A Enterprise-D foi destruída em 2371 em um confronto com Lursa e B'etor no filme Star Trek Generations .
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A maioria da tripulação (com as notáveis exceções do Comandante Worf) foi então transferida para o novo Enterprise-E 'Sovereign-Class' após um curto período de licença em terra:
"My working assumption was that the Enterprise-E had her keel laid sometime during TNG's last season and was probably going to be given another name. When the Enterprise-D was destroyed, that Sovereign-class ship was nearing completion and was then christened Enterprise."
Ronald D. Moore