USS Tian An Men

USS Tian An Men
Owner:	United Federation of Planets
Operator:	Starfleet

The USS Tian An Men (NCC-21382) was a 24th century Federation Miranda-class starship operated by Starfleet.

Display graphic depicting the Tian An Men serving in Picard's fleet (2368)

In early 2368, the Tian An Men was docked at Starbase 234's spacedock for major repairs. It was prematurely deployed, despite the yard superintendents belief the ship was not ready for launch, to serve as part of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's task force that blockaded the Klingon-Romulan border during the Klingon Civil War. It served as a focal point in the tachyon detection grid, as it was linked to eleven other starships during the grid's initial deployment.

During an attempt by Picard to lure the Romulans through the detection grid, it was decided that the USS Excalibur should withdraw from the formation with feigned engine troubles, forcing the fleet to be repositioned in such a way that it would open up a small gap in the detection net for the Romulans to attempt to pass through. Once the Romulans were caught attempting to pass through the hole in the net, the Tian An Men and Enterprise-D were to swing around and catch them in act. The ploy, however, failed when the Romulans disrupted the network, forcing the fleet to withdraw and regroup at Gamma Eridon. (TNG: "Redemption II")

In late 2373, the Tian An Men was assigned to patrol along the Federation's border with the Cardassian Union. It was reported missing, possibly due to action by the Jem'Hadar. (DS9: "In the Cards")

The ship later fought in the Dominion War at the First Battle of Chin'toka in late 2374. It was in this battle where it, the USS Hood, and the USS Nautilus assisted the USS Defiant in destroying the moon that supplied power to the orbital weapon platforms protecting the Chin'toka system. (DS9: "Tears of the Prophets")

Template:MirandaClassStarships

Background

The Tian An Men was incorrectly spelled "Tian Nan Men" in the okudagram in "Redemption II." It was also on this okudagram that the registry of this vessel was revealed. This mistake has been corrected for the remastered episode.

The Tian An Men's appearance in "Tears of the Prophets" was confirmed by John Gross and Karen Sickles of Digital Muse in a 25 June 1998 post, by DS9 Visual Effects Supervisor David Stipes, on the newsgroup alt.tv.star-trek.ds9.

One of the Miranda-class ships that appeared in this sequence quite clearly bore the registry of NCC-1864.

According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia, the Tian An Men was named in honor of those who lost their lives during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in Beijing, China. It compares Starfleet's choice of name to the United States Navy naming the USS Lexington after the first battle in the American struggle for freedom.

External link

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