USS Columbia

The USS Columbia NCC-72351 was a Nebulas-Class in service during the late 23rd century. The Columbia was launched from Utopia Planitia in 2269 and was placed under the command of Alexander Jacobson.

=History=

The Columbia began her missions surveying the Outer Regions of the Federation with a skeleton crew of 90. Mainly because her full crew were still to be assembled. After 6 weeks of stuying the Outer Regions she was ordered to return to Starbase 360 to collect her crew. On the way there the ship recieved a distress call from an outpost anlong the Folian border. The Columbia arrived and saw that the station was being attacked by Folians. Within about 2 minutes the Folains retreated as the Columbia overwhemmed their weapons and shields. (This was the first time the Folians had ever seen a Nebulas-Class Starship) After the brief battle the Columbia returned to Starbase to collect its waiting crew of 342. By later half of 2274 the Columbia was one of the Starships assigned to patrol the Jeloran Neutral Zone. For the first few weeks the crew of the Columbia took their work serious patroling the Neutral Zone. But after 3 months of patrolling the border the crew began to become restless and were bored of just going up and down the Jeloran Border. So Commander Derek Swindell approached the Captain, (Alexander Jacobson) and expressed his thoughts about the USS Discovery (NCC-74749) able to go around exploring the unknown while the Columbia just sat around doing nothing. In January of 2275 the Columbia was doing a check of the area when they got a distress call from one of the Outposts. The Columbia signalled some other ships (that included the USS Nebulas (NCC-69117)) in nearby sectors to come and assist. After 2 days of scanning the area they found nothing. Just then a fleet of Jeloran warships came out of the a nearby nebula and gave a surprise attack on the Federation Fleet. The first shot badly crippled the Columbia's Warp Engines and Shields and the Nebulas was rendered near to a dissabled. Although the Federation Fleet was badly damaged the Columbia managed to win the battle by Captain Jacob ordering the ship to head straight for the lead ship at full Impulse. From the perseptive of the USS Nebulas it appeared that the Columbia was performing a Kamikaze run. But the Columbia went through the Jeloran ships shields then fired every weapon destroying the ship. After the battle the Columbia returned to Utopia Planitia where it recieved extensive repairs. And after 5 months of repairs was sent off to the Reezine Sector to begin the task of exploration again.