USS Tian An Men (NCC-21382)

The USS Tian An Men (NCC-21382) was a Miranda-class Federation starship that was in service during the latter half of the 24th century.

In early 2368, Tian An Men was docked at Starbase 234's spacedock for major repairs. It was prematurely deployed, despite the yard superintendents belief the ship was not ready for launch, to serve as part of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's task force that blockaded the Klingon-Romulan border during the Klingon Civil War. It served as a focal point in the tachyon detection grid, as it was linked to eleven other starships during the grid's initial deployment.

During an attempt by Picard to lure the Romulans through the detection grid, it was decided that the Excalibur should withdraw from the formation with feigned engine troubles, forcing the fleet to be repositioned in such a way that it would open up a small gap in the detection net for the Romulans to attempt to pass through. Once the Romulans were caught attempting to pass through the hole in the net, the Tian An Men and Enterprise-D were to swing around and catch them in act. The ploy, however, failed when the Romulans disrupted the network forcing the fleet to withdraw and regroup at Gamma Eridon. 

In late 2373, it was assigned to patrol along the Federation's border with the Cardassian Union. It was reported missing and presumed destroyed by the Jem'Hadar. Tian An Men was captured intact because the Dominion was looking a Roslyn, an augment created for the Cardassians who had defected and was serving on Tian An Men. Seeking Roslyn alive, the Dominion did not destroy the ship. Instead, they utilized it in a plan to infiltrate Federation territory and recover the founders who had been stuck on earth. USS Ottawa (NCC-75057) and USS Baldwin (NCC-2013) were able to disable the vessel. The Dominion forces escaped, but the ship was recovered. (USS Baldwin: "The Return of Khan")

Tian An Men would later fight at the First Battle of Chin'toka in late 2374. It was in this battle where it, the USS Hood and the USS Nautilus assisted the USS Defiant in destroying the moon that supplied power to the orbital weapon platforms protecting the Chin'toka system. 

Background

 * The Tian An Men was incorrectly spelled "Tian Nan Men" in the Okudagram in "Redemption II." It was too, on this Okudagram, that the registry of this vessel was revealed.


 * The Tian An Men's appearance in "Tears of the Prophets" was confirmed by John Gross and Karen Sickles of Digital Muse in a post, by DS9 Visual Effects Supervisor David Stipes, on the newsgroup  alt.tv.star-trek.ds9.  One of the Mirandas that appeared in this sequence quite clearly and incorrectly had the registry of NCC-1864, a possible homage to the ship from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)


 * According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia, the Tian An Men was named in honor of those who lost their lives during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in Beijing, China.


 * Tian An Men's appearance in USS Baldwin was written in to explain why the Dominion would keep a Starfleet ship intact, much less allow Starfleet to recover it