The original Federation Starship USS Thunderchild, NCC 63459 was commissioned in 2370 AD as one of the first Akira Class starships.   It was named for the H.M.S.  Thunderchild, a fictional British warship from H.G. Well's clasic novel The War of the Worlds.  Construction took 1.7 years, and on Stardate 48512.5 the ship was commissioned under the command of  Captain Samik.  The Thunderchild's first mission was one of exploration - an information gathering mission, in the area near the Delta-Alpha border. The Thunderchild was recalled to Starbase once every three years for crew evaluations and transfers.  Durinig one of those callbacks the ship was diverted to assist in Earth defense during the Dominion War. Following the war, over the next twelve years after the Dominion retreat, the Thunderchild had two Captains, first Captain Tarmac, and then Captain Jackson and was utilized in maintaining the treaty with the Dominion in Operation Peacekeeper  and was briefly recalled in 2373 to fight against the Borg in the Battle of Sector 001. .  Turnover in crew averaged 35% per three-year period, over the twelve years of Operation Peacekeeper.

The Thunderchild was returned to the alpha quadrant upon completion of the fourth rotation as a member of the Peacekeeper Fleet in 2387, and reassigned to Deep Space 5.  In July of 2392, in defense of the Federation colony of New Westhaven, the Thunderchild was destroyed by Orion renegades.  All lives were lost, but the Thunderchild had managed to last long enough to destroy six Orion ships before being brought down; and the battle lasted long enough that Starfleet was able to get reinforcements into the system in time to save the New Westhaven colonists from enslavement. 
 

A few years later a new class of ship was commissioned, the Pendragon class.  With this new ship it was decided that the crew of the original Thunderchild would be honored and one of the first ships built was the USS Thunderchild-A, commissioned in 2402 and command was given to Commander Drake T. Virtigo.  He commanded the ship until 240205.22 when it was thought he passed away due to complications with his health.

After him Lieutenant Commander Jake Marcy took command and on SD 240207.17 they were thrown into a region of space known as the M64 Galaxy.  While there they met a hostile race known as the Phor who chased them across the galaxy.  On 240306.18 Commander Vertigo was found and he claimed to be a prisoner of the Phor.  On 240307.02 Cmdr Virtigo retakes command of the Thunderchild.  The Thunderchild finally made it back to the Milky Way on 230307.23 thanks to some ingenuity on the part of Engineering.

After debriefing with Starfleet the Thunderchild command was given to Lieutenant Commander Me'lonna De'bora.  Commander De'bora was promoted to full commander.  After a rescue mission the Thunderchild returned to starbase Versailles were they help protect the station from a gang known as the Phoenix Warriors.  After helping the station it was found that there was a worm hole present and the Commander led the Thunderchild to investigate.  While investigating a clone of Major James Hall was found and brought aboard.  After some investigation the crew found out that they were once again in the M64 galaxy and they were facing the Phor.  After a quick battle Commander De'bora was recalled to Starbase Versailles and command was turned over to  Major James Hall.  The Major led the Thunderchild into battle with the Phor trying to get the ship and crew back home but was seriously injured durring the battle.

The Thunderchild was then turned over to the XO, Lt(jg) Walter Johnson.  He led the crew safely home and was assigned as the new Thunderchild CO.  He was made the permanent CO and under his leadership the Thunderchild was awarded the Beta Fleet Achievement Award as well as a Knight Award for their excellence as a crew.  He commanded the Thunderchild-A until it was destroyed enroute to Cerainis while under the command of his XO Marine Captain John Liconie  Luckily Captain Johnson and the USS Thunderchild-B, the new Lumina class, arrived just in time and beamed the crew off before the Thunderchild-A's destruction. Captain Johnson stayed in command of the Thunderchild until after the mission to rescue a dragon like culture from the Borg.  Upon returning to Cerainis, Zeta Fleets command post, he was transferred off the Thunderchild due to injuries sustained and reassigned as the USS Warriors XO upon return to active duty.

His XO, Major John Liconie (later changed to John Stadi due to his marriage to Aliyra Stadi) was given command of the ship.  Currently the now Lieutenant Colonel John Stadi his XO Lieutenant Commander Aliyra Stadi and the crew have won another knight award and most recently the Bergen Award.  The Thunderchild and her crew have held the ideals sacred to them that every crew before them have fought and died for and sails on under the guidance of Colonel and Commander Stadi.