J.P. Hanson

Admiral J.P. Hanson in late 2366.

Admiral J.P. Hanson was a Starfleet flag officer during the latter half of the 24th century.

In 2366, his ship rendezvoused with the Enterprise-D following the destruction of the Federation outpost on Jouret IV. He offered Commander Will Riker command of the Melbourne, a prototype Nebula-class starship. Riker turned down the offer, prefering to remain aboard the Enterprise.

When it was revealed that the Borg were responsible for the loss of the outpost in the Jouret system, Hanson returned to his ship. He led the Federation fleet against the Borg at the Battle of Wolf 359, where he died, as his command ship was destroyed by the invading Borg cube. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I & Part II")

Hanson was played by actor George Murdock.

Appendices

Background

There is some speculation that the command ship that Admiral Hanson was on was the USS Melbourne, but this has not been established on screen. In fact, the script called for Hanson to appear on a Galaxy class bridge, and the Melbourne appeared in the episode only as a Nebula class ship (although it was later made an Excelsior class ship for the flashback to the Battle of Wolf 359 in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Emissary". Hanson was mentioned by Benjamin Sisko in the DS9 pilot, but the scene was deleted. Furthermore, Hanson's communication with the Enterprise during the battle (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II") implies that the battle was already in progress (he was ordering the fleet to regroup), but Melbourne seems to have been the first Starfleet vessel destroyed according to the opening scenes of "Emissary". In light of this it would appear more likely that Hanson was aboard another starship.

Apocrypha

In the Marvel VOY comic book Ghosts, Tom Paris claims Hanson was "like an uncle" to him.