This ship was named as a successor to previous vessels named Yorktown of history. In the year 2365, the Yorktown was under the command of Captain Gregory Benson. He was assigned to captain Yorktown on a deep space exploration mission in sector 032. This information was listed on a starship deploy status report on a viewscreen on Starbase 173. (TNG episode: "The Measure of a Man") The Yorktown was lost at the Battle of Wolf 359 in early 2367.