George Takei Played the Helmsman of the Starship Enterprise. He Was Aboard the Real One When It Ran Aground.

George Takei Played the Helmsman of the Starship Enterprise. He Was Aboard the Real One When It Ran Aground.

Eight months and 46,500 miles from home, USS Enterprise missed the dredged channel into Naval Air Station Alameda and drove onto a mud bar in San Francisco Bay. Her keel needed about 36 feet of water. She stopped in 29, listing ten degrees, roughly 3,000 feet short of Pier 3, where about 3,000 relatives were already waiting in light rain. Aboard as a Navy guest was George Takei, who had played the helmsman of the fictional starship Enterprise an…