# Why the "USS" Enterprise? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 12, 2002, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172 "2002-12-12T02:33:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/1 "2002-12-12T02:33:22Z")
Why is the USS Enterprise (from Star Trek) called USS? Doesn’t that stand for United States Ship? I thought the United States had ceased to exist by the time of Star Trek, giving way to the United Federation of Planets? Is this an oversight on the part of the producers, or does it have a new meaning in the 24th century? ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/2 "2002-12-12T02:48:17Z")
I imagine it stands for United StarShip. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/3 "2002-12-12T03:11:10Z")
Yes, I’ve heard them (Kirk and Picard) introduce themselves as “United Star Ship Enterprise” (although Kirk also used “Federation Star Ship Enterprise”). I imagine that USS was used because it would be a familiar acronym for viewers. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/4 "2002-12-12T03:15:46Z")
As I recall, the long form of the prefix U.S.S. was used at least twice in _Star Trek_ episodes. One one occasion is was the _United Space Ship_, and on another _United Star Ship_; the latter, I believe, having been used more frquently, and having become the standard for later episodes and television series. I believe the authors of the _Star Trek Encyclopedia_ suggested the alternate _United Systems Ship_, to mean a ship representing several star systems, specifically, those that are members of the United Federation of Planets. ---
**Author:** ![I\_am\_Sparticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@I\_am\_Sparticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_am_Sparticus)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/5 "2002-12-12T05:04:15Z")
I think because Roddenberry served on the USS Enterprise in WWII. But I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/6 "2002-12-12T07:33:15Z")
He used the name _Enterprise_ for the same reason that the Navy named their first nuclear carrier Enterprise: it was a name carried by a respectable list of Navy ships, culminating in the “Big E” of WWII fame. Roddenberry, himself was never in the Navy: [He volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps in the fall of 1941 and was ordered into training as a flying cadet as the war began. Emerging from Kelly Field, Texas, as a Second Lieutenant, Roddenberry was sent to the South Pacific where he entered combat at Guadalcanal, flying B-17 bombers out of the newly-captured Japanese airstrip, which became Henderson Field. He flew missions against enemy strongholds at Bougainville and participated in the Munda invasion. In all, he took part in 89 missions and sorties. He was decorated with the Distinguished flying Cross and the Air Medal.](http://www.pathcom.com/~boby/gene.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/7 "2002-12-12T11:26:09Z")
[If anyone’s interested, here’s the website for the USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65).](http://www02.clf.navy.mil/enterprise/) ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/8 "2002-12-12T13:39:01Z")
I could have sworn when the series first started that Kirk refered to the Enterprise as a United States ship. I will try and find a cite, but google turned up nothing so far. Anyone else know? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/9 "2002-12-12T13:43:35Z")
**Bongmaster** , I gotta ask, were you baked at the time? 😃 I doubt the writers would ever have had Picard introduce the Enterprise as something so anachronistic as a United States Ship. ---
**Author:** ![cdhostage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@cdhostage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdhostage)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/10 "2002-12-12T13:58:17Z")
I wonder what the name of the first intergalactic starship will be… NOTHING! BECAUSE THERE WILL NEVER BE ONE! WE WILL ALL BE DEAD BEFORE ANYTTHING CLOSE IS MADE! ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/11 "2002-12-12T16:05:53Z")
Wow. Cut back on the caffeine. Remember, kids, the _Federation_ wasn’t even invented during Season 1 of TOS. They had to call it something. I feel certain that, had GR had the idea for the Federation during the vaporware stage, it would be FSS all the way. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/12 "2002-12-12T18:47:19Z")
[hijack] -I’d heard that the first space shuttle was named _Enterprise_ in honor of Star Trek. Although I think this was from a model kit I had, so I was never sure. Does anyone know if that’s true, or was it just chosen since Enterprise was always a popular name? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/13 "2002-12-12T18:58:08Z")
Yes, it was. They even had TOS actors at the roll out. I believe it happened because of a write-in campaign from the fans. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/14 "2002-12-12T19:02:31Z")
Makes the credits for _Enterprise_ kinda ironic, that they show pictures of all the previous Enterpriseses, including the shuttle, which is named after a fictional ship (which, in the fiction of Star Trek, won’t be built for another hundred years…). ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/15 "2002-12-12T19:11:24Z")
There’s also the scene in Star Trek TMP where Decker tells the posessed woman with the weird accent, “All these ships were named Enterprise.” And there’s a model of the Space Shuttle there. ---
**Author:** ![NPavelka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/edb3f5/32.png) [@NPavelka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NPavelka)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/16 "2002-12-12T19:11:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cdhostage \* > \*\*I wonder what the name of the first intergalactic starship will be… NOTHING! BECAUSE THERE WILL NEVER BE ONE! WE WILL ALL BE DEAD BEFORE ANYTTHING CLOSE IS MADE! \*\* It’s the Pheonix… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/17 "2002-12-12T19:34:00Z")
Strictly speaking, all of the Space Shuttles are named after historical naval vessels (wet navy, that is) which were used for scientific research. So there’s some real-world ship named _Enterprise_ which is the official namesake of the shuttle. But they chose that particular real-world ship because it had the name they wanted, and they wanted that name because of _Star Trek_. And it can be argued that the Space Shuttle _Enterprise_ isn’t a spaceship, either… It was built for atmospheric testing purposes, and never got higher than the 747 carrying it. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/18 "2002-12-12T19:50:00Z")
That’s true. And sad. Maybe the next generation space plane, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-uss-enterprise/142172/19 "2002-12-12T20:05:23Z")
All our Spaceships should be named Enterprise. Just like all of Forrest Gump’s ships were named Jenny.