Answer: USS Yorktown

In the first drafts of early Star Trek episodes, the name of the iconic ship was not the USS Enterprise, but the USS Yorktown. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry originally selected the name “Yorktown” in reference to the World War II era United States naval ship. He later changed the name to USS Enterprise to make the name more inclusive and indicative of a unity of nations and people on Earth.

Those readers with a knowledge of maritime tradition and practice, however, will be quick to point out the the USS stands for “United States Ship” which isn’t the most inclusive way to name a starship. Roddenberry smoothed this over at a later date by explaining that it stood for “United Space Ship” (United Star Ship was also used in the series) from the “United Earth/United Federation of Planets”.