USS Horizon (NCC-176)

For other uses, see Horizon.

The USS Horizon (NCC-176) was a Daedalus-class Federation starship in service in the late 22nd century.

[edit] Service history

In 2168 she made first contact with planet Sigma Iotia II in the Sigma Iotia star system. Shortly after this contact the Horizon was destroyed, she sent her final reports on radio frequencies which did not reach the Federation for a century. (TOS episode: "A Piece of the Action"; ST reference: Encyclopedia)^[1]

While on Iotia member's of the Horizon's crew left behind a book, Chicago Mobs of the Twenties, which resulted in severe cultural contamination, causing the bright but easily-influenced Iotian people to develop a gang culture. a century later when Starfleet received the Horizon's final logs the USS Enterprise was sent to the planet to investigate the outcome of Horizon's visit. (TOS episode: "A Piece of the Action"; ST references: The Worlds of the Federation, Encyclopedia)

Professor Keiko O'Brien had a model of the Horizon in her school aboard Deep Space 9. Benjamin Sisko also had a model of the Horizon in his office throughout his seven year command of the space station. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine set decoration, Star Trek Encyclopedia)

Daedalus-class starships
Earth Starfleet (until 2161)	USS Archon • USS Bach • USS Daedalus • USS Essex • USS Pilgrim • USS Nightingale
Federation Starfleet	USS Anson • USS Archon • USS Benjamin Franklin • USS Daedalus • USS Discovery • USS Drake • USS Essex • USS Heisenberg • USS Horizon • USS Lindbergh • USS Lovell • USS Republic • USS Wakefield

↑ The original episode specifies only that a ship named Horizon made contact with the Iotians, later sources such as the Star Trek Encyclopedia and The Worlds of the Federation then suggested it was this starship, the USS Horizon. Most recently the ENT novel: Kobayashi Maru specified it was in fact the ECS Horizon who made contact with the Iotians.