USS Missouri
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USS Missouri (NCC-81542) is a Sovereign-class Federation starship currently assigned to Fourth Fleet's Task Force 47. She is currently under the command of Captain Charlotte MacColgan.
Construction and Commissioning
Ordered in April 2380 as the final ship in her batch from Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, hullcode NCC-81542 had only just started keel-laying in 2385 when the synth attack on Mars annihilated the shipyard. Most of the material intended for 81542 was saved, beyond the quarter of the keel that was left behind, and the construction order was shifted to San Francisco Fleet Yards instead. Also lost during the 2385 attack was the previous USS Missouri, another Sovereign-class, hullcode NCC-75296. Missouri, a Dominion War veteran, had been in the yard for an overhaul and was hurriedly manned by a skeleton crew of both Starfleet officers and yardworkers. Despite putting up a valiant defense, she was lost with almost all hands.
When construction recommenced on NCC-81542 in June 2386, the decision was made to name her after her lost elder sister. It was after this point that she picked up a superstitious reputation as a "cursed" or "unlucky" ship. Construction delays, workplace incidents, and constant retasking of manpower to repair damaged ships meant the second Missouri took five years to complete, commissioning only in September 2391.
Service History
As one of the newest Sovereign-class capital ships, Missouri spent much of her career through the 2390s on antipiracy duties and border patrol. Her reputation as a hard-luck ship didn't stop- technical malfunctions were, while usually mundane, rather common for a Starfleet vessel. Some considered it fortunate that most pirates tended to flee at the sight of her rather than stand and fight, while others bemoaned the ship's seeming inability to catch her prey when it showed. Missouri had one of the lowest success rates of her class in these duties, leading to her being pulled off the line in 2398 in favor of serving as a coordinator for interior spacelane patrols.
In April 2401, Missouri was one of many of her classmates involved in the disastrous celebration of the launch of the NX-01 Enterprise. Badly damaged during the Frontier Day massacre, her hulk was salvaged and plans made to return her to service. However, she was repeatedly delayed- again- by a series of events and incidents which hammered the Federation throughout 2401 and '02, resulting in restricted docking space and less available hands for repairs. Missouri was not declared ready for service again until June 2403, when she was assigned to the Fourth Fleet's Task Force 47 and manned by the crew of the recently decommissioned USS Lexington (NCC-73074).