead.