The Constitution-class flagship commanded in turn by Robert April, Christopher Pike and James T. Kirk, destroyed over the Genesis planet in 2285.
The USS Enterprise, registry NCC-1701, was a Constitution-class starship of the twenty-third century. Its first captain was Robert April, followed by Christopher Pike, whose adventures are told in Discovery and Strange New Worlds, and then James T. Kirk, who led its famous five-year mission.
Kirk's crew included Spock, Leonard McCoy, Montgomery Scott, Uhura, Hikaru Sulu and Pavel Chekov. They faced Klingons and Romulans, the Tholian Web, the planet killer and many strange worlds, and the mission ended in about 2270. The ship then went through a major refit and returned to service in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, when Admiral Kirk took it back to confront V'Ger.
In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Kirk and his officers took the damaged ship to the Genesis planet without permission. When Klingons under Commander Kruge boarded it, Kirk set the self-destruct, and the Enterprise exploded and burned up in the Genesis planet's atmosphere.