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Memory Alpha

The SS Dierdre was a Federation freighter that was in service in the mid-23rd century. This starship had, at best, a maximum speed of warp 2.

In 2267, the USS Enterprise received a false distress call that supposedly came from the Dierdre, which was under attack by a Klingon ship. The distress call was in fact sent by the Klingons in an attempt to lure the Enterprise away from Capella IV during Captain Kirk's attempt to negotiate for Federation mining rights there.

According to the distress call, the Dierdre was under heavy attack from Klingon vessels; two ships in their convoy were already damaged. Once the freighter's last reported position was reached, the Enterprise's sensors found no debris, no residual particles, nor residual traces. Chief Engineer Scott, commanding the ship due to the absence of Kirk and Spock, pulled the microtapes of the call and realized that the captain of the Deirdre had called the Enterprise by name – something unlikely to occur, since there is little chance a freighter captain would know the Enterprise had been assigned to that sector. Scotty remained long enough to be certain, and then set a course back for Capella IV. Almost immediately, a new distress call was received, this time from the USS Carolina, lending credence to the fact that the distress call was fraudulent. (TOS: "Friday's Child")

While the generally accepted spelling for this name is "Deirdre", the alternate spelling in the form used here was adopted from what appears in the Star Trek Concordance, the Star Trek Encyclopedia, StarTrek.com, and the episode's closed captioning.
The name Deirdre refers to a beautiful heroine who exists in Irish folklore. The name is also shared with James Doohan's second oldest daughter.
In the novel Pawns and Symbols, the Deirdre is referred to as USS and as captained by Captain Naranjit Singh, a friend of Kirk's from the relief mission to Tarsus IV.
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