USS Discovery (NCC-1031)

The USS Discovery (NCC-1031) was a 23rd century Federation starship operated by Starfleet, under the command of Captain Gabriel Lorca.

Operations
Discovery was launched into service from the San Francisco Fleet Yards, Earth. Its motto was, "All things can be understood once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." (Star Trek DIS episodes: "Context Is for Kings", "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad")

By November 2256, it was still considered impressively new, fresh out of the shipyards, and equipped with some of Starfleet's most advanced technologies (in contrast with the relatively old USS Shenzhou (NCC-1227)). (Star Trek DIS episode: "Context Is for Kings")

As a Crossfield-class starship, Discovery was officially designated a science vessel, though it was capable of defending itself. The ship's facilities were capable of accommodating three hundred discrete scientific missions, a Starfleet record. (Star Trek DIS episode: "Context Is for Kings")

Due to the outbreak of the Federation-Klingon War of 2256, a vessel as new as Discovery would normally have been pressed into service on the front lines, even though it would have a relatively small impact compared to other, more combat-oriented vessels. Instead, Discovery was placed under the command of Captain Lorca and given a clandestine mission to conduct black ops scientific research, developing top-secret weapons and technologies that would help the Federation win the war. Several of these experiments had the potential to physically endanger the ship itself and its crew: hazardous situations caused by the black ops experiments being activated were addressed by declaring a "Black alert" (which was not a standard protocol on Starfleet vessels). (Star Trek DIS episode: "Context Is for Kings")

Both Discovery and its sister ship, the USS Glenn, were equipped with an experimental spore drive for field testing. Much research and refinement remained to be done as of late 2256, but if perfected it had the potential to instantly traverse vast galactic distances in the blink of an eye. Discovery only used it in short bursts while attempting to perfect it into a reliable drive system, however: in contrast, the crew of Glenn took bolder risks to develop it more quickly, resulting in an accident which killed the entire crew and crippled the ship. (Star Trek DIS episode: "Context Is for Kings")

Discovery was actually built from the ground up to be a testbed for the experimental spore drive, based on the research of Paul Stamets and his colleagues. Stamets had intended his research to pursue purely theoretical knowledge and peaceful applications, but with the outbreak of war, Discovery was rapidly constructed to perfect the military applications of his research. (Star Trek DIS episode: "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry")

Due to the top secret (and in some cases dangerous) research projects being conducted on Discovery, its internal security was much more rigid and compartmentalized than was regular protocol on Starfleet vessels: Breath print identification locks were used to restrict access to different sub-sectors. It also possessed a disproportionately prominent and well-armed security detail, standing guard at various restricted access points throughout the ship. These guards were outfitted with tactical gear bearing a "black star" uniform insignia, unlike the normal silver Starfleet delta insignia. (Star Trek DIS episode: "Context Is for Kings")

After an apparent accident with the spore drive propelled Discovery into another universe, it emerged that Lorca was in fact an inhabitant of that universe who had replaced his counterpart and deliberately brought Discovery to his home universe. Following Lorca's departure from the vessel, first officer Saru assumed command of Discovery. After returning back to their universe Paul Stamets informed Saru that they overshot their destination by nine months. Discovery soon attempted to contact Starfleet Command but received no response. They soon discovered that within the nine months since their departure the Klingons had all but conquered the Federation. 

Command crew

 * Commanding officer
 * Captain Gabriel Lorca (2256-)
 * First officer
 * Commander Saru (2256-)
 * Security chief
 * Commander Ellen Landry (2256)
 * Lieutenant Ash Tyler (2256-)
 * Science officer/Chief engineer
 * Lieutenant Paul Stamets (2256-)
 * Conn officer
 * Lieutenant Keyla Detmer (2256-)
 * Communications officer
 * Lieutenant Milton Richter (2256-)
 * Operations officer
 * Lieutenant junior grade Joann Owosekun (2256-)
 * Physician
 * Lieutenant commander Hugh Culber (2256-)
 * Tactical officer
 * Lieutenant Rhys (2256-)