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The USS The Sullivans is an Excelsior-class starship currently serving in the 16th Fleet.
Origin of The Sullivans name:
The five Sullivan brothers [George (1914-1942 - far right), Francis (1916-1942 - second from left), Joseph (1918-1942 - far left), Madison (1919-1942 - second from right), and Albert (1922-1942 - center)] were Irish American brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, who served together on the Atlanta-class light cruiser USS Juneau (CL-52). All five brothers lost their lives when the Juneau was torpedoed by the Japanese Submarine I-26 at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. This was the single greatest military loss by any one American family during Earth’s Second World War, and led to the adoption of the Sole Survivor Policy by the United States Military; a policy which is also upheld by Starfleet to this day.Over the centuries, several vessels have been named in honor of the Sullivan brothers:
The first vessel to be named in honor of the Sullivan brothers was DD-537, a Fletcher-class destroyer commissioned just a year after their deaths in 1943. Originally laid down as the USS Putnam on October 10, 1942, she was originally renamed to simply ‘Sullivan’ until US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt changed the name to The Sullivans to clarify that the name honored all five Sullivan brothers. She was also the first ship in the United States Navy named in honor of more than one person.
After service in both Earth’s Second World War and Korean War, The Sullivans was assigned to the 6th Fleet as a training ship and served in the role until she was decommissioned on January 7, 1965 after 22 years of service.
In 1977, The Sullivans and the Cleveland-class light cruiser USS Little Rock (CL-92/CLG-4/CG-4) were processed for donation to the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park in Buffalo, New York. She served as a museum ship for five decades. However, on April 14, 2022, The Sullivans partially sank at her moorings due to a severe hull breach. Over the next two years, the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park raised the funds necessary to dry dock the ship, and by August of 2024, the park successfully raised the money to dry dock both The Sullivans and the Gato-class submarine USS Croaker (SS/SSK/AGSS/IXSS-246), with both ships heading to dry dock in 2025.
After returning from dry dock, The Sullivans remained in Buffalo as Earth’s Third World War began. However, by the 2030s, the United States was facing a steel shortage, and the Navy reacquired the vessels of the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park to be cut up for their raw materials.
The second vessel to be named in honor of the Sullivan Brothers was DDG-68, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer commissioned on April 19, 1997. She was sponsored by Kelly Ann Sullivan Loughren, the granddaughter of Albert Sullivan. Upon her commissioning, like her Fletcher-class predecessor, she was given the motto that is believed to have been spoken by the brothers when asked to separate during Earth’s Second World War: “We Stick Together.”
On January 3, 2000, The Sullivans was the target of an Al Qaeda plot to attack it while in port at Aden, Yemen as part of the 2000 Millennium attack plots. The plan was to load a boat full of explosives and detonate it near the destroyer. However, the boat was so overladen that it sank before reaching its target. But that wouldn’t be the last time Al Qaeda would try this plan, as they eventually successfully bombed The Sullivans’ sister ship, USS Cole (DDG-67) on October 12, 2000.
On September 11, 2001, while underway and sailing for the Composite Unit Training Exercise, The Sullivans received word of the Al Qaeda suicide attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and The Pentagon in Washington D.C. The Sullivans, as part of the John F. Kennedy Battle Group, took part in Operation Noble Eagle, providing air-space security along the mid-Atlantic seaboard. In February of 2002, The Sullivans deployed along with the John F. Kennedy Carrier Battle Group to the Arabian Sea in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The Sullivans would see service in Earth’s Third World War, sinking multiple Eastern Coalition ships and targeting numerous land-based Eastern Coalition military installations. However, on November 13, 2042 (ironically, the 100th anniversary of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal), while operating in the Persian Gulf off the Iranian coast, DDG-68 was torpedoed by an Eastern Coalition submarine. The ship’s watertight compartments were damaged in the attack, and didn’t seal properly, allowing the ship to sink to the bottom of the Persian Gulf. The survivors of her sinking were taken as Eastern Coalition prisoners of war and were likely executed under the Eastern Coalition’s mass executions of POWs in the war’s final years.
The wreck of The Sullivans was later discovered in 2068 by a Vulcan oceanographic survey of the Persian Gulf. The destroyer was reported to rest 120 meters below the surface of the Persian Gulf off the Iranian coast sitting upright and in good condition.
The third vessel and first Starfleet vessel to be named in honor of the Sullivan brothers was NX-168, a Yorktown-class battleship commissioned in 2160 to replace the Astrea (NX-154), which had been lost at the Battle of Cheron. The Sullivans was notable for having a crew comprised of species from across the Coalition of Planets- Humans, Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites all served together on her. A trend that would continue in the Coalition’s successor state; the United Federation of Planets.
In 2161, while en route to an important command conference to which the creation of the United Federation of Planets happening many sectors away would be broadcast, The Sullivans failed to arrive. A search was mobilized following the conference’s conclusion, and starship wreckage was found in three separate star systems along The Sullivans’ last known trajectory. When a piece of wreckage bearing the registry number NX-168 was recovered, the worst was confirmed: The Sullivans had been destroyed, and all hands were lost.
Conspiracy theories even into the 24th century suggest that the destruction of The Sullivans was a Romulan act of revenge following their humiliation at Cheron. Regardless, the only people who knew exactly what happened lost their lives when The Sullivans broke up.
Following the destruction of NX-168, Starfleet retired the name The Sullivans out of respect for her crew. No new vessel was named in honor of the Sullivan brothers for over a century.
However, that all changed in 2285, when Lieutenant Commander James P. Sullivan, then-patriarch of the Sullivan family, began a campaign to petition Starfleet to name a new starship in honor of his ancestors. Commander Sullivan even offered his wife, Lieutenant Joan R. Sullivan, to sponsor the new ship. Commander Sullivan’s efforts paid off, because at that time, production of the Excelsior-class was ramping up. In late 2286, Starfleet unveiled that they had allocated an Excelsior-class hull to be named in honor of the Sullivan brothers, with a promise to Commander Sullivan for the new ship to be commissioned by the end of the decade.
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The current USS The Sullivans (NCC-2942), the first Federation starship to be named in honor of the Sullivan brothers, was commissioned in 2289, making good on Starfleet’s promise that The Sullivans would see service by the end of the 2280s. The Sullivans was one of the last Block I Excelsior-class starships to be completed before the 2290 implementation of the Block II design, made famous by the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-B). Captain Riley Newton was placed in command for The Sullivans’ shakedown cruise. Following the ship’s successful shakedown, Captain Newton retired, and command of The Sullivans was transferred to Captain Rebecca Bluegarden.
Under Captain Bluegarden, The Sullivans saw multiple scientific discoveries, and worked closely with the Department of Temporal Investigations on several classified assignments. In 2309, at the age of 76, Captain Bluegarden announced her retirement. At this time, Starfleet elected not to have another officer replace her, or even have her first officer take over command: After 20 years of service, The Sullivans would be decommissioned. In late 2309, The Sullivans arrived at Deep Space K-9; the location of Captain Bluegarden’s first command assignment, where the ship’s decommissioning ceremony was held, and Captain Bluegarden reflected on her career coming full circle, and ending it where it began. After the decommissioning ceremony, The Sullivans made her last trip under her own power to the nearby Algonquin Fleet Yards to begin the mothballing process, arriving just ahead of Algonquin’s yard shutdown before the holidays.
Over the course of 2310, The Sullivans was demilitarized and prepped for mothballing. The Department of Temporal Investigations collected their classified data which had been sealed in the ship’s computer, and many useful components were removed to be recirculated among the fleet. The decommissioning process took over a year to complete, and in 2311, NCC-2942 was towed to the reserve basin at the edge of the Algonquin system, where it would remain for over 60 years.
In 2367, following the massacre at Wolf 359, NCC-2942 was evaluated by Starfleet for potential reactivation as a part of Project Phoenix; an initiative to bolster Starfleet’s numbers in the wake of the Borg threat. However, NCC-2942’s material condition was found to be poor: Almost all airlocks and several decks had been sealed off during the ship’s time in the reserve fleet due to pressurization issues that had arisen as a result of the ship’s lack of maintenance. As a result, NCC-2942 was placed low on the priority list for reactivation.
Six years later, however, that would all change when all-out-war erupted with the Dominion of the Gamma Quadrant. Starfleet needed ships, and they needed them immediately. NCC-2942 was selected for rapid reactivation, with command being awarded to Captain Violet Bluegarden; Rebecca Bluegarden’s great great granddaughter.