USS Hood

Prime Timeline
An Excelsior-class starship captained by Captain Robert "Bobby D" DeSoto. Will Riker served as XO prior to the USS Enterprise, during which time Geordi La Forge also served.

Viggo Timeline
The USS Hood serves as the central setting of most Viggo timeline stories in the What Would DeSoto Do segments that take up the last portion of most podcasts. In these segments it is posited that the USS Enterprise is detoured away from the missions that compose the episodes of The Next Generation featured in Stardate: Supplemental and that the Hood ends up taking its place, encountering the plot of those episodes instead.

The Hood serves as the "admiral bus", hauling dignitaries between assignments instead of doing anything worthwhile. The ship has an unusual complement of waiters among its enlisted personnel. Can only hold one holodeck due to the large number of conference rooms and guest staterooms.

Before 2364
Will Riker served as first officer. Geordi La Forge served as helmsman.

2364
The Hood responds to strange communications from the SS Tsiolkovsky, discovering the crew dead due to killing themselves in a drunken stupor from a synthetic polywater infection that also infects the Hood's crew. They manage to devise a treatment before destroying themselves. (SS: "Its Getting Hot In Here")

Later that year, the Hood gets a message about a delivery of a gift to Bobby D. from the Ferengi DaiMon. When they rendezvous, they discover the Ferengi have found the Miranda-class starship USS Titanic., Bobby's first command as a Lt. Commander. The Ferengi gift DeSoto the Titanic in memory of the Ferengi - Federation battle that caused the Titanic to be abandoned and was the first time the DeSoto Maneuver was performed. Due to a mind control sphere hidden on the Titanic, Bobby tries to attack the Hood from the Titanic while mind-controlled into thinking the Hood is an attacking Ferengi vessel. Riker successfully stops Bobby's attack, causing the Titanic to flip in the process and Bobby to vomit whiskey all over himself. It's this incident that causes Riker and La Forge to realize that it is past time for them to transfer to a new ship. (SS: "The Dom-Jot Boys")

Also in 2364 the Hood visits Starbase 74 to get a major retrofit, including major conference room upgrades. At this time Riker and La Forge transfer from the Hood to the ''Enterprise. ''The Hood gets a new first officer in the form of Lt. Commander Mortensen, a vulcan chief medical officer Dr. Borik, new operations officer Lt. Longo, and new chief science officer Kevin Kurland with his son Jake. During this time the holodeck has to be hosed down after Riker left due to some of his more erotic holodeck programs. While at Starbase 74, the Hood was hijacked by renegade former Starfleet captain Misha Volkov and some of her criminal syndicate goons before Bobby and Viggo were able to regain control of the ship. (SS: "Hot Fish Juice")

The Hood then visits Velara Base, the terraforming outpost on Vellara III, as a welfare check due to a lack of communication. There they learn of the alien microbrain silicate lifeforms native to the planet and help defuse the conflict between them and the terraformers that almost accidentally destroy them, in the process saving the band members of Microbrain and the Ugly Bags of Mostly Water. (SS: "Microbrain and the Ugly Bags of Mostly Water")

Soon after, the Hood responded to signs of a space battle in the Neutral Zone and tracked them down to discover the Talarian freighter Batris badly damaged and only minutes from a warp core breach. On board an away team led by Commander Riker and where La Forge could use his new "Google Glass cam feed" they discovered three Klingons led by the rebel Korris, along with a bunch of rubble ruining the Batris' once amazing discotheque.

Notable Crew
See Category: USS Hood personnel for a full list of the ship's current and former crew.
 * Captain Robert DeSoto, commanding officer
 * Lt. Commander Viggo Mortensen, first officer
 * Lt. Kalas, chief of security
 * Dr. Borik, chief medical officer
 * Lt. B.G. Robinson, chief engineer
 * Lt. Kevin Kurland, chief science officer
 * Lt. Longo, operations officer
 * Acting Ensign Jake Kurland, helmsman
 * Crewman Daniels, janitor in the Operations division
 * Commander Will Riker, former first officer (departed 2364)
 * Lt. Geordi La Forge, former helmsman (departed 2364)
 * Admiral Leonard McCoy, acting chief medical officer (2365)