ISS Steadfast NCC-52577 :: Wiki

Below, you will find a brief history of every recorded ship to carry the name STEADFAST.

***Researcher's note: Due to records lost, both to time and war, the following is by no means a complete compendium of the information that may exist. The First Order Science Bureau works very hard to find and distribute any information that is recovered.***

Origin of the Steadfast name:

'Steadfast' originates from the Middle English word 'stedefast', a combination of 'stead' (Position, Spot, Place) and 'fast' (Firm, Fixed). As an adjective, the word Steadfast has two similar meanings:

1. Fixed or unchanging; steady
2. Firmly loyal or constant; unswerving

Over the centuries, a number of seafaring vessels and starships have carried the name STEADFAST:

(1)_HMS_Strenuous_(1918)_Steadfast_Sister_Ship.jpg

HMS Steadfast was an Admiralty S-class destroyer that served with the Royal Navy during the Russian Civil War. The S-class was a development of the R-class created during Terra's First World War as a cheaper alternative to the V and W-Class.

Launched in 1918 just before the Armistice that ended Terra's First World War, the Steadfast was commissioned into the Mediterranean Fleet and was soon in action as part of the Royal Navy operation supporting the White Russians during the Russian Civil War. In 1919, Steadfast accompanied the monitor M29 in bommbarding a Russian battery in Ochakiv and, the following year, took part in action north of the Georgian city of Poti alongside the light cruiser Caradoc. Soon afterwards, Steadfast returned to Chatham and was placed in reserve at Nore. Steadfast was retired and sold to be broken up in 1934.

USCGC Steadfast (WMEC-623) was a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter in commission for 56 years. Commissioned in 1968, Steadfast was home ported in St. Petersburg, Florida for the first 24 years of service. In 1992, she was decommissioned for Major Maintenance Availability (MMA) to extend her service another 25 years. Following her MMA in February 1994, Steadfast was recommissioned and home ported to Portland, Oregon until her second decommissioning on February 1, 2024.

Steadfast completed over 330 Search and Rescue cases, interdicted over 1.6 million pounds of Marijuana and 27,000 pounds of Cocaine, seized over 65 vessels, and stopped over 3,500 undocumented immigrants on the high seas from entering the United States. Steadfast was the first cutter to have a gold marijuana leaf painted on her superstructure, symbolizing 1 million pounds of Marijuana seized. Steadfast was known in Colombian drug smuggling circles as "el Tiburón Blanco" (Spanish for "The White Shark") for being such a nemesis to drug smuggling operations. A name whose image Steadfast's crew used as one of their logos to epitomize Steadfast's aggressive law enforcement posture.

USCGC Steadfast completed her final Coast Guard patrol on December 18, 2023 and was decommissioned in Astoria on February 1, 2024 after 56 years of service. Upon decommissioning, the ship entered Excess Defense Article status and proceeded to Baltimore, Maryland, where she was made available to sale to other countries via the Coast Guard's Foreign Military Sales Program. On August 3, 2024, it was announced that Steadfast had been sold to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, and was being prepped in Baltimore for MMEA service, expected to arrive in Malaysia by the first quarter of 2025. Though the MMEA did not take formal possession of the cutter until September 6, 2025. She departed the United States with a Malaysian crew on September 18 and arrived at Port Klang, Malaysia on November 4. At that time, the MMEA planned to recommission her as the KM Bendahara and operate her from a new homeport in the state of Sabah in East Malaysia.

KM Bendahara saw service during Terra's Third World War, defending Malaysian waters from Eastern Coalition attack boats. However, she finally met her match on August 5, 2033, when she struck an Eastern Coalition mine and sank.

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RSS Steadfast (70) was the third ship of the Formidable-class stealth frigates of the Republic of Singapore Navy. Based on the French Navy's La Fayette-class frigates, RSS Steadfast was built by ST Marine Engineering company in Singapore around the late 2000s. Steadfast was commissioned on February 5, 2008.

RSS Steadfast Participated in Exercise RIMPAC in both 2008 and 2016, as well as the CARAT Exercise in 2010. Frequent participation in military exercises helped prepared Steadfast and her crew for Terra's Third World War. With pro-United States countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan operating in the Eastern Coalition's backyard, fighting was especially fierce in Southeast Asia. RSS Steadfast utilized her stealth capabilities several times to sneak past Eastern Coalition blockades and strike the enemy from behind. However, it is estimated that her luck finally ran out sometime in 2043, when the Republic of Singapore Navy was severely crippled by the Eastern Coalition. It is believed that RSS Steadfast was of the vessels that the Eastern Coalition sank.

The first Terran Starship to bear the name ISS Steadfast was NX-11, an NX-Class starship originally launched under the command of Captain Rin Hojo. Captain Hojo made a name for himself brutalizing Andoria, ordering nightly orbital bombardments to be carried out against rebels on the frozen moon. Captain Hojo was so preoccupied with operations in the Andoria system that he was largely unaware of how poorly the broader rebellion was going for the Terran Empire.

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When Hoshi Sato initiated her coup in 2155 using the USS Defiant, Captain Hojo remained loyal to the old order. However, he was betrayed and assassinated by his own brother, Lieutenant Commander Go Hojo, who saw merit in standing with Empress Sato. As a reward for Commander Hojo's loyalty, Empress Sato selected the Steadfast as one of the NX-Class ships to receive a major refit incorporating reverse-engineered technology from the USS Defiant. Under Go Hojo, the Steadfast's theater of operations shifted from the Andoria system to the Romulan Star Empire, where the Steadfast played a role in the Terran Empire's conquest and subjugation of the Star Empire.

The second Terran Starship to bear the name ISS Steadfast was NCC-1732, a Constitution-class cruiser constructed utilizing declassified plans for the USS Defiant during the reign of Empress Philippa Georgiou. The Steadfast's early service saw the ship go through several mutinies and changes of Command before finally landing under the command of Captain Finis Valorum in 2245. Captain Valorum sought to end the bloodshed that had defined the Steadfast's early career, implementing harsher penalties for mutineers and freely utilizing capital punishment to thin out the traitors among his crew. Captain Valorum's efforts paid off, and by 2250, he had built up a staunchly loyal crew that possessed the capability of threatening Empress Georgiou's power, and it was this capability that Valorum's first officer, Commander Sheev Palpatine, took notice of. He observed Captain Valorum achieve complicity in this regard, and in 2251, Commander Palpatine ended Captain Valorum's tenure in command through a motion of no confidence in his leadership.

With Valorum Ousted, Palpatine utilized his command of the Steadfast to expand his influence within the Imperial Starfleet, and by 2255, Palpatine was one of the few Captains that Empress Georgiou genuinely feared. A year later, Palpatine's chance to rule finally came when Empress Georgiou was [By the order of Emperor Palpatine, all files related to the ISS Charon have been sealed] In the aftermath of the Empress' [Redacted], Palpatine took the Steadfast to Terra and proclaimed a new order, declaring that the Sato Dynasty had ended with Georgiou.

During his fourteen year reign, Palpatine continued the research of Empress Sato, carefully guiding Imperial growth away from certain sectors of the Milky Way galaxy to secretly construct infrastructure to assure the Terran Empire's rebirth in his image as part of an elaborate contingency plan in the event of his death. For this purpose, Palpatine had the Steadfast, now under the command of Captain Mas Amedda, assigned to contingency-related operations, officially scrubbing the Steadfast from Imperial records as destroyed in an unfortunate accident to free the name up for future use.

During the Steadfast's time in Contingency Operations, she received a refit similar to those her fellow Constitution-class sisters received. An upgrade that would serve her well in the coming decades. In 2279, during the Great Downfall War, her Excelsior-class successor, under the command of Captain Enric Pryde, would rendezvous with her. Thereafter, she was rechristened as the ISS Old Steadfast to avoid confusion between the two Steadfasts. In 2290, both the Steadfast and the Old Steadfast would be among the founding vessels of the Terran First Order fleet.

The Third Terran Starship to bear the name ISS Steadfast was NCC-2297, an Excelsior-class starship constructed as part of Emperor Palpatine's "Great Experiment" to upgrade the arsenal of the Imperial Starfleet, as the Emperor had foreseen the Empire facing a potential "great disaster". Commanded for her shakedown cruise by Commodore Wulff Yularen; one of the architects of the Imperial Starfleet's Excelsior program, the Steadfast was delivered to the Imperial Starfleet, with command transferring to Captain Saruman Dooku, the Emperor's protege and one of the few officers in the Imperial Starfleet trusted with details of Palpatine's contingency.

In 2270, Palpatine was assassinated in a coup by the Vulcan Spock of the ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701). With Spock's rise, Dooku knew that the contingency Palpatine had spent the past fourteen years crafting had been set in motion, as Palpatine believed that an Empire should not outlive its emperor, and the contingency served to punish the Terran Empire for failing to protect him. Indeed, just three years later, the Klingon-Cardassian alliance began an invasion of the Terran Empire, beginning the Great Downfall War.

By 2275, the Steadfast and the rest of her fleet mates in the 29th fleet had been tasked to defend Memory Alpha; the great Imperial library. However, Dooku knew that the Alliance fleet sent to take Memory Alpha was too strong for the 29th fleet to effectively repel, and as such, he intended to carry out the final phase of Palpatine's contingency and assure the 29th fleet's total destruction while striking a major blow to the Alliance. However, Dooku was betrayed and assassinated by his first officer, Commander Enric Pryde. Knowing that Pryde's betrayal would result in the contingency's failure, in his dying breaths, Dooku urged Pryde to take the Steadfast, and follow a course that had been pre-programmed into the ship's computer, which would take him to rendezvous with the Constitution-class ISS Steadfast, which hadn't been destroyed as Imperial records reflected.

Before following Dooku's instructions, Pryde ordered Imperial records at Memory Alpha to be altered to reflect the swift and total defeat that Dooku had intended to occur in order to cover his tracks. With the records successfully altered, Pryde ordered the surviving 29th fleet ships to fall back and follow the Steadfast, leaving Memory Alpha behind to fall to the Alliance.

The journey to rendezvous with the Constitution-class Steadfast took four years, as it comprised many short warp jumps to thwart any pursuit attempts. During the journey, Pryde discovered that the Steadfast had been automatically transmitting encrypted coordinates following every warp jump to light the way for other Imperial fleets to follow. Upon arriving at the Rendezvous point, Pryde beamed aboard the Constitution-class Steadfast, seeing an opportunity to rebuild the Terran Empire: One that was stronger and purer, and not so easily given to the backstabbing and incest that had defined much of the Terran Empire's existence.

In 2290, both the Steadfast and the rechristened ISS Old Steadfast were present when the 29th Fleet, joined by other survivors of the Great Downfall War, formally reorganized as the Terran First Order.

The fourth and current ISS Steadfast is NCC-52577, a Galaxy-Xyston-class Star Destroyer in service with the Terran First Order.

The first mention of hull number NCC-52577 dates back to 2381, during the construction of the class' prototype, later commissioned as the ISS Xyston. Terran First Order leadership was so confident in the class' potential that they placed an order for a further 13 ships of the class before the prototype was even completed. One of the hull numbers in this order was hull number NCC-52577, though she did not have a name just yet.

The First Order's Corp of Engineers formed a committee to select potential names for the future Galaxy-Xyston ships, then still known by the project's codename "Thrusting Spear." Among the proposed names for the class were ISS Resurgent, ISS Finalizer, ISS Europa, and ISS Hades, but the Corps of Engineers always kept circling back to one name in particular: If Project Thrusting Spear were to become the new crown jewel of the First Order fleet, then one of the vessels of the new class of ship should bear a name with historic significance to the Order itself: The ISS Steadfast.

The Corp of Engineers became so invested in the idea that the committee brought their proposal directly to Supreme Leader Henrietta Tristain. Greatly intrigued by the proposal, Supreme Leader Tristain convened a special session of the First Order High Council to debate authorizing the Steadfast name being reused. By a narrow margin, the High Council voted in favor of permitting use of the Steadfast name. With permission to use the Steadfast name secured, the First Order's Corps of Engineers allocated hull number NCC-52577 with the honor of carrying on the Steadfast legacy.

ISS Steadfast NCC-52577

Steadfast History