The original U.S.S. Joan of Arc was the second ship of the Ambassador class line (NCC-10522). She served a long but mostly uneventful career until she was chosen as a testbed ship for anti-Borg weaponry being developed by Commander Shelby's R&D team. She was in the midst of testing the newly developed systems when the call came to rally the Fleet against the Borg at Wolf 359. She answered the call, but arrived as the last of the Fleet was being decimated. As the Borg cube ship began to capture the fleeing escape pods, the Joan Of Arc swept in. They performed a saucer seperation with the saucer serving as a diversion while the battle hull rescued survivors. Commander Jim Van Cleave, XO of the just destroyed U.S.S. Rhyanna, took command and with the aid of the surviving crew, got the ship and survivors to safety. The saucer section was destroyed, along with Captain Johnathan Goode, when he rammed the Borg cube to give the battle hull time to go into warp.
Starfleet slated the U.S.S. Joan of Arc to be scrapped, but public outcry, inspired by the story of the heroic rescue of the survivors at Wolf 359, changed their mind. The ship was refitted and a new sacuer section constructed, all with the most modern systems available. Commander Jim Van Cleave was promoted to Captain and given command of the vessel on SD 9401.06, Saint Joan of Arc's birthdate. The " Lady J " as she came to be known, continued to perform beyond all expectations with her crew earning a reputation as one of the best in the history of the Starfleet. The U.S.S. Joan of Arc even served as the Flagship of Starfleet during the time between the destruction of the Enterprise-D and the christening of the Enterprise-E.
Sadly, the Ambassador class U.S.S. Joan of Arc was destroyed with the majority of her crew in Starfleet's second battle with the Borg near Earth as she covered several other starships attempting to regroup during the battle
