Welcome Aboard The USS Vindicator!

It was in 1863, with the threat of the American Civil War looming on a soon to be bloody horizon, that the US Navy purchased a 750-ton sidewheel steam ram and christened her with a name as bold and brave as the souls that would come to crew her in the heat of battle; Vindicator.

On May 24th, 1863 the USS Vindicator was officially commissioned and skippered by the revered Lieutenant Commander Thomas O. Selfridge who turned the behemoth of a river patrol vessel into one of the most formidable Union gunboats in American history. Her greatest claim to fame would come nearly a year later on the 24th of April, 1865. During her pursuit of the Confederate ship CSS William H. Webb. Pushed to the point where her boilers nearly burst, it was her crew’s relentless determination to take down the opposing ram that brought her Acting Master, D.P. Slattery, to write; "Such was the spirit animating every officer, man, and boy that all seemed to vie with each other in the rapid and intelligent execution of each order."

Now in the 25th century, her name is emblazoned across the hull of her 6th iteration as a Federation starship, and that spirit is more alive than ever. As a groundbreaking new Vindicator class heavy cruiser, she is a deep space exploration vessel armed to the teeth and ready to boldly go where none have gone before. More than 1200 men and women crew this vessel, one of the most powerful ever known to Starfleet. Commanded by Captain Eirlys A. Irelle and Commander Almar Dahe’el, her primary mission is exploration, but the ship and crew are often called upon to defend the Federation and her interests from hostile forces.