George Hammond

"My next position is to take command of our new Daedalus-class ship. ...We're renaming it the [George] Hammond."

- Samantha Carter

The George Hammond, formerly known as the Phoenix, and sometimes referred to as the Hammond, is the sixth 304 produced by the United States of America, and the fourth operated by the United States Air Force, assigned to the Second Tactical Wing. The ship is named in honor of the late Lt. General George S. Hammond, and it is currently under the command of Colonel Samantha Carter who is a former member of the SGC's flagship team, SG-1.

Commanding officers

 * Colonel Samantha Carter (2009–present)

First officers

 * Major Tyrone Franklin (2009–present)

Known crew

 * Colonel Samantha Carter - Commanding officer
 * Lt. Colonel Melissa Hocken - 302 Pilot
 * Major Tyrone Franklin - First officer
 * Major Kevin Marks - Pilot and Weapons officer
 * Captain Pat Meyers - Ship navigator (in alternate timeline on the Phoenix)
 * Captain Laura Cadman
 * Captain Dwaine Grant - 302 Pilot
 * Captain Dave Kleinman - Ship navigator
 * Captain Chandler - Helmsman
 * Master Sergeant Luciano - Chief Structural Engineer
 * Captain Laura Cadman
 * Lieutenant Colonel Mel Hocken (transferred from Daedalus)

Atlantis on Earth
During the time Atlantis was on Earth, the Hammond was being outfitted for her launch. As Atlantis was not returning to the Pegasus galaxy, the Hammond and the Daedalus would take shifts in the Pegasus galaxy battling the Wraith. As part of their ploy to force the IOA to allow Atlantis to return to the Pegasus galaxy, Carter had any Atlantis personnel who were transferring transfer to the Hammond where she could easily transfer them back when the IOA caved. She also offered a position on the ship to Ronon Dex to help her in fighting the Wraith, an offer she revealed was real if he chose not to stay on Atlantis. While Ronon took the offer before Atlantis was allowed to return to Pegasus, he chose to stay on Atlantis afterwards but appreciated the chance for a new life Carter's offer had given him. The Hammond later transported Rodney McKay and Jennifer Keller with their things back to Atlantis since they didn't have time to get there by normal means. Along with the Daedalus, the Hammond saw Atlantis off when it took off from Earth and Colonel Carter stated that the Hammond would follow a couple of weeks behind the Daedalus to Pegasus.

War with Queen Death
The George Hammond eventually arrived at Atlantis where it brought more supplies that the expedition hadn't had time to take on before their departure from Earth. When a mission is launched to rescue Rodney McKay from Queen Death, the Hammond takes Colonel Sheppard's team to the hive ship and stands by to beam them off. However, the hive ship awakens from its dormancy and engages the Hammond which takes damage, losing its Asgard plasma beam weapons. Unable to keep up with the hive ship, the Hammond retreats to hyperspace, forcing the team to leave McKay, who has been turned into a Wraith, behind due to a lack of time to capture him. While the Hammond's damage is repaired, the beam weapons are determined to be beyond repair until they can return to Earth.

Eventually, Queen Death launches an attack on Atlantis with a hive ship and a Wraith cruiser. As Atlantis lacks the power for its shield, the Daedalus and the Hammond are launched against the enemy. To their surprise, the 304s find the Wraith ships shielded, but not nearly as well as them. An F-302 is able to disable the cruiser's life support, but the Daedalus is disabled. To protect her sister ship, the Hammond engages the hive ship alone, using the cruiser as a shield. As the hive ship turns its attention to Atlantis, Colonel Carter decides to take the badly damaged Hammond on a suicide run. The crew is beamed out but before can set the autopilot, the Daedalus reenters the battle. With the Hammond near-powerless, Carter diverts all of its remaining power, including from life support to the railguns and fires on the hive ship's damaged stern as it turns to face the Daedalus. The Hammond is only able to fire five rounds before it loses power, but the Hammond's attack on the hive ship's damaged stern destroys the enemy ship. Carter is left adrift on the powerless ship facing death due to the lack of life support, but the Daedalus beams her off.

Following the battle's end, repairs are begun to the Hammond and the Daedalus. As Atlantis no longer has a ZPM to contact Earth and the Hammond's hyperdrive is down, the Daedalus leaves for Earth to inform them of the situation, leaving the Hammond alone to protect Atlantis. Before leaving, the Daedalus takes on all of the Hammond's critically injured and transfers her F-302 wing to the Hammond to bolster her combat capabilities. The Hammond undergoes extensive repairs, but is able to beam a team trapped in a nearby Ancient facility out after they get trapped. After the Hammond is repaired as well as the crew is capable of without returning to Earth, another mission is launched to rescue McKay. With Teyla and Guide aboard Queen Death's hive ship and Just Fortune backing them up, the mission is believed to be more successful than the last time the Hammond attempted to rescue McKay. Arriving at the coordinants of Death's hive ship, the Hammond launches a cloaked Puddle Jumper containing the rescue team and engages the hive ship and its Darts. Despite being outgunned, the Hammond proves to be incredibly effective in battle using superior tactics. The Hammond is able to cause significant damage to the hive ship, taking out half of its weapons arrays before long. However, Wraith reinforcements arrive and even with the aid of Just Fortune, the Hammond is no match. The Hammond attempts to get close enough to beam the team off of the hive ship, but is unable to. Eventually the crew gets word that Sheppard's team is on Just Fortune and quickly recovers their F-302s. Their shields failing, the Hammond flees to hyperspace as the enemy hive ship explodes from a ZPM overload. Returning to Atlantis, they are distressed to find out that Ronon, Keller and McKay did not make it aboard the hive ship as they had believed.

Once again, the Hammond undergoes repairs for the damage she sustained in battle, docking with Atlantis during this time. When word of Queen Death's impending attack reaches Atlantis, the Hammond, the only Earth ship in range, is prepared for battle. To aid in the fight, SG-1 travels to Atlantis with Cameron Mitchell and Teal'c joining the crew as extra F-302 pilots. In the battle that follows, the Hammond engages Queen Death's fleet and attempts to beam McKay out of his Puddle Jumper before he flies into the sun, but are too far away. Later, McKay is transported aboard the Hammond by an Ascended Doctor Elizabeth Weir to the crew's bewilderment. The Hammond fights side-by-side with Atlantis, the Pride of the Genii and Guide's fleet against Queen Death, ultimately losing five F-302s and having six crewmembers injured before the battle ends when Teyla kills Queen Death.

The Battle of Icarus Base
"Our shields are holding but we're not the target."

- Samantha Carter

Later in 2009, Lt. General Jack O'Neill and Dr. Nicholas Rush beamed Eli Wallace aboard the George Hammond, which was orbiting Earth at the time, with the intention of revealing to him the existence of the Stargate program after he solved an Ancient mathematical proof. The proof Eli solved was believed to allow for the activation of the Stargate's ninth chevron. The efforts of those stationed at Icarus Base on the planet P4X-351 had been devoted to accomplishing such a task for months. Therefore, Eli was to be taken to Icarus Base to see the fruits of his labor and to further persuade him to join the Stargate program. However, as P4X-351 contained a radioactive Naquadria core, which had the potential to become unstable after the dialing of an incoming wormhole, the Hammond was used to transport Rush, Eli, Senator Alan Armstrong and Chloe Armstrong in lieu of a Stargate.

When Icarus Base later came under attack by three Lucian Alliance Ha'taks, the George Hammond, which was still in orbit at the time, intercepted a portion the weapons fire from the enemy fleet and used Railguns to repel the attacking force. However, numerous smaller craft, including Death Gliders and a Troop transport, were able to escape the battle and descend onto the planet's surface. To deal with these craft, F-302s were launched from the Hammond, which accompanied the F-302s stationed at Icarus Base. While the Hammond's shields were able to protect the ship against the onslaught, the Hammond still incurred moderate damage.

During this engagement, the Alliance weapon fire that bombarded the planet from orbit steadily destabilized P4X-351's Naquadriah core, inadvertently causing it to reach the point of explosion. Moments before the core went critical (leading to the destruction of P4X-351), the Hammond recalled all fighters and retreated into hyperspace, leaving all enemy ships to be destroyed by the explosion. During the attack and evacuation of Icarus Base, bunker-shielding technology inhibited the Hammond's ability to beam personnel off of the planet, necessitating evacuation via the Stargate instead. Shortly after the engagement's conclusion, Colonel Samantha Carter informed General O'Neill of the battle and the unknown status of Icarus Base's personnel, who had dialed the ninth chevron address instead of Earth's during the base's evacuation.

Lucian Alliance invasion of Destiny
"Unfortunately the complex inside [the pyramid] is shielded against beaming technology. We'll have to go in with ground forces from the outside."

- Samantha Carter

Later in 2009, the Hammond was in orbit of Earth when Dr. Nicholas Rush went undercover as Colonel David Telford in an attempt to infiltrate the Lucian Alliance using the Ancient Long-range communication stones. However, when his cover was blown and he was captured by Alliance commander Kiva, the Hammond was unable to beam Rush out of the area due to a jamming device. Sometime later, the Hammond was sent to the Lucian Alliance outpost (having gained the location from Telford) to stop the Alliance forces from dialing Destiny, a task which they forced Rush to help them accomplish. After dropping out of hyperspace, the George Hammond scanned the planet and discovered that it had a Naquadria core similar to that of the planet P4X-351, on which Icarus Base resided, thus providing sufficient power for the Stargate's ninth chevron to be dialed.

After discovering that jamming devices were once again being utilized by the Lucian Alliance in their outpost on the planet's surface, a wave of F-302s were launched as to allow for an assault by ground forces to capture the Alliance forces and save Rush. However, in response to the F-302 attack, Kiva ordered the Stargate's ninth chevron be dialed and ordered her troops to proceed through the Stargate and invade Destiny. After several minutes, as the planet's core became unstable, the entire planet exploded. Barely managing to escape the blast, the Hammond was forced to retreat into hyperspace, but not before recalling all fighters back from the surface. However, the crew of the Hammond was forced to leave two F-302s behind lest the Hammond itself be destroyed in the explosion.

Alternate timeline
"Barely off the assembly line. Half the Asgard systems weren't finished, the other half weren't working."

- Rodney McKay's hologram construct

In an alternate timeline, the Phoenix was the sixth Daedalus-class warship produced by the United States of America.

It was finally deployed to support the Atlantis Expedition in their efforts to repel Michael Kenmore's assault on the human populations of the Pegasus galaxy, after a strong petitioning by Colonel Samantha Carter. Due to the urgent nature of this situation, the Phoenix was rushed into service, with many of the Asgard systems not fully operational by the time it arrived in Pegasus. As such, many members of the Expedition "worked day and night" to get the ship in working order and combat-ready including the Atlantis Expedition's Chief Science Officer, Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay.

As soon as the new ship was in full working order, Colonel Samantha Carter began an unsupported campaign to destroy Michael Kenmore's fleet of commandeered Wraith Hive Ships, and therein save the threatened human populations on planets throughout the Pegasus galaxy. Using guerrilla warfare tactics, Carter succeeded in destroying many of Michael's Hive ships by emerging from hyperspace, unleashing a volley of Asgard plasma beam weapon fire, and fleeing back into hyperspace before the Phoenix itself was able to incur any serious damage, in most instances.

However, after Michael's fleet had sustained substantial losses from the Phoenix's campaign, he distributed disinformation among his ranks and ambushed the Phoenix with three Hive Ships over a planet that the Phoenix had intended to liberate. During the ensuing battle, the Phoenix became badly damaged and the engines were going critical. Knowing that destruction was inevitable, the crew was beamed down to the surface of a planet by Col. Carter. In a last ditch effort, Carter set a collision course and rammed the badly damaged Phoenix into one of the Hives. The resulting explosion destroyed the Phoenix and created a shock wave powerful enough to destroy all three of Michael's Hives that had participated in the battle.

Specifications
As the Phoenix was the first BC-304 to be produced after the Tau'ri was gifted the entire knowledge of the Asgard, it received several upgrades not present on other 304s.

As such, the Phoenix featured an Asgard terminal on the bridge in place of a star map, as well as a room similar to the Asgard computer core room on board the Odyssey. These features, however, are not present on the Hammond in the current timeline.

Major campaigns

 * Raid on Death's Hive
 * Battle over the Outer Rim Planet
 * Raid on the Revenant
 * Second Battle over the Outer Rim Planet
 * Battle of Icarus Base
 * prelude to Lucian Alliance invasion of Destiny
 * Battle of the Phoenix (alternate timeline)

Behind the scenes

 * The origin of the name "Phoenix" comes from the legendary bird of the same name. The Phoenix was said to live a long life then after its death, would burst into flames and be reborn again.
 * The ship was originally going to be named the Phoenix in the current timeline. However, after the death of Don S. Davis (and consequently the death of his character, Lt. General George S. Hammond), the ship has been renamed in his honor.
 * The orange-lit panel unit on the bridge of the George Hammond which resides behind the captain's chair protrudes forward far less than does the corresponding panel on all other 304s. The panel on the Hammond is more reminiscent of the panel on Prometheus, however turned sideways.